Simon Daymond

something that has been completely overlooked I think, the premium is one thing, but what about when you have to make a claim? - surely that's the acid test with any of the insurers/brokers? Does anyone have any good/bad experiences to share? What's the point of a premium that's a few pounds if when you come to claim the cheap firm is lacking?

not wanting to champion Roadsure, but my premium was only slightly higher than last time. Perhaps it might be an idea to give them another call, as perhaps they are adding things to your policy that you don't need, such as key cover etc? It always helps to ring around though.

Hi Michel, welcome to the forums. How's life in Belgium treating you?

I bet you made the fuel stops drag out a bit, and I was worrying about driving the militant for a couple of hours!

yep saw it on the news as well, shame.

thanks for the reply, you had me really worried there before Richard intervened, I thought I was going to take out shares in ICI! The reason I asked about the colour of the engine is that the sump is visible, and wondered whether I had to make an attempt at throwing the correct colour on it, or if I could simply get away painting it Deep Bronze Green, as I'm assuming because it is exposed it wouldn't have been masked up and so would probably have ended up green along with everything else anyway? I'm not trying to make it perfect, but would be happy with a reasonable representation of how they were.

what colour should the engine and gearbox be? Is it the light apple green.

what should the CAV regulator look like?

yes I reckon if strip the layers of paint off the militant it should go a few miles per hour faster In places it is nearly a full 1/4 inch thick!

I was thinking of painting the whole of the militant deep bronze green, apart from the split rim nuts which will be red, the front bridge plate which will be yellow, the rear convoy plate which will be white, the fuel filler cap which I think should be yellow, and finally the air lines front and rear red or yellow, and that I think is it?

when were the stickers in use from? Can I put them on my militant (will cover some rust)

yep, keep going a bit at a time

looks like that'll keep you busy for a while. I was wondering how come it's in such a stripped down state? was it an aborted restoration project, or was it stripped to be scrapped?

yep nice post, what you need is a power greaser, and have someone else refill it

thanks for that, looks like I'm going to be busy, (ah perhaps a job for the kids!)

I bet that is exactly right 6x6, the wheelarches both show that something was once fitted and painted around, it is the thickness of an armoured wire, so I guess that's the answer. Mystery solved

thanks Andy, I'm going to the show in Southport in April, that's the date I'm working to.

do you have to paint all of the stud and the nuts on your split rims, or can you just paint the exposed end of the thread? On the militant the paint on the wheels is so old and flaky it isn't that easy to tell, but on two of the six wheels it does look as though someone has simply painted a dab of red on the end of each of the split rim bolts. I would like it too be something like right, but to be honest the thought of painting each and every nut red fills me with no great joy.

Hi Dave, welcome to the forums. I never had the patience for model making, always ended up glueing myself to stuff.

Hi Fruitbat, welcome to the forums. Some pics would be nice, if you get the time (we like pics)

Hi Peter, welcome to the forums. Place I used to work at had a couple of floorsweepers with Lister engines, I can still hear them now!

Hi matey, welcome to the forums, nice truck BTW

hi Robert welcome to the forums. Would be nice to see some pics of your jeep when you get a mo'

too busy at the moment to actually sit down and record the restoration progress to date, but seeing as I am currently repairing the wheel arches I thought I'd post some of the pictures etc here. When I get a quiet moment, I'll write the restoration blog of the militant in the correct order, but for now; for those of you who read the thread on Mk 1 militants, you may recall that I was about to undertake a repair on the rear wheel arches of my militant. As with all good plans, the minute I started the job everything changed. I realised that to try and weld the wheel arches in situ would be too dangerous, as apart from the difficulty of getting the metal into place, the very process of welding posed a serious risk of fire, given that the militant has many coats of paint, and also that the back body is wood. So I decided that the best plan was too remove the wheelarches, one at a time and rebuild/bodge them off the vehicle. As I haven't done this task before, I thought that I'd start with the easier side, and tackled the n/s wheel arches which were the most intact, than with the experience gleaned from the n/s I'd be beter prepared to tackle the o/s wheel arches which are almost non-existent. I also thought that if I could get the n/s wheel arches repaired and if they were still the correct curve etc, I could use them as a sort of makeshift jig to get the correct curve for the o/s arches, albeit that they were the wrong side. Here is the 'good' n/s rear wheel arch removed, it came off with little effort, but look how bad it is, and the metal is tissue paper thin. in the picture below, my attempt at shaping the steel worked quite well, although the metal didn't bend too exactly the right curve it was enough to allow me to get the new pice in place without it distorting the fragile wheel arch I was attempting to weld it to. I welded it today, but didn't take my camera, so pictures will follow later, so far so good, but as with everything it's taking much longer than I'd thought. before I started I took a few pics to jog my memory. I noticed that on the back of both wheelarches, there were two rivets, also it looks like something was held to the back of the wheel arch with these rivets as it is just possible to see that something has been painted upto. Whatever it was is long gone, but can anyone shed any light? In the pic below, I have circled the rivets, the red arrow points to a line which looks to me as though something was fitted and been painted around, as said this is the same on both wheelarches

the prospect of a rally, albeit a few months off, has got me stirred into action, one of the four rotten wheel arches got welded today, I came home looking like a coal man!