Simon Daymond

Hi,

welcome to the forum

the test station at Wetherby, still has an incline for testing brakes on vehicles that can't/ don't have to go through a test on the rollers.

So, if I get the wheels rotated in opposite directions, I can get a brake test on the rollers? I'll go see about it tomorrow, wonder if I'll get any 'locks' ?

so if as the militant doesn't have one, is what I'm told about the brake rollers true? I was wondering how Jules managed to get his militant through a brake test if this was the case? - and wondered if perhaps this had contributed towards the problems he had last year on test with poor readings?

Hi Doug,

welcome to the forums.

I guess I'll have to go tracked then! Although the running costs of a Militant, even requiring a test are probably a fraction of those of running tracked armour on the road?

 

Jules

that reminds me, I was meaning to ask you, Jules, about testing your militant, didn't you have a problem with the rolling road and your brake readings? I tried to blag a free brake test for the militant recently, and was told they couldn't do the back axles as the militant doesn't have a diff lock, and the rollers would drive the vehicle out, by turning the other road wheels via the prop etc. Does anyone have any views on this?

it is in June, same weekend as my brother's wedding, which is why I can't go, but the militant will be going. I think it's meant to be informal, so I suppose you could just turn up? but to be fairer to Steve, the lad organising it, it would be nice to get an idea of numbers so he can organise himself

His head might be all over the place at the mo' as he's about to be a dad again, anyday now.

Hi Martin,

welcome to the forums

it's an event to run alongside the Museum Open day. The militant will be there, even though I won't be.

Hi Jez,

welcome to the forums

Hi Ben,

welcome to the forums.

you can spray, brush or roller it. The very best rollers are the 12" short pile ones (like you'd emulsion with). You MUST wash them out first with soapy water and leave to dry, I get the boss to do them before she washes up and they are left to dry on the drainer.

Washing gets rid of the loose fluff, if you don't the panels will look a mess. You still get the occasional bit but you can pick it out.

You can actually roller 2 pack, but the rollers need to be good quality, and will degrade quicker and need changing, but you can get a reasonable finish. The worst rollers are the small foam ones, they simply don't put enough paint on in my opinion. Yes you can get the stuff on, and it looks ok, but there isn't the thickness, and they can be hard work getting rid of the roller lines. But as with most thing is comes down to personal preferences, and budgets etc.

just do as I do and put them on hold whilst I go for a piddle, have a cuppa etc, failing that you could just tell them to p*ss off!

there is, it's called high build primer. Try your local car paint supplier, shop around you should pay no more than £50 for 5 litres even without a trade discount. Make sure you tell them that you want to overpaint with 2 pack, some primers are too susceptable to the solvents in 2 pack and will react, usually in the form of wrinkling, - it looks as though you have put paint stripper on. Obviously if you aren't using a 2 pack top coat it won't matter.

Apply a good couple of coats and have a look. Sometimes it works well to put a few coats on one after the other, let it all dry, then flat back. This is a very good way of levelling panels and loosing the 'fried egg' appearance of body filler, which is where once painted areas around body filler look like a fried egg! If you get something that has rough paintwork, don't spend days rubbing it all down, only to find that you still have a poor job when you paint it, instead do rub down all the obvious bits and filler etc, but then prime it to see where the areas are that need attention, can make life a lot easier

Feel free to PM, about paint issues or if you want a supplier etc.

did you abrade the aluminium before you put the primer on? Etch primer is meant to stick to bare aluminium, but we always sand the panels first. Touch wood, nothing has peeled off yet after 17 years

Automotive primer isn't all that good at standing upto the weather, it needs a finish coat over the top to seal it. My militant when first repanelled, stood in primer for a few months, but the panels started to rust eventually in places.

ring this guy, couldn't be more helpful

Charlie at Deanfield Commercials, Unit 13 Deanfield Court, Clitheroe, Lancs BB7 1QS. +44 (0)1200 429448

along with the NAAFI, there was also catering outside, in the small building opposite, they sold hot-dogs, burgers and teas etc.

lovely! Your gloss has failed to stick to the primer, and you now have a couple of options:

get a flat scraper and run it under all the loose, then with a sander feather the edges back

if you have access to an airline, with suitable eye protection, run the airline around turned up full and wait for a green snowstorm, thne using the sander feather back all the edges.

You won't need to rub it all off, and as the paint is now old, anything can be painted over it.

In future, prime then gloss the next day, or if that's not possible you need to abrade the surface to be painted.

You can use wet or dry paper for this or 'scotch' pads, which are the size of A5 sheet of paper and can be bought individually from most car paint suppliers.

Looks a mess but it's easily sorted

they do have a church

the staff at Pronto-paints used to work for Mason paints, and are working to the Mason's formulas etc. It is very, very good stuff. Although it can be mixed with white spirit, you really should use their own recommended thinners, as white spirit can be quite variable on quality depending on supplier. When I first started painting, we used to use white spirit from Mason's, it came in a 5 litre tin and cost £20 + vat 15 years ago, it was much purer than the stuff you get from B&Q etc.

Another good supplier is 'Williamsons' up at Ripon, not cheap, but it's all quality stuff, and the guys in technical know their stuff, so if you aren't sure what you'll need, they'll tell you.

Went to visit this Militant a few weeks ago to get some pics for the ongoing rebuild of mine

It lives in near clitheroe, and is owned by Charlie at Deansfield Commercials.

Chassis 0860 179

nice pics guys, was a good week end, no complaints at all. The Crossley must be turbo charged, it was leading from the front on the road run, I was at the back and we were going at a fair pace. The Crossley won the best in show BTW.

Did anyone get a pics of us all coming through the woods at the former airbase at Riccall? - sorry if you were the cameraman I covered in dust!

if you want to PM me I'll take you through it, (I paint for a living) if it's flaking off, chances are it didn't stick properly to begin with to what was underneath.

Most likely if you primed it, but left the primer to fully dry before applying your topcoat without abrading it first, then this will be why the top coat didn't stick, I had a problem with a coach recently where this had been done, the whole of the back end shelled off when I blew the body filler dust off after effecting a minor repair on the corner!

normal 2 pack paint mixing ratio is meant to be 2:1:1, 2 parts paint, 1 part hardener, 1 part thinner. In reality you don't need that much thinner, a third of that stated at best, I thin to suit the weather, cold weather: a bit more, hot weather: a bit less. You can buy mixing cups from local car paint suppliers about 10 - 15 p each. Remember that once activated ( hardener added) the paint has a limited life and will set hard, so don't mix much more than you need.

nice pics, doesn't seem like two minutes since last year.

Hi Peter, welcome to the forums

very, very nice