sirhc Posted May 2, 2007 Author Share Posted May 2, 2007 Enigma, I will try and get it ready for Beltring, but it probably won't happen. I've definitley got one load going down on a low loader, so I'll be taking the Spartan again, but 2 loads is pushing it a bit! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 http://www.sirhc.co.uk/gallery/album/CVRT%20Sabre/IMG_1939.JPG[/img] http://www.sirhc.co.uk/gallery/album/CVRT%20Sabre/IMG_1940.JPG[/img] Those headlights!!! I am guessing that if they are genuine, sometime in the last 25 years somebody realised that fitting standard lights to CVR(T) would make them easier to procure than the 5" ( ? ) lights originally fitted so that you didn't have to play put and take to ensure one working headlight per vehicle. Also cannot help but notice they are mounted ABOVE the float screen rim, which obviously didn't happen in the days when there was a float screen fitted. It also stops you sticking a Chieftain side bin on the float screen rim for your D&M tools. But if that's how it is, I guess it's because "they" don't think about using these vehicles for real. I guess it's easier for standard-dipping headlights too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 Alien, In the early 90's all CVRTs were converted to standard 7inch headlamps, with armoured guards over the top. Sabre was the first vehicle to be fitted with bins between the lamps, which is now standard on all vehicles. See photo for a Sabre in service. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 Well I take my hat off. It's an excellent set of mods. Been thinking: the old lights might even have been 4" (alongside a pair of active infra-red lights prior to the Soviets developing a passive IR capability which meant that active IR lit us up brighter than daylight). And the Chieftain bins did nothing for the sartorial elegance that was de rigeur in the cavalry. A well-designed set of bins all round IMCO. Mind that extra inch or two height looks to me like it might just be enough to put me off jumping onto the engine decks. I have a vision of a troop leader who did it with aplomb and every time I saw it I expected his toe to catch and he'd bit the engine decks and adjust nis teeth. 30 years later it's academic: these days I think twice before jumping off the desk after playing with the cabling at the back of the computers. I certainly don't jump the 6' brick wall around me garden any more. (Said the man who liberated a steel ladder to mount his Ferret - Scout Car.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic. That's how long it's been since I posted on this topic! :-o Anyway I've been busy over the summer, the past few weeks I've been back at work on the Sabre. I now have all the paint removed and if it had been nicer yesterday I would have painted it. I've got almost everything blasted up, today I sprayed some green on the engine decks and lots of loose bits. I've also been working on the inside. We lifted the bottom of the turret basket up and ratchet strapped it to the turret, so we could work under it. The floor was really badly corroded. I needle gunned the whole floor, washed everything down with some marine clean and then primed the floor with some aluminium primer. There's not much room to work under there! I've got some blige paint, the type they use in boat engine bays, to repaint the floor with. This should cure the corrosion problem and make it easier to clean inside. The rest of the internals are painted in silver, ready to fit. Hopefully within a few more weeks it will start to look like a proper Sabre again. All these bits take up loads of space, which I need for the next project :whistle: Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazz Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Sabre, Nothing in the world like them, I was the Commander of the first one the QOY got, we had old Scimitars which were really knackered, they Sabre had just completed its rebuild with new engine and drive and all the new stowage it was great, if i had the money i'd love one. Barry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 Barry, My Sabre was with the QOY. I did email them and ask if they had any photos or information, they said they'd have a look but never heard back. I have seen a video of it firing the Rarden on a range, you can clearly make out the number, but I'd love any more info if you can help :-) I should probably add that someone with light fingers removed the dataplate from my vehicle before it went for disposal. If anyone finds the dataplate for 04 FD 31 I would like it back please!! Cheers, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn deuce Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Very impressive afv . You really have done a lot!! Must really move along when it has room to stretch its legs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazz Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 CHRIS, What Sqn was your Sabre with as the number rings a bell, I still have a few contacts with the QOY. I'll trawl through my photos if it's an ex D Sqn. Barry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 CHRIS, What Sqn was your Sabre with as the number rings a bell, I still have a few contacts with the QOY. I'll trawl through my photos if it's an ex D Sqn. Barry. TBH I saw the number and was highly suspicious that it belonged to us in Paderborn as a Scorpion. But there is absolutely nothing to back it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazz Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 AlienFTM, Thats what i thought, we actually had a EX 15/19H Scorpion which had become a Sabre in my troop, 04 FD 27. Barry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 AlienFTM, Thats what i thought, we actually had a EX 15/19H Scorpion which had become a Sabre in my troop, 04 FD 27. Barry. I have to confess mate that anything beginning 02FD, 03FD or 04FD sounds like it ought to have been one of our Scorpions. After all with the amount of Scorpoling going on, we must have got through a fair proportion of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 Guys, The only history I have for it is this: 06/07/87 RHG/D 24/01/90 LG 11/02/91 RH 17/04/91 LG 26/02/92 2 Army delivery Sqn (veh stock) 09/12/93 Ludgershall 18/03/94 ABRO Donnington planned repair 01/05/95 QOY 02/06/03 Ashchurch 15/01/04 ABRO Stirling planned repair 12/05/04 Withams Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 Guys, The only history I have for it is this: 06/07/87 RHG/D 24/01/90 LG 11/02/91 RH 17/04/91 LG 26/02/92 2 Army delivery Sqn (veh stock) 09/12/93 Ludgershall 18/03/94 ABRO Donnington planned repair 01/05/95 QOY 02/06/03 Ashchurch 15/01/04 ABRO Stirling planned repair 12/05/04 Withams Chris My gut instinct is that the history was wiped when it was rebuilt. The VRN definitely belongs in the mid-70s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted October 15, 2007 Author Share Posted October 15, 2007 It was converted to a Sabre in 1994. The history before 1987 would be on the original record card. The data I have came from a MERLIN database printout. I've only been sent the info, not the original print. When I asked the Tank Museum for the history they said to wait a few years for the original cards to filter through to them! Hopefully I should be able to find out the earlier history at some point in the future. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 Been a long day today! The Sabre went from bare metal, to blue, and then back to green. It seemed to take forever to get all the paint off, and just 1 day to put it back. Still lots to do though, the first coat of green is just to enable us to start bolting bits back on. Once it's back together I'll spray it again before putting the black on. Why is it no matter how many times you vacuum or blow clean a vehicle it's still covered in bits of crap when you go near it with a spray gun!? Flies seem to like to get stuck in wet paint too Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn deuce Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Thats really an amazing change from the first photo's you posted through these going from blue to green its looking great ! ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormin Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Looking very good Chris. You must be very quick with a spray gun to prime and top coat the whole vehicle in a day! Took me two days to prime and paint my 101 chassis, event hen I found I've missed bits. What's the blue primer you've used? Is it specifically for Aluminium? Last time I painted a Land Rover body I used Hammerite Special Metals primer but hated the red colour. Seemed to take a lot of covering with top coat, but maybe it was my old spray gun. Keep up the good work. Like all the additional photo's on the website too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share Posted October 23, 2007 Norman, It was more a case of it needed doing in a day rather than it took a day! The primer took 2 hours to spray, I did the green in around 1 hour. The green coat isn't perfect, but since most of it is covered with bins etc anyway it's not that important. I will be repainting the entire vehicle properly once it's assembled, so will get anything I missed or didn't do very well then. The blue paint is etch primer, I can't remember the exact composition but it's pretty good stuff, the green goes over nicely. I've used the special metals primer on the floor and on the odd areas of corrosion I've cleaned up. It seems to do a good job, but it's a bit expensive compared to a big tin of etch primer. I will be updating the website soon, got loads more photos etc to add! Cheers, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ives Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 so is this coming to the plains to play or will you be white with the ferret again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Finally got some paint on the Sabre this Saturday. It looked great for about 2 hours while it was drying, then I had to climb all over it to take the tape off and now it's covered in footprints. All the bins have been blasted, and the front set are all new. It's on track to be at Beltring, just a small list of jobs left to do. It was getting late on Saturday, so I didn't have a chance to take some decent photos, but here's a taster... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Looks a nice job, look forwards to seeing the finished item at W&P! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmite!! Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Looks a nice job, look forwards to seeing the finished item at W&P! Looks a nice job, look forward to unloading it at W&P! :cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Thanks for the comments guys! Lee... you're going to have fun getting in and out! If you thought there was an art to a Fox, you've not seen anything yet! I'll leave the drivers scope in, and the chain gun on, just to make it more interesting Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84KB11 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Looks great Chris, makes me wish I still had mine! Look forward to having a proper look at Beltring. See you at Kemble... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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