Adam Elsdon

Jamie, the main brass vehicle plate can be found if you look inside the front nearside/passenger side wheel arch, if you look between the steering swivel housing and where the upper wishbone is attached to the chassis, you should find a plate about 6x4 inches, on it will be allsorts of useful information, including the vehicle registration mark when it was in the Army, and it should tell you exactly what it is you have. And then post it here, cos we like that sort of thing! :yay:

I knew there was a reason why i didnt renew my membership, sounds pretty small minded stuff!

The photos make them look a bit perfect, they have brush marks and slightly rough edges in the flesh, but they are still a bit neat, but i couldnt bring myself to just slap on the markings, if i was asked to mark a vehicle in service, i probably would of done it to a similiar standard, infact actually i did, i made an aluminium stencil of our Unit symbol (Dove with a bolt of lightning through it) and sprayed it onto our Series FFR landrover doors using gold paint, this was before the paint bay took on all of the vehicle painting because of H&S. Another reason i painted them on by hand, was im tight! and i didnt want to fork out for a sign maker to print them out on vinyl as a one off job! paint used for the markings was Japlac British Racing Green, some old "Defence Ground Equipment Brushing Signal Red" and the white is Radiator enamel, all stuff i had in the shed. The Union flag is one of a number of service stickers bought from e-bay ages ago for next to nothing, so all in all pretty cheap and has a certain self gratification to it.

Lights re-fitted after been cleaned up and painted, and all the lighting wiring tidied and wrapped into looms, after all the welding up of holes etc, i think i drilled something like 16 holes back into each of the wings to refit the lamp bowls and holders etc. The vehicle complete with the headlamp guards which i refitted with new mesh, as the originals were rusted out in places, this was one of the main reasons to get the front wings sorted out, so it would take the light guards properly. Just need to make up some front foot steps now and bolt them to the bottom of the wing!

Painted the Regiment and Brigade signs onto the front of the Pig, masked off two 8" squares and brush painted two coats of the background colour, left them for a couple of days, and then painted the white surround lines, by hand with a small modellers brush, didnt take too long at all. The number 8 was printed out off of my computer in a large size font, and i traced it out onto the square, the Key and bayonet brigade marking i drew out on paper cut it out and used it as a stencil, drawing it onto the square, i then painted in the number and the cross key and bayonet by hand, and freehand painted the 5 after the paint dried. The back of the Pig is still a work in progress, will get the brigade marking painted over the weekend if the weather holds out.

Im not 100% sure, as it never had its "armoured" contract plate while it was in the hands of the last couple of owners, but i think it is, going by photos of ROF pigs under construction. Ive decided as i cant find any previous military users history, to paint it up as it would of been used by the "Green Howards" based at Iserlohn, Germany as part of 5 Brigade BAOR in the early Sixties, i have found plenty of reference photographs, alot of them posted on this forum, and i had a Great Grandad who was in the Rifles, so a link with Light Infantry, i would of gone with my dads regiment, the Coldstream Guards, but he doesnt recall using them, only Saracens, which is probably a good thing, he would want to see the tyres bulled up bright and shiney or something!

Who...:-D

I bet it went like this! Those post war Austin Champ marvels are just fantastic, much better than that wartime tat, and that Catweazle bloke is a fine pillar of the community, i would of voted twice but with all voting under international scrutiny thanks to Robert Mugabe, i feared arrest by the authorities.

Im sure Bart was an interesting bloke to know, certainly sounded like it. What i cant stand is "Club" mentallity, the "Well i dont like who was voted in as Chairperson for light refreshments, so im going to form a splinter club and call it something with a more impressive title, nah nah nah" You only have to look in a car club listing to see how many one make clubs there are for one sole type of car. The comic/coffee table book mob, enough said, although there are some good authors producing well researched work, even then money making has to be a biasing factor. Its a toughy to be sure, probably back with a club rep to organise, just hope it doesnt turn into an annual mutual back slapping fest.

There is a good possibility! although the weather is warming up, although that does bring the barbecue into play!, i have smelted lead for fishing weights in our cut through oil drum barbecue, stacked it full of wood, let it burn down to a nice bed of embers and churned out a stack of weights using a steel crucible, some molds, wire and a bucket of water. I did make sure it was cleaned out afterwards, church roof is nowhere near as good as hickory for flavouring steaks!!

Something that will make a difference to the front of the Pig is a bridge classification plate, mine never had one, and a friend gave me one.....mainly because it had about 4mm of paint flaking off in different layers, and it was rusty! After considering the use of paint stripper, or finding someone with a grit blasting cabinet, or scraping it off by hand, i decided to throw it on my open fire in the front room, after i got it good and hot, once the plate was glowing a dull cherry red! i removed it and let it cool down slowly, and gave it a quick wire brush off, much easier, had a cup of tea while i was waiting! Two coats of Smooth Hammerite and it was ready for its Bridge weight number......My hand painting isnt too bad, but i couldnt really be bothered with all that, so i printed out a number 6 on my computer, using Font size 600 and Arial bold font, then cut out the number leaving a couple of stencil joining lines for the centre of the six and then used that as a spray stencil. Voila one not too perfectionist but about right bridge plate on the cheap!:yay:

A couple of shots showing different surfaces painted by brush, the first is the inside of the back door of the Pig, the second is the top of the wing of my Brockhouse 1 Ton trailer. Both were painted on a sunny warm day with a breeze, the paint is Xylene based, so drys very quick, but it covers well, and if it isnt over worked/brushed prior to it starting to go off, settles very well, infact i didnt get a run on either the Pig or the trailer, the only runs are ones that were on the previous paint! Benefits of brushing is there is no overspray, and the coat goes on thicker, although i am sure spraying would be faster and the finish more even if done well, although i am quite pleased with the way it has turned out.

The next picture is the Pig painted Olive Drab (British Standard colour chart BS381C, 298) This is to represent a vehicle used in Germany by BAOR in the early 60'S, NATO green not coming into use until sometime in the mid 70's. The front wings have been left unpainted in preparation for the work to be carried out. The first picture shows the wings marked out ready to cut, and also shows the position that the headlights should be at. The second picture shows the excess metal removed and the indicator holes welded up, i used an Arc welder with very thin rods, the wings having been replaced at some point using heavy gauge sheet steel making welding easier. I painted the Pig by hand, i was going to spray it, but the paint i used went on well, and had good coverage, i used one 3" and one 1" Harris professional brush to paint it, didnt lose a single hair, well worth the money. The paint i used was Protegalac Containergard, made by a British company called Protega, originally intended for ISO shipping containers and steel used in harsh conditions, it drys with a nice Satin finish, and drys very quickly. It is recommended to spray larger areas, but i found it went on fine with a brush.

I have had my Pig for a couple of years now, to start with i ran it to shows in the condition i got it in, focusing on getting the thing running properly, and stopping, and when it stopped getting it going again! the best way to find out what needs sorting is drive it, it all suddenly becomes very apparent! This year, i am focusing on getting the thing looking a bit straighter/tidier and starting to restore stuff with a view on getting it back to original MK1 spec, so there is a bit of work on the wings front yet, but it will get there. Here are some photos of what i have been doing since the Easter weekend:- The first two pictures are of my Pig, Pre-facelift, this was it washed and looking poncified for Croc's wedding in March. The dashing little charmer stood on the Pigs front wing is Mini-Me, showing the interesting scatter gun approach to fitting lights by the previous owner, and to add to the problems the wings are too deep/long by nearly 2 inches so its going to require a bit of hacking, grinding and metal stitching.

As fitted to Pigs, Champs etc etc.

Burt Reynolds, Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper Pontiac Transams and Firebirds, responsible partly during my earlier years for an interest later in life for big yank V8 cars.

I have no idea who Bart Vanderveen was and dont know what Jim Baxter of IMPS or Preston Isaac of MVT do, and......shock horror, cant say im too bothered! I tend to use this Forum as my main means of keeping abreast with current MV affairs, so Jacks recognition last year by MV royalty (whoever that is) is totally deserved.:bow: There are individuals on this site i would vote for, some of them very knowledgeable and extremely helpful, or in some cases just plain weird! but outside of this arena and due to my location it just doesnt show on the radar so to speak.

I have had the privilege to work with the Gurkhas a number of times on various Ops/Detachments, i cannot emphasise enough to anybody who is unsure of what the Gurkhas are about "This is a travesty". I signed the first petition, and wrote a letter to Derek Twigg the Veterans minister at the time, clearly they dont seem to give a damn, Joanna Lumley quite rightly gave a scathing verdict of how the government is treating the Gurkhas, and i fully agree with it. Not many things get me wound up to the point i write letters to MP's but this is one issue that really grips me, it is just awful that they can treat fine decent people with the highest integrity that way, character traits that the spineless MP's and Civil servants involved lack. By the way Phil Woolas MP and Immigration minister was the one of the above, justifying the decision. I for one will be displaying Gurkha justice campaign information during this show season. Infact a T-Shirt from the Gurkha Justice shop is definitely on the cards, and gives them funding help.

There is a video on youtube of a Humber Pig having its internal armour removed, give you an idea of the scale of the job. There is a MK2 that has been fully returned to MK1 spec, its in the Humber picture gallery, very nice job, but a massive amount of work. I would be inclined to leave it original, but then you pay the bills so whatever fits!

The Pig hitch is the smaller one, also it isnt the later Dixon Bate type with the option to rotate the pintle and the myriad of locking pins, it is the earlier type, as fitted to the Champ etc, also fairly easy to get hold of, and generally cheaper than the later version.

Excellent stuff, good that its started, just need to check the Pigs other interesting Ace up its sleeve.....will it stop when you press the brake pedal! Welcome to the world of Pigs!!

Just found this bit, pretty impressive, better than manually prodding the ground with a spike to find a mine, infact it would make an excellent piece of gardening equipment! :- Aardvark landmine clearance machines which will not only clear the mines, but will also clear surface scrub and vegetation up to 3 metres high, trees with a trunk diameter of 15 centimetres, and booby traps and trip wires. Trees and vegetation are reduced to a mulch leaving a level clear area which can easily be checked by sifters or hand teams if required, and quickly recultivated. To be effective, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines are laid just below ground level, but wind, rain and floods may move or bury these mines to a greater depth, and thus it is essential that mechanical clearance machines are capable of varying their clearance depth. All Aardvark machines are capable of this. A new operator’s computerised control system allows the depth to be set, and the vehicle then automatically travels at the correct speed to maintain that depth. The slower the forward speed the greater the depth to which the flail can dig, up to a maximum of 580 millimetres. To ensure maximum percentage clearance, every piece of ground covered by an Aardvark machine is struck at least twice with a force of approximately 4 tons, and an automatic contouring device ensures that the flail is in contact with the ground at all times.

This is made just up the road from me by a company called Aardvark Clear Mine, its a JSFU (Joint Service Flail Unit) Mk 4. Looks alot more useful than the bog chain Caterpillar! This is their own description: The Aardvark flail has proven extremely useful in post conflict clearance. It has been involved in operations for the United Nations and has operated in commercial clearance jobs in various countries around the world. Aardvark machines have recently been used by the British, Canadian and French forces in Bosnia, by humanitarian mine clearance agencies in Angola and Mozambique, and for a millennium mine clearance project in the Jordan Valley. Following a worldwide bid and trials, the Mk4 was chosen as the preferred vehicle to clear landmines in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea. It is also being operated in Afghanistan as the preferred mechanical clearance system for the American Forces. Over 220 Aardvarks have been purchased by and/or used in 26 different countries. Customers include the armies of the UK, USA, Canada, France, Norway, Italy, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, Mozambique, Iran, Libya, Ireland, and Korea.

Tah very much! Just went outside with a torch to get this! The trailer plate describes it as: Trailer Cargo 1 Ton 2WH Brockhouse Cont No. WV2037 Veh No: 18 EN 91 Chassis BT8/18190 The Brass plate on the front of the trailer, near the top of the tub describes it as: Power plant elec 2 - 3.5 KVA 120/240V S/P 50 C/S NO.1 MK.2 Trailer 1 Ton 6115-99-102-2998 SIM/T/0107 It was used by the Royal Signals, as there was the remains of a Blue and White Tac marking on the tailgate.

I bought mine from Anchor Supplies in Nottingham last year for 170 quid, they were cheaper than the smaller Sankeys, mainly because they arent so popular due to the larger size, which is the very reason i bought it, as it is the same width as the Pig, which makes it a much easier proposition for towing, as you can see it in the mirrors, particularly when reversing, which makes it a doddle. Also the wheels are 20 inch and the whole set up looks like its made for each other. The only adaption required is changing the Electric socket on the pig to take the later NATO socket, which i have still to sort out. It was converted to carry a couple of Generators 3.5 KVA and had left overs of exhaust brackets and various nuts bolts and earthing straps when the generators were removed, i have removed most of the leftover bits to make it more G.S. (General Service) in appearance.