N.O.S.

Just let them try and stop you :cool2: You're right - it only takes one time like that to make it all worthwhile.

Surely it's not what you discuss - but the way you discuss it?

Yeah, it's all a load of hydraulics.

Good call, Rob. But they've moved it! The link below should work: http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/publications/manualsandguides/vehicletestingmanualsandguides.htm Tony

No, go straight to the dangers of buying cheap ballast with chalk inclusion :cool2:

But you can always drop the bucket into the blacktop - one of the Volvo 4400s at a quarry I was running at the time dropped its rear-mounted ripper tines when a hose burst - the resultant braking was ........ quite spectacular

Aha - thanks for that, Wayne. Looks like the fibre's main application is in reducing shrinkage cracks, any additional mechanical strength is minimal - article says it does not replace use of structural reinforcing (e.g. rebar). A friend of mine uses fibre mix for everything now (weighbridge slabs, workshop floors), but I'm not so sure he is getting as much benefit from it as he thinks.

Are we right in thinking that tank did the dirty deed? Was it perhaps being towed and somehow overtook the M.A.N.? (but no sign of A frame), or maybe the two met at a junction?

Can we read anything into the fact that the 'pro's have so far made no comment about the use of reinforcing fibres? :whistle:

Alternatively you could enlist in the Army

The small mix suppliers will put fibre reinforcing (chopped glass fibre) into the mix too at nominal extra cost - well worth it! Depending on stability of ground I might use rebar as well - or the odd scrap landrover axle etc etc

Oh, my. Well either it does - or does not - have a secondary braking system. If it does have one, does it conform to the performance requiremnets (if there are any) of a secondary system. And what exactly are those requirements I wonder? How do you then satisfy DVLA that it does have a suitable secondary system? It might not cost too much (depending if you can find one with an interest in old MVs ) to get a consulting engineer with automotive experience to inspect the vehicle and write a brief repoort to the effect that it does have a secondary system. DVLA would have to think carefully before ignoring this report. There are plenty of independent consulting engineers out there, if only you can find the right one for the job. I found a great local guy to witness pressure tests and issue test certificates for 4 x Scammell air tanks I made up. Not expensive, and it was well worth the ear-bending about the quality of my welding :blush:. Have you tried getting DVLA to reveal the evidence they have used to form their opinion that it doesn't have a secondary system? Best of luck!

Those first two photos are something else, it helps to convey the enormity of the destruction.

Have I got the right thread here?

Sounds like you will be eager to get Theo Barten's second book in the Frituur Zorro series - focusing on German and Italian vehicles in post war use. His first book shows a Fammo in use as a French garage truck. I recently was able to inspect in France a very rare Horsch 4x4 survivor which had been used as a garage recovery truck - the original front-mounted engine had been replaced with a winch and a replacement engine installed in the rear position (the transnmission layout allowed for these vehicles to be built with either front or rear engine drive). The owner is busy returning it to original spec, what a job!!

So many cats - so few recipes.

If I win this one, will it be by just a _ _ _ 's whisker?

Taken on board, Steve. I guess nobody could develop a side - loading breech due to the forces generated within the barrel, but it would have made the gun so much more compact.

Martha was begining to have second thoughts about letting her boyfriend share her passion for birdwatching "That's a mother of a telescope, Robin!"

If you'd left it with your cusror poised over the Bid Now button on the Sherman on Ebay that could have been a CAT ASTROPHY

I understand better now, thanks Alien. You obviously know your rounds from your bucket teeth, and your barrel from your dipper arm!

Why does the size of turret ring restrict gun size? Surely just by simply installing a heavier duty slewing ring of similar size the greater forces associated with a bigger gun could be accommodated? A tank is only an excavator with a gun for a bucket after all :-D I've probably missed a fundamental principle of tank design here

Just make sure you talk to the right people, Chris. I chanelled my enquiry through DTI (as recommended in the official advice on imports) and was advised that I could bring in replica USAAF bombs from the USA - they even gave me the relevant Commodity Code of "XXXXX - Other items made of plastic" for the sender to declare on the documentation. The reality is of course that - if inspected - my consignment would be seized by HM Customs and destroyed. Took me the best part of 3 days on the phone (well it felt like that!!!!) to get confirmation of this. You need to seek clarification from HM Customs (not as easy as it sounds), as it is their staff who will enforce the law. Impossible to speak direct to firearms officers who take the decisions.

Great idea, guess you could have a few Scammell Coffee Pots there too for those who don't drink T?

Thanks Steve - very interesting clutch arrangement!