Jessie The Jeep

LED's etc from http://www.farnell.com Mail order, usually next day delivery. Steve

OK, I got daylight for some photos today, actually too much daylight. The sun was low and very bright shining straight down my drive, making it difficult to see normal car indicators, never mind the jeep ones. Normal light should be ok. First of all, the front sidelights which are 5 white LED's each side. and the rear sides which also have 5 LED's each side. Next a picture of the 7 rear LED indicators, 'though with the sun shining directly into the light housings, they don't show up too well in the photo. and finally, with the magic of an animated GIF image, my front indicators. Steve

Two major highlights for me..... Buying the jeep in April, and taking it to Normandy, France in July. One major surprise this year too, brake failure in France while heading rapidly towards a roundabout!!! Fortunately I missed everything else on the roundabout and stopped safely. It was also on the last day of the holiday so didn't spoil the trip. Steve

After seeing Cripp's indicator modification, I decided to modify my original idea and keep the sidelights in addition to fitting indicators. Whether they are legal in that position, I'm not worried. I'd rather indicate illegally than be splatted by a big truck that didn't know where I was going. When they ask about indicators at MOT time, I'll wave my arm out the side. Since my jeep is 24 volts, I used voltage regulators to drop the LED's and flasher circuit to 5 volts. I went for a bit more visibility on the indicators and added 5 ultra high bright ( 5500mCd ) Yellow LED's, together with 5 White (9500mCd ) LED's to replace the sidelight bulbs. They were mounted in parallel rows on a PBC that fitted into the back of the light housing, held in place with a couple of dabs of hot melt glue. Here they are from the front. The rear light uses the rectangular slit to house 7 Yellow LED's and 5 Red ( 8300mCd ) LED's for the rear sidelights. A 555 Timer IC is used to flash the Yellow LED's with a DPTP Centre Off switch in the dash next to the choke. I'll try and get some pictures at the weekend as the garage is a bit dark to get pictures in the evening. All components were purchased from Electronics suppliers, Farnell.com Steve

Bah Humbug!!!!

Jeeps have more pulling power than Rudolph! Steve

Who'd have thought Santa was an MV fan? Steve

Lynne and I saw Jimmy about the dance at the MVT meeting so we should see you there. Steve

I was wondering what other MV owners do with their vehicles over the winter months now that the chill has arrived and open sides and canvas roof seems less of a novelty. I'm still driving my jeep, at about once a week, to keep all its joints from feeling the cold :lol: and because it's fun, 'though is gets a hose down once back home to remove any salt it may have collected. If you store your vehicle unused over the winter, do you take any steps to see it will sleep through the winter chill ok until spring, ie draining any fluids, disconnecting batteries etc? Steve PS Tim(1) we know what you do to jeeps over the winter months and I don't believe that is the best way to care for them.

Anyone remember the BBC TV series "Secret Army" back in the 1970's? I once sat on the tube beside the actor that played the Luftwaffe Officer who was in the series for a while. If I remember correctly, the character was shot by a firing squad for doing something that the SS officer didn't approve of, though I can't remember the complete story of that episode. Steve

My jeep just squeezes next to my aircraft trailer in the garage, with about 1 1/2 inches each side. Steve

Back in 1994, I found some pieces of the original 100th Bomb Group B-17 "Hang The Expense", that I based my flying model on. The pieces remained in a ditch at the edge of the field since November 1943, where the plane crashed. In 1994, the ditch was cleaned out and ploughed into the field. The pieces were just lying on the top of the soil. They included pieces of wing skin, fuel pipe and plexiglass. One of the pieces was mounted in the nose of my model and now still flies, 62 years after leaving the Boeing factory. Steve

We keep telling the southerners that, so they don't come up here!!!! Steve

Cat sick is almost as good. Steve

I've got the real thing, but he won't sit still long enough to get a picture. Steve

From what I remember about the highway code book, it only covers right hand drive vehicles. I can do all of those, not that anyone else on the road knows why I'm flapping my arms etc, but if the canvas is up, nobody would see any signals anyway. If I simply reversed the signals for the left seat, they are still less likely to be seen. Following drivers sitting on the right of their vehicles, looking diagonally, still have their vision blocked by the canvas. My arms aren't long enough to stick out far enough! Steve

What are the Permitted hand signals for a left hand drive vehicle on UK roads??? Steve

There's only two rolls of paper in the whole house, and you know which rooms they are in!!!! Steve

This is a job I intend to do over the winter. You can actually buy Orange/yellow LED clusters mounted in a normal bulb bayonet fixing for direct replacement of indicator blubs, which is what I may end up using. Steve

Yeh yeh, well if the replies, like Oddballs Tiger, are "a piece of junk", what do you expect!! I've had nothing but "positive waves" about replies since I first posted Steve

Nice pictures, but I don't think they represent a typical tank crew!!!! Steve

I see, so you have a leather fettish?? Can't blame you. I can't be separated from my B-3 jacket, especially now the snow is on the way. Steve

Thanks for that. Anyone got any tank crew photos?? Especially if you have one with leather flying clothing, but anything will do. Steve

In the film "Kelly's Heros", if my memory serves me correctly, Oddball is wearing a pilots A-2 Leather Summer flying jacket. Was this usual clothing for tank crews, or just because it suited the character in the film? If they were issued to tank crews, did they have any particular insignia, like the Army Air Force patch on aircrew jackets? Did they have a similar leather name tag stitched to the left breast, and were there any other distinguishing markings and insignia?? Off you go guys, put my mind at rest! Steve

My bedroom wall was done with a roller. Will a picture of that do?? Steve