goanna

I have the book that describes the Thornycroft history, building naval vessels and steam lorries. Thornycroft were leaders in marine propulsion technology 100 years ago.

I believe they are Mk V (5) special duties aircraft. The normal route for many Aust and kiwi aircrew to the UK was via ship to San Francisco, train over to New York and then ship to UK , for many of them is was a one way trip . This massive diesel loco would have been considered the eighth wonder of the world back then .

The line up of German aircraft . Are these Junkers of some type ? Anybody recognize the statue ?

The fake accidents are ridiculous i.e. one of the twins takes the Harley for a ride and off camera we hear a crash , they all rush over to the scene of the faked accident ( the bike has obviously been pushed into a bush ) and somebody says " oh its really broken, Bruce will not be happy " This is the type of TV that 5 year olds would enjoy

The chap second from left in the ground crew is a dead ringer for Arthur Askey. OK the aircraft survived but as far as we know, the crew , or some of them at least didn't survive. An interesting lecture by one of the pilots has been found on u tube We don't know the significance of the photograph of the group of soldiers , but for some unknown reason this pic is included in the pilots photographs . The scribbled text on the back - I cannot decipher much of it. I can make out Nr. Winchester Hants ? TBRE possibly means Royal Engineers ? The XMAS card has us baffled as well, he may have been posted to that base at one time.

A few more pics. We think he was flying Wellingtons before changing to the Stirlings. We tried to obtain his service records from the NAA web site but they have not been uploaded as yet. You learn something every day , Arthur Askey was a erk .

That would be OK, I don't use facebook but any help is of use . I have more photos to upload, some are pics of unidentified places and people. This particular chaps crew, I have been informed, were all killed ( including the two pictured alongside him with the bikes ,a bomb aimer and wireless op, both named on the back of the photograph ) , he himself survived the war but for some reason his crew were assigned another pilot , the new pilot crashed the Stirling. Its one of those wartime stories , a chap from a tiny rural village here, leaves school at 14 , war comes along and he ends up on the other side of the world flying , comes home with a war bride .

A friend here, his father was a pilot in the RAAF, he was flying in the UK and flew Stirling glider tugs and SOE agents to Norway. We have his photographs and printed documents which include a plan of Shepard's Grove RAF airfield. He towed a glider to operation Market Garden .

I thought they used masonite ,

The pics look like genuine kodachrome film stock . Its a tropical climate and the grass looks natural to me. re: the bridge plates - maybe they didn't have any chrome yellow paint !

Would the British army have kept a QL Bedford until 1985 ? The other disposal dates are 1959-61 .

The VW ring set - at least two sets of these will be needed for the OH six cyl. engine https://vwparts.aircooled.net/DEVES-Piston-Rings-82mm-Bore-2-5mm-2-5mm-4mm-p/deves-82-2.5-2.5-4.htm

Some progress , the molasses bath has been in use ! Some years ago I obtained a set of NOS pistons for the Morris OH 6 cyl. engine .The pistons, with 2 compression and 2 oil control rings, are heavy in weight and I think they have a high iron content , similar to the contemporary CMP 216 Chevy pistons . The Standard bore is 82mm , the piston rings are compression 2.5mm and oil control 4mm . Just by chance, I found there is a modern VW performance engine with the same dimension piston rings . I am wondering if its possible to use the modern rings in the old NOS pistons ?

The CS8 king pins , I have disassembled 2 different front axles and both king pins are a unusual size. Both front axles have .907" diam. king pins . Did MCC use metric king pins because it is almost 23mm ? My micrometer has been calibrated with a Moore & Wright 1" gauge . I have more front axles , I may pull another one apart but the heat is almost killing me

Hello Guy Can you tell me what you did with the replacement brake pipes. The original copper pipes had single flared ends, this is not a good method and double flares are normally used on brake systems . Did you use double flares or single ? Thanks Mike

I guess you know about this : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/36-42-MORRIS-CS8-MKIII-C4-AC-C4-WT-MILITARY-WWII-BRAKE-HOSE-SET-x3-2FR-1RR-/361900819774?hash=item5442f8453e:g:iyEAAMXQUmFSlNf7

Do radial tyres have a place on old vehicles , say a WW2 Jeep or series 1 Land Rover that is used as a everyday driver ? What are the advantages if any, of radials over cross ply on these older cars ?

I need to find a 1/2" Whitworth ring spanner , the rear axle U bolt nuts are that size and there are four nuts per U bolt- the lower nut is deep and a socket will not fit over it . It appears the tyres are the original Trak Grip RF ones , made under license.

The scene of disassembly . Removing the old tyres from the rims is proving to be a holdup. The bare chassis is rather flimsy without the axles in place .

The proof !

Great minds think alike ! I did exactly as you suggested and it worked ! Also needed the heat though . The Kookaburras were laughing at me while I was working at it .

I have got the chassis mostly stripped down but there are always a few stuck bolts , this one is a pain - the bolt through the front main spring hanger casting is jammed , heating with the oxy has no effect on it. Been so hot here the past week , makes working outside a real drag . Sunburn is a ever present hazard. My shed is currently full of old lathes and milling machines, another weakness of mine - among them I have a wartime Parkson No. 1 universal mill with the "austerity finish" Ministry of Supply badge on it.

Looking great . Did you have the 7/8" timber boards milled somewhere ? I guess that each of the 15cwt manufacturers made their own GS bodies to a common plan. I have one original wooden side GS body section from a Morris CS8 body , the same style of cast brass tag was used .

If we want to be really authentic the Hop farm dunnies should look like this !

Paint technology back then was light years away from what we have today . The paint manufacturers supplying to the armed services would have used the cheapest formulas , large amounts were the order of the day . Get em out the factory doors and if they last for 6 months of service life, that is a blessing.