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Interesting cracks Stefano ! Has it exploded a gearbox at some time ? Do you know this picture from the Canadian archives ? It's always nice to find a contract plate. Have you found any of those Ministry control M ^ marks on the cases or the frame ? They seem to have been common earlier in the war and then declined in use.

Restoration of the Dougie ? I reckon that it's perfect as it is. Just needs the belt dirtying down a bit.

Did the British ever share or sell photos on any scale, in the same way that the Germans seemed to, for instance after the fall of France ? It seems to have been common practice at that time to buy a pack of souvenir photographic reproductions. I bought a fairly unremarkable period photo that appears genuine of wreckage at De Panne and was surprised to find the identical shot in a French book.

Thanks Mark, interesting. Is the can dated ?

This is the only 'colour' that I could find in Norton's advertising - A Big 4 outfit doing its bit 'up country' ...and with a bare-breasted maiden in the background. Imagine what that did to poor DRs if the bromide ran out !

I quite agree Richard. My window on the world becomes much smaller when MLU is down.

The component manufacturers also made much of their part in the war effort. Dunlop :- Ferodo:- KLG:- Lodge :- Wonderful period stuff (anyone up for any more ?)

Taking into account recent postings, I fear for major problems at MLU at the moment.

Sorry Steve but with the price of scrap falling, they'll have to pay me to take a couple away.

Ian, that chassis looks far too nice to paint cow-sh1t brown ! The original Excelsior build date of 1942/43 and the photographs that I've seen of surviving original examples suggest that SCC No.2 brown would be the correct ex-works colour. This article gives some useful background to the reasons for a change to brown during the mid-war years :- http://www.wdnorton.nl/Colours.html

It has been discussed on MLU and seems to be good. Haven't tried it myself. http://www.class-five.com/~mlu/forums/showthread.php?t=147&highlight=rust+removal

It's sometimes difficult to separate the vehicles from the men who used them (and I'm not sure that we should be trying to !) Definitely Mechelen and definitely winter I would say, judging by the chimney smoke. That certainly looks to be St Rombouts Cathedral on the skyline.

Any chance of seeing some more pictures. Do the barracks look anything like this ? :- If so, they've now been pulled down to make way for the offices of Telenet, my Internet provider ! The great fear of British Servicemen in NW Europe after VE day was that they would be sent to the Far East. Thankfully, it all ended before most of them could go.

Both the drawing of and the restored example of the Heavy Utility seem to have had their disruptive camouflage based broadly on the same period photograph (which also appears in Vanderveen). The Pullman looks to have one of the worst possible uses of 'Mickey Mouse' disruptive. The dark upper surface is correct but the colour change on the trim line with just a token dip doesn't do much to break up the outline. Anyone restoring a vehicle like that would probably take some flak but it's authentic !

The lintel arrangement on the background building looks clearly Belgian to me. Mechelen (spelled 'Malines' by the French) is certainly a possibility but sometimes confused with Machelen which is now a suburb of Brussels close to the military airfield at Melsbroek / Zaventem which had a strong British presence. Everything points to post liberation and they're warmly dressed. The winter of 1944 /45 would seem most likely. Rich (in Belgium)

Enigma, I really think that your red Shell can is 1930 dated. Were they also made post-war ? As this is supposed to be a pre-war section, here's my 1939 dated Valor Actually I'm cheating because it is December 1939 - the same month (maybe) as my 16H

Is £1500 plus what you have to pay for a Ducati engine to start tuning these days or did you find a bargain ? I reckon you're looking at a fairly small market for the parts and someone who wants some of it would probably be happy with the whole lot. If it was my thing I'd jump at all those spares for a couple of hundred. Are the forks Marzocchis ? There must be somone who wants those ?

It is an ugly blasted thing with a gorgeous engine, isn't it ? I reckon it deserves a CZ motor !

I can understand why you need the engine, there are no road going Ducati singles left - they've all been converted for racing !

Maybe to send spam mails and dodgy cheques and double the money within three months ? Does 'ee mean Wipers ?

IWM O 838 has a few nice examples of 1939 / 40 BEF disruptive. It looks as if the base colour is the lighter, thus KG No.3 and that the darker overpaint is DG No.4. This would suggest that the 2 Div Crossed keys were applied after the camo which is not impossible as the insignia was chosen after the Battalions arrived in France.

My membership lapsed at the end of last year after not receiving a reminder. I had intended to renew but when I realised that I hadn't noticed for six months it occurred to me that I wasn't really taking advantage of membership anyway. A follow up letter to lapsed members might be a useful exercise.

Mike Starmer has examined and matched unexposed samples of KG No.3 and (probably) Light Green No.5 disruptive from my 1939 Norton which was abandoned in Belgium in 1940 and unused since. In addition to his modelling colour mixes, he analysed samples with the Vintage Paint Company who can now match with vehicle colours. Mike has also written an article for Rob van den Brink's WD Norton site. http://www.wdnorton.nl/Colours.html Khaki Green No. 3 is definitely the correct base colour. The suggestion is that Dark Green No. 4 was the preferred disruptive colour but my motorcycle was Light Green No.5 (quite a hastily applied diagonal type of overpainting, presumably applied in theatre). Vehicles at that time seem to have been delivered in KG No.3 and the camouflage applied later. I think that you can make your own choice there. Black and white photos are a difficult source due to the differing film types and correction filters used. Most of the 'official' photographs from 1939 - 1940 were taken on large format cameras with great attention paid to atmosphere in both composition and developing.

Nice pictures Joris. Does Stokhuyzen's studio still exist or are the original prints still in existence ?

The drilled helmet would have been a manganese steel one then. At some point, hardened mild steel was issued to the non-combatant services. These are the markings on my two :- Shell - WD - William Dobson & Son (Birmingham) I 1939 - HFO Liner - Helmets Ltd. 1939 - 7 Shell - ROco - Rubery Owen & Co (Darlaston) II 1940 - HX Liner - TTC - Teddy Toy 1940 - 7 The HFO and HX codes relate I believe to the steel batches. There is sometimes a date stamped on the stainless chinstrap lugs. I'd quite like to find a Mk1* (The modified Brodie) if anyone knows of one.