timbo

I had a great time being picked up by DROPS and towed around. Check out afv society forum for some pics.. I'm only involved around the fringes but all I can say is that the amount of work the AFV soc lads put in was astonishing, including one of them working right through the night to get things sorted. Agree the MVT seemed to let the side down but there were some notable exceptions and these were very much appreciated so thanks.. Problem with advertising was basically a cost thing given it was the first year it was just too much money to get as much coverage as it should really have had. Similarly there weren't many stall but stalls will only come when there's people and base don this year next year will be awesome. Glenns pyros were unbelievable and a bit too close for comfort on one occasion with some serious scorching on the back of the scimitar. In addition there was a scimitar being blown up and 2 cvrts colliding during the synchro driving display - how many shows do you see that at... See you next year - I'll be going for the week !

Ok, it's a fair cop on both price and getting in and out.. Having spent weekend inserting and extracting myself from a Sabre, I now have aches and pains in places I didn't know existed (and I'm 5'7") !

They are also of course more fun to drive, better looking, faster, and easier to fix....!

Before doing anything too radical I'd check the fuel filter again. If you've not got much fuel in and it's picking up all the crap in the tank you might end up going through 3 or 4 of them before it gets clean...

Erm, should this have a vid or some pics attached ?

AFV Society show at Dunchurch nr Rugby. Circa 120 vehicles expected including a LOT of CVRTs - not sure there'll be too many Pinzs though - sorry !

Here here (or hear hear ?)...!

Rob - superb, always fancied one of these but never had space to store it or anything to tow it with. I once got collared at an army dinner by an RA major who helped develop it and I kid you not he spent the best part of 2 hours telling me why it was such a fantastic artillery piece ! Now all you need is the tractor to go with it..

If you live in York the Elvington one is definitely worth a look. It is a prototype and has suffered somewhat from many years of being stood outdoors - the bins particularly are badly corroded. I would imagine if you go when it's quiet perhaps early morning weekday they would let you have a look over it...

For some reason I can't quite explain these vehicles remind me of something off Chuggington... (if you need it to be explained you just won't get it !) Good luck with the new purchase.

Were the swingfires from Strikers ? Always wondered how effective the Scorpion 76mm actually would have been if used in anger...

No not sad at all Chris - it is these little snippets that make pre owned vehicles interesting.. My Spartan still has a (very grubby) list of call signs inside it - including CET's and AVRE's so I guess an armoured engineer squadron.

I dont think I've seen one before - very nice...

what is the 4th one down - not the Seddon the one on the back ? Cant recognise it from this angle...

Large spoon with holes in... Rarely used but invaluable for recovering dropped sump plugs from drip trays.

Fraid not - was going to but will be going camping in Northern France instead, mostly pas de calais area, though maybe a bit further so hoping to visit some of the sites - Battery Todt, la Coupole etc.. Look forward to reading the report if you go..

Yes I did think about that but then what would I do with all my J60's !

Ignoring the wisdom or otherwise of these cuts (no politics please !) I read somewhere that vehicle numbers may be reduced by 40% from current. On this basis I'll be watching the Withams tenders most closely for the following: Warrior Chally 2 Foden DROPs (yes I know some already out) MRLS Wolf What would your choices be...?

Would agree air tools v useful esp chisel for getting rid of awkward nuts and bolts. But if you dont have access to a compressor then as a minimum an electric impact wrench can also save a lot of time. Cordless more convenient but corded more powerful...

Ok possibly going to get political but will TRY to keep it measured.. Opinion remains very divided about the bombing of Dresden, but if the argument is that the strategic bombing campaign should have slackened on the basis that a) the war was already won, and b) all the militarily important targets had already been destroyed then this should be applied to both sides - when the nazis knew the war was lost they actually INCREASED the rate of killing in the camps. Indeed the jews of Dresden who had escaped relatively lightly up to that point, were being prepared for deportation even as the bombs fell. If I was in a Sherman in Feb 45 then I'd be happy for any action to be taken that might shorten the war, even if in retrospect it turned out that it didn't. None of the above is in any way intended to lessen the horror of what happened to the civilian population, which was truly horrendous and which has haunted many bomber command veterans ever since. Whole books have been written on this, and lots of them, so we won't get the answer here but just my thoughts. Cheers Tim (from Coventry originally, now twinned with Dresden)

yeah ok - but as I say a good story is always worth revisiting !

Monty I thought it was just me ! I had thought I'd read about it but I couldn't find it either.. Maybe another forum (wash my mouth out....!) Guess it is just one of those perennial favourites being such a good story.. Cheers

What we really need now is the MV equivalent of Phil and Kirstie to help with this one...!

Particularly liked the one on the steps of the Reichstag... Really quite spooky.. Thanks

Just reading Robert Kershaw's book 'Tank Men' - don't know how it compares to other texts but certainly very few of the veterans quoted have anything good to say about either British or American tank designs of the period. In fact in one or two cases they even take the view that sending men to war in machines so visibly inferior was tantamount to murder ! Emotive stuff but I guess if you've seen enough of your mates brewed up that's going to have an impact.. One thing I hadn't realised is that there was a choice for the Americans and that the Sherman was chosen in preference to the Pershing (with a more capable 90mm gun). Presume this was to do with ease of manufacturing.. Great book by the way.