Minesweeper

I had a cousin who was a Sergeant in the Royal Pioneer Corps during the War - he certainly was not bearded! Died several years ago. He was quite an intelligent man, but had very poor eye-sight, and I remember my father saying that because of that eye-sight limitation, he was placed in the R.P.C. out of the way as that was the one place where he could still be useful as he wanted to do his bit. Perhaps less danger of shooting one of his own side?!!

As always, I wished I asked him more about his experiences when I had the chance.

DCLI Museum at Bodmin Cornwall. Somerset L.I. Museum now incorporated in the County Museum in Taunton.

Well, it appears to be a Ploughing Engine with that big winch underneath.

A very fine job - congratulations!

Tony

Here are some photos of the second Gearbox - the one that is shortly to be taken apart in the hope that the inners are in good condition. As far as we know, it was left lying in a Norfolk Scrapyard, out in the open for many years, so you can see what the weather has done to it on the outside. An excellent example of corrosion!

This one, funnily enough. is the most complete one of the three Gearboxes that we have, and is the only one that still had the cast iron oil-filler cap on it, and I took that off the other day to clean it up for the Gearbox that we plan to use. Encouragingly, the oil that has dripped out from it since then is thick and black and shows no sign of rust, so I remain optimistic that it is OK on the inside! It is lying on its side on the floor at the moment in the workshop and I hope to get it up on the stand very shortly when we will take the Lid off! The moment of truth!

Tony

These bits are all 90 years old - the trucks probably did not work for more than 30 years at the most - so that means that they have been laid aside for another 60 years - and almost certainly outside, not under cover and open to the elements. Some parts like the aluminium ones obviously do not rust but they still corrode - especially if you have two unlike metals next to each other. Large parts of the engine and the gearbox case for instance were made out of aluminium. The engine was under cover all of its life so that got off very lightly - but the Radiator was in a very poor condition where there were parts of brass and aluminium next to each and in direct and continual contact with the water from the cooling system leading to internal corrosion! You rarely find parts that have been carefully put aside for all of these years - they mainly come from Scrapyards.

The Gearbox being worked on at present was put aside like this - but before it was put aside, one of the covers was removed so that rain ran inside the actual Gearbox - probably for years. I think that you will see from photos that Tim posted previously of the inners of the gearbox, that they are deeply pitted with rust.

I will post a picture of another Gearbox tomorrow which is still sealed - but deeply corroded on the outside - the outside is beyond repair but I hope that the actual gears will still be in good order. Will advise progress with pictures on that one as it is stripped down.

Tony

I see that today, with 3 hours to go, the price has reached £200. I feel a SMLE is in the offing?

Tim's computer is down - the Gearbox Repair is nearly completed and here in Tim's absence are the pictures.

There are three steel braces yet to be welded in to the new fabrication - those, plus the main part are to be drilled for bolts to fix this to the Gearbox and there are one or two corners of it to be rounded off.

Next job - to strip out another Gearbox in the hope that the "innards" are in better condition so that on re-assembly, we can mix and match to make a good useable Gearbox.

Tony

Just the last one - an Autocar UF21 of the Canadian Motorised Machine Gun Corps !

Saw the DC3 fly over Taunton last evening - glorious in the sun! Presumably returning home to Oxford?

Tony

Only two things used to loosen them - heat and Plus Gas. I had it in my mind that there might have been a danger of melting the aluminium casing when using a Propane Torch on the studs, but whilst the steel studs absorbed sufficient heat to do the trick, the aluminium seemed to conduct the heat away fairly quickly and there were no problems. We know from previous experience that really, the best way to move stubborn studs - or bolts is to get them hot.

The next job - the transmission brake mountings. The remains of the aluminium ones to be cut out and replaced with a steel fabrication.

Tony

Neat bit of parking - how do you get in and get out of it?

Correct!

Just a little bit hazy about it all as it was his deceased father's - but he did say he thought 6 cylinders. I guess we shall never know for sure.

No, not that one! This one is in East Devon!

Tony

I wonder if any Matador owner could confirm that this is a Matador? The axles, diffs and any other parts are available should they be of any use to anyone!

Tony

Well, I have not driven one of those for 49 years - I did my 2 weeks MT Course and Driving Test in one when I was doing National Service. I was only 5'10" at the time - shrunk a bit since then - but a friend who was doing the same course at the same time was 6'6" and I never heard him complain.

Tony

The Shuttleworth Article was in last month's magazine, I think - not this month!

At this stage, I am optimistic that it will not come to that. We have three gearboxes altogether - the one that we have picked on is the one with the soundest case and is the one that we plan to use. This one was left open to the elements so that is why it is so badly rusted inside. Gearbox number two has a very corroded case - but is still sealed and we hope that the gears inside will have been protected. Gearbox number three has a broken case with one of the "pins" for the Transmission Brake actually broken off - but that gearbox came back from Australia and is quite clean. The gears in that one have some surface rust on them but they look OK. I'll get Tim to post some pictures of those two gearboxes for you to see!

Tony

Thank you for all of those kind and valid comments. We are very fortunate that we are a united family sharing the same interests and yes - every so often we do have to "gee" each other up. It is not much fun being outside when it is cold - and when something that you are working on proves to be doubly difficult!

I do not cease to admire the standard of the wonderful workmanship in our "stuff" - it was first put together about 90 years ago when there was not the sophisticated machinery that we have nowadays that make all of these things so comparitively easy to make. The Gear Box that we are just pulling to pieces will probably have not been pulled apart since it was made - and yet everything was made with such precision - presumably parts machined on lathes - and gears cut on early hobbing machines - all driven from a line shaft probably powered by a steam engine! How times change!

Tony

Citric Acid - Steve bought it from a "Home wine makers" shop - it comes in powder form and you just dilute it with water! The shop does not sell it for our purpose but just really for the home wine makers. Difficult to find elsewhere - but if you will excuse the play on words - "Any Port in a storm"!

Tony

Posting erased.

Tim has kept you very well up to date with our endeavours - and I have just gone back to the Gearbox after other diversions! The first of his last three photos shows the lid coming off the gearbox for the first time last Christmas - and the two other photos shows it after its first "scrape" to get surface grease and muck off before we get down to some serious cleaning. The "feet" to bolt it to the sub chassis are still sound, but there is a Transmission Brake with its mountings cast into the gearbox and these are looking very fragile. The most sound of the three gearboxes that we have already has one of these mountings broken off - so we think that there must have always been a problem of fragility in this component - i.e. - the harder you brake, the more stress you place on the alumnium casting and something will ultimately break!

The Gearbox is in a terrible state with all external fittings badly rusted and corroded so getting it apart is not going to be an easy exercise. But we shall persist and I guess, will eventually get there.

Since Christmas, we have worked on other engine components so that they are ready to fit - and all we really need now is the water pump to complete the engine - Steve ands Tim have seen an original on another preserved (albeit in pieces) lorry - have photgraphed and measured the components so we are ready for pattern making. This will be Steve again - we shall get the bits cast at our local Foundry and Steve has already given me the final drawings so that I can machine them up here at "base" in Devon as soon as they have been cast.

It is an interesting exercise and has kept the three of us very amused and occupied - and all "pulling together", which to me, as the "Patriarch" of the family has given me a great deal of pleasure.

Tony