LarryH57

Regarding the compressor truck - whats in front of it then - yet another foreign one maybe? I thought I could see tracks as per a Maultier!!!

I was wondering if the original post was asking for someone who specialised in doing the spray painting, rather that the colours to use!

I was thinking of a similar idea for my Lwt and I am still looking for a solution. I did see in a gardening advert details of a nissen hut shaped frame that is used by gardeners to make a greenhouse - covered with clear plastic. I was wondered whether a similar thing could be adapted to make a lightweight garage of sorts - with coloured or clear plastic - depending if the contents is to be hidden. Time for an MV temp garage product to be developed I think!

In the last 5 years it only rained once at this event. Last year was a bit foggy and the only time I have ever driven my NATO Green Lwt in the dark and thick fog on the way home! But most times its like those days you get (hopefully) on Rememberance Sunday when the sun shines on all those oldtimers marching up Whitehall. Smaller vehicles get to go on the Merc offroad course. Its free to get in with an MV and up to four persons and if possible they would like to know in advance if you are coming (though dare I say it not a problem if you don't) If you have not been make the effort as there is plenty to see apart from the MVs. I even saw the Vickers Vimy land there a few years back.

Assuming the axle is from the front of the vehicle I would say it has to be something 4x4

Simon, You might wish to explain a bit more - are you trying to interpret a code for a type of vehicle or a data plate marking etc etc?

My advice is to get a 'down yer trousers' type wallet with a chain and divide up your cash and cards so that it doesn't all go in one go! Incidentally I also heard that a few tents had been slashed to see what was 'available'. Who ever is responsible and where they come from I don't know - but its not a good advert for the UK for our MV friends who come to W&P from all over Europe - so let them know in advance!

The only result from all this will be that it puts up the 'average' price of a Jeep in Classic Military Vehicles magazine thus helping all the other owners to believe theirs must now be worth £20K minimum and in turn pricing all newbies to the hobby out of the market! A jeep used to be an entry level vehicle for goodness sake! Goodwood is awash with people who pay hundreds of thousands for sports cars and historic grand prix racing cars, some quite plain ones go for over £500,000, so I suppose a cheap little run about for a snip at only £33,000, is quite OK!

I recently met up with a mate who was at W&P who told me that pickpockets had been at work this year at the 2012 show. This was the first I had heard about the problem as I was there too - but I wanted to warn others in case it becomes a regular thing at W&P or other MV shows. They worked in amoung the crowds, in the stalls area or near the arena and used a stanley type knife to quietly slash pockets and extract wallets without the owners knowing. They targeted not only wallets in back pockets but also those on the legs as found in many combat and lightweight trousers. It seems they worked in pairs with one as the slasher and the other with a black rucksack to quickly take the wallet away and have the appearance of being nothing to do with the wallet lifter. Usually the victims feel nothing, while others though that they had been knocked or lightly pushed as you might innocently be in a crowd. Some victims found they were cut but did not feel the act or theft at the time! It could well be they came over to the UK for the Olympics and started out at W&P before going on to other opportunities and I don't want to suggest it is a W&P problem only as anyone who knows Oxford Street in London will appreciate. It seems that those who reported thefts at W&P lost in total about £12,000 and as we all know there will be others who did not report the matter to the Police. What makes shows like this such a good opportunity is that many of us from home and abroad, come with a wad of cash for the week and carry much more that we would normally take to do Saturday shopping. Sadly there is not much of a description of the thieves except they wore combat clothing but not like a re-enactor just in a casual way, darkish appearance, dark hair and with black rucksack or bag. I hope this helps prevent more losses. God help the thieves if they are ever caught in the act!

Out of interest If you dress up as a German or SS trooper - complete Officer rank with Iron Cross 1st class and usual chest badges - is that disrespectful too or is it OK as they were the enemy, so no offence can be taken?

In the Army, there are three ways of doing things; as per the manufacturers recommendation / manual, as per the MOD mechanics way of interpreting the rules using a bit of common sense to keep the vehicles going and then there are the 'Squaddy mods' some of which beggers belief!!!!!!!

Too much kit is cast - I suspect to give those in MOD Precurement a job! My mate who works for the MOD as a vehicle mechanic has cast hundreds of Land Rover Defenders etc because the chassis had rotted away. Strangely the MOD never specified a galvanised chassis on any of them and yet still paid a higher unit price than normal). Of recent, perfectly good Bedfords AWD and Fodens have all been cast as there is now a rush to equip units with MAN trucks. Don't believe that they are better as they are not! They have so much techno stuff in the cab I cannot ever see them doing a beach landing or lasting long in a sand storm. They must now be connected to a PC to fault find them and it won't be long before that in turn has to be a PC connected to a call centre. "Thank you, your call which is very important to us - how are you today?" "I'm being RPG'd by the Taliban, right now, the radios taken a direct hit and the truck won't start!" "Firstly caller may I have the number from the bar code found on the side of the chassis" ... Arrgh! Bring back the simple vehicles I say like the WW2 Jeeps my Dad recovered off the beaches in SW Pacific and worked on by tipping them on their side! My mate was even told to cast a complete four wheeled comms trailer as the plastic bottle on the brake master cylinder was broken. I won't mention the Austin K9 they towed away to the scrappy either in case it upsets anyone - the unit couldn't understand that anyone would ever want it. As for the spares any that are of no use go in the skip as was the case when Series LRs got cast. Everything got binned at the unit. When Wolf wheels were fitted to Defenders they chucked 250 Defender wheels and good tyres as 'they were no good to anyone'. (Strangely when a Wolf wheel is used on a Defender the wheel nuts don't screw fully on the stud but this is OK and has been passed by the MOD!) But now, I here the Wolf is on its way out so that the MOD can get those mini Hummer look alike thingies - you know the ones with a compartment for four squadies but no rear tub to carry anything. The strange thing though with MOD precurement is that lots of this kit being replaced is for the TA and yet numbers are right down as I think many blokes think they will be sent to to Afganistan if they join up. Remember in WW2 how all the old guns from the scrapped Dreadnought ships were brought out of their underground stores and re-used as coastal batteries? What will we have next time I wonder!

Just a quick point from a mate of mine - who works for the MOD as a mechanic. While walking round Beltring in the last two years he has noticed a few Bedfords & AWD types where the box body that the owner is carrying has not been properly secured on the back with J brackets along the sides - unless of course the owner had some miracle way of doing this which wasn't the standard way! So do check this out!

While on holiday in the Pyrennes a few weeks ago (on the French side) I spotted an abandoned Lightweight Land Rover in a Farmyard still with its UK registration - NTP 550Y. VOSA says last heard of in 2008 So sign of anyone around to talk to nor any sign it was ever registered as a French registered vehicle It was left hand drive and likely to be a 24v FFR It was still in quite good order too - and had a few bits I could have had off it for my own use.

Dear John, As Area Reports Editor I must concur with Clive Elliott concerning the great job done by the current Editors and at the same time appreciate that it was a commercial decision by the MVT to appoint you, so its a warm welcome from me. The show must go on! As for Windscreen it will remain an important outlet for the MVT - as believe it or not many MVT members do not attend any area meetings at all or aren't connected to the internet! They need Windscreen to know what's happening. I know this from attending the AGM where there were discussions concerning having Windscreen as an online magazine but there was uproar from many older members at this suggestion. I for one still like a paper version to read on the train or if I'm on holiday - so long may it continue! I think what would be good for John is if you tell him what you want and don't want in Windscreen for the future. Also if a few more of you write articles that would be great. PM Sent John.

For someone in Dorset there is a place I believe that does Tank Driver training from a farm next to the A31 in Hampshire. I pass it often but cannot recall the exact spot - but it is on the A31 around Alton when driving to Wincheter. Someone will know the name. The farm used for the firm is visible from the road

Firstly - its great to hear that the new owners of Mil Ody at Detling want to get the show back to how it used to be. Secondly - I agree that our European friends seem to be better at having a get together with their rarer vehicles and from reading French MV mags I think I spend more time in France Belgium and Holland next year. But all the above still doesn't answer the point - German vehicles do exist in the UK but seem to have gone in to hiding. Even in the 1980s when anything with tracks was rare you could at least see an Sd Kfz 10 up close. Last year Duxford had the SdKfz.com Stug III but thats about it.

What I want to do is search CH 13701 to 99 to find the photo but it seems I cannot However if IWM is open Saturdays for me to go to the archive that is great news How much notice do they need? I presume I call and say I'd like to come on such a date?

Guys, I need help in trying to search for a photo in IWM. The trouble is I cannot remember the whole number reference. Its in CH 137.... range but when ever I try to search CH I get 77 pages of random CH numbered photos but not in any order! What I want to figure out is how to search individual reference numbers in sequence. Any clues Many thanks NB - Are all their photos online yet?

This year the number of real WW2 German vehicles at shows has so far been less than ever, leaving only the mock ups on Land Rovers and FV432s plus a few repro VW Kubelwagens and OT's to take on the Allied vehicles. I suspect therefore these vehicles that we all used to see are now in private collections and it costs too much to bring them along to a show and the owners have no financial inducement to do so. The trouble is that over the years to come if the big shows don't make an effort to get some good stuff, people will not bother going again. Who remembers Detling a few years back? There was quite a collection of German half tracks, a few Hetzers and the Jagdpanther.

Whats the earliest a vehicle owner can get access then - surely its before 9am - 10am when the public arrive. I'm hoping to arrive well before that. Will I still have to wait hours to get booked in?

Rambo, You can always come back for this weekend can't you?

Guys Do not be put off by a bit of mud. I was there in 2007 when it was like this and it was still a good show. I even witnessed a husband v wife mud fight (clothes on of course) where both got pushed in the mud so that not a bit of them was left uncovered - but thats enough about EMLRA members. So go there and have fun! As someone said recently - the soldiers that originally drove our vehicles didn't have a choice about the weather!

Guys, I use a roller every time - the foam ones as mentioned below and get good results. I keep my paint in jam jars to keep it fresh and in a quantity ready to use, and I use about 2 large jars to paint the Lwt Land Rover. Never keep the paint in 5 litre tins and us only a bit at a time as the skin that forms will put bits in the paint and or go off rock hard. I find the NATO green is best used with about 1/3rd thinners mixed in, and never straight from the tin. By the way it might be best to start by spraying wax oil on the chassis and undersides and then (after removing any from the upper panels) give the vehicle a good touch up with paint.

So if you bought a GAZ 67 or 67B all the engine parts and bits attached might be available in the US then or do they not quite fit? Spark plugs should be easy to find I hope. What about the gear box is that ex Ford too?