BC312

What to do with it, any ideas.

A while back i discovered a Bofors gun emplacement and radar trailer 50 yards from each other in the Hogmoor training area near the REME tank training grounds after the Army moved out of Bordon Hampshire a while back. Built and operated by the Canadians during the war. The  Bofors emplacement is now registered with Historic England by myself and the radar trailer fenced off which is in a state of disrepair. I am working with the town council and Historic England to preserve the emplacement as best we can.

As with the radar Trailer a GL Number 3 Mk2, original to the emplacement, which was left by the Canadians since 1948 and been left there to this date and was not removed by REME because it was not on their books. The council are not sure what to do with it or best proceed with its preservation. It was suggested to restore it but its going to take a lot of money and time. Another suggestion was to leave it in its small fenced off area or restor it to a semi state showing the outside features of its main structure but as an empty carcass. Any imput suggestions ideas?

Fly the red flag with a white circle in the centre with a black squiggle and you will be defently in with the coucil especially if its East hants at penns palace.

I knew a guy who was into steam engine tractors etc. His yard was full of very nice vintage cars and trucks. Every time people came to the yard he was offered generous money to save them for restoration but he refused saying they are valuable and rare and wouldn't sell anything he would get more money. When he died and they cleared his yard which he had tons of good stuff. Nearly all the vehicles fell to pieces and had passed any basket case restoration. At the estate auction there was hardly anything there vehicle wise. There was a Humber 1 ton truck the one they converted to the pig, pre pig version, just fell apart in two lumps. Many Guy ant style trucks had trees and bushes growing out of them. Its criminal that these vehicles are left to end up in this state. 

Whats it doing now? Hope someone can save it.

I believe there is a After the Battle article write up  about the scrap yard where most WW2 vehicles came from, it had all sorts. When i last visited about 10 years ago the sheds at the back were full of military vehicles. There was quite a lot of stuff under the flyover bridge which you had to go under to get to the yard. Funny place to get to.

Most difficult part of building a replica tank In 1/1 or any scale is finding drawings with measurements or the original drawings. I am gathering informations and scaling models etc to build a A13 Mk2 Cruiser tank. Building part a piece of cake, getting correct sizes a bloody nightmare.

Thanks Rick, i will certainly look forward to the visit, with all this Corona rubbish about it will have to be next year.

Sorry to hear about the problems finding someone to tackle the engine. Great bit of kit the Covenanter, love to pop up one day and see it in the flesh.

Theres a nice everything in the whole video, love a A13 cruiser tank.

you don't realise how much was left behind, unbelievable.

Hi Rick, hows the Covenanter progressing or has colvid put a stop on that so far.

Would love to buy this as there is a relic one up the road near a Bofors gun site left after the war by the Canadians, but due to circumstances can only dream.

I used aluminium solder sticks to weld up a aluminium project. Worked very well.

This has been on Youtube a while.

Saw this on youtube two youths sneaking around someones yard. Must say theres some nice stuff that should be put in a barn.  

I see that people who run vintage bikes use Avgas. I have seen youtube videos of how to extract ethanol from petrol, looks straight forward. Not sure if there is some kind of additive you can add that reduces the effects of ethanol.

You could get the local schools and colleges involved as part of their education. Your museum is on the door step to Alton. Hopefully this will justify your museum as part of the community to the bods in council. 

As for going to a show, you get a friend to get you one. Obviously no show on this year, your have to wait till next year.

Sten mags at the big shows were £3 a pop not that long ago brand new in grease. Cant get them cheaper than that. which stock do you want as there are two types, T stock or the  gun shape open frame job. You can buy them on ebay as i have seen these up for grabs on there from time to time.

Who are these arseholes, name and shame, not from Penns Palace Petersfield are they. These wa***ers reduced the Heritage centre here in Bordon from a modern high tec building to one room in the old sargent mess in the old camp and we are still waiting for this to happen. Peterfield got a museum with a huge lottery grant, yet the Woolmer forest area has tons of heritage much more than Petersfield by far. Your museum would be perfect for the area. May be you should re- locate to Petersfield, they would be falling over themselves get you started.

It might be worth getting a engineer machinist to have a look and give an opinion. I have a mate who may be able to help out. I will send him the picture and see the best way.

Hi Simon I had a look, the largest I have is about 1' 1/4 whitworth. Sorry about that. As for using a die I would use a die nut as you don't need a die wrench that would get in the way of the rest of the engine. I have in the past used grinding paste to work a thread on freely. One thing you won't be able to do is restore the missing thread's when retapping. The worst you can do is cross thread especially this size.

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I may have a die as i had quite a few taps and dies given to me when they cleared out a camp years ago.

If you don't have it Maurice i will be interested if its not gone, i have been after a F phone for a while.

I'm the guy from Bordon who was talking about some form of museum here dedicated to the Canadian and military training. I am on the Maple leaf site and could mention your problem to them. I also had the same problem signing up.