marvinthemartian

As always, them deadlines come up far too soon!!! Been doing all sorts these past few weeks, mainly scraping, painting, scrubbing, removing pipes, wiring, clips and gawd knows what else, my sheds at home are filling up with stuff! Anyway, have been busy tidying up my speedo and rev counter cables ( in a different thread), and various cables and conduits - temp sender conduit, interconnecting box to switch board cable, generator panel to distributor box leads. Stripping, cleaning, a bit of heatshrink here and there, and making some new identification tags. Temp sender conduit, blue heatshrink covers over the worn braided sheathing. Old tags are unreadable, new ones made from yellow heatshrink, written on with permanent marker, look ok when shrunk.

The finished article in all its glory.

Next a close up of said end fitting. Heatshrinking next, makes it look much better. Extra piece on either end just for added protection.

I've been a busy lad this week, have got speedo and rev counter drive cables repaired. Once old units stripped and laid out, the brass end fittings are actually crimped, I got them undone by heating up the brass fitting and gently twisting/pulling out the old flexi conduit. To refit the new conduit I had to warm up the brass bits again and widen them with anything to hand that was at least 1/2 diameter. A bit of epoxy will stop them from coming off. A good thick black heatshrink from ebay forms the outer covering, as you can see by comparing the pics they've come up trumps. Above, all the bits ready to clean and prepare. Below, fitting the first end.

The tragic end of Dambusters leader Wg Cdr Guy Gibson VC, along with his navigator Sqn Ldr J B Warwick in Mosquito BXX KB267 AZ-E, of 627 sqn Woodhall Spa. Crashed into Dutch village of Steenbergen. Simon

And some more pics. Was great to see another Martian, so spent a while looking around it just to see where all those bits I removed from mine so many years ago went!

Spent a good day at Bedford Steam Engine Preservation Society show held in the grounds of Shuttleworth House at Old Warden. Also included in show admission was free entry to the aircraft collection. A good few military vehicles present, also managed to grab a few bargains from the trade stands.

Spalding fastners haven't got any on their website, have thought about frosts, sent a message asking what paticular sizes are included in the assortment. Will keep trying, there are a couple of autojumbles coming up this weekend too fairly close to home so might have a wander round those and see if anything is available. Simon

Hi, does anyone here know where to get proper imperial copper washers. Most places now sell metric or BSP, some sizes overlap, but wont be an exact fit. As I only need a small number of various sizes, I'm a bit loathe to get a large amount which I probably wont use. Simon

Just got to find some room in the shed to store them until I'm ready for them. Simon

Banisters have one of the seals in stock, cant remember which one, think its the 4047. I have also been trying to get hold of some of these seals too, but Richard is waiting to get enough of an order to warrant getting some more made up. Simon

Stripped rpm counter drive cable tonight as it was full of rust and crud, inner cable held in place by a c clip as per speedo cable. Removed cracked rubber sleeving from entire length and it seems that the ends of the flexible conduit are just soldered into the fittings either end. Spent a good hour with blow torch, wire brush and 2 lumps of wood to knock the crap out/ unseize the outer! If I can find some of the correct size conduit in the shed, I will have a go at trying to unsolder the ends. Fingers crossed all goes well. Simon

Have removed speedo cable from the Martian coz the outer conduit is split in two places. I am wondering if it is quite easy to take out the inner cable, and split the outer into sections, as looking at it, it seems to me to be a 4ft approx length of flexible wiring conduit, clamped onto the end fittings. Probably wont know until I take it to bits. Could be weekend job me thinks. Simon

Pm sent

No Problem, gives others a chance to see the vehicles. Also hope it gives us with dismantled trucks a kick up the bum to get more done!!! I know some days stripping, painting, rebuilding etc can seem a bit of a never ending job, but one has to look at the end result, getting the thing out and about. Simon

Last lot of trucks on show, there were a number of Green Goddess fire trucks though not all in green!

Some more from the arena display.

Had a good day there, weather was brill, small number of green things, got some pics to post up. Numerous trade stands selling bits and bobs, lots of steam wagons on show, quite liked the minatures on display too.

Hoping to go for a wander round on Saturday too, weather and money permitting! Not been before so it'll be good to see what is there.

Yup my beer told me paint too, as they are quite visible inside the cab. Plus this stuff has very high scrap value too!!! They will be hidden for good under a layer or 3 of paint.

I've got no idea what happened to it, it has been there for nearly 18 months. Think the owner is/was trying to find a replacement roof for it. Next time I'm down at the truck I will try and find out a bit more about it.

Been out in the sun since it came up stripping and cleaning bits off of the Martian. Hiding under layers of green stuff are nice brass/copper items, Kigass hand priming pump, trailer brake hand control and the plate from the hand throttle. I know in service they would just get slopped over with loads of paint, but I'm thinking now to give them a polish to make them stand out a bit. Oh decisions decisions....... I will have a beer and think about it overnight.

Not sure if this one has appeared in the gallery as not actually been through it all!! Currently stored at the same place my Martian is. ex recovery vehicle possibly somewhere in Wales, and at some point been in a ditch. My truck is hiding under the tarpaulin on the right.

As a schoolkid back in the 80's when all the far fetched shows were on I used to watch them all, still good to watch the odd one if shown on sky. Remember watching this Biggles film too, quite enjoyed it first time round, now older and wiser, probably wont be the same next time!

Not sure, as there is still the aluminium corrosion lurking underneath, it'll give it a shine but don't think it will look right. I have finished farting around on excel and have come up with this, just printed it out onto photo paper at present and took a pic of it, if it was mounted on something thicker I reckon it would pass a close inspection.