trophy160

Arnie, are you a Saracen owner in East Sussex?

Perhaps because mine is a bit pathetic, the noise (on the armour) is not that bad, does not 'hurt' my ears without ear muffs

With regard what gun to fit I am down to two options 1. A replica GPMG from XFire that will fit the mount I have in turret 2. I have an offer (good price) for a .30 Browning BUT I would need to get hold of an appropriate mount and once again I have no idea of cost and availability for these

Thanks for the clarification Jasper, it looks like my dodgy blue lights are destined for the bin then

I recently bought a Saracen and the brake lights were stuck on. I bought a new brake light switch but before I could fit it the existing switch 'unstuck' itself and now all is well. Motto, it might be worth trying the brakes for a while.

Have also got a reply back from Xfire and they say they are still producing the GPMG @ £426 for the sustained fire version. They are sending photos later today.

OK, you say You need rust scale between sound metal and the paint so probably my sample preparation is not too far from where I need to be. I've also emailed the photo to the paint supplier/manufacturer to seek their view. Clearly it is a balance between preparation becoming a lifetime job and doing it poorly and having to repeat in a year or two.

I have no idea why the blue lights, I just assumed it was something to do with it having been in Northern Ireland, but perhaps someone just put them on! If blue lights weren't a fixture of NI Saracen, then I'll dump them.

This is the model I have, perhaps it's just not a very good one http://www.tooled-up.com/artwork/ProdPDF/SA50.pdf

I can't find anyone else advertising gimpys irrespective of cost. Given the only bit that can be seen will be the barrel, are you saying that that it also poor on the MM, is anything that can be done to improve it?

Yes I have been skirting a few drops of oil into the scaler periodically, perhaps I'll just reserve it for the fiddly bits and use the wire brush elsewhere. Quite honestly, the paint is so poor it is pretty easy to get off.

I was expecting a finish similar to your trailer. I'm pretty sure my compressor is OK as the pressure does not bleed away when I'm using the gun, I've got around 20 feet of 1/4" air hose so would have thought that would be OK. I do intend going over it with a rotary wire brush but had hoped the needle gun would do the business.

I'm about to start stripping the old paint from the Saracen, I bought a Sealey needle gun that frankly I'm not too impressed with (plenty of air from compressor). This is a sample patch I had just removed the loose paint from, I have expected it to take it batch to shiny metal, would this be sufficiently well prepared for a zinc primer now?

Thanks Keith, that looks absolutely perfect

Hi Richard, I'm afraid it's the glass and there is a big chunk missing in front of the bulb. I'll try a post in the wanted section. By the way, has anyone seen/got one one the Military Muckabouts replica GPMG, I've seen comments to the effect that they are not well finished. People seen to say that the one made by XFire is better quality but when I follow a link to their site it's a dead link. Again, anyone know if they are still trading?

Thanks Andy, at least that settles what gun i need to get.

I have two questions: Can anyone tell me how to determine whether my turret is intended to take a .30 Browning or GPMG, its service record would suggest it takes the latter. I have attached a few pictures showing the mount and before you ask it currently sports a .303 water pipe! The second question relates to a pair of blue lights it has on the front, I presume these were NI related. One of them is broken and it would be nice to get a replacement, any thought about where I might get one from?

Thanks for the link Mike

I have to decide what harness/radio to fit to my recently acquired Saracen. It currently has a Larkspur harness but no radio. I need to get an intercom up and running (and this is the driver for doing something) but having scoured the net really don't see any suitable Larkspur radio for sale. I therefore conclude that I will need to fit Clansman. My question is: am I correct in thinking that to find a suitable Larkspur radio will be difficult (ie take a long time) and or very expensive if I do find one?

In support of your export theory Richard, I did notice at the weekend that the speedo was in KPH not MPH. Would all British army vehicles have MPH or would they have an appropriate speedo for the country they were being used in?

Thanks for that clarification Richard. As I think you know the log book says the original year of manufacture is 1955 but the record only goes back to 1972, the chap from Bovington said that records were not kept before that date, is that really the case? He said they had no history for the earlier registration.

It's 05FF14. I got its history from the tank museum last week and the documents showed that it had previously been 33MS36 - the chap at Bovington said "that was unusual" Not sure how true that is??

Here she is with yours truly at the helm. Taken when I took possession a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have removed and rebuilt the carb as it was not running very well. Put it all back together this weekend and now it starts and runs very smoothly. Next job is to check the oil levels in the bevel boxes and hubs and then I can take it for a long awaited drive. Having gone over it pretty thoroughly today I think I'm right in saying that there are no filling tubes for any of the bevel boxes, none in the engine bay and I don't see any inside either. Still not a problem, I just need to get some oil this week. As soon as I have all the service jobs done, I will be starting work on the body, the old paint looks like it will come off without much problem.

Thanks Andy, just my luck then

Hi Richard, I'm just about to fill my Bevel boxes, can I use both EP and non EP oils? My Ferret used a non EP oil and I used to buy the stuff from from a local lorry place round the corner from me at a good price so would like to do the same for the Saracen.