Sean N

Rosie, what are you doing up at 03:45 - still choosing hats? :wow:

Thanks Lee, all is fine today. There was definitely an issue; I suspect it was hanging at a third party file that wasn't being served correctly. Might be why it's not showing then!

Well I'm looking at the local weather forecasts and I think Rosie's just got a sunny disposition. It'll be fine whatever the weather!

...which about ties in with the 8.5 mentioned above, and to be honest all these figures (except oily's) tie in with my pastexperience of R types. Oily, you sure you weren't driving a diesel?

Every time I go into the eBay classifieds over the last day or two, the page gets half loaded (all the posts shown but adverts / banners or sidebar not showing fully) then the page freezes, have to use task manager to close it. Three different computers running two different OSs so it's not the computer.

I get 10-12 out of the RL driven fairly carefully at 35 - 38 max, 14 maybe on a very good run (no stops no hills), well down into single figures in 4wd, and it's a flatbed with the later engine well maintained and in good tune.

Fingers crossed, the BBC local weather are predicting fine and dry conditions for the weekend!! (Hope I haven't jinxed it now...:blush:)

Jack, Although it's in advance, many many congratulations - the last one was terrific and this'll be even better. Ignore the naysayers, let it slide; no point in letting them take the edge off your moment - everyone important's on board, authorities included, and it's a great achevement you can be seriously proud of. Sad that I can't bring a vehicle, but I'll be there with the camera so smile everyone - though I suspect you will be anyway . All the very best of luck for the weekend, see you all there I hope! Sean

When you think about it, very little force should be needed to retain the liner in place. Hopefully the friction between piston / ring assembly and liner should be minimal otherwise you would have considerable wear problems and hot spotting / picking up. Wet liners are often only retained by the pressure of the head on the flange at the top and they don't move around (with some notorious exceptions!)

Yes, they did. I never pinned down the dates but roughly late '54 / '55. There are also some very early ones that don't have the cupola in the cab roof, and there are differences in the style of the office body. I was going to take a flier on '53 but wasn't brave enough! You said that, not me! It looked as if it had a 700 headlamp with the civvy surround (normally chrome) front left and an FV headlamp with the FV surround front right, but maybe it's just the photo (or my eyes) Have a look to see if it has a full flow (modern style) oil filter or a bypass filter (the one fed by two pipes).

Snake oil.

That is much less the case with the office bodies; they're somewhere around a ton heavier so there's plenty of weight on the back. And everything's horrible on wet cobbles! Ray's quite right though, those tyres (commonly known as bargrips) are never going to be as good on tarmac as a road tyre because the design's biased toward off-road use; it'll be the same with any period military tyre, and to a certain extent even with modern ones. You can use road tyres - normal truck tyres - or a modern off-road tyre; depends how important originality /appearance is to you. Personally I never had an issue with any of my K9s running bargrips, and to be honest in a top heavy 4 ton 1950's truck with un-assisted brakes and no power steering are you really going to be pushing it to the limit? Again as Ray says, just take your time and take care & you'll be fine. It looks a really nice one, you must be pleased with it. Fairly early by the looks of it. Is it really an RAF one? And has it got odd headlights or is that just my eyes?!

I've never had any issues with matt paint. What makes the paint matt is an agent added to the paint which increases the surface roughness of the paint and changes its refractive index. The paint itself isn't any different, as long as you're comparing like with like. As far as I know there's no reason to believe that a matt paint should inherently be any more permeable to water than the equivalent gloss. I'd have thought that a good paint system, well applied, should be effective at rustproofing irrespective of whether it's matt or gloss. Certainly I've never had issues with matt systems, but I have had frequent issues with paint applied (not by me) over unkeyed gloss finishes. If it were me I would (1) get rid of as much rust and rusty metal as possible by mechanical means, (2) use an acid rust converter to make sure any remaining light surface rust is killed, (3) etch prime, (4) zinc phosphate prime, (5) primer surfacer if needed (6) guide coat then flat back if needed, (7) as many topcoats as needed

I have a pair of Binoculars, Prism No.2 Mk II with graticules 1/2 deg apart and 1/4, 1/2 and 1 deg high, made by Kershaw, 1943. Who would have used these and what for? Were they standard issue or particular to any specialism or branch of the service?

If we're being really pedantic it's got the wrong body as well, but I don't think it matters; UD isn't claiming to be a factually accurate work on military history, it's a drama and they've got it close enough for jazz.

But does anyone know the truck... ???

Saw this briefly on Upstairs Downstairs the other day. I came close to buying this truck several times, and last saw it in the early to mid '90s in a scrapyard in Verwood - really pleased to see it survived. Anyone on here own it, or know who does?

Robin, how are you attaching it at the moment, and are there no photos on the interweb anywhere? I don't know much about these but looking at photos on the web they all look as though they have some form of clamping system with three clamps either side of the bed.

Jack, if you need a hand feel free to ask, I'm only over in Poole.

I suspect there are a lot of British softskins out there; there were plenty of them around in the '70s, '80s and '90s and they don't seem so common now; my guess would be a lot of stuff that was original or first restored then is out there now awaiting a restoration or second restoration.

No, can't see 'em, Jack, just red crosses.

Yes, some really interesting stuff there, thanks Bernard

Some named vehicles in the photo collection Bernard's just posted (http://vmartois.forumactif.fr/t448-photos-en-vrac), mainly just stencilled capitals and mostly on tanks; I spotted 'Dillinger', 'Finalist', 'Dingbat', 'Cupid', 'Agnes IV' (half track; wonder what happened to the other three - IV was missing the front axle!), 'Ink Spots', 'Snookie' (on a Weasel), 'Mid-Forceps' (on a medic half-track), 'Chemin Des Dames' (??? - some letters obscured) and 'Romilly'

Andy, whenever I've had a problem with stuck brakes in the past the following has always worked: 1. Free up adjusters if possible and back them off fully 2. Get very large hammer, preferably nylon or rawhide or at least copper rather than steel. Tap drums and backplates hard and sharp in several places. If you can't get at the drum, hit the nave of the wheel. Don't hit repeatedly in the same place and don't beat the hell out of it - you don't want to damage or bend anything and if you do the cast drum may well crack. The idea is similar to tapping the eye a ball joint pin is fitted to to release it - a sharp rap will make the drum flex slightly which makes the rust let go, particularl if the adjusters are off so the return springs are trying to help you. I'm not familiar with GMCs, but if the brake drums are the type where you can put a forcing screw in to jack them off the hub, you can take the wheels off and try that, forcing gradually and tapping as you go - again, back the adjusters off fully first if possible.

Wikipedia claims 'The Juvaquatre was heavily inspired by the German Opel Olympia, a car which Louis Renault had been impressed by during a 1935 visit to Berlin (consequently the Juvaquatre, particularly early models, bore a strong resemblance to the Olympia).' Kadett and Olympia are very similar but the radiator grille / cowl is much more upright and rounder