Adam Elsdon

Of course one could always try to repatriate the APG Whippet (and MkIV) - a disgrace to "preservation", which would need so much work to stabalise them after the damage caused by sitting outside rusting away for so many years...

Come on tell us more! i take it APG is Aberdeen Proving Ground in the United States.

My pig has a Turner winch, exactly as described by Ed, and i have seen another 1 ton G.S. truck with exactly the same winch fitted.

Waltz, that is a very nice truck you have, and not alot of them around anymore!

I have a Chassis from one, originally it had been used by a garage as a recovery, in original form, then they sold it, to somebody who thought they would turn it into a monster truck! cut all of the body off, and then ditched the lot in a field when they got bored:argh:

Needless to say, it wasnt pretty by the time i had got it, but it has yielded some useful spares.

Not normally a fan of youtube stuff, and especially some of the CGI stuff, but this is really quite good!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tWu1GyBLYAg&feature=related

I like the Mark A Whippet! see it blasting past the other tanks in this clip!!

(Bear with it for a couple of minutes till you get to the old footage)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e8CVm9iQGuE

Or how about a Mark C Hornet, see it mercilessly attack some trees!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lCWmy_6zAsw&NR=1

Or a MK IX tank going for a swim!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hb4J7CmlhKY&NR=1

Some big sheets of steel, a big bucket of red hot rivets and a hammer.....how hard can it be!:cool2:

Adam,

 

just about right. Cent ARV2 has a Meteor for main engine, RR B80 for winch generator, the winch itself being electrically driven and a Morris 10 engine for auxiliary generator. The aux gen engine is standard in all Cents, it's purpose being to provide battery charging when the main engine is not running.

The main engine and the aux gen do share a cooling system but it is only circulated by the main engine IIRC. The transmission oil does not even have a cooler.

The winch engine is entirely independant of the main engine and shares nothing in the way of systems.

Aha! knew it was something like that, wasnt too sure which vehicle the Morris engine was applicable to. I did think the winch was mechanical drive though, given the engine used to drive it, using a Saladin/Stolly/Sarrycans engine to run a generator is pretty impressive!

So thats 24 cylinders spread over 3 petrol engines all running at once to carry out its recovery function, and people think running a Main Battle Tank is heavy on fuel!!

Croc and i were discussing the Cent ARV earlier, somebody we know has one, but is having problems (By the way it is one mother of a machine!)

Correct me if i am wrong but this is how i think it is powered, it has the V12 Meteor for main drive, a RR B80 for powering the winch mechanism, and a Morris engine (not sure what engine it is) for running the generator etc.

Would i be correct in thinking the morris donkey engine should be running all the time, providing power and heating up the coolant, and does the coolant system have a heat exchanger for heating the transmission oil?

Just the one we have seen only runs its V12, and its all a bit pop bang and judder when it moves.

P.S. if the competition for best tank relied on its name, i think the Conqueror clearly wins, particularly against Challenger, sounds a bit limp in comparison!

These aftermarket canvas doors have been rigorously tested to ensure maximum passgenger comfort keeping out wind, water and crap!

Stan,

Might be interested in the tyres, give me a PM!

I might know somebody who could need a CVRW gearbox, they presently have a problem, and we are looking at getting it out and sorted sometime in the next few months.

I had exactly the same problem with a 109 series 3 FFR, no problems until i hit a pothole, and then uncontrollable wheel wobble, nearly ended up taking apart the entire steering system, and re-bushed the whole front end.

Turned out to be a dodgy tyre! it was still on its original Goodyear military tyres, i only noticed when i jacked up the front end and spun the wheels and seen a wheel turning while facing towards the front of the vehicle, the tyre tread had a slight wobble in it on one side. Replaced the tyres with exactly the same patterned make which i seem to recall were called SECURITY TM718, only slightly wider with a squarer side wall and little bit bigger lugs

The tyre that came off had a completely knackered carcass which was only obvious on the insider of the tyre, it was totally shot, the exterior tread meanwhile looked good, with the exception of some hairline cracking in the lower part of the tread, this caused the tyre to go mushy causing the hideous steering problem!

Hi, here are a couple of pictures of my old pig. It was bought in 1990 from a local garage who tried to convert it in to a recovery vehicle. The roof was very roughly removed with a gas torch, and all bolted on armour also removed. The doors and roof were replaced with thin tin items. The first picture is it coming home to start restoration; the second one was taken three months later at its first rally. The missing pieces were replaced from parts removed from a scrap pig in Bradford. The registration plate in the first photo was from a1972 Ford cortina which the pig had somehow managed to acquire before I got it. If memory serves me well I think the army number was 26 BK 32.

 

Cheers Stan.

VOR/Stan, i think the roof came off well before then, a garage in Insch had it for a little while, he was asked to make the N.I. style rear wings for it, he thought my pig was the same one but then mentioned that the one he worked on had the roof cut off, he seemed to think that it was used for forestry type work by a farmer. He has an aerial photograph of his garage from years ago, and you can just make it out in his yard. I have been keeping an eye out locally ever since hoping to come across its carcass in someones back yard!

Do you still have it, or has it moved on..

I joined the forum to find out more about the Morris - anorak stuff like what colour should the engine block be, and also to find where to get spares.

We live for challenging anorak questions on this forum!!

An explosion is a very rapid expansion of gases, causing shock waves, if you are behind something that will withstand that blast, that doesnt break up you are in the main fine, i would imagine that if you are in a re-inforced confined space i.e a pillbox, and a shell went off near the entrance, the gases would compress inside the box, as the rifle apertures are smaller, and compress anything else inside it momentarily, anything from milder effects of burst eardrums to the other end of the scale with the whole body in effect been crushed, causing massive internal organ failure.

Having been on the wrong end of a big mortar round, landing in reasonable proximity whilst undercover, the effect is like nothing else you can experience, it massively hits all your senses, even taste as fine dust is lifted.

I should imagine that the size of shells they were lobbing at each other in WW1, whether it was airburst or groundburst would have had quite an effect, even in a pillbox.

I would of thought pillboxes in a long term fixed position as per WW1 is pointless, it becomes a bullet magnet, and something to shell relentlessly, the lines of Pillboxes set up as per WW2 for defence is something else, as the enemy would of being coming up against them mainly unexpectedly and then held up until the pillbox and other defences were taken out, the idea to slow the enemy advance and use up their resources to buy time.

Adam could be either. Some people make the mistake of painting their Pigs in NATO Green. That colour only came into use in late 1980. Initially it largely depended whether the Pig was still in service or whether it was one of the 200 that had been recovered & from where they had been recovered. So as late as 1972 there were still Mk 1s with disruptive green (OD) & black. No doubt if they were paint bombed there would be repainted. But there was not enough time for painting for the sake of it. The result of Op Marble concluded that bringing these recovered Pigs into service took twice as long as anticipated. Mechanicals would have had priority over the niceties of a new paint job.

 

The most extraordinary coloured pig was on a clip in "The Rock & Roll Years" TV series. They played pop music of the year coupled with news clips. This was early 70s & the Pig was a reddish-brown with disruptive DBG, awful!

 

This strange colour scheme was repeated in 1971-ish (for a while) on Triton 1 & 2. These 2 ex-RUC water cannon were originally grey. Quite why the 17/21 Lancers who operated them thought brown & green was appropriate to urban conflict I don't know.

As they were the Lancers i would of thought if they were going to camouflage paint them, the Berlin paint scheme would of being the way to go, at least its harder to see in built up areas, but i suppose it would of been a bit of a chore to keep on tarting them up if they kept on having paint chucked at them.

For those who are wondering what Berlin cam is!!:

This was on e-bay about 6 months ago, i was trying to find the thread about it, but cant see it.

It was originally painted black all over, and apparently was a good runner back then. It looked like it might have been used as a Limo type thing at the time. Give away points as being the same vehicle, the insides of the doors are still black, the windscreens are strange and i see it still has its enormous choke knob! and it looks like it still lives at the same location, if somebody bought it, it didnt go far!

Could of took the time to find some decent paint, looks like he has done it to raise its price/make a known vehicle look different.:confused:

Must be the thing in the scottish lowlands to take a perfectly good post war military vehicle and make it look tarty, there was a Ferret with chrome bling and red vinyl interior on e-bay repeatedly for a while!

Clive, would early N.I. pigs have come in Olive Drab, its just i dont fancy painting mine DBG, i have never been that keen on it, mainly because it looks a bit too shiney!

Jessie made a good point about exhibitors paying to attend a show, absolutely no way! i have never been to a show up here and paid to attend, and as far as i am aware all have done well enough through public entrance fees. I have been involved with organising a show a few years ago and know what a pain in the arse it can be!(Turned out good though)

You have to strike a balance, if you are turning up and showing for free, take into account that somebody has organised it, and has put some money into something which potentially could be a loss, and your loss the following year when it isnt repeated, so do your best to make an effort and present your vehicle and yourself in the best light possible, if i was joe public and had paid to get into an event and seen a pikey park with stripey deck chairs and bottles of pop everywhere, instead of the expected "Military" display they are looking for i would be disappointed.

I personally dont do re-enactment, but i do try to put the effort in and set a scene with my vehicle when showing and talk to as many people as i can, put a helmet and webbing on the kids and let the parents take pictures of them in the vehicle......they love it, and i really enjoy it as well, a bit of effort from everyone really helps, if you take it all to seriously its a bit cack frankly!!

Ive been tango'd !! Just got to love those surplus RN immersion suits, which i found had all the water stopping ability of toilet roll!

What isnt shown was the complete 20metre high pine tree that we pulled out further down the river, only having to use the top crane winch!

Get a Humber 1 Ton Truck, the Aussies had quite a few of those, not overly big, yet you will get a shed load of gear in the back, infact they used alot of stuff similar to the British Army, or a LWB series land rover, i always thought these looked pretty smart...

Wow, alot of stuff about civvy tents! what is the problem with putting them up shortly before you need them, and taking them down in the morning? the last show i attended everybody done that, and most people hide away the civvy gear, before the public turn up i.e. carrier bags and bottles of pop. One chap made up a big plywood box painted green and lobbed all of his stuff into that, pulling it out when joe public disappeared.

The reason people leave tents up is because it turns into a land grab exercise, if Mil vehicles are given a bit of space, then its not a problem, and if you have a bunch who want to lager the vehicles together, and make a proper military camp, all the better, particularly if it is kept tidy and reasonably authentic it looks the part, which i believe is partly the reason we like MV's.

Exhibitors Civvy vehicles, caravans and low loaders should be parked away from the MV's particularly if Joe public are paying, it just looks wrong.

And i like the sort of show where everything is thrown in together, otherwise its all a bit predictable coming across the 10th jimmy truck in a row.

And vehicles moving so that you can see them doing what they were designed to do, an arena with a bit of informed commentary makes all the difference.

Oh yeh nearly forgot the 3 'B's bogs, booze and barbecue.....mission completed!

The U.S. Armies secret weapon is sat in the doorway of the tent, in front of the woman doing her hair, i bet she could kill a man at 300 yards with her hard stare!

I never win anything on the lottery either, so maybe thats the explanation!:-D

Been in two Big supermarkets in the last week or so, none of them had poppies on sale, quite unbelievable, are they so PC that they wont have them on sale incase they offend somebody, so its easier not to have them?

Fred,

 

You will probably not find any service history, although careful rubbing down in the right places may reveal unit and div signs from its postwar service (ignoring those painted on by past private owners). If you know its postwar WD reg number, which might be on a brass plate on nearside of chassis, you can then go to RLC Museum at Deepcut and ask for a copy of the Key Card for that number. This will give you chassis no., original WD census no. starting L*******, contract no and brief detail of the location it was struck off from and disposal date. All for £25 !

I put in an RLC search on my Humber Pig, and Crocs Scammell Explorer, and got nothing back on both, Pre 1970 information is patchy apparently, they weren't particular about looking after the cards before then, so it can be a very hit and miss affair.

You see, i am quite surprised at the way the poll is going, the MV scene has everything from Bicycles to Main Battle Tanks, bridging pontoons to motor torpedo boats which i think is the best thing about this interest, it is so diverse.

Otherwise we are in danger of only cherry picking what, at a certain moment, is perceived to be interesting!

I should really do something for the Op Banner, As I have a flying Mk1 with sandbags on the wings and now barb wire so it does look the part.

Quite right! for so long it has been sidelined, but an awful lot of Military personnell and innocent civilians were caught up in the events that took place.

I dont think there has been an event i have turned up to where somebody hasnt came over and imparted their recollection of a Humber Pig in Northern Ireland, even the chap at the local tip i went to told me how he always felt sick in the back of them, not always because of the vehicle though...

I think it would be fitting to have a few reminders driving about.