Andrew Rowe

Yes, It will not be far away from your neck of the woods. The final fit out of the Turret continues. First we have the Commanders hatch head pads, then the ever elusive Helleson Lamp holder, upper L/H corner inside Turret, Next pic shows the gasket between the electrical rotary connection housing, between the hull base and the Turret basket , more of a protective dust seal I would expect , made from industrial felt. The last couple of pics show the drivers forward R/H stowage box, the little side box on the side is for the periscope cleaning brush. Just out of interest , has any body ever come across these as a spare part? , they are maybe about 4'' long and the head I think is at right angle to the handle , and quite a stiff brush , for wiping mud, etc off the lenses I would expect. The last pic shows one of the stowage boxes for the BESA 7.92mm expandable ammunition cans, this one mounts to the R/H side lower hull Turret area. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

The Turret seats, being the Commanders , Gunners , and Loaders as shown in the pictures, Cheers from The Tank Factory.

We have Comms! , installation of the rebuilt 19 set , installed on it's mounts in the rear bustle of the Turret. A few leads to run out and connect up, and when the Turret is fitted into the Tank, we can power it up. One thing to remember is DO NOT transmit without the aerials up as this can cause damage to the radio, but using the intercom is OK. The last major exercise, is the rebuild of the Turret basket. I am using a combination of original parts and remanufactured parts. The basket consists of several assemblies to make this intricate item. There is an inner hub, a "wagon wheel" , floor plates, outer 2pdr shell holder- lower rack, upper 2pdr rack , 4 x side plates that hang the basket from the Turret ring, and internal fit outs for the floor area , plus the 3 seats, Commanders, Loaders , Gunners, all different. And don't the British love bolts! Cheers from the Tank Factory.

I have a NOS Canadian MK2 No.2 dash panel , There is also a NOS Winsdor Dash , when I can find it, PM me if interested. Cheers Andrew.

A pair of NOS Centurion Exhaust tail fans, PM if interested, Cheers Andrew.

We now have the seat completed, ready for it's fitting. There are basically two models of seat, the earlier Mk2/3 had a seat that had more up and down movement, than the Mk5 with fixed height. There is provision for the seat back to be adjusted as well. The fourth picture shows the all important oil can holder that mounts on the floor to the front and right of the driver. Next pic shows the corner stowage boxes, mid bulkhead , R/H side ,for the 7.92mm B.E.S.A. ammunition. Last we have the internal Pyren fire extinguisher bracket that mounts on the L/H side wall above the master battery switch, a must for putting out those pesky little fires that might happen when ammunition is exploding! Started her first trial session the other day. There was a couple of issues that needed attention after our first run. The convoy light did not work........ it needed a bulb! and the Tank kept varying off to the right. After a count up of the track links, we had an extra link in the L/H side would you believe! Cheers from The Tank Factory.

A group pic of the completed mid bulkhead louvers, the bottom one I had not done until recently. I had to make some tooling up to swage the hole. The crankshaft nut ends flush with this lower cover when installed. The hole allows you to turn the engine over without taking any panels off. Then we have more pics of the floors. First we have the R/H front floor from the driver, next is the L/H drivers floor and then there is the R/H mid section and then the rear section of floor. Last are the two covers that go over the steering lever cross shafts, L/H and R/H. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

PM sent, Thanks Andrew.

Hi have a Mk2 Daimler Armoured Car right hand stowage box available , make me an offer, cheers Andrew.

Would someone out there know what the part number is, or where to find a couple of internal torque springs that sit inside the actuating shaft in the breech ring of a 76mm. The spring would be something like 7/8" in dia. and maybe 4" to 6" long. Any ideas? Cheers Andrew.

NOS Staghound head gasket set T.17 - E1 , G122 ,with some other gaskets inside the packet, unopened, GBP175 plus postage. PM me if interested, Cheers Andrew.

And ready for fitting..........complete with felt padding, for upper L/H side interior of Turret. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

Some finishing bits to various parts include the fitting of the webbing straps to the rear 2 gallon stowage container. Also tried my hand at a bit of woodwork today with the machining and drilling of the plywood spacer that goes inside the flare box, there are 2 strips of this ply required for one box. The next 2 pics show the under floor supports for the L/H floor area next to the driver, more angles and bolts! The 5 pic shows the drivers L/H foot rest, that mounts off the end of the battery tray that you see in the last pic. This last pic shows the battery tray that is installed next to the driver, to take the battery box. We will only be using 2 x 12volt batteries up front in the Tank, as this position is easier to get to for changing out batteries , than running the original 4 x 6volt batteries , where 2 were situated in the rear engine compartment. Cheers from the Tank Factory.

Hi Robin , the answer to the question about the bolts will be that all bolts unpainted externally on the outside of the Tank will be first brush painted with our 2-pack primer with a 5mm brush. There is probably only 300 to do!. Once we have completed trials, the tracks will come off and the entire Tank will be rubbed down and "scotched" to receive the final coat(s).The internal bolts that hold items together like the bulkhead will be left unpainted in zinc finish. This is because removeable sections need to be able to be undone without striping threads, etc. caused by paint build up. The bigger bolts above 5/16" have normally been bead blasted , if black and painted individually in the colour to match, so will have minor touch-ups required, after fitting. The paint system we are using can take an extreme amount of punishment from spanners, etc. , ie. the paint does not flake off when installing an item. Cheers Andrew.

Back on the exterior, we see the canvas waterproofing being fitted to the external hinges of the stowage boxes, and both large boxes fitted to the R/H side of the Tank. The front larger box also acts as mudguard supports as this bolts to the hull from the inside. At the front there is also the landing pad for the drivers R/H door and you can also lock this in the open position, with a sliding bolt that catches into the stowage box. The door opening handle will clear the jacking blocks by 1/8" of an inch!. One cost saving of material from the designers was that the stowage boxes have no bottoms! , instead using the flat surface area of the mudguards to create this. The last couple of pics show the radiator shrouding either side of the two radiators , as you can imagine , this makes for a far more efficient cooling system as all airflow is directed through the rads, rather than around. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

But wait.........there's more! Up today we have the vent shutters that go in the bulkhead between the fighting compartment and the engine. The grilles slide back left and right to control airflow out of the Turret through to the engine. With the rotation of the blades, this allows airflow to exit through rads. to the rear, just don't put your fan blades on the wrong way! Next we have a couple of views of the drivers stowage box to his R/H side, the little compartments are for spare periscope prisms. The fourth pic shows the completed airduct, which is the last item for the engine compartment, this hooks into the 3 airfilters and draws air from the fighting compartment as well. The last pics show the first aid box that attaches to the L/H side of the hull, just behind the driver. This also supports the cold start plunger underneath, and drivers haversack. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

And fitted.........grenade boxes to Turret and Drivers vision gear. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

A couple more trinkets to put into the Turret, the 2 x grenade boxes that contain 3 each. We put in new felt pads and canvas work to these original boxes that were in good condition. Also we show all the parts and fittings for the drivers vision block and head rest pad when he is looking through the slits. The outside armoured wedge that covers the complete drivers vision hole is closed by means of a handle that sits underneath all of these components. There is also a clear vision block used that locates in the milled out slots of these components as well. The two trigger catches are used in the various operations of moving the main armoured block up and down and there is one for securing the clear lens as well. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

Just received in some freshly cut jacking blocks from a friend for the project. Actually quite hard to find dried hart timber of a suitable type in this particular size. They also have been nicely oiled. I patterned a copy of the steel rack off an original. The blocks will be secured by a leather strap. These mount on the front R/H side on top of the mudguard by the drivers door. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

Yes, we are hoping final testing will be completed around the end of this March. The engine will need the head re-torqueing and the checking of valve clearances , etc. Belly plates off to check for any oil leaks as well. One of the last major hurdles is the resurrection of the Turret basket, this will be started on soon, as we are completing some of the finer details and leaving this till last. Once the Turret basket is completed it should only take 1/2 day for the complete Turret unit to be bolted in and the 10 wires through the rotary junction to be connected to the bottom of the basket. All belly plates have been fitted, except for the drivers escape hatch at this stage, which is ready to go. The heavy 5/8" thick rear transom plate is held in with about 12 x 5/8" bolts across the back and about 16 x 1/2" bolts at the front. The armoured convoy light has also been installed. The engine belly plate is made of 1/4" thick steel and held in with about 40 odd x 3/8" BSF bolts. A 2 x man operation to install that one as well. The last series of pic show the original muffler components and their installation. I did have NOS asbestos gaskets , but I took the option of replacing these for more environmentally friendly modern exhaust gasket material. Quite interesting that I had not noticed before , was that the muffler was directional, as there is a special tag and lettering to say as much. The very last pic shows the protective cover shields fitted. Cheers from The Tank Factory.

With the fabrication of the guards completed , they now have been blasted and painted and fitted. First couple of pics showing front L/H hand, and gives an idea of the various operations that had to be performed in the forming of the guard. Next is the mudguard surround for the R/H side. Then we have the front track adjusting clamping arm and bracket. These fittings have to be installed before guards go on as working space is very tight! The next couple of pics show the headlight brackets and supports, this is for the CAV 8" light, and showing fitted to the Tank. Second to last pic showing the front rubber mudguard getting a trial fit and assessment. The last pic shows the front L/H drivers door support bracket and rubber rest, and the all necessary packing shim, as standard on every Valentine! Cheers from The Tank Factory.

Hi Rob , did you get my e-mail, Cheers Andrew.

You going to be doing a raid on The Tank Factory!, I will make sure the sentries are posted.:-)

The completion of the external work requires the fabrication and the drilling of lots of holes for the manufacture of the mudguards, and there are lots of parts that all interlock together to work as one massed unit. The swaging in all the guards, I have patterned off original rusty ones. I used a machine called a pullmax, which you can set at so many beats a minute, and as the material passes through the two opposing tools the swage is formed and "hammered" into the sheet steel. The trick with this set up is to set the pullmax machine at right angles to a large milling table ( 4m in length ) with CNC attachment , and with two operators, one engaging the pullmax and the other controlling the mill, and away you go, mm perfect. You would have thought they were press braked out of one big die. The guards attach to the side of the Tank with multiple 1/2" BSF bolts, as you can see by the pictures there are several special brackets that also protrude along the length of the Tank for mudguard support. The smaller stowage box on the rear R/H side is NOS , but I did have to manufacture the larger one in front using some original catches. In front of that on the R/H side you have the rack for the jacking blocks and then up front brackets attach for the mirror. Last pic shows the rear stowage box mounted for the 2 gallon cans.Cheers from The Tank Factory.

I like your Carbon footprint! You might have to buy some "Carbon Credits " to offset your emissions in clean/green NZ,Cheers:-)