Adrian Barrell

This is a picture of what will (probably) be my last restoration, my Cromwell. I'll add it's interesting history later.

Seems to have a Notek blackout light as well.

Looks like an IH Loadstar and if the registration is genuine, it's a 1970. That's certainly in the ballpark.

Oops...! It was David Russells at Duxford, now with the Wheatcroft Collection. Must check before posting...:red:

That's the Budge Mk VII Crocodile now with Alan Cors in Virginia.

Alastair, I'll scan a pic in to show you it's current state but at the moment she is waiting her turn! It's not in too bad a condition, certainly nothing like the Sherman was but still needs full restoration.

Markheliops, couldn't have put it better myself!

That's an early M4A3 rebuilt with a later turret. Not uncommon in the US but very rare in Europe. Nice display.

Rubber can do more harm than steel if it's warm. In theory, you would be liable to pay for any damage done but unless you do aggressive or neutral turns, tanks generally only seem to mark the road surface and it soon weathers away. On a hot day, rubber will grip the surface and tear it off.

Mark, the tracks are original nos. When I bought them, in about 1992, they were easy to find, not so now! Nobody is currently making T51 flat rubber track afaik. Joop Stamen has commisioned some new T47 rubber chevron though I imagine it is a lot of money. I am intending to put my Sherman on to steel chevron in time.

The finishing touches are of course all the stowage, markings and such. I enjoy making the vehicle as complete as possible and the challenge of finding all of the correct stowage items makes it an ongoing task. The British Army published very comprehensive stowage charts and lists, what today would be known as CES. Finding these items 60 years on is interesting to say the least. Some things are almost impossible to find and I resorted to making them. Things like stowage bins and particularly the 4" bomb throwers on the side of the turret. These used a .303 balistite blank to project a smoke bomb and were fitted to early Shermans before the 2" bomb thrower became a standard fit in the turret. The stowage bins consisted of a turret bin for greatcoats and blankets, the rear bin for mainly track tools and the box for the 'First aid box, small'. These were all copied from original boxes, except the turret bin which was partly interpolated from the existing mountings and partly from photographs. There is a lot in a tank, some of which can be seen in the following pics. Since these were taken, I have managed to fill a few more of the obvious gaps. The 75mm rounds are all wooden projectiles in original cases. The total compliment is 97 rounds but not all are readily visible so I will restrict it to about 35. As an illustration as to the difficulties of finding some parts, the Sherman has two 4lb extinguishers fitted internally. They are a distinctive Kidde design with a pistol grip and are very hard to find now, when you do, they can be very expensive. I found my first one in Australia and had to post it home as I couldn't get it on an aircraft and the second came from the USA via ebay. The seller woudn't post it out of the US so it had to go to my sister who then sent it DHL, the US post office refusing to send it! Finally, she made her first rally, Debach 2004. Driving around the remaining perimeter tracks made all the hard work worthwhile.

The demand for armoured vehicles, particularly WW2, has been increasing for years. Some of that is people, not necessarily collectors in the traditional sense, buying just to 'have it' and keep it locked away but that is a small part of it. It was about the mid 90s I would say when they started getting beyond the reach of the man in the street. I'm very glad I got mine before then. If you really want a particular vehicle, you have to do your research and keep your ear to the ground. Kevin Ross's M5 Stuart sold on Milweb about 2001 for £6000 and a friend of mine bought a good, running M5 Halftrack last year that was advertised in the MVT greensheet for £5000. There are still bargains to be had now and again.

The other main parts of the turret are the cupola and of course, the gun assembly. The cupola doors had been cut out many years ago and allthough I managed to find the original doors, the ring itself needed the hinge bosses built up. I also fitted new bushes using plastic, the originals being similar to Metalastik bushes. This also applied to the pistol port in the side of the turret. I stripped the cradle and shield down into the various parts, blast cleaned and painted, all very straightforward other than the weight of the pieces. I reassembled the pieces ready to refit, including the tube and ring. I also fitted the recoil shield which needed a lot of work . The shield was to prevent a crew member being behind the gun on recoil. A call to the crane again for refitting the gun assembly. Once in, there is not much room in the turret for fitting out, so I tried to do as much as possible inside beforehand. That completed the main parts, all that was left was finishing.

Next thing to do is the turret. As with most restorations, the first thing to do is dismantle it. As previously mentioned, the breech ring was missing so it was a simple matter to pull the tube out from the bottom. Both the mantlet and the shield are held in with slot head countersunk screws, the mantlet using four 5/8" NF and the shield lots of 3/4" NF. These can be tricky to unscrew! I made a large bit from an impact extension to fit in my 1" drive air spanner. Luckily every screw came out though I did have to re-make the tool a couple of times. The turret did not require a great deal of work as there was almost no damage. I replaced the bracket for the smoke bomb throwers and rear box mounts but the rest of the work was limited to the insides. Some of the stowage fittings needed work but the main thing was the Thomson SMG magazine clips. These had all but rotted away so I removed the holder, made all new clips (after making tooling) and rivetted them back before refitting the holder. With the turret ready for blasting, I cleaned off as much of the excess paint as possible and some writing became visible. With a bit of work the name Gainsborough became clear. I'm still not sure but I believe this indicates post war service with 79th Armd. Div as they were using DD tanks with names such as Grimsby and Gosport painted in the same type in the same location. With the DD tanks named after ports, it seems reasonable to assume the non DD tanks might be named after inland towns......? I blast cleaned the turret in two goes, inside first this was simply to make it more manageable. Finish painted. With the turret ready, I fitted it to the ring. The two are held together with 40 1/2" bolts and located on two short dowels.

None taken! :evil:

Adam, please do get in touch, I've been playing with Shermans in particular for many years now and I'm sure I can help you.

Well spotted Joris! No, it is not mine, it was a job for a collector. We had to restore an M50 hull back to M4A4 standard. We built a manipulator to enable rotation of the hull for all the welding. As to why are they white inside, it's purely for visibility inside. British tanks were generally silver but American tanks have always been white. Some people paint them off white or even cream having matched the paint to some nos part but 60 year old paint, even in boxes, tends to yellow over time. They were white when new!

:tup::

Yes, commercially, we are putting a new floor, bulkhead and sponsons in a Ram as well as making parts for same. We are also doing a lot of work on an M10 (my old one) and various turrets with more projects to come in the new year hopefully.

That's a good question Steve..... I'm not sure to be honest. I could never have afforded to pay someone to do the work, so I might have just done the minimum to get it going but I suspect I would have thought it to be a project too far.

Thankyou sir!

Could be a manifold gasket leak if it's on the outside of the head. If it is leaking at the head joint, it's likely the liner and/ or head are damaged. My first thought would be exhaust gasket. Keeping the exhausts tight was a problem in service. All Centurions had a 4B with the AVRE having a 4BH which had a hydraulic pump fitted.

Regarding the loading of tanks, I agree 100%, the only safe place to be and indeed the best place from the point of view of visibility is as far from the tank as is practical. I would stand in the back of the Diamond T. Having said all that, I think Martin is guiding Jim off the trailer.

The V1 used a pulse jet and fired in a series of pulses. It had one moving part, the inlet valve assembly. The ram jet has no moving parts and fires continuously but requires a high speed to run at all.