Maurice

Yes I am using new crank , new bolt , etc .I am building an engine that never existed , I colected enough NOS parts to built one . The only used bits are the mounting frame , and some push rod tubes.

I tried to stretch that new bolt , but I am frightenned that if I tighten it even more , the fine tread will be pulled of.

Thanks Adrian , I am also now in the stage that I am Assembling the Radial engine from new bits , In the Manual it says that you should tighten the crankshaft bolt till it is expanding a certain amount , I put a big torque wrench on it , but with micrometer on it , I can`t see any difference in lenghth , anybody else has experience with these?

After some in between jobs (WOT2) Achilles , I am back on the Firefly project .

I was yesterday assembling 2 Homelite generating sets , one cilinder on top , and one cilinder at the bottom (for The Firefly , and the M4A4), I will post pictures wenn they are ready , but the question now is what will be the set gap of the points ?

Sherman Manual doesn`t tell , there used to be a manual just for the homelite, but i haven`t got one.

So if somebody knows please let me know.

The Dutch Army Sexton who was at mons has also those skids.

great project , what if I would supply an M4A1 , then you could experiment with it ?

Has Anybody visited the newly openned Airborne Museum yet ? and what are the thoughts about it .

I heard some comments like waste off space , and Disneyland .

It is a bit true , The German Tanks that came after the PZKPFW IV were all very well armoured , and had a good gun , but were just mobile pillboxes for moving around short distances , they were technically not good for the battlefield , engines very fragile , and drive train too , so they needed railways to be transported , but then again they were too wide for putting on the railway wagon`s , and needed stripping for that .

There is a post war test on Newly built Panher`s , but the test results were never completed , because they almost all broke down before the end of the test.

On the way back from Beltring to Holland nobody asked anything in the harbour , even there were 2 WW2 armoured vehicles on the low loader .

I Agree the Germans were no spent Army at that time , The Dutch in 1940 were , but they still bombed Rotterdam for no reason , So if you see footage of all these Gatterings in Germany During the war , and the Proppaganda Ministers shouts "Do you want a totall war " all the crowd shout back is Jawohl. A few months after Dresden they all suddenly said Wir haben es nicht gewuBt , and were complaining about Dresden . Every way to Shorten the War and save allied soldiers , is in my vieuw allowed , even if it was Bombing a city to break morale.

It is still comming on slowly , final drive is ready to be put on , wiring is finished , dashboard completed, but too manny other projects in between , Diamond T in final stage , Had to finish 13Cab Quad for Beltring , lots of lockers on it to put all the cooking gear in. Doing 2 jeeps as well , to have transport to restaurants or shop when i we will be away with the Sherman`s .

And another project is a very early Lima built Sherman for the Dutch Army.

When I cleaned my IC firefly , all the markings apeared under post war paint , USA number in Blue , In Black the T number with black MSU shipping code , Link 1 of 1 , Star on side additinal armour plate was overpainted with same shade as factory paint , with over that the T number again in white.

My C15 Number 11 cab was even when I got after civy use , inside the cab and body with OD from Chev factory Outside it was painted in Brown with black wavy patern, , but this was under a bad quallity civy paint .

So dessert vehicles , and brown repainted vehicles were usually only done from outside . There is a picture in the Belona series over 15CWT`s a picture from inside a body were you can see that the dessert paint has come through between the planks here and there .

So these jeeps we see now and then in full desert yellow or Navy grey in and outside and chassis is nonsense in my oppinion.

the Bedford Picture on the left has an American genny set on the back , and is not a military set up. Right one is correct.

I fully agree with the statements from several people on this subject , I think as well that somebody above 30 does not belong in Para uniform , about the german thing , wy do they all want to be SS , if you read a bit of their history I feel very bad and angry . If they even would do it to play the part , but therte are several who mean it 9they believe in it ) , if they take their shirts of they have swastica`s and SS tatoo`s on them , Brrr.

It is the same with these ranks they all have , during the week they are behind the counter of a supermarket , and in the weekend they are enjoying screaming at the non ranks in their group , silly .

I still think vehicle restorers are a different kind of people then Uniform people . I also put on a tank suit when driving a tank , or a green Shirt in a parade , but I am not going to shop with watter bottle on belt , and handgrenades hanging all over me.

During the past years I have met a lot of vets who get tears in their eyes when they see a vehicle they drove for a long time in the war , and they come up to you to show you their fotopgraphs of them and the vehicles in the war , and if you talk to them they respect your neutral clothes , but don`t agree with the fake heroes (as they called them several times)roaring around in their vehicles .

Everybody should do what they want , but a bit of respect would be apropriate.

This is a very tricky business , what is right and what not , I prefer to see somebody dressed in ordinary T Shirt , then in uniform if they don`t match . What I mean is that there are over aged persons , in Airborne Clothing , wich would only be period correct as Home guard . And then there is the Heavy Drop brigade wich has 2 uniforms stiched together to get in , and need at least 3 parachutes to get safe too the ground (special wide doors for C47 needed) , So I think there should also be a dress code , Some vets talked to me and said it is offending the orriginal uniform , were I fully agree with them .

And vehicle restorers are different people then Reenactors.

Easyest way is to but a WW2 Bedford Dynamo on , Fits in Original bracket , 6V starter motor can stay , and put the same delco remy regulator model in 12 V in . Change bulbs , and put resistor in front of Fuel gauge , and ready.

Be carefull if you drive long distances , and the engine has to work hard , Then you can only make the tail bit out of stainless, Heat transmission through a stainlesss pipe is less than a steel one . To my knowledge (I am working a lot for the Car industrie ) you can only make a stainless exhaust if you change your cast iron manifold as well for a custom made stainless one.

If your front pipe and first silencer is zinked , that is OK . The down pipe in the picture is an orriginal one , and it is already fitted in 1984 , and is still OK ,

try Staman trading , he still has some .

it sounds like a good idea for me too , I will arrive at Beltring on the Saturday afternoon , Can take Chev Quad up there.

Market Garden things are at Arnhem , Nijmegen , and along Hells highway ,

It starts in Holland from the First weekend of september , Then there is a Convoy through Belgium till the First Town Liberated in Holland , The weekend after is Maastricht , and from there on it will move up to the North .

There was an orriginal one , this one on picture isn`t, Dash is standard , easy feature to recognise it.

I was there , and was amazed about the Gendarmerie , they were brought in from all over France and didn`t have a clue what they were doing , only thing the could say was :you are not allowed any further . Vets and visitors were stuck behind the fences , and they wouldn`allow anybody through. Luckyly there was a brave British Officer who yelled at the police and told them to open the barriers otherwise people would be crushed , non was the reply , then he looked him in the eyes and shouted open them now ? then he pulled the fence himself away .

same on the roads they were sending people into all directions because they never in their life had been in Normandy.

Yep I agree total nonsence , how can it have mos on the turret if it was burried . And if a track was shot it stops straight away , because all the drive energy will be transmitted to the final drive with the smalest resistance by the diff , so that is the broken track side.

I agree on mid production , because of the beefed up suspension units .

But I have seen also a Sexton with Shop number 984 wich has the Headlights mounted high up (sherman type ) , crude cut out to install headlamp brackets , but on the other hand have seen one with shop number 2000 + wich had the crudely cut outs for the brackets (rest of tank has neatly cut edges and cut outs ) so Not factory fitment ?

Depends on year of manufacturing , some sextons were even deliverred in September 45 , So the later Sextons had what they called the Mary Ann one piece final driving house . Canadian dry pins are also something from the final stage of production , the Sextons also have a plate inside Showing you wich way round to mount the tracks . Early ones don`t have that plate and had the rubber bushing tracks.

There are also 3 types of suspension used on them , first return wheel on top , then return wheel behind with special hevy side ribs for Sexton only , then with return wheel behind and normal ribs(standard Sherman version)

Thanks , I will start mixing tonight .

Now I understand wy all these compasses slowly empty themselves , evaporation.

Some people told me that there is lamp oil in them , so they are not right then .

About acuracy , I was reading the little booklet wich belongs to it , and you will be busy for 2 hours to adjust it , compensators and the sort to get it right with all the armour around it , and then drive the vehicle off road to check and adjust it right.