WCMatt

I have always thought that the lightweight stripped down to bare chassis with the plastic seat lawn chair as used in NI towing a fish fryer trailer rigged with all the lifting chains is such a neat set up and one that begs to be recreated.

 

Far better than any male member weapon add on extensions.

 

Road legality excluded of course.

 

My 2 cents worth

 

R

I know that sometimes ferrets had thier fenders , external storage bins & other kit removed so as not to creat more shrapnel in the event of an IED detonation. Wonder if that was also the case with the lwts as well? I saw the pics in Cook's 1/2 ton book (or Cookbook, if you prefer :cool2:) of them running around sans body. As for the "male member weapon add on" thing, Well, I use my MVs as OPFOR vehicles for a local Military school so there's a better then average chance that my lwt will actually sport an operational M240 in that role.

I've been an MV owner since the early 90s and have actually never brought one to a show. ' Been in a couple of parades & by a couple, I mean two. Did one (local) display & that was just about enough for me.

Matt

They are rareish in the UK but thats about it.

If it is true that the NZDF has changed it's policy with regard to surplusing uniforms out, then I guess they'll be rare in New Zeland as well...... Shame as it is a neat looking uniform.

Matt

With the way the bottem of the pouch is secured with just a wide piece of webbing & the top is secured with a "strap & a snap" gives me the impression that it is a radio pouch.....

Matt

That 1/2 ton landrover book by M.J.Cook arrived today . Parusing it a little after arrival, I think it is going to be a great motivator for working on the Lwt...

Matt

we were offered a flame thrower Sherman years ago from the states, wish we had it now!!..got a pic somewhere..

Was it an M4A1 with duckbill track extensions located in Virginia? Knew the owner & the vehicle quite well......

Selling a restoration project ie: a vehicle that is in some phase of being restored is a PITA. I've attempted to sell off some in the past with no luck. Wound up finishing the resto & selling it as already done. Like others have said, you'll never recoop your time in the project but then again, this is a hobby isn't it? ' least I keep telling myself that! When I'm finished with a restoration & I've made the decision to dump the vehicle, I usually use that lump of cash from the sale to purchase the next MV & repeat the process.

Matt

Does anyone have the paint (both the green and yellow) colour codes for me?

we are restoring a mule and want to give it a new fresh look, but with the correct paints!

thnx in advance,

markwin

The only branch to use the "insignia yellow" markings on their vehicles was the (US) Marine Corps during the 1950s/1960s. sometime in the 1970s the color switched to black. Like others have posted the mule forums over on g503.com will be of great help to you in this. If your going with the yellow markings I assume you are also going with a USMC paint scheme as well? They used a mauch darker shade of green then the Army. It was known as "Forest Green" and came in either semi-gloss of "lusterless" depending on application. Rapco parts out of Bowie Texas sells it. USMC semi-gloss forest green #24052 -or- USMC lusterless forest green #34052.

Matt

UpDate

Well I've got everything from the bulkhead aft removed from the Landie and it looks like the only rotten spot is that rear most cross member. Rest of the frame appears to be quite solid, actually. Did some numbers crunching and I can Have the frame repaired (new replacement cross member), media blasted, primed & painted for around a grand. I can order a new (replacement) frame for almost two thousand dollars not including shipping. 'think I'll go with the repair route.

Matt

Yes they were, the Swiss army even delivered some! Not all were post war G13s, the one in my mates yard was built in 1944, but re-engined with a Saurer diesel. They are a pig to drive, the vision blocks are about the same size as the end of a swan vesta matchbox.

From what I've read, the Swiss purchased roughly 150 war time machines from the Allies(?) just post war. That was the start. I guess the follow on orders would have had all of the mods done? Or added as they went?

As for being a pig to drive, I've never been inside one (G13/Hetzer) but have always thought that. Look at the size of those episcopes and there's only two of them!

Matt

Interestingly on theis one, the rear idler is different on either side. 8 hole one side, 4 the other.

After you posted that, I went back & looked :-D. That was probably done in motorpool way back when & nobody cared because it worked. Kind of funny, though.

Matt

AFAIK the G-13 were given away by the Swiss to museums foor free of netx to nothing.

If its true though?

I believe that's where & how the Texas Military forces museum got their G13/Hetzer. Was shipped to Texas in an airforce C-130/C-5 (?) cargo plane.

Matt

By no means an expert here, the only way I'm able to tell a G13 from a hetzer is the number of holes in the rear idler wheels, muzzle break (or threads for same), the power for the Notek light comes up from the bottem & not from above & behind it. Also on the G13s, the Swiss replaced the remote MG mount on the roof with a periscope. Also there was a large storage box on one side & on the opposite side, a spare road wheel was carried.

All of the above could be changed out to make the G13 look more like a Hetzer to the "trained eye" I'm sure. Like I posted earlier, even if that's not a original Hetzer but a G13, it's still a pretty cool item up for sale.

Think if I had a G13 I'd be tempted to paint it up as a G13 & not a faux Hetzer. It would probably stand out as I'm sure most of the surviving G13s have been back dated to look like Hetzers.....

Matt

I saw that. What the seller is claiming is that it is an actual war time production machine & not a post war G13. Either way, it's still pretty neat to see. 600k is a little out of my price range but considering what Stuarts & Shermans were bringing just a couple of years ago (over in the USA) the price for that Hetzer isn't all that bad.

Matt

Well - you are then talking about a armoured car which a Land Rover was not (excepting such as a Shorts). I understand there was only abt/ 6 or 8 real Para Recce Lightweights , don't know of any similar SAS Lightweights ? Yes LRs (like HMMWVs) were not AFVs & never entended to be. I have a series III airportable & my original inquiry was about photos of that type LR with a weapons mount (a pedistal mount to be specific). However I was also using the term "armed land rover" as a blanket term to include any of the LR family that would have been similarly equipped(Sorry for the confusion). The "other" reason for my original post was that I really don't want to do my lwt up as a para recce vehicle. 'have a feeling there's more of those rolling around now then what was ever in service. I do use my MVs in an OPFOR roll against a local Military accademy so having a spot to mount something would be nice.

 

The VPK NI kits gave a reasonable protection (other than culvert mines) , one or two men for rifle top-cover - then better to quick de-bus and rely on abt. 4 men for accurate rifle fire..

 

Would the cone-of fire of such as the Aden 109" truck be of any practical use ?? Depends on the situation I'd sumize. ' think a gpmg on a pedistal mount fitted to the bed of a 109" would give the gunner a 360 deg. field of fire. I remember Vets of the Vietnam war telling me that they moved the ped. mount from between the front seats of the M151 jeeps to the center of the "bed" on those 1/4 tons so they could shoot to the rear of the vehicle when driving through - out of an ambush. However, if this is something that the British Army didn't do, then it is a moot point (to me).

 

I once trawled through the Britains Small Wars Website - looking for this info, you would have to go back as far as S1 LR's and then I guess they had adapted as a swop over from Jeeps & Champ. There does seem a British Army policy that was not deviated from until the 1970's and that was just the few Para Recce Lightweights (until somebody turns out documentary / photographic evidence) ..

Regards,

Matt

Thanks for the images. Makes me long for a 109" instead of an airportable..... Noticed none of them had a pedistal mount & all of them had the MG positioned for the front passenger to use. I guess one reason why I find that odd is that a ped. mount in the rear would give a far greater arc of fire then one mounted up front as in the photos.

Matt

Guys

Thanks for the replies. I ordered that landrover 1/2T book by M.Cook (Amazon has them). I understand that the Military LRs would have had brackets for the Soldier's personal weapons but it looks like with the exception of the SAS, recce & WMIK landies, the average vehicle wasn't "armed".

Matt

Hello List!

Not sure if I should have posted this in here or up in the "British vehicles forum" so here it goes..Does anyone have any photos of armed airportable lightweight landrovers? I'm not talking about the uber heavily armed SAS or recce trucks but just the sort of standard "armaments carrier" (if that makes any sense).

Guess what I'm curious about is the pedistal mount for the gpmg. Where was it & how was it mounted? I've only seen one photo of a lwt sporting a ped. mount and it was a pre-production model so I'm assuming weapons mounts on airportables like jeeps was a rare occurance?

Regards,

Matt

Replacement military rear cross members are cheap and readily available - I put one on my old lightweight. Don't scrap the chassis if that's the only issue.

Sirhc

Yes I noticed that. Was looking at them on Craddock's last night. Probably much cheaper then having my fab shop make a replacement from scratch. I noticed that the front "horns" of the frame where the front bumber mounts had been repaired with patch panels sometime in the past. I'm (hoping) to have the rear body off by the weekend which will give me a much better view of the frame.

What I need to do is compare what it will cost to repair as needed , clean up & paint my old frame -vs- purchase a replacement. I also need to check with the DMV and see if there are any issues there (with regards to VIN & such)

Matt

Hello List!

Wasn't sure if I should post this here or down in the "British Vehicles forum". I've been following some of the LR resto blogs where the owner/restorer encountered some rot in the frame (usually the rear most cross member) & so they went out & brought a brand new frame instead of just fixing/replacing the damaged cross member. Is this pretty much the SOP for LR restorers?

I'm in the begining phases of the complete tear down of a '74 series III airportable. The rear cross member is rotten on this truck. Replacement frames are available for just under 3k (USD) and that may be an option if I find any more rot but if I don't, I was going to have my local fabrication shop just build & attach a new rear cross member. Has anyone else done this? Is it a viable option or maybe I should just pick up a new replacement frame?

Would like to hear (or read, as the case may be) your thoughts on the subject.

Matt

New pics surfacing from Syria, STG44 and a bolt action that I can determine what it is , it looks like a Mosin Nagant, M91 or M24 but has a turned down bolt handle, might be a modification to work with the scope.

The turned down bolt handle was part of the mods done by the Russians when building the PU-4 sniper version of the M91/30 Mosin Nagant rifle. THe handle on that particular rifle looks like it was locally done as it is comically long. May have been done that way because of the modern optic mounted? The scope on the PU-4 was a rather compact affair.

That rifle, a product of a bygone era with it's long barrel & wood stock seems out of place amonst all of the modern assault weapons in that picture.

I've also seen images of a Female sniper using what looks like a British L1A1 SLR (folding charging handle, pebble grain marnal stocks & a slim long flash hider) with a scope mounted.

Matt

I had heard that It was the Soviet weapons designer Siminov(sp?) who was inspired by the STG44 and copied (parts of) it in his SKS carbine. If you field strip an SKS, you can see a "family" resemblence. Another post-war design that shares a branch on the family tree would be the Spanish Centme rifle which H&K based their G3 (H&K91) on. I guess this would stand to reason as the engineers at Centme were originally German.....

As for the Pz.IVs sitting in repose on the Golan hights, there's one sitting in a museum in Danville,Va. That one was actually captured intact by the IDF. The museum got it in a trade for an M3(?) Stuart tank.

'jus spit ball'n here but there may have been something written into the ceasefire accord that stipulated that no equipment could be recovered from the battlefield-or they may just be a lot of UXOs laying around out there & it is deemed "to dangerous" to allow anyone out there to monkey around with that stuff. Finally, some of those AFVs might also be war graves.

Matt

hi the chassis/frame was a gloss black before been covered in black under seal the springs the axles were also black

as were the replacement parts when delivered

Ah, Thanks so much! It is my intention to restore this S-3 back to factory new.

Matt

I seem to remember the S3 lightweight was completely covered in black underseal

As is mine now! Thought that might have been done either while in service of after it had been demob'd & in civilian hands.

Matt

That was similar to what was happening over here a couple of years ago. The US Army went to it's new "ACU" uniform & before units would/could get their issue, it was showing up in surplus shops & on ebay. I'm actually kind of suprised to see so much DPM & the newer MTP stuff dumped on the market. When I was over in the UK back in the late 1980s I seem to recall that there was a demil clause for most uniform items that were surplused out by the MOD. Remember seeing all sorts of uniform bits with large slashes in them sewn up by the dealers trying to sell them.

Matt

Many first pattern (American) jungle fatiques met with a similar fate. Seems that if you were an artsy-fartsy type that lived in a large urban enviroment it was the thing to do.....then again, when that was being done over here, it was the 1970s/early 1980s and that stuff was all over the place & nobody wanted it.....

Matt

Hello List!

Starting to work on the '74 series 3 air portable light weight. When these vehicles were in British Service what color were the frame, leaf springs, drive shafts and axle housings painted? I assume black but it could have been green or left "bright" (galvanized)?.

Regards,

Matt