WCMatt

JakLomas

That's kind of an open question. What are you trying to portray? An Op. Gramby vehicle? Something from a more recent conflict? Aside from the aforementioned webgear, you could attach/hang off your D110 the standard NATO jumper cable, recovery strap(s), sand channels, petrol & water cans, camo netting, tentage & ration boxes. I guess it's up to your imagination. Either way, have fun & remember to post pics of your landie (the D110 is my favorite LR :cool2: ).

Matt

Well the purpose of removing the turret was to upgun the m113's rather than to make the Sally faster, but it is an interesting thought. Put a 50 cal mount in the hole and it would make an interesting recce vehicle, much like the wartime Stuarts that had this done. I imagine it would fly!!! I wonder if it was the upgunned m113's that inspired the fv432/30's....?

 

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I was aware of why the Aussies removed the turrets from the Saladins (to make fire support vehicles out of the M113s). But thought that when they were finished with them, the turrets were then reunited with their armored car bodies. Guess this wasn't the case after all?

Don't know but it was a good idea for a low budget SPG. A turret-less Saladin armed with a .50 cal MG ala Stuart recce. I guess then the turreted M113 is sort of reminisent of the M5 SPG?

Matt

I thought that the French built FT had wooden front idlers, but this one has a steel one, like the US built M1917. Did the French change to steel idlers in later production?

.

That's interesting. I always thought it was the American version that had the wooden wheels & the French used steel......Learn something new everyday.

Matt

There may well have been some commercial copies of the 60 pattern gear made, but I'm not aware of any....though have seen copies of the old WW2-style "SAS" windproof for the fashion market.....

wdbikemad

That was most likey what she was wearing then. Yeah like what was posted earlier, I wouldn't hold my breath for reproduction 1960s combats to be produced anytime soon. Even though that would be nice :cool2:.

When I was in high school, I actually had a set of the '54 pattern combats that fit me (of course back then, I was 5'9" & 130lbs). I knew they were British but had no idea what they were. I only remember thinking that I had lucked out because the uniform's cut was so similar (identical?) to the early DPM uniforms of which I could not afford. Back then on this side of the pond, DPMs were rare & very expensive.

Matt

Unfortunately I didn't save the details, but there was a 'fashion' combat jacket on eBay earlier this year that had obviously been fairly closely copied from a '60 Patt smock. If it had been in a bigger size, I might well have bought it. The listing mentioned a brand name, but nothing turned up when I googled it.

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Interesting that you should mention that. I can remember a girl back in my highschool days (later 1980s) who wore one of those acid washed denim jackets. Reason why I remember it was because the designer obviously used a WWII Denison smock as the pattern. Even had the snaps & "flap" on the "skirt".

Matt

Wow that is some amazing resto work going on there! I have a 1974 S-3 airportable lightweight myself that is a resto project. This thread is an inspiration to me! Thanks for posting!

Matt

I always liked the 1960 pattern DPMs the best. Colors in the pattern & the cut/ design of the uniform was out of all the variants, the most attractive to me. Wonder if anyone is reproducing them? Thanks for posting that image.

Matt

Subscribed! Always liked the look of AFVs w/o their turrets on. Wonder what the performance of that saladin would be like w/o all that weight? Also curious about that "chopped" ferret. Interesting mod to the rear plate.

Matt

Not impressed, I've always considered this pointless and potentially dangerous :embarrassed:

Would have to agree. I guess it's cheaper to do then building a brick wall & drive through it.

Matt

You're better off without them unless you're on tarmac, and especially if you're on cars! :-)

 

Andy

I have heard that about car crushing (it's hard on the pads & other bits). Did not know that you could run the tracks w/o pads (kind of thought it would be like driving a car/truck on rims alone). Should have brought one of those back in the 90's when they were (really) cheap. Oh well..

Matt

Andy

I don't think that one has bad track pads, I don't think it has any track pads! Right you are about only the really nice 432s ending up as VisMods...

Matt

Yep, deffo some broken torsion bars I'd say. And judging by the tracks... maintenance is not a top priority.

 

H

Yeap, tracks w/o pads & busted headlights (all of them?!). Given the condition of this one, would be surprised if it didn't end up as a STUG III/Pz.III VisMod... Seems to be the unfortunate fate of a lot of FV432s..

Matt

Hello & welcome aboard! I have a series III airportable lightweight that I'm about to commence a full tear down resto on.....

Regards,

Matt

They are perfectly viable projects, just a lot of time and money is required!

True that! Then again, anything is restorable if one has deep enough pockets :cool2: . From my perspective given the out of this world pricing on armor over here (USA), those don't seem like all that bad of a deal. I've worked with worse. But I also think that if someone wants to buy a tracked vehicle to use as a base for a non resto project, then these machines would (also) be excelent candidates for that as well. I'm not going to post anymore on this thread as I feel it is becoming a bad influence on me .....

Matt

PD

Thanks for posting that youtube Vid.

The first thing that came to mind was that these would be excelent candidates for those that like to play WWII to build VisMods on as they're too rough for anyone (on that side of the pond) to consider for a restoration project. If they were chopped up to make faux Pz.IIs, there wouldn't be any real loss there. It would probably be a better fate then if they were melted down into Coke cans.......

Matt

This isn't the first one of these that I've seen....It's actually the second. There was another one with a '40s/'50s panel van body mounted on it that was in use back in the 1980s. Like Adrian pointed out, it's not a Stuart but an M4 HST (High Speed Tractor).

Up until a few years ago HSTs were rather easy to come by & cheap to buy. There were several within a 100 mile radious of my house. Like all things, scrap went high, interest in them also elevated and now they are more difficult to come buy but for someone who wants a "tank" -er tracked vehicle, they represent good value (& headache) for the dollar. A fraction of the purchase price of an actual M4 Sherman....

Matt

Cheers!:thanx:

Matt

What happened to the lightweight landrover club? www.lightweightlandroverclub.org They seemed to have moved...:embarrassed:

Matt

The Lightweight arrived last Wednesday and I must appologize as I haven't taken/posted and pics of it yet. To be fair, I am a bit of a computer caveman..... It is a 1974 DoD and it's registration number (stamped into the data plate) is 22FM62 . Now the quest for spares begins!

Matt

I did that - with 10 tons of derilict truck in the back of a Bloomingburg quarry in an auction that I won by a single cent.....Still it turned out great so have fun with the Landy.

 

There are some good landrover sites - be sure to have a look a them!

So like me, you were watching the auction wind down thinking to yourself C'mon somebody place another bid..... I don't think I paid too much for it. The lwt is complete & running w/hardtop all for 5k.

Two questions that come to mind as I sit here are: 1) does the LWT use any off the shelf componentry or is everything unique to that vehicle? And 2) can anyone recommend a site that caters to the lightweights?

Regards,

Matt

Hey guys, thanks for (all) of the replies! The LW is being shipped via truck from Florida(USA) to Virginia(USA). Should be here in a week or two.

I've never owned a Land Rover before and the purchase of this one was actually a computer "whoopsie". I placed a bid on one on ebay and then won .... So much for being outbid! Anyway, instread of backing out, I descided to go ahead with the deal. I like LandRovers & am really partial to the D110s but I've never actually owned one. Hopfully this will be a good experience & eventually lead to a D110 in my (near) future... Wish me luck!

Regards,

Matt

Hello List!

Well, it looks like I'm going to be the new owner of a Land Rover Lightweight (Air transportable). It's coming up from Florida via uship. My question (the first of hundreds I'm sure) is does anyone know what the shipping diamensions (Length, width & height) of a lightweight w/hardtop installed?

Thanks.

Matt

Any ideas?

 

 

My first option was a Cummins 6bt but it appears it is probably too long. Approximately 200HP. 14" longer than the stock engine.

 

Second option was a Cummins 4bt. Approximately 145 HP and 420 ft-lbs of torque. 4" longer than the stock engine.

 

Third option was to put a 366 big block in it-same size and it will bolt up with only minor modifications.

 

Last was to leave it as is.

 

With the first two I'm trying to go with an automatic transmission. Second two I'd just leave the trans since they would work fine since the transmission is a chevy copy.

 

Your thoughts?

With the first two, I see a lot of work & money being laid out not to mention a fair amount of engineering to get everything to fit & work correctly*. Unless you happen to already have the diesel engines & transmissions already on hand, I think I'd save this as a last resort. The BRDM-2 is petrol & not diesel correct?

The big block V8 seems to be the easist to "drop in" and if you were going to do an engine swap, that'd get my vote. I assume you are considering this powerplant swap as a means to aliviate the difficulty in sourcing spares? If the original GAZ engine in there is running fine, I'd leave it alone until something dire happens & then swap it out with something else.

Matt

* May be a good idea to find someone who has already undertaken this task and pick their brains for info.

The only real solution may be to acquire one of each of them (that is my plan lol).:cheesy:

I like the way you think :cool2:.....

BRDMDriver cheated by up loading cool youtube vid of his machine(?). Thanks, for doing that . The version I was looking at has the conventional turret which would have carried the 14.5mm heavy MG.

While watching that video, I noticed that the side view mirrors were situated in such a way I don't think the driver would be able to use them looking through the windshield. Can that vehicle be driven "head out" like a LAV25 for example?

As for the BRDM's lack of off road capability, this isn't that big of a deal for me as I really have no plans to go four wheeling in such a vehicle. I wouldn't want to even imagine what the recovery bill would be for a four ton vehicle(ferret) let alone one that weighs in at eight tons (BRDM). I remember watching a German BRDM owner trying to take his BRDM on some pretty muddy tracks. He eventually laid it on it's side...

Here's a mechanical question for the BRDM owners, do they have conventional truck type axles underneith them or is it something completely different? For example, the V150 uses axles off of the 5 ton cargo trucks of the period while the British ferrets & larger (think; Saladin) use right angle bevel boxes.

Matt

How would he know it was a PTO veteran? The wheels with holes welded up show up on many rebuilt Shermans supplied post-war to countries like the Netherlands and France. That feature alone is not enough to ID it as a PTO vet....

That wasn't what made it a PTO Vet. Sorry if that's the impression I gave. The Vehicle's history which he had is what made it a PTO Vet. The field depot mods (such as what had been done to the wheels) were an interesting point of conversation (as was all the small arms impacts).

Matt