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Cornishbloke

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Posts posted by Cornishbloke

  1. I work on thirty miles an hour going past in the dark! I see yours is a box body like mine, and I haven't seen any photos of that variant having black applied. I don't know why, maybe they just didn't take photos of them. You do see MKs with workshop bodies and two colours, so again it might be down to the unit. It's the same with small trailers and ground equipment - sometimes they are left green others they are disrupted.

     

    Just go with the flow - use and add to the natural shadows (wheel arches and the gap between cab and body) and bear in mind that the idea is just to break up the straight lines. Camouflage is a massive subject all on its own, you only have to look around the world at different countries' interpretation to see how many ideas there are. Have a look on the net for pictures that might help. I can only think of two rules - keep a wheel the same colour and don't make the vehicle look like a tiger.

     

    Look forward to a picture of the finished vehicle.

     

    Cheers

     

    Richard

  2. Hi

     

    I have an RB44 which never seems to have had black applied. Having said that I spoke to an ex artilleryman who said that they arrived green and the black was applied at unit level. It must depend on what that particular unit had as a policy.

     

    In terms of where the lines went, a friend used to paint vehicles for Alvis and his advice was to be bold and make sure that the black wasn't too "fiddly". It is better to have one thick patch rather than a couple of thinner stripes. He also used to work in opposites, so that if the front N/side was painted black then the rear O/side would be but the front O/side and rear N/side would be green. He did the Scorp for me and it looked perfect. Interestingly the Alvis policy was to fit all pioneer tools, brackets, jerricans etc. and spray the lot in situ.

     

    As for the ceremonial vehicles, he was at Windsor whilst they were preparing for a Royal visit. The gate guard ( a Saladin I think) was attacked by two or three soldiers with a 5 litre tin of paint and some two inch brushes. They painted rust, moss, the lot in about half an hour. From about thirty feet it was acceptable.

     

    Finally I was at a parade in Weymouth some years back and there was a Lightweight that had been restored. It was immaculate - red wheel nuts, white wheel nuts, sprayed camouflage - a really nice job. Parked next to it was an in service Parachute Regiment 109 which towed their display trailer. This thing looked as if it had been dragged from a hedge - flaking paint at least an eighth thick, black peering through the faded green, digs and dents and a couple of pop riveted patches over the worst.

     

    Just shows - best advice is to do what you think is right. It's a broad spectrum and no-one will really be able to tell you it's not correct anyway!

  3. Hi I have grease coming out of the front of the housing for the towing eye on a Mk 2 Sankey and would like replace the internal seals.. It looks as if there is a seal housing as there is a circular, bolted cover around the exit. Before I take this off, is there a very large spring in the housing that is under compression or will the whole thing disassemble easily?Regards Richard

  4. Thanks Iain . Staged a test with a friend this evening and after a couple of hiccups established very clear Comms. The initial problem was that I could hear but as soon as I keyed the pressel it squeaked and howled through the handset. Turning the engine on to get full volts cured it and contact clear at 5 watts. I need to look carefully at the batteries as the do not seem to hold a charge.

     

    Exam went OK - think I did enough to pass so waiting for RSGB to moderate and let me know.

     

    Cheers

     

    R

  5. Hi Iain. - having stripped out and recycled some of the unused cables I only needed to make up two coax leads. I think it's working as it tunes up and low power transmission gets the red light going. Only thing is that there is a permanent mechanical sound which I think may be the fan. A bit noisier than I expected - however I have no direct experience to compare. There wasn't anything on 6m tonight so difficult to tell whether every thing was ok. Will take it to the radio club tomorrow (Intermediate test night) and see how we do.

     

    Cheers

     

    Richard

  6. Thanks Iain - I've tried NOS but it seems difficult to get the length. The RB44 wasn't that common and I'm adapting the fit a little so the best solution seems to be to make up cables that I can fix in place to make it neat. I was stunned at the cost of cable - £80 for 25m ! although this would be more than enough and I could probably recoup some of the cost by selling the remainder. The RG58 is easier and cheaper.I suppose in the overall cost of the project I'm being a little oversensitive but I thought I'd see whether there were cheaper options.RegardsRichard

  7. @ Ian - I think you are partly right - there is a filter unit on the front LHS which uses the ARFAT support plate hence my feeling that BMETS only had one 353 installed. However the front LHS external antenna support has been used and is fed by cables from the cab. I believe that this is the remnants of a GPS system or the tracking unit for the radio sonde. Although the BMETS system is actually a commercial system with some encryption, I doubt I will be able to get anything. The antenna for BMETS is a strange solid square thing that is ground mounted and independent of the vehicle. I have seen a BMETS picture which shows a fairly heavy YAGI on the top of the mast, but I am planning to use it mainly as a support for HF wire antennas. I may well use the rear RHS antenna support for an HF whip and connect that either to a 320 or the 321 using a TURF mounted in the vicinity. Much like you I am interested in the radio side and to a certain extent using the truck as a platform for this. M6 at the moment, 2E0 exam coming up in a fortnight!@ Ferret - it is a surprisingly flimsy office cabinet with about an A4 footprint and slightly more than A4 high. It is lockable but definitely not something that would be used to house classified documents as its construction is no stronger than a filing cabinet. I'll photograph mine tomorrow.@Majorweld - I'll drop you a PM about how the bits go together and post some photos here to help. As far as I know BATES is not completely stand alone as it receives information from sources like BMETS to assist in the calculations needed for indirect fire. What I don't know is how this information is disseminated. It may be that the information about this and fire missions is passed through a radio data link and then entered manually by the operator or it could be that the information goes directly into the BATES kit itself. The computer itself is probably programmed to carry out the calculations independently, and I know that there is a button type keyboard which is used rather than a QWERTY. Each button represents a gun and when you press it it calculates the parameters for that gun.

  8. Hi @ ferretmk1. Two Richards with RB 44s is confusing! I don't have a field chest - the box at the front on the floor is actually a printer. Massive thing, built like an outhouse. I have a smaller one from eBay which looks as if it would fit majorweld's tray. My racking is virtually identical in terms of the structure but has slightly different fittings. I assume this is deliberate, for example I have the stand and flat top like the printer stand but I don't have the shock mounts or the fittings for the paper reel. The holes are drilled though. Will post more pics tomorrow.

  9. Took some photos of mine - it's a work in progress but the outline is there. You can see how the antenna mounts, ARFAT and TUAM connect. I can't see similar fittings at the rear so I would imagine that the rear options are for HF rather than VHF, I've also attached the basics of the antenna system for the 321 - I fit the connector to the mast with the two arms of the dipole off it, usually in inverted V, length according to the schedule on the top of the TURF. Seems to work fairly well, certainly on receive, but have managed local transmission on LP. Haven't tried the VHF yet. Richard

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  10. Hi

     

    I have an RB44 with a BMETS shelter on the back. I'm in the process of getting the radios fitted and wondered where on the vehicle the external earth and counterpoise would attach. There is a huge earth spike and sledgehammer stored in the rear door but no where obvious to attach it. Any help would be appreciated.

     

    Richard

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