eddy8men

where was i ? out trying to make a few shilling to pay for this shindig, although i must say bob's credit terms are very favourable.

as long as i'm not uranus i'll go with that ! rick

bob i'm glad pete got a drive of the old girl, he's worked hard on it. i take it the muff couplings are now on and it's ready for a neutral turn or two on that lovely new concrete pad you put down rick

i should have known you knew what you were doing.

a bit academic now but doesn't dirk leegwater sell nos loyd carbs for 140 euro i thought you might have tried him first. anyway if you need any flathead parts give me a shout i've got a few bits left over. rick

thanks for posting up the clip pete, i can't think of a better way of spending money than running up a meteor. it was worth every penny :cool2: if the engine checks out after another thorough test run then it will be time to engage 2nd gear and move it around bob's yard a bit. i feel a neutral turn coming on ! rick

i'm at the same stage as you on my 24 stud rebuild, have you been using belcher for your parts. rick

Busted !

glad you like the lab coat mate, you'll all be wanting one soon :-D

we ran the engine up for the first time yesterday. here's the link to the youtube video (i'm the guy with the grin from ear to ear) [video=youtube;ZV-jzQRYaTo] rick

from memory they simply butt up. for a better look follow kevin powles thread on my old centaur resto, as kev's taken some pics of the hull with the outerr plates removed.

bob's right it was mostly 84mm carl gustav (known as a "charlie g") an infantry anti tank weapon, i know it was charlie g as the hull was full of parts of the rockets that the range staff had chucked in the tank when cleaning up the range area. a common practrice. as for the holes, like mike suggested i'll be using rebar welded in place and ground down. rick

i was in shrewsbury yesterday collecting a new starter motor for the cromwell and while i was down there i thought it was about time i picked up the turret for the churchill (nearly 3 years after i bought it). although the back has been badly shot up the rest was in great condition, i can't wait to start restoring it but the cromwell and t16 have to come first maybe later on in the year i'll make a start on it.

27 ton with 600 bhp to move it along :cool2:

that's the plan bill, i also wanted to take it to tankfest and YWE but i just don't think it will be ready in time and from past experience i've learned not to commit to shows where it's unrealistic to make it and besides i've enough pressure just getting it ready for W&P

got the new starter and fitted it at 7pm, then went for an engine start with no joy so chucked a bit of fuel down the carb/manifold (it's a wierd set up) and it fired up briefly which was good enough, so tomorrow if we get time we'll see if we can get it running properly :-D as for the main gun that is the last (i hope) stumbling block but i have a few leads i'm chasing up so i'm sure i'll come up with something that looks the part . rick

things are moving along quite nicely, although we have hit a few problems the most serious of which was the bearing on the starter collapsing so i'm off to collect another tomorrow. the good news is when we will fit it the engine will be ready to run :cool2:

the tracks are ready to fit and have been painted with my special light care and preservation fluid or as some might know it, any old crap i could find in the shed. which was a tin of roofing bitumen, contaminated diesel and a bit of black gloss ! they came out really well.

hi bill funny you should mention the churchill as i arranged today to pick the turret up from the fella that sold me the churchill nearly 3 years ago, it's taken me this long to get round to collecting it. i hope he doesn't charge me storage :wow: as for the t16 that is very nearly complete i'll get some more pics up this week. rick

last few pics of iraqi kit from my photo album, i wish i had taken more during my time on various tours but i never seem to get round to it (too busy playing volley ball) the first couple show what i think is a 23mm AA gun, loaded and ready to go. next is a water tanker with the worlds worst attempt at camouflage, i think it was a reo. the last pic shows an M 109 from my regiment that blew up on a fire mission, a charge bag caught fire when it was being loaded into the breach, luckily none of the crew were killed but a few got badly burned.

it's funny how the small things slow you down, i thought i would be done and dusted a fortnight ago and yet it's still not ready for sale. i think the trouble is i keep moving the goalposts and just can't help myself when it comes to restoring it, by the time i'm done it will be driving around :-D i bought the tracks a couple of years ago but have been using them under my churchill as a temporary tracked sled to move it around. now the time has come to put them back where they belong. getting them out from under 18 ton of churchill hull was not easy but they came out eventually and i was pleased with their condition although it took a lot of graft to free off, derust and paint them but it was worth all the effort.

hi mike thanks for the welding tips. i don't have any close up pics of the delamination but it's on the entry side of the hole, i'm going to the yard tomorrow so if i remember i'll take a close up pic of it. here's a pic that shows the extent of the damage caused by the shaped charged weapons to the churchill, although the holes are only 20 mm dia there's hundreds of 'em !

i'm glad you asked that question mike as i was wondering what method you would use to make a piece of steel armoured. my churchill has one or two holes from 84mm law and around some of the holes the steel which is 3 inches thick has delaminated into what looks like thin sheet less than a 1mm thick. is this the face hardening coming away ? thanks for the tips adrian, drilling from the soft side out is the way ahead. simple when someone shows you how to do it. rick

i've heard a few things about drilling holes in armour but i've not tried it myself yet. one tip was to heat the area until almost melting then knock a sharp punch in to make the hole, another tip was to use masonary drills instead of high speed steel but as i said i haven't tried either. anyone else know of another way ?

no worries pete, i've been meaning to go to bob's yard for a while so it's as good an excuse as any to go over this week. i'll put some pics up when i do. rick