Minesweeper

The time is approaching. What we ideally want is a weekend when everyone is down. A Bank Holiday is the ideal time for family get togethers.......

The filter element was unsoldered and inspected. It works by fuel coming down the central tube, going around the outside and then back through the gauze and up through a hole in the main body. Unfortunately, the casting carrying the element had some porosity in it such that the fuel could bypass the gauze altogether and we suspect that it had always been that way from new. Steve therefore made a new central tube with an extended thread to cover the hole and you can just see this in the photo. He completed the filter element by replacing the gauze. Finally he made some new union nuts, copying the surviving original and reassembled it. Job done!

First item to be fixed was the sump. Steve used the nylon brush to clean it up and then pickled it in old battery acid for an hour before tinning the inside with soft solder. This was successful. Next item tackled was the replacement of the cracked centre tube of the filter casting and then he made a new spindle and handle Thanks are due to Ben for measuring his up for us so we could get it exactly right.

Last weekend, Steve went over to Cambridgeshire to pick up the fuel filter which had been turned out by our good friend Mick. As you can see, it was pretty poorly and the handle had rusted off completely. A bit of judicious heat and it all came apart except for the valve spindle which had to be drilled out. The filter element had corroded away and the sump had cracked through.

The last piece of plumbing to be completed is the pipe from the Water Pump to the Inlet manifold. This is just a short piece of 15mm copper pipe which has to be bent in different directions to fit. Had a trial run this afternoon with an old piece of copper tube, just to get the shape of it - the pipe had to be annealed many times to get it soft enough to bend, but the finished item does have one or two "dinks" in it. It does fit and would do the job quite adequately, but the next job now is to do it again, now that I have the size and shape, but to do it without "dinking" it!

Heard them here in Shute (Axminster) but couldn't see them! Wondered what I was missing! Tony

My memory of it. VE Day in Penryn Cornwall - wild celebrations with bonfires in the street. I expected similar celebrations on VJ Day (I was only 6) but was very disappointed when in comparison with VE Day, it was a non-event. Perhaps another example of this, the "Forgotten Army? Tony

Nice one! Tony

The Railway is 7 1/4" Gauge and circles the house - about 350ft or thereabouts around. Has given us a lot of fun and we use it to help raise a few shillings for village charities. Does not get a lot of use at the moment as the Dennis has rather taken over............... Tony

Nice one - I enjoyed that!" Tony

Wonderful Richard - love it! Tony

Alan It looks very similar. The hubs certainly look spot on, however the dumb irons look wrong for a subsidy lorry. Bot of course Belsize did not make just subsidy lorrys. Tim

Hear hear! Tony

Wonderful! Tony

Lovely - all very familiar! "Old Bill" and "GWT" setting the pace in East Devon!

Come on Roy - tell us more! Tony

Thank you, Sean, Tony and Richard for your thoughts and comments about the paint! All very helpful and reassuring! We have been at this now for about eight years and it is amazing to think that all of those original tins of paint have been on the shelf for that length of time and that we started painting all that time ago! We purposely ordered it in one litre tins so that most of the paint would be left in unopened tins over the anticipated long re-building period and would not be spoiled if left in partially-used bigger tins for a great length of time. The early painting (for instance - on the chassis) has already weathered and has dulled down - and yes, we did think that it would not be a bad idea to use the "gloss" on things like the engine where the gloss would be more repellant to oil and grease. We are just very fortunate that the two lots of paint match up so well. The scuttle and the bonnet are painted with the "flat" paint and they look fine. If my calculations are correct, we have ample of that stuff left to paint the bodywork when we have made it. Tony

When we first started the restoration of the lorry, we ordered sufficient paint from Masons - all in one litre tins to see the project right through. The original correct colour had previously been exactly identified on the Thornycroft lorry now at Duxford when it was stripped right back by a professional restorer - and a "flat" paint to that specification was ordered by us for the Dennis. The paint was received here in Devon but it was sometime after we received it that the first tin was actually opened and we found then that although we had specified "flat", it was somewhat glossier than we wanted. Too late to do anything about it after we had had it for so long. And paint is not cheap! So we opted to use that paint on the chassis, engine and other under parts not readily visible - and then ordered a completely new lot of "flat" paint from another supplier - Masons having gone out of business, we understand. Fortunately, the new paint is a wonderful colour match with the first lot and that has already been used on the scuttle and on other parts that will be clearly visible. We shall continue to use the original paint where it will not be seen and the correct flat paint on the bodywork and as we have already done on the scuttle. All a bit annoying! Tony

That Star of the Silver Screen, Jack Beckett, on the BBC Devon and Cornwall News Programme this morning.

Great stuff! Look forward to hearing more! Tony

No, I don't have an Email address - but I do not think that you will have a problem in phoning him - a very approchable guy. His phone number is published in "Windscreen" as the Wessex Area Secretary!

Telephone Dick Fryer 01460 74250 Tony

Spotted yesterday afternoon - a Triplane flying over Taunton - could it have been a Fokker?

Very nice! Tony

Good luck! Tony