Brucie

Hi Kevin Forgot I had this link which gives loads of pictures of Centurian Tanks which may help you if not already seen? http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Centurian+Tanks Brucie

Kevin What you need to do is purchase some books about the Centurion, I myself have a book Modern Combat Vehicles: 2 "CENTURION" author Simon Dunstan and shows pictures of what you describe about the I.R. lights on the Mk 2 Try and see what is on offer at Amazon?. hope this helps. Brucie

Hi Rob I live in Devon (Morchard Bishop) if that is any good, I am an ex army mechanic and have worked on V8's albeit the Landrover 1 Tonne. I was working in the trade (HGV side) up to ten years ago when I did a side move to the dreaded H&S before taking early retirement, if you dont live to far away from me I maybe able to pop up and we can both tackle it? Regards

I similarly have had experience of this, so now before I bid on an item I always check the price of the postage and if I am not happy with the price I do not bid on the item. If I purchase two items from the same seller I always ask for a revised postage cost and if they will not agree I cancel the purchase. Dont forget you have to give the seller feedback? Brucie

Whereabouts in East Dartmoor are you?

There is a set of books Vol 1 - 4 "THE BRITISH ARMY IN ULSTER" by the author David Barzilay, and they cover the period 1969 - 1981 and give a good bit of information.

It would be very difficult to find any of these vehicles as most of them had Northern Irish registrations and were controlled by a seperate department within Northern Ireland with civilians working for the British Military. The registrations were changed on a regular basis as well as being spayed on a regular basis and regularly swopped among bases/Units in the province to try to maintain there covert role. Also a lot of them had unofficial mods carried out on them, I remember fiting a brake light cut out switch on one of them just so we could stop at night when carrying out covert operations without alerting anyone, fitting make do holsters to carry handguns so we could access them quickly if needed etc.

Rob The way to approach this to google a selection of course providers in your area and decide what you want to do? as not all course providers provide the same training courses. If you want to do 5 x 1 day courses that will enable you to qualify for the dirver CPC then you take what you consider to be the 5 courses suitable for you. If on the other hand you may want to do something that may benifit you and give you an additional driver qualification that you may not already hold then you could choose training such as CPC Lorry Loader (HIAB) or Carriage of Dangerous goods by road etc. They maybe a bit more expensive but at the end of the day what do you want out of the CPC training

Im just glad no one was killed or seriously injured as the outcome could have been much worse if it had not been for the reactions of the driver turning the vehicle inside, it is to easy to panic in that situation.

Hi Richard I shall reply to you as you are a moderator, this has happened to me in the past a couple of times when I have tried to click onto an attachment, always thought it was me or my computer but obviously not, some glitch in the system?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]70889[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]70890[/ATTACH] Just thought I would share some photos of whilst I was serving in Northern Ireland. There were some incidents of petrol bombs being dropped through the rear hatch on the makrolon rovers causing injuries to the squaddies. The main workshops in Northern Ireland came to our camp and fitted modifications to the Landrover being shown, 2 fire extinguisher fitted in the front of the rover between the Driver and the commander with pipes leading off the extinguishers to sections of the landrover as you get in amoured vehicles but this was not so refined with the intent that the fire ext could be set off by either the commander or the driver to minimise injury. Prior to our Friday afternoon 3 mile sprint around the areas outside our camp the Colonel assembled the Battalion on the square and preceded to set alight the landrover along with a couple of dummies inside. When the landrover was well alight the fire extinguisher were set off and nothing happened despite many attempts to set off the extinguishers and the landrover continued to blaze. Then the back up plan swung into action using the vehicle fire extinguisher and our brave Regimental Police tackled the fire ( see second photo fire ext into thin air) and eventually the fire was put out and the Colonel was saved the embarresment of having to pay for a burnt out rover? Just left click on picture a couple of times and they enlarge

Marmite I tend to disagree with you as an ex REME mechanic I have worked on plenty Mini's, Austin 1800'S etc while serving in the Army? and I was only allowed to work on military vehicles during working hours of the day., the SIB ran plenty of them,the unit families officers used them they were also used as q cars in Northern Ireland which at times could be pretty hairy along with various other makes of cars, to say they were not military vehicles is technically incorrect as we still had to order parts and repair them. Maybe they were not part of the green fleet? but they were still military vehicles in fact the Mini is quite historic now. Maybe you need to rephrase your sentences Regards Brucie

Hi John The names of the books are Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Vol 1 & Vol 2 Vol 1 Organisation and operations Vol 2 Technical Both volumes were distributed by the war office in 1951 They are a history of the start of the REME and while I was browsing HMVF yesterday I sa someone offer 2 of the above mentioned books to Clive FV1609 Field marshall. It was under the forum Vehicles - British Vehicles- Pictures of wading vehicles. I also had another thought about the Vice mounting the metal struts on the n/s body running parrallel to the engine could also be reinforcement for the vice mounting instead of a sliding device as I should imagine the metal for the stowage bins above the wheel arches may not be sufficiently strong enough to accomodate the vice on its own? Regards Brucie

John There also appears to be some framework missing from around and behind the battery area. Brucie

Hi John Find attached 2 x scanned attachment that are in the REME book. The following info is the extracts from the book which for some reason is to big to upload as a document. Purpose:- To provide facilities for carrying out welding repairs and dealing with structural modifications of equipment in the forward echelons. Work such as cutting, brass welding and brazing can also be carried out with the lightweight gas welding outfit which forms part of the equipment. Description:- The petrol engine driven generator is carried on a sub frame mounted within the main frame which forms the axle. Short stub axles which carry the road wheels are welded to the main frame. This arrangement permits the trailer and equipment to come within the height prescribed by the restricted space of a glider. The lightweight gas welding and cutting equipment is carried, together with accessories and engine spares in boxes fitted over the road wheels and an all-metal welded bench with removable legs is carried in a space in the side of the trailer. Avice is fitted to the framework of the trailer, the framework forming a working bench, and an overall canvas cover affords protection from the weather. Weight of trailer laden 17cwt 2 qr. Major Equipment:- 1. Plant welding and cutting, H.P, oxy-acetylene (lightweight) 2. Plant welding, electric, single operator, engine driven (lightweight). Missing modified parts to my knowledge. Vice mounted n/s body on a runner & possibly a swivel base?. Item mounted o/s body could possibly be an engine crank handle? Looking at photo possible bar missing from under engine hood or the hood could be tilted covering it. Rear tow hitch is of a different type? The quality of the pictures in my book are poor so hope this helps Regards Brucie

John Looks like its had a few alterations and additions thru time compared to the pictures of the original.

There are 5 trailers (not 4) to my knowledge in the collection you mentions if you are completing the set which are illustrated in the REME Technical Book apart from the laundry trailers.The book also mentions the mobile workshop shelters that would have probably being used alongside these trailers? Trailer 2-Wheeled, Lightweight, Type 5Kw Generator(Also battery charging):- The function of this trailer is to provide power for the machinery and electrical repair trailers, for charging batteries, and to illuminate the lightweight portable workshop shelter. Trailer, 2-Wheeled, Lightweight Type"Machinery":- For use with airborne formations. Normally associated with other types of trailers to form a unit. The 5Kw generator trailer is used to provide the power to drive the machine tools. Trailer 2-Wheeled, Lightweight Type Z (Calibration & Repair of Telecommunications Equipment) This trailer fills the role of mobile testing, calibration and repair workshop for wireless sets and such other telecommunications equipment in the need of overhaul and repair Trailer, 2-Wheeled, lightweight, Type "Electrical Repair" No explanation needed here!!!!! Trailer, 2-Wheeled, Lightweight Type "Electric Welding"

Great post thoroughly enjoyed reading it felt very envious of you looking forward to when you post the photos Regards Georg

The reason you are probably experiencing the brushmarks is that all paint now produced and sold in this country is waterbased due to the environmental legislation that has come in in the past few years. Even hammerite is water based now and not worth putting on externally anymore in my opinion. At present the legislation does not cover the marine division so you maybe able to find some paint that is still oil/lead based in a ship chandlers shop or a friendly boatyard and try that? or you know of somewhere that can supply the old type of oil based paints. Brucie

If you read my email correctly I did not state they were on general issue to the Army, only that they were wearing different Hi-Leg boots probably for testing and evaluation to select the best boots for the services which is usually the job of a trials and evaluation branch? and as with everything they dont always get it right because when the Hi-Leg boots were officially issued to the Army we used to do our annual 3 mile BFT in them but due to the damage they were doing to some peoples Tendons, we had to stop wearing them and had to wear trainers to carry out our 3 mile BFT, but the boots were okay for the annual 10 mile march we used to carry out. Brucie

It could be possibly something that was trialled for the British Army and was not selected for in service use, back in Seventy Eight when I was stationed in Aldershot as part of MVEE, we had the infantry lads from the clothing & equipment trials branch living in the same block as us while we were waiting for new barracks to be built at Chertsey. They all wore different clothing, had all got different hi-leg boots on, which were not even issued to the Army then? Brucie

Click on the attached link and it will give you more information on the 50th (Northumberland) Infantry Division http://www.fightingiron.com/FO-IronMaidenBrenGunCarrier.htm Brucie

David Attached are a couple of Links to follow http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=military+paint+&_trksid=p5197.c0.m627 http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/louisa2033/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2654 They will give you a varied selection of paints and may help you with your quest. When I was in the trade at Devon General (Local Bus Company in Exeter) They used to spray the complete underside of the buses in alluminium/silver paint and also when I worked for Royal Mail we Used the same paint, It was Masons Paint. but I do not know to much about it and as you know the ingredients that go into paint has changed a lot in the last few years for environmental reasons Regards Brucie

Whilst serving in Germany on a couple of occasions when travelling on the autobahn and pulled into the rest stations I have come accross the American Forces Jeeps where the steering wheel had a chain and padlock on it as a deterrent which to me is a cheap and easy solution.

Welcome to the forum hope it is to your liking