Minesweeper

As the Thornycroft is more or less finished we are turning our attention this Christmas to the Peerless. When we moved the Peerless into its current location we dumped some of the smaller parts we had into some wooden boxes balanced on the back and they have been there for about 25 years. As we had not looked into those boxes for such a long time we thought that we would take everything out and see what we have. It was nice to find all sorts of goodies. Not so nice to find a recently dead (well, about 3 week dead) squirrel and some mice. Here are a few of the things we uncovered.

Great stuff and good luck with it!

That is a great find - amazing that these things still turn up!

I know a certain someone who's going to be glued to this 😜😜😜😜😜 Very pleased to read that and I do hope that your Dad is keeping well! This is all going to bring back memories for him! Tony

Very moving.

That is Lovely!

It is looking a real treat! Tony

We have discussed dipping steel in Molasses and how it successfully cleans up rusty steel - and we have now seen the results of this for ourselves - quite amazing and pleasing! Two very sad looking P and H Acetylene Headlamps came with the Head Light Brackets and they are quite rusty with some bits of them beyond repair. They have been stripped down and the outside rusty case of one - which is just steel - has now been left soaking in a Molasses solution as well. We already have two good concave original P an H reflectors and with some of the newly arrived parts, some that we already have in stock and with other bits given to us, we have enough to make up two sound Head Lamps. The reflectors are contained within beautifully made steel cases - shaped around the back of the concave mirror in a fitted convex form to match the back shape of the reflector and then with a steel flange folded around the front edge of the reflector glass and then around the back edge of the back steel case. This holds the Reflector firmly. On the back of the case are fitted four steel lugs which are used to fasten the reflector to the outside case. On one mirror, the lugs are riveted to the case and on another they are soft soldered. Now to come to my question - and maybe a chemist will be able to answer if no one else has considered trying this or had any experience of it - can I dip the steel encompassed reflectors as they are, still in their steel soldered cases with a silvered back to the glass, in the molasses solution, just to get the rust off the steel - without damaging the Reflectors - especially the silvering? Tony

This stuff that I bought from Amazon is for Horses - I wonder what the difference is? Tony

I thought that we are going to need a lot of this stuff so I bought14Kg from Amazon for £22.85 - delivered. The cheapest way that I could find for buying it at the time. Tony

The Headlamps are P & H - (Powell and Hanmer). The two common makes of these WW1 Headlamps seem to be either Miller or P &H. Tony

It was a great day and a lot of fun. We had planned and hoped to take the Thorny but that did not work out because of the further teething problems. Second choice would have been the Dennis but that is now living at Steve's place in Leicestershire - so the dear old faithful Autocar saved the day! It has not been out for a couple of years but started very easily and we were away! I guess the only disadvantage with it was that there is no proper weather protection so we had to cope with the few showers that came along. Reception from the public along the way was tremendous and the crowds in Blandford were amazing. Two onlookers said to me that it brought tears to their eyes - the whole scene was truly wonderfully set with the foot soldiers marching ahead of the convoy in the towns and villages - and on occasion singing the First World War songs that are so well known. I am afraid that other traffic on occasions came to a halt - but that really was only because the traffic coming towards us stopped to watch us pass by and thus held up the following traffic. Hundreds of photos taken. Probably never to be repeated but an occasion for us to remember for a long time. Tony

That was a good find! The correct one that we have on the Dennis was made by Radmore - and branded "Radwell" - and we have never seen another. I have left a continuing Search for another one under either of those two names for some considerable time on EBay but nothing has turned up. Hence Steve's thoughts of just copying the original for the Thorny. Tony

We shall see - but Steve has matched the existing holes in your Dad's Scuttle so I am quite sure that it will be right! Tony

We are going to be in trouble here for going off topic - but very briefly, it did not have a stripe and was painted the standard "black and green" cam pattern when I bought it. It spent most of its service life with 16 Sqn Wildenrath as a "Tracker Radar Towing Rapier Rover" - Service No. 73KB70 Tony

Stupidity! Not 1963 - should have said 1983! Tony

A wonderful job!

Many congratulations on your Award, Ben! Superb work and very well deserved! Tony

I think that the final paragraph in your last posting is exactly right, Barry, but Steve will have the final say when he comes back on line! When he left Devon yesterday, we agreed that the Pistons had been machined parallel initially with a 0.005 clearance. We shall have the bores honed out by a further 0.003. The pistons will be stepped to a clearance of 0.017 above the top ring and 0.012 between the rings. At least, that is what we talked about yesterday - but that may change! Tony

Steve just telephoned me to say that his Computer "died" today - he has just been out to buy a new one but he will not be operational with it for a couple of days. He very much wants to reply to the comments made today and yesterday and will do so as soon as he can! Tony

Ah yes but you are talking about a fire engine with 9 1/2 l engine. These army lorries are only 6 1/2 l and they didn't feel the need to fit them with impulse or trembler. They were also driven by 18-25 year olds, not old fogies like us! Steve

Painting of that must wait until after the Brighton. A pity but there are other more pressing things to complete first of all.

Well, it has been all of a bit of surprise - we never gave it much of a thought that it would have created this amount of interest! We are just so pleased that folks have enjoyed watching it develop in this way. Whilst there have been three of us at it, it has been very much Steve's project and it is a prime example of the "Apprentice has now become the Master". And all the way through, there has been a tremendous amount of advice and encouragement from members of the Forum and we have been very grateful to have had that. And we must acknowledge Jack for it is his Forum that has given us the means to tell the story in this way and we are grateful to him. Tony

Steve can reply properly later on, Hedd, but it has loosened again now that it is cold. We plan to run it again this afternoon -"as -is" - and see what happens this time. Tony

Thanks John - that's very kind! I noticed, too that the One Million is fast approaching and can hardly believe that it has all created so much interest. I am expecting Steve here in Axminster later today and we have a significant amount of work planned for the week ahead - we shall know by the end of next week if we are going to be ready for the "Brighton" or not. Everything is planned and hope that nothing unexpected will hold it all up. We will keep everybody interested of our progress - or lack of it this coming week! Tony