OZITIM

I have pulled apart the breathers on the bevel box and they are all rusted beyond repair. Does anyone know where I can get some replacements. The internal plunger and spring is buggered. If I cant locate any, I will try and bodgy up something from the one that I have that I can copy off. Given that they are very small, Im happy to have them sent from anywhere, if some can be found. Four of them would be really nice. Regards, Tim Queensland, Australia

And here is a little more progress. Just finished painting the engine and will put the gen and starter on and put it back in the hull, so I can start doing engine tests.

thats the old engine coming out. The replacement engine consists of a new crank case, crank, bearings, cam, pistons, rings, gudgeons, water pump, head gasket, seals. Reconditioned head, valves, carby, starter motor. I have followed all the instructions on the mechanical timing setting up, so hopefully it runs.

I am continuing to get this engine back together and put into the ferret. here are some photos of my progress thus far.

Pulling up in the Saracen one day, I turn the engine off and a guy puts his head through the hatch and informs me that the Merlin engine sounds nice. I informed him that it was a B80 Rolls Royce. He informed me that his uncle had one, and it has a Merlin in it. I attempted to explain to him, that at no point, when I was putting the engine in the hull, did it every morph into a Merlin engine. This guy had his family as back up, so he wasnt backing down. He had a point to prove in front of his family. His pride was on the line. After all, I only put the vehicle together, and his uncle aledgedly had one. I asked him who his uncle was, as I was likely to know of him, given the small Saracen community in Australia. He then walked away. A short time later when I started it up to move off, he ran beside the vehicle yelling at me again, that it was definitely a Merlin. I just couldnt believe this guys persistence. Why cant people just say, oh, I like your vehicle, what is it. No..... they have to make out that they are the expert, fought 9 wars in one, has an uncle who actually designed it, knows of 5 that the americans buried in a hill down south somewhere, and his uncles is heaps better than mine. I also like the guy who critisies your choice of colour, type of tread you use, arangment of ammo tins and accessories. My response..... I cant see yours around here anywhere.

I should add, that Sid rarely permitted people access to the interior of his planes and tanks. I was helping build on of his ferrets that day, and he must have had sympathy on me, when my kids began getting bored. The keys to the museum were given to them, and away they went. I dont think they really understood how lucky they were.

A complete Canberra Bomber can be yours for purchase at the Beck Museum at Mareeba Australia. With Sid Becks passing late last year, all offers are being considered by Sids family for the museum exibits. Attached are a couple of photos of my kids sitting in the flight seat of his canberra. This plane is in fantastic condition.

Love the hessian on the SLR! Those packs were totally useless. When I was in Recon we threw them back in the trunk and always used US Alice packs. Impressive face cam! haha

The First Battalion the Royal Australian Regiment. Somalia 1993.

search on this site 'American WW2 truck projects for sale'. While the trucks in the photos only show those that are out in the yard, he has an awesome collection under cover and good condition, which I didnt get photos of. Google Beck museum mareeba. Where does your trucking company operate. Do you ever get up to Cairns.

Hi Mate, Up in Cairns. Have a look at a thread ive posted a while back concerning some trucks currently for sale in Mareeba. Diamond D, Macks ect. search OZITIM on this site and you will find them. The bloke has a bunch of trucks up at Beck Museum Mareeba, and has three pretty good Diamond t's in a shed that he is willing to part with. The next time I go up there I will get some photos of them. . Regards, Tim

I'm looking for the following ferret parts, if anyone wanted to sell or swap. Ive some ferret pats that I would be willing to swap, but happy to pay. * spare wheel hub cover (the tin hub cap). * A taco cable *Wheel nuts, left side. * Turret lid for a mk1/2 (the folding type) for fixed turret. * a horn/indicator button. I think that is a good start. Im in Australia, so the light stuff wont be a problem, but the turret lid might take a little more logistics. Regards, Tim

fantastic pics. As if they were taken yesterday. Regards, Tim

Why do they have to open stowage bins too! They walk right up open the stowage bin and look at whatever is inside. When asked if they were given permission to do that, they look at me with surprise. One day I will shove a very pissed off German Shepard in my stowage pin and see what happens. hahaha

The thing I find interesting though, is that after you have had a hundred people come past and tell you that they were a door gunner in an F18, or a paratrooper sniper on board HMAS whatever, the occasional person comes past and absolutely stuns you. A couple of years back, my son and I were parked out the front of our house with the Ferret and an old chap walking past stops and starts taking particular notice of the vehicle. My son indicated to me, with that look, 'heres another one dad'. I politely said hi to the old fella, who kept staring at the back of the Ferret and exclaimed, this is a 4/19th Prince of Wales lighthorse Ferret! I couldn't believe my ears. This old fella had nailed it. With surprise, I asked him how he knew that, and he pointed to a small piece of angle iron welded behind the rear brakeline and said, I welded that on. As is happens, the old fella lives three doors up from me and some time later came back with some photos of his time with the regiment. So I can now say, I know the guy who welded that brake line protector. As for the door gunner on the F18, he never did show me the photos! haha

In Australia we dont have arena events, like you guys, but we do try and attend ANZAC day events. Generally we will enter our vehicles in the parade and then afterwards display it for a while. I find that it can be a very nerve wracking experience, particularly when you take your eyes of your Saracen for one minute and see a dozen kids climbing all over it and about to walk barefoot on the exhaust cover. I yelled at the top of my voice to get off the vehicle, followed by a mother of one of the little mongrels, berate me about yelling at her kids. I tried to explain to her the imminent danger that her mongrel kids were in, but she stated loudly to her kids, 'lets get away from the bad man'. Short of running her over, I was so angry at the stupidity of that mother and also the idiot that argued with me that the Saracen had a Merlin engine. By that stage my level of tolerance for these idiots had dropped to a level where I was not filtering my language and had become quite verbose. Fortunately I had a good friend, who suggested that, for me, the day was over. I drove home in a huff! Also, that idiot that has to tells you that his uncle has one of these vehicle, but its better than yours! I have no time for that idiot either. That idiot cant remember what his 'uncle' has, or where he lives, but its heaps better than mine, and his uncle was also a general in the army and navy at the same time. My response to this idiot......... 'Go away'! The idiot that boasts proudly in front of his wife and children that he worked on/drove in/shot down/designed one of these vehicles in (submit war), when you know damn well that the vehicle post dates, or pre dates that war by about 30 years. But pulling this idiot up, during his proud, but fabricated rant, just simply isnt worth it, unless its latter in the day and you are sick of idiots telling you that the Saracen has a Merlin engine in it. Im sure their is a bunch of other familiar characters that you all come across. But my favorite is definitely the 'my uncle has one' guy! Followed closely by the, 'my kids are alright to climb in it' woman! Regards, OZITIM

Any of the photos I post, I am happy for anyone to use. I will see if I can dig up some more. Regards, Tim

This is terrible. My thoughts go to him and his family. I hope he will be soon back on the site. OZITIM

I will see if I can find more pics of that vehicle! I know it had different mods to accommodate towing the horse trailer around! I don't think it had the higher roof though.

Its a wonder the reporter didn't elude to the likelihood of it being the work of a terrorist sleeper cell or the center of an illicit black market gun racket! The reporter could have done so much more with the story. haha

If you look at the photo with the watch tower in it, I have attached a google earth photo with an arrow showing exactly where that tower was. The black lines that I have drawn in are where the tents were. If you look at the photo, the road that looks like a stick man, is actually aircraft bomb bays. The photo of the two hawkers was taken beside one of those bomb bays.

Yes, I find that really strange too! you can see the warehouse in the photo behind the Hawker, yet on Google earth its not there. It was on the Western side of the airport. The Somalis must have knocked it down and taken every block away.

I think some international aid agencies land there! You would want to land on a good day though, because a bad day is very bad. Long gone are the rows of military tents, the unloading of Hercules cargo planes and cobra gunships! As you stated, nothing but derelict buildings and stunted bushes.

I just did a search on Google earth and couldnt see these planes! They must have been collected for scrap metal. The biadoa airfield is very visible and even the bomb bays, but the planes are now clearly gone.

The damage to the front of the plane was caused by an American Amtrak pushing it out of the bomb bays and into the position that they are in now. They were mostly complete, save for whatever Australian and US troops could souvenir.