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ArtistsRifles

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Everything posted by ArtistsRifles

  1. Having to sell my Militant Mk1 due to no work = no money anymore and a ongoing insurance claim against an idiot who wrote my car off in 2017. I've been trying to find work for 11 years without success and savings etc are all gone as is the rent we used to get from the daughter Mk 1. Its a gut-wrenching decision but I have no choice. It lives 60 miles away from home and I can't afford the fuel to go and work on her any more. She is registered as a 1957 model, Mil Reg 16 CL 49, so she is both MoT and Tax exempt and can be driven on a B license. Mechanically she is fine - I have rebuilt the braking system using new valves and now she holds pressure well.. Steering and engine are 100%. Exhaust has been replaced with AEC items. The cracked and broken steering wheel has been remade back to "as new" condition. The low price is because the cab needs repairs to the sheet metal as do some of the gates. I have made up the inner door skins and they just need final fitting. You can see the story in the "Restoration" section of the forums In the back under the canvas is a Brockhouse body rigged for gas with cooker, oven and 12v/240v electrics and a 500 litre water container between the headboard and the Brockhouse. The external connectors on the brockhouse have been adaptes to take a standard caravan/camping lead to hook up to an extenal 24v supply. She will need a leisure batter and a 17 Kg gas bottle to be opertaional. For beds the plan was to use a pair of cot beds until I could make up bedframes from timber. a WC compartent is already built in for use with a portaloo. She comes with the ultra rare high-angle roof mount for the 0.50 cal short-barrelled machine gun, just needs the ball mounts and struts for the roof. The canvas on the back is all MK and the front roof sheet of the two needs replacing as it has been torn somehow - likely wind getting under it. There is a spare tyre to come with her. Please contact me for more details and other pictures. Looking for £4,000 which I think is a fair price considering the work done since I got her and what comes with her.
  2. Sadly folks its the end of the line for me - my Militant was posted for sale on MilWeb tonight...... Money situation is beyond critical and the asshole in the insurance claim is STILL f*cking me about. Life these days consists of get up, stare at the same 4 walls whilst sitting at home alone most of the time, go to bed - repeat ad inifinitum.... Some days I wonder if its worth carrying on :( I'm looking for £4,000 for the old girs which I think not unreasonable given the work already put into her and what comes with her. I've copied the advert in the classifieds here too. The REALLY gut wrenching is - I never even got to drive her properly 😧
  3. Right now I am having a total sense of humour failure - not over the AEC but over the ongoing saga of the accident thats crippled us financially. Been 14 months now. The other party apparently is rather well off and is f*ck*ng the insurance about with false claims that then have to be investigated so we're waiting for a court date - which, of course, keeps getting put off.... I've just written to my insurers expaining the financial woes its causing us and pointing out that, as the fault was the other parties, we want the costs for all our financial stress and losses added to the claim as well as all the court costs. Let see if that wipes the smile off his face. Since the 15 Oct last year I think I've been able to get over to the AEC just twice - firstly due to no vehicle then due to fuel costs. I've got the bank manager on my back more or less constantly now and it is pretty definite that if I can't get the claim sorted by the end of Q1 next year the AEC, the UAZ and the car will all be up for sale.
  4. Thanks Mick - will give them a tryl Comptons have not replied to me so....
  5. Went to Wickes on Sunday and got hold of one of their "heavy duty" 8m x 5m tarp sheets - and then popped up to the Militant on Monday to get it lashedover the hole in the roof on the basis that if the weather changes theres no point getting whats in the load bed damaged. Theory was good - practice turned out to be rather different. We lashed the sheet onto the tie-down rings one side temporarily then attached the rope to one of the corners, other end to an object of weight (I think it used to be a fuel tank bracket) and lobbed that over the roof, repeating for the other corner. First thing we noticed was the speed at which the eyelets ripped out of the sheet where it was lashed to the tie downs with only the weight of the sheet on them then as we went to tie the other side down the wind gusted a bit - which was accompanied by a loud ripping sound. That marked the end of one tarp sheet!! So we pulled the remains off , rolled them up and headed back home. Wickes refunded the cost of the sheet today so not unhappy other than the hole in the roof is still there but I've emailed Comptons to see if they can supply either a replacement MK/MJ top sheet or, better, a set of proper Militant ones. In the mean time the old, rotted hemp has been temporarily replaced by polypropylene along one side and the back - hopefully that might help stop the roof getting worse. First time the wife had seen the old girl.. Interesting reactions - esp. when she had to climb up the ladder to see what the interior of the back was like. 🙂 Just for the record the time stamps on the dashcam files were: REC_2018_07_02_13_39_51_F.mp4 when we left the Militant REC_2018_07_02_15_28_28_F.mp4 when we got home - lapsed time of approx 1 hr 50 mins rounded to the nearest min.
  6. For the impeller shaft - if you have a good local machine shop is it worth enquiring if they can restore the corroded section of the shaft back to OE dimensions. Maybe a coat of spray weld then truned back to OE dims???
  7. Nothing yet Robin. This is the mail sent - it may take a few days for a firm to reply to a private individual I guess.
  8. Ah yes - the subject of many interesting talks between myself and DVLA's "suits" back when they yanked my HGV's due to the onset of epilepsy - usually ran along the lines of: "We can't let something like you loose on the road with a 7 tonne vehicle, let alone a 40 tonne artic". "Why not - you've given me a driving license?" "You might have a fit an a car will just bounce off whereas a goods vehicle will do serious damage" "Fair enough - you do realize I still have my "H" license though?" "So what - you can't do much with that" "Welllll - it lets me drive a Main Battle Tank on the roads which not only weighs around half as much again at least as the 40 tonne artic but in the circumstances you describe will do a LOT more damage. Have a nice day!" Before anyone jumps on me - I do appreciate why the HGV's and PSV were taken & support the logic fully - but I also get VERY narky when chinless wonders start refering to me as a "something" and not a "someone"!!
  9. Can't beat the German who hauled back and punched the side of the OT90 at W&P one year. His daughter later told us he was looking for the thin sheet steel plate that German law requires the armour to be cut out and welded in to allow them to shoot the driver.....
  10. Did wonder about that as there is a lack of side hatches - however the ad clearly states BTR-80!! If it is a BTR-6- then the power plantS are 2 × GAZ-40P 6-cylinder petrol engines generating 90 hp each - and which are a pig to synchronise apparently.
  11. Many thanks - just emailed them to see if they either have the details for the MJ/MK top - or better still the original sheets for a Mk 1. 🙂
  12. Thanks Mike. Thats the oveerall plan so I have a spare but might have to do that anyways. Annoying thing is that will mean stripping off the entire front end of the load bed whilst its done but a standard tarp might be able to cover it over. I need to replace all the tie-down ropes with synthetic so a good reason to crack on with that 🙂
  13. I like the descripton for the MTLB: The BTR is the better proposition I think for those interested. The aerials on top indicate it might have been either a comms relay or command & control type in which case getting hold of all the radio kit will be a long and time (and ££'s) consuming job. Sounds like it could be got running easily enough and a few weekends with a needle gun and paintbrush would tidy up the outside nicely so it looked presentable. Not enough shots of the interior to see how that is and whats needed to complete it (other than the radios). Sad thing is - unlike a SKOT-64 - the BTR is still over the 2.55m limit. 🙁
  14. Looking for a good condition Mk/MJ roof panel to replace the torn one covering the front half of my Militants load bed.
  15. Thats good news. Should be able to get them running OK then. Still a shed load of work to get them presentable and neither will be road legal due to the width issues - the BTR would be a unique sight at shows though.
  16. That - as the saying goes - is the $64,000,000 question! BTR-80 should have a KamAZ diesel -type 7403, 10.85 litres developing 260 hp MTLB should have a YaMZ 238, V-8 diesel developing 240 hp, capacities vary between 14.5 to 24.5 litres depending on derivative
  17. Reason I'm looking at moving is to get closer to home is simple Stu - it takes me 2 hours to get there, 2 hours to get back so if I get free time in the week its not a simple case of popping over. Plus now I need to swap out the load in back of the car - normally its full of the camping kit for the armoury work, I need to yank all that out and reload with the tools which adds an hour approx to any planned journey at each end. If I do it the night before - assuming I know I can get over the next day - the odds are now our migrant neigbours will wake me up in the early to hours to the send of a brick going through the rear screen of the car. We buried Toby Dog in the pet plot in the front garden last Oct. - 2 nights later the little shites tried to dig him up thinking I'd buried something of tangible value. AFAIK - as of Oct 15th that front tyre was the only issue - and I do thank you pumping it up for me and keeping the engine ran up from time to time. Other than that I had no reason to think anything was wrong and thus no reason to plague you on the phone. The accident, taken with Tobys unexpected death a week later left me in no fit state to be talking to anyone. Couple that to the replacement vehicle going tits up a couple of weeks after I got it and you would not have wanted to talk to me. Since then we've had the council trying to sue our backsides off because said migrant families find the UAZ and FFR "offensive" and the asshole who wrote the RangeRover off for me is lying his little head off saying I hit him so we are also having to deal with all the crap that goes with a pending court case there. The only plus point this entire damned year so far was landing the part time job with the armoury - but the downside is that while I get paid for the days worked, those days are invariably weekends. When Stuart the farmer texted me to say you were moving it - that weekend I was down at Quex park, Ramsgate. I can't be in two places at once and as much as I would love to be up there cracking on with the list of works the accident left us desperately short of money - still owed the £400 excess until this court case is decided. Work-wise it looks like it takes me up to the end of August. Right now, having seen the location a big issue is going to be being out of range to the power supply again - the extension leads I have aren't gonna be long enough to run down from that power point and I doubt Stuart the Farmer will want her parked up blocking that aisle down from the yard - nor does he want it in the yard itself if I understood him on Saturday. And as I found to my cost on Saturday accidentally drop a nut or washer in those thistles and its hell to find plus if anything happens - no one hears you yell. So yes - I do need to find a new location within a commutable distance of home and preferably undercover so I can work when its raining. - the store we had at Brentwood was an ideal location for me but thats never going to happen again - but I don't see that solving itself for some considerable time.
  18. Could very well be Richard - although IIRC the ads say they came from the MoD - I'm guessing trophies from the operations out there? If so the MoD would surely have had the spec's to hand? Given the current trade embargo with Russia sourcing replacements if they are missing or totally FUBAR will be difficult - to put it mildly. 🙂
  19. Looks like I will be looking for alternative storage. Went up to work on the old girl today and she's been moved off the hard standing and away from people out to the edge of the fields. I had a text last weekend say the farmer wanted to move it "down the bottom" as part of a reshuffle - I assumed he meant the other end of the hard standing. Wrong!! Got enough issues with existing corrosion and this is not going to help. (no idea who owns the Landie) Also found out that somehow the trailing edge of the front roof section had gotten torn - most of the way across. Would have been nice to have been told this when it first happened - now I (a) have to get hold of a tarp & ropes to cover the damaged area and (b) find another MK/MJ roof canvas Kind of worryingly is she seems to have been driven into position over this - some sort of chain rake with some of the tines pointing up? Looking on the tailgate a few more holes have appeared so some welding will be in order before winter returns I think. Object of the exercise today was to refit the oil can and jerry can carriers. Oil Can carrier went on fine. Jerry can one - different story. I could not hold the weight on my own to feed the bolts into the holes in the chassis rails and do the nuts up - in fact at one point it slipped trapping my arm rather painfully - which is when I found out its far enough away from the activities that no one heard me yelling!! Took a while to free my hand and arm so I gave up until I can get some help to hold it whilst the nuts are done up (need to find one nut that fell into a load of thistles next time I'm up there). Put the carrier and the straps etc into the living accomodation in the back and came home. So - a two hour drive each way more or less wasted apart from finding out where the old girl is now and getting the oil can carrier on. I really need somewhere closer to home. Almost tempted to bring her home - but the "culturally enriching" neighbours are already on my back via the council about the UAZ and FFR Landie + Sankey. If I put the AEC in the front garden things would go downhill fast - not least because the road is so narrow I'd be squashing the cars either side to get into the drive!!
  20. Intersting. What intrigues me is - do they have engines as both as give an engine size of 0cc? Both require a shed load of work (although the MTLB looks to have very good tracks) so the £6k figure is nearer the mark on both. The MTLB is overwidth so could never be road registered, not sure about the BTR-80. I know the BTR-60 and -70 exceeded VOSA's max width.
  21. Look for me in the Living History field Paul - will be with the Red Alliance guys (Cold War Soviets) - hopefully with the UAZ down there. 🙂 For permanent relocation to Germany I'd suggest getting hold of either a German member of the forum or contacting the German authorities directly as the rules for residence are, I believe, different to those for visiting vehicles
  22. AFAIK Paul the only thing you might need is a SPIRE license for the temporary export of ex-Military equipment. I know of nothing that says Sankeys, NATO hitches etc are any sort of problem in Europe. Indeed I took my S3 over a year or so ago with NATO hitches front and rear and had no problems. The general rule is if its OK in the country of origin then, temporarily, its OK in countries you visit. If you moved out there then the story might be different. The break away cable is needed - simple, just chain the Sankey to the vehicle. Or fit an eye bolt in lieu of one of the hitch bolts if the 110 hasn't got a loop on the bottom of the plate and uses a chain on that. The idea is to stop the trailer running away if the trailer comes off the hitch - but remember that the NATO hitch has a positive mechanical lock in the form of a pin through the fixed and moving jaws once coupled up, unlike the standard 52mm ball notmally used on civvy vehicles. Convoy lights are irrelevant because you would never make the mistake of turning the 6-way switch the wrong way, would you??
  23. Well - thought an update might be in order after so long!! Insurance paid out part of the money - I am still owed £400 from the excess but that won't come back until the claim is finally settled. Right now the last I heard from my insurers was the Audi driver is lying his little arse off saying I drove onto the roundabaout and straight into him. So this looks like it will be going to court. Anyways - replaced the RangeRover with a Saab 9-5 as I needed something reliable with a big boot. Cue cynical laughter as the throttle body on the Saab promptly started acting up meaning its prone to cutting out without warning..... Gives an added spice to journeys... On the plus side I've landed a part time job that pays some money working as an assistant armourer for a firm that supplies weapons to re-enactor, film sets etc. The money is useful but it means working weekends so I've not been able to get over to work on the Militant. Right now the FFR Landrover is full of both the tools and equipment I was using plus the jerry can racks + related bits that need refitting so I think I need to go up to the old girl during the week - which I must be honest is a right PITA as no one else will be there and working at heights is a bit nervy alone. Oh well - such is life. I also need to get the A/A mount up there somehow - its a bit big for the Saab I think so perhaps emptying the FFR out might cope? Moderator Edit. Racist comments removed. The daughter Mk1 is getting married in 2 years time and when she does we will be looking to move out of London.
  24. Looking good Rob - nice to see the progress after time away. 🙂 Been grounded myself after first losing my car to a twat in an Audi last Oct - court case against him pending still - then having the throttle body on the replacement Saab go.... Got that sorted then found some work (that actually pays money!!) as an assistant armourer at weekends so I've not been over to my old girl since last Oct. Got the jerry can carriers to go back on and the support struts for the rear most nudguard on the passenger side. Looks like I may have to be going over week days in future which is a PITA as no one else will be there.
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