N.O.S.

Can't see what's under all that old cosmoline packaging mate, is there a part number label on it?

So, by the time you've caught up with all the posts we'll expect a few posts from you about October time? :-D

:rofl::rofl::rofl:With a can of that spray-on mud for the computer screen!

OK Rob, how did you arrive at your blue route-march lines? Are they your 'best estimate' of the route taken? I've been trying to work out the approximate route for 1st Norfolks on 2nd Sep 1918 into and around Beugny without any luck - no map ref.s to go on or anything :confused: Nice maps by the way. Any ideas if the trench maps now availaable on CD in 3-D form (showing ground contours graphically) can be reproduced in publications? Tony

The wifey went to W&P once but it wasn't really her thing...........

Gee, whatever floats your boat :rofl:Nice clean transfer box and scullery, I mean bilges!! Where's all the lub oil and diesel gone??

.....between the following: a 1946 LST (Landing Ship, Tank), the Christmas Island Hydrogen Bomb Tests, a Steam Paddle Tug and a Scammell Pioneer? Answer - www.mqwebmaster.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/jha/story_so_far2.htm

Can you downrate a cart by cutting part way through the wooden spokes? :??? I seem to remember someone downrated a MK series by removing the helper springs from the rear springs - or did they cut the helper spring brackets off?? Thought I'd read it on the forum way back :confused: Still seems a bit drastic, must be an easier way.

Yes that is horrible, even with the happy pills. But do spare a thought for poor Grasshoppeer, he has a WLF transfer box hanging from his neck :sweat:

Curved front wings = Series 3, angular front wings = M1A1 series 5 (soft top). TTM will advise, but I think the Jersey ones were M1A1 like TTM's and Mark's

Tony, Also the Ward laFrance Model 1000 Series 3 (closed cab) was built in 1942 (365 units) solely for Lend-Lease Nations (all went to Great Britain). Tony

On the website detailing the ship's log, www.pbs.org/odyssey/odyssey/20001117_log_transcript.html there is a real video link under the title but I cannot play it for some reason. You never know, it might just show them! Note there should be a _ in the gaps between 17 and log, and between log and trans

How about a set of Jeep HANDRAULIC wipers? You can 'accelerate and see', but not 'change gear and see' :-D

Well rather than leave this up in the air, it seems all the vehicles and equipment were abandoned on the island after the tests. As to whether the two Constructors are still there, this is as far as I have been able to get - Here is an extract from the log from a boat's voyage in 2000, describing the remains on the island - Driving around this surprisingly large island, we noticed that the scenery changes slowly, the horizon consisting mainly of row after row of non-native coconut palms, splendid in their windblown greens and yellows. Our first stop was not what you would expect on a coral atoll. Christmas, unlike Tarawa the country's capitol, was never a battleground but was used as a base for the Allied Pacific Air Command in the Second World War. Remnants of the occupation are everywhere, great piles of abandoned equipment have been left to rust, permanently marring the landscape. This includes more than 1 million steel drums, along with tons of machinery scattered among the palm trees. Military facilities were extended when Christmas was chosen as a base for British and U.S. nuclear bomb tests, as were many desert atolls of the Pacific Ocean region, as they appeared to be vast empty spaces. We stopped at the detonation sites of the British tests viewing the hooks that anchored the bomb before the release of the balloon that carried it into the atmosphere, and the bunkers from which the explosions were viewed. Radiation tests have subsequently been carried out on the island, which apparently bares no ill effects. However we were told of the millions of birds that were killed and the island inhabitants taken aboard Allied ships and shown movies during the detonations and shortly returned to the island. Fortunately, the British Government has finally taken responsibility and are sending in a cleanup team in April 2001 to remove their equipment. So it looks likely that the Constructors were removed (scrapped?) in 2001 as part of a cleanup operation. There was also a US operation to remove their kit sometime before 2000. And from a different source - a picture of a row of Phoenix Model PA bitumen sprayers, used in the constructon of the test area, awaiting clearance as part of the cleanup operation (sorry, this is as close as I've been able to get!!). Tar boilers - another 'first' on HMVF :-D

6 pot, you could try the Americas Ward which offers all manner of transplant possibilities - but beware, not all of these procedures are reversible :shake:

Amazing finds - are the front 'helper' coil springs in pic 1 from a Peugot 504? :-D

Howard - I've discovered the Autocar also has one of these locks, and a red needle hanging around the "over-revved" mark!!!! Does the key simply let the needle spin back to zero? Do you reckon all keys would be the same? Don't suppose you have the key number do you? Thanks, Tony

Steve - Do you know if these US planes allowed to give flight experiences whilst over here, or is it a case of UK "safety fever"?

Welcome Chris Toadman, please keep out of the DUKW pond behind the clubhouse - we don't want any nasty accidents involving propellers, also Catweazle is running prop efficiency trials in there at the moment. I'm begining to wonder if modelling isn't a more sensible option than the real thing, but what amazes me is the time and skil involved in creating some of these stunning miniatures.... Enjoy :n00b:

Be very careful, Andy - Snapper has an "issue" with CARAVANS on the forum........

It's just a shame we cannot get a fix on the route taken. Compare with the Feb 1917 raid which details the exact movements with map references. Who knows, the info might be out there somewhere, but not enough time to search for it!

Thought you had a 12v system? :-D The battery should be giving out 12 volts if fully charged. Sure it doesn't just need charging? Sounds very much like a duff battery - it might register a good (not that yours does...) voltage with no load, but as soon as you put any load on it, a cell breaks down. Try puting the battery on something else and see what that vehicle does. Or try running anything 12v off it with jump leads. How about sticking another battery on the jimmy and see what happens? What resistance reading do you get across the battery leads without the battery on?

Thanks Mark. Yes, but no vehicle I'm afraid. Just working on some "mission stickers" for your WLF, glad you're up and guzzling again :cool2:

96 BG B17 "Blonde Bombshell"? Just discovered that the 96 BG pane was not called 'Blonde Bombshell' as stated in the 455th website..... It was in fact 'The Blonde Bomber'. Here is a pic of it. The babies (one of which is a darker colour) were simply the crew's way of recording missions - nobody seems to know why they chose babies and not bombs, perhaps they were poking fun at themselves for being a 'rookie' crew. The reason for the different coloured baby has also been lost in the mists of time........ Here is some additional information kindly provided by the 96BG historian - many thanks. Serial number 42-30872. code AW-R. 337th Squadron Assigned 96th on 9th Sept. 1943 Missing in Action 16th December 1943. mission to Bremen. Pilot Lt. Lewis Kerrick. All crew KIA. It collided with 42-31113 "Zilch" from the 339th Squadron. Pilot Capt. Harold Mott. All crew KIA From a report it states that enemy fighters shot an engine off Capt Mott's aircraft which fell onto the wing of Blonde Bomber. Both aircraft then came together and fell into the sea due west of Terschilling Island, Holland. Both crews are listed on the Wall of the Missing in the American Cemetery at Margraten Holland. Nose art is of a pin up girl in a bathing suit and there is a cloud painted just behind her with the autograph of Betty Grable, the famous film star on the cloud.. There are 9 missions recorded.

Thanks for that, abn jimmy, I remember the scene now. The trailer looks decidedly British....... And thanks for all the other info and pics, folks.:tup::