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radiomike7

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Everything posted by radiomike7

  1. Has anyone seen the bottom line for a fully kitted MAN recovery? I would hazard a guess at between £650-750K:???
  2. It gets even more complicated when C&U regs and Special Types come in to the equation.... For instance the Contractor hauling the Conqueror using a helper dolly is pulling 2 trailers, yet has a fifth wheel.
  3. Ok, an unladen artic is classed as one trailer, if laden as two. A locomotive may tow 2 trailers, and for all intents and purposes a heavy recovery unit may be classed as a locomotive. A ballasted Antar would most certainly qualify as a locomotive, but not one fitted only with a working fifth wheel. Disable the fifth wheel (nut and bolt through the dog clip hole) and you could claim it as ballast. Locomotives are subject to severe speed restrictions.
  4. Hi John, I just put 2+2 together and realised it was you that bought the Antar clutch centre plates at Peter Court's sale and let me have a couple for the Constructor. Think I bumped into you again at Stoneleigh when you brought the Antar in on 9 wheels?? Mike
  5. I can identify the crane type - it is a manual Derrick or sometimes referred to as a Scotch Derrick crane :yay:
  6. Nick, are you sure that the flange had to come off, it is a long time since I took one to bits. Having said that, you may need the bare input shaft to centralise the clutch when you put it back together unless you have a suitable adaptor. Check the flywheel face for heat cracks which they are rather prone to while it is apart. As Bernard has just said, the face is removable. Mike
  7. Yes John, spot on. As mentioned previously the emergency line is so called because it will apply the trailer brakes should the trailer break away and tear out the line.
  8. Whichever way you look at it, a 10% hit rate when dropping dumb bombs on a ship from 14,000ft (2.6miles) while travelling at 200mph or so is good going.
  9. You are confusing trailer and second tractor, Adrian is 100% correct if towing a trailer but a second tractor would not respond in the same way. The brakes on a disconnected trailer would only stay applied until the air leaked out, which is why a non spring braked trailer should always be parked with the mechanical handbrake applied. According to your diagram, the top left coupling is the service line from the towing vehicle. This applies air pressure via the 2 way check valve to the front brakes and trailer service coupling, and via the relay valve to the rear brakes.
  10. Are you sure? Perhaps the American system is different from ours but in the UK with a double headed train, the leading vehicle can control the brakes of the train via the service line.
  11. Go back even further to 1941 and the Russians were capable of mass producing the T-34 with 500bhp @ 1800rpm from a V12 diesel. I gather it was quite a success, even driven by girlies: "Arguably no tank in the history of warfare has come as a greater shock to the enemy, nor inflicted more terror, than did the T-34 when it appeared on the Russian front in the summer of 1941" Going by L60 and K60 in Chieftain/432, being smokey was a Ministry requirement, although I will concede that they were intended for multi-fuel use.
  12. The Tirpitz finally sunk. Tirpitz was the second Bismarck class battleship of the German Kriegsmarine, sister ship of Bismarck and named after Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. She never fired against an enemy ship but spent most of WW2 in various bases in German occupied Norway, where her mere presence was a great threat to the Allies, tying up huge naval and air forces to make sure she could be dealt with if she ever made an offensive sortie and causing a major convoy to scatter and be destroyed piecemeal by other ships. After very many efforts by the royal navy and air force, 617 squadron led by Wing Commander 'Willie' Tait were tasked with destroying the seemingly unsinkable Tirpitz, using Tallboys dropped from 14,000 feet to penetrate the ship's deck armour and explode once inside. Ably assisted by 9 squadron, the first of three raids was a failure as the target was obscured by smoke generators, although one of 9 squadron's bombs did hit the bow and cause substantial damage. A similar problem occurred on the second raid when within 30 seconds of releasing the first bomb the target was shrouded by sea clouds and only one near miss was recorded. However at the third attempt, the target was clearly visible and 30 Lancasters successfully dropped their Tallboys, Tait being credited with the first hit on the bow. The second hit glanced off a heavily armoured turret but the third penetrated the deck armour and set off a series of explosions which ripped a 200ft gash in the side of the ship, which quickly rolled over and settled on the bottom with the loss of over 1000 men. From that moment on, Tait was always known as 'Tirpitz Tait'
  13. Fire risk, fuel evaporation and vapour locks when hot, danger when re-fuelling, poor economy, ignition system fails when damp, radio interference from HT, torque curve unsuited for heavy vehicle use, generally less reliable than a good diesel, just to mention a few, and probably why we finally saw sense and opted for diesel as the standard fuel.
  14. Mike, I don't think there is much in it, although I would be the first to admit that the Conk always seems to be a lumbering giant when displayed. Cent MBT 650bhp/51tons = 12.74bhp/ton Conk MBT 810bhp/65tons = 12.46bhp/ton Cent ARV 650bhp/45tons =14.44bhp/ton Conk ARV 810bhp/57tons =14.21bhp/ton I have averaged the weight/power from several sources.
  15. As an ARV, Conqueror with its 45 ton directly driven winch was probably the best available, Cent having to make do with a Bedford powered 18 ton winch (mk1) or a Rolls B81 powered 30 ton petrol/electric winch (mk2). In many cases this would enable a Conq to use a staight pull where a Cent would be wasting time setting up a 2:1 pull. However it was large and heavy, making it difficult to transport and heavy on fuel. Quite why we were designing FVs powered by petrol engines in the '50s after the lessons learned in WW2 is totally beyond me.
  16. Is there anything left of the famous FERODO advert on the brick bridge, I went to school just up the road from the Ace and it was badly faded back in 1966?
  17. I read that as the car driver having drowned:confused:
  18. Tom, if you mean the ex-Pickfords trailer TM 413 it is rated at 200 tons.
  19. I think you may be right Andy, going by Mike's description we would have lost the battle before we had unloaded the first tank:shocked:
  20. Good description Mike, I was thinking along those lines. Do the tracks have to be chained up to prevent them sagging, and was that trailer ever issued/used by a unit?
  21. Hi Will, welcome to the madhouse, the three worst offenders have already introduced themselves:-D If you didn't know, the BL suggests an in-service date of 1952/3.
  22. On a similar theme, some years ago a lorry driver caused panic in Stony Stratford when he chose to park up overnight in the town centre. His load? A (replica?) full sized V2 rocket:shocked:
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