simon king

Airborne trailers are often seen in use by RAF Mountain Rescue teams, but I have never seen a picture of the wooden bodied GS type in RAF Service. 

The type 47A-29 switchboard for lights and ignition was used in many softskin vehicles such as Bedfords, Fordsons, Humbers, Morris Commercial etc.

Professionally produced waterslide transfers to replace the original silkscreened lettering on these instrument panel units which tends to wear off with use and can cost an arm and a leg to have replaced. .

Photo shows transfers applied to restored unit. Each set includes the option for either CAV logo or CAV in capital letters as shown.

Cost £6.50 with additional sets sent at the same time for £5.00

Isn’t it more likely to be a conversion of the obsolete Morris C8/MG 2pdr Anti tank gun portee?

See controltowers.co.uk

That Visual Control Room is a post war addition to the tower. The original VCR would have been a square glass box like that at East Kirkby

You can’t save everything, but if you think that the money and manpower spent so far could have better helped to put some wings on the Hampden, Brigand, Wallace and Southampton fuselages, or contributed towards the (admittedly private) Whitley and Stirling projects, then yes why spend so much on the recovery and attempted stabilisation of flaking and fizzing aluminium. 

1 hour ago, john1950 said:

I wonder if they were heading for the Dam in Derbyshire.

Wonder how they’re going to use the Apache.........

Sounds silly, but had you thought of buying the Thunder Models 1/35th scale kit of the TRCU trailer? Gives you a 3-D scale representation of how the trailer fits together. Much clearer than a drawing. They also do both early and later Goose Neck versions. 

The Army Wheels in Detail No 18 on the Scammell Pioneer you referenced in your first post has 1/72nd scale drawings of the early trailer but not the later goose neck trailer.

Look on the bright side, stick your stomach out and you’ve got cruise control. Been there; got the XXL t-shirt.

There is an IWM series of films on the 51st Highland Division preparing for D-Day. There is a fleeting image of a Phantom WSC towing a 10cwt GS trailer making its way down to the port of embarkation. 

I may have a lead to see if there are any unofficial photos of Pip Roberts’ WSC but don’t hold your breath. It may before some months before I see my lead again.

Peter,

have you not got one of those right angle electric drill extension thingies. Got mine from Machine Mart I think. The sort of thing you only use once in a blue moon, but in those circumstances it’s a godsend.

There is one on sale on Milweb at the moment but it requires some work to take it back to the original configuration

Yes it has, sadly

2 hours ago, LarryH57 said:

Hopefully SCC.2 Brown?

Sadly many mid war British MVs are just painted green, as its easier!

I know of at least 3 MWs currently being restored in SCC2😉

Thanks Peter. That’s useful.

I don’t think these GS trailers had any lighting at all when first built so there were variations, not only in how and where the lights were fitted but also how the trailer lights were connected to the towing vehicle. 

Some seemed to have the cable coming out through a hole drilled in the plate at the front of the drawbar. These then had  “park socket” for the cable on the side of the drawbar. In others the trailer cabling seemed to start at a female connector half way down the drawbar and it was linked to the towing vehicle by a separate cable with male connectors at either end. I guess fitters just drew what parts they needed from stores.

Be interested to see how the convoy light was originally fitted , Pete. I used the middle of those three tabs for which nobody seems to know the original purpose but I have no idea if that is correct or not

Hi Pete,

The angle may be part of the T plate mount, although originally mine was just flat bar welded to the rear face of the corner post. Different manufacturers may have done it differently though. The two tabs are for the two handbrake return speings as Hoseman says

Interesting to see the cast iron sectional water tank, more often seen next to a railway line to fill up steam engines

1 hour ago, Tony B said:

And you wonder why Tanning wasn't allowed in most cities? 😣

Wasnt urine used in the process as well?

I used Connolly Hide Care Cream on my jerkin which was unused/unissued but dried from years in storage. Connolly leather used in Rolls Royces so I assumed it was good stuff and it certainly fed and softened the leather. As ever test on small patch first though.

See this thread

http://hmvf.co.uk/topic/7180-humber-8cwt-pu/

Although this is an 8cwt FFW, i think the same principle was intended for the Morris and Bedford 15cwt FFWs. Canvas tilt and frame is removed from truck, extension legs are added to the elongated front and rear frames and the additional canvas aprons are attached to the bottom of the tilt. Pegs are used to secure aprons to the ground. The bottom of the apron may be cuffed for stones etc. to further secure the bottom edge.

The metal channels attached to the frames rest on the body top edge and also hold the frames in place four-square when used as a stand-alone shelter.

36 minutes ago, Richard Farrant said:

Simon,

What you need is a Makers parts list for your particular Contract No. This would confirm its original spec.

Not mine Richard, enough on with my MWR!.....and there are about 7 different editions of the parts list for the MW.

A 15cwt FFW will need some factory fitment of gearbox PTO, auxiliary dynamo, shielded ignition suppression and bond straps etc so in retrospect i guess the factory would need to designate the chassis differently. Odd that they just didn’t designate it as C8FFW or C8R though.

The differences between the two dataplates (note position of WD on the bottom line  and the depth of the full stop pressing) and the style of pressed lettering (cf Dymo tape) suggest these are created individually or in batches on an Addressograph type machine. Perhaps the GB instead of GS is a simple typographical error, in much the same way as somebody stamped MWQ on a Bedford chassis instead of ???. 75 years later such errors assume far greater significance than ever anticipated.