Noel7

Wally, 98RC23 is possibly an error in the RQMS ledger. According to your post 14/4/2016 in thread 27014 "Post war sales catalogues" this is in a range allocated to Bedford QL TCVs, which is also as shown in Appendix 2 of the book 'Bedford to Berlin and beyond - Bedford QL: The Forces Favourite 4x4'. My understanding is that rebuild VRN ranges were allocated when the rebuild contract was issued, so other vehicle types in the range are presumably not likely? I have identified 92RC98 as a K6 gantry, and 'Bedford to Berlin' Appendix 2 shows a Bedford QL range starting at 93RC60, which

I don't understand this. Unless I'm missing something [always possible 😊] I think your source has crossed wires here.

What are the propellers made of? Ship propellers are usually a copper alloy such as brass, bronze or gunmetal, which doesn't need painting.

Shame the nose of the aircraft is not visible, which would have made the identification so much easier! However, what is visible is consistent with a Blenheim. The turret confused me, as it was not the type I was expecting to see, but some research on the internet indicated that late production Mark IVs had a lower profile Bristol twin Browning turret [different to that of the Mark V], so I think this is what the photo shows.

Greece was invaded before the Blenheim V came into service, and I doubt they would have had any after the war. So far as I know Coastal Command didn't operate outside the Atlantic and North Sea, or operate Blenheim Vs. As the lighter colour appears on part of the fin and rudder, alongside the darker colour, I think they are in sand and stone; their last front line service would have been in North Africa.

The Bisley (officially the Blenheim V, I believe, the Bisley proper being a ground attack version which was not proceed with) ceased to be used as a bomber in 1943 (it was already obsolete when built). The ones in the photograph have had the gun turrets removed, so are presumably trainers or communications aircraft. They are unlikely to have been retained for very long after May 1945, as much better aircraft would have become available after VE day, and even more so after VJ day. Having the manpower available to salvage a write-off and rebuild it, and finish it in silver, with peace-time round

All of the pictures posted are of vehicles with number plates which are consistent in style [some white on black, some black on white, admittedly] and location, with the exception of the ambulance in the Italian one, which has a number painted on in a more or less random location, partly across the Red Cross marking. At seven digits it seems too long to be a VRN. It may well be a census number, I don't know, but the presence of an Arabic version of the number implies it was added whilst the vehicle was still in north Africa, as there would be no need for it in Italy, which may affect the datin

The website "License Plates of the World" shows under "Egypt" a black on a white plate with red vertical central bar [matching the style in the second picture] captioned as 'British Forces 1930-1945'. It's described as a replica, and oddly has different numbers in English and Arabic; those in the two photos are the same numbers in both scripts. The two 1930s-1940s civilian plates shown on the website are white on black, in different styles. Military vehicles in Britain had civilian registration plates until early in WW2, as well as census numbers, and some at least kept them for some time

Thanks both. Longmoor is a bit restricted from the railway point of view, unfortunately, so not for me, I'm afraid. I remember from childhood stations with 3T GS and sometimes other vehicles waiting outside for National Service arrivals or people returning from leave, or to collect stores, and have noticed from contemporary photos how often military, or ex-military, vehicles appeared on railway vehicles. The railway seems to have carried whole trainloads of identical vehicles on occasion [presumably vehicles being returned to stores or their replacements, vehicles being taken to a disposal sit

Thanks, Wally. My interest is B and C vehicles; some A vehicles did travel by rail in the UK in the late 1950s, as they still do, but usually in train loads, whereas B vehicles especially were much more likely to appear in small numbers, both on rail wagons and on street, which is simpler to model in restricted spaces. I have been able to trace rebuild numbers into xxRHxx and early 1952 (the highest I have been able to identify so far, from a photo, is 66RH15). After that this series apparently went out of use and rebuilds continued to carry the original number on the chassis (from the

Good afternoon. Having recently joined, domestic matters have delayed this post, in which time I did post once, which I hope you will excuse. I do not own any vehicles, nor, given my age am I likely to, but have been a visitor to this Forum for some time, before joining. I am a modeller, primarily of railways, but am aware that military vehicles were seen on and around the railways of the UK in my period of interest [circa 1960] and thought that it would be interesting to show this in model terms. This led to questions of what types of vehicles, with what markings, and what VRNs. The VRN part

I'm no expert, but it looks as though it is a version of the classical Chinese character for "Fist" (Quan), what Europeans call 'Boxers' being known to Chinese by a name which translates as 'Righteous Harmonious Fists'. Modern printed Chinese (Pinyin) uses a different character set.