Rob.Brindley Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 Working on a school night? Yep... After work, I headed over to Dad's to give him a hand painting the tilt frame. There's a still a few small MWR specific parts to be added (Curved brackets used to store the aerials, aerial mounts and gun clips) but these will be added at a later date. Right now, it's useable so we can turn our attention to other things. The next major job is the brakes... Before we can return the bed to the farm (To make space in the garage for the cab), we need to get the brake lines made and fitted. Once the brakes lines are in, the bed and tilt frame will be fitted and we can start the next major piece. There'll be another more in-depth update this weekend. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Firstly, sorry we missed last weeks update. I wasn't feeling too well so I kept away from Dad. However, that doesn't mean nothing was done! Dad had a busy weekend mounting the rear rub blocks and cleaning up / priming & painting the cab canvas framework. I've been away gigging Friday / Saturday this week, but Dad got the final few bits of metalwork for the bed done. It doesn't look like a huge amount of progress, but it's a few small, time consuming, jobs crossed off the list. Today, we test fit the tilt frame on the bed and then took a trip up to the farm to speak to John about returning the bed and getting the cab up to Dad's garage. All being well, this should be completed by the end of next weekend! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 Today was a very important day as the next phase of our restoration can really begin! On Friday, after work, Dad went over to the farm to start preparing the cab to be lifted down from on top of the shipping container it has lived on for the last 10 years or so. By the time I arrived, the cab was safely on the ground and cleaned. I'd spent a hours this week building a pallet at work to transport the cab safely to Dad's house. We transferred the cab to the new pallet and went to collect one of John's recovery trucks ready for the move. First thing this morning we arrived at John's farm and loaded the cab. The cab is surprisingly light and can easily be lifted by 2 people, but we used the Forklift to load it before securing with several ratchet straps. With the cab loaded it was off to sunny Werrington to deliver the cab and load the bed for it's return trip to the farm. With the cab taking up much less space, we should be able to work on our BSA M20 project in tandem with the chassis! The bed was loaded using the winch and we returned to John's farm by mid afternoon. The bed is currently in one of the barns, only a few feet from where the cab had been stored. A huge thank you must go out to John and Motor Clinic for all the help and assistance transporting the bed / cab to and from home. On to the next phase... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 So, it's been a couple of weeks of slow progress, but that doesn't mean nothing has happened... With the bed returned to John's farm, there was a few bare metal pieces that we wanted to prime before they started to corrode. These were removed last week, primed and left to dry. The order for our canvas has gone in to Frank Brown, the deposit paid and we're looking forward to receiving it in the not too distant future. We had to take some measurements for Frank and this was again completed last week. Unfortunately, we've had to make the decision that our MW will not be going to Holland as planned in September. One of our daily runabouts has let us down which means that funds allocated to the MW restoration have no got to go towards replacing it. Whilst it is a setback, we should still be able to have the MW completed in time for next show season. This week, we removed the brakes from the chassis and have sent them to Monty's War Restore for overhaul. With that job done, we set about completing an inventory of the engine parts we have here and have boxed them up ready to send them over to John / Chris who are working on the engine for us. Next week, we start making some progress on the cab! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted March 5 Author Share Posted March 5 Whilst we've unfortunately had to make the decision not to take the MW to Holland in September, that doesn't mean progress isn't still being made! On Friday, Mark Elden came over to measure up the woodwork required on the cab. Whilst we repaired the bed ourselves, there is some more complicated joinery required on the cab and we welcome the input of somebody with a little more experience than ourselves. Whilst the original door frame looked ok on first inspection, when we removed the door skins, we found it to be full of wood worm. Hopefully, we'll make a start on new door frames this weekend with Mark's help. With the door skins removed, we're planning to CNC cut new skins (With Gaz's help). We've also made a start removing all of the ancillaries from the bulkhead and started to clean up the metalwork. It's going to be a lot of work, but we're looking forward to getting it complete over the next few months! For the first time in (we think) 40 years, the passenger side screen was opened after lots of gentle persuasion and lubricant. With the truck now not going to Holland, we also made a start on our BSA M20. The plan is to have it ready for Foxfield Railway - War Wheels in May and it will definitely be in Arnhem in September! With the weather being nice today, it was also time to bring the Jeep out of winter storage and go for a run. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted March 10 Author Share Posted March 10 So, another week has passed and we've made some more progress on our MW restoration. I've also put about 30 miles on the Jeep this week - All seems to be ok. I'm looking forward to show season (And some warmer weather)! Update from dad on our Facebook page: Quote It's been a very busy couple of days and like most times when you feel like you haven't stopped there doesn't seem to be a great deal to show for it ........... YET. Friday I finished work at 12 and went straight from work to pick up all the cut-to-length Oak posts. From there around to Robs place of work to pick up sheets of cardboard for the templates and then, around to pick up my mate Mark Elden who's going to be making the door frames and all of the woodwork on the cab. First job was to sort out all of the wood into its' various sizes so Mark could start working out what went where and how much needed to be trimmed off each piece. That took us a couple of hours and we found we had a bit of time to kill before going back to Robs place and fine cutting the wood to finished sizes. We filled the time by removing the Dynamo and Magneto from the BSA ready for refurbishment. That done it was back off to Robs and a couple of hours of all three of us getting covered in fine sawdust, especially Mark who will from this day forward be known as "DUSTY". That takes care of Friday. Saturday morning and I picked Mark up at 05:30, that's the other 5:30 in the day that most sensible people don't see, and it was back off to my house for more marking, cutting, swearing, sweeping, etc. We had to go to Robs place again to finish off a few bits and pieces and this was the only time we saw Rob on Saturday as he had to be in Cambridge later in the day as he was playing that night. Back at mine I basically made lots of Tea/Coffee, Cheese on Toast breakfast, cut the wood for the burner (made a great "Mushroom Cloud" when the fire decided not to light easily and I added a special cocktail of Petrol and Thinners) and cooked the pies for lunch. Meanwhile Mark was marking , cutting, scratching his head, chiselling, planing, filing and marking yet again. We did a straight 12 hours on the Saturday and we were both pretty tired at the end of the day. Today I was up and about at "Stupid 'o' Clock" as usual and spent some time on the BSA before heading off to Robs place to make the tongue and groove floor boarding for the cab. Rob set the saw up and after an hours work we had all of the brand new planking made for the cab floor. Mark is back next week and by end of play next Sunday we should have all the woodwork replaced in, on and under the cab. Big thanks to Mark Elden for all his hard work this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Time for a big update! Mark arrived at 5.30 on Saturday morning to continue making the final few pieces required for the cab structure. As I've been away gigging with the bands for the last couple of weekends, it was really interesting to watch Mark working on some of the more complicated pieces. The main supports that run under the floor boards on each side are tapered, curved and don't really have a straight edge to work. After 3 weeks of hard graft, the woodwork for the cab is nearly complete. I think you'll agree from the photos that he's done a fantastic job and it's beginning to look the part. All of the time and effort is in the planning, measuring and detail work but with that now behind us, we should start seeing what looks like major progress in fairly short order. With the final few pieces made, we managed to lay out all of the pieces on our temporary work and everything fits a treat! The separate pieces need to be glued and screwed together and there's a joint on each side support that needs to be done to link it to the rear crossmember, but it's really exciting to see all the individual parts together for the first time. A huge thanks to Mark for all the time and effort he's put into this for us - He's done an outstanding job! On Friday, we received a phone call from John Keeling letting us know that our newly restored Radiator was complete and ready for collection. We'd taken 3 radiators that John had in storage down to P.K Radiators (Longton) with goal of having one done for our truck and the others cleaned out / repaired to have on the shelf as spares (There are 5 MWs in our local club so having access to spares is a great benefit to all of us). Unfortunately, we soon found out that all 3 radiators were severely blocked on would require a re-core. It was also found that the steel inlets / outlets were badly corroded / rotten. Of the 6 total inlets/outlets, only 2 could be saved - Just enough for one serviceable radiator. We're very grateful to John for allowing us to make one good radiator from the 3 he had to get us on the road and to Pete for carry out the work. The radiator looks superb and we're looking forward to getting it fitted! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted April 7 Author Share Posted April 7 So we've taken a short break from the MW project to work on our BSA M20. The M20 was complete and running but was looking very tired after years of neglect. The bike has been stripped, thoroughly cleaned and is now slowly going back together with a few new parts following a repaint. Masking and priming in progress: And now going back together. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 Back in 1959 - National Service days - we had two of these MW's at the Int Corps Depot, Maresfield - one was 13RE80 and sadly I cannot remember the number of the other apart from the letters which were YR - same as yours? They were used for driver Training or assessment in new units then forming up. The assessment of the driver was done by a civilian instructor and the test consisted of just driving the vehicle either to Bognor Regis from Maresfield or back! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted April 7 Author Share Posted April 7 3 minutes ago, Minesweeper said: Back in 1959 - National Service days - we had two of these MW's at the Int Corps Depot, Maresfield - one was 13RE80 and sadly I cannot remember the number of the other apart from the letters which were YR - same as yours? They were used for driver Training or assessment in new units then forming up. The assessment of the driver was done by a civilian instructor and the test consisted of just driving the vehicle either to Bognor Regis from Maresfield or back! I've hear one or two stories about military driving tests... One of the lads I used to work with said his HGV test was basically a lap of the parade ground! Our ERM is 43 YR 07 - Unfortunately we know none of our vehicles military history. I'm hoping that we'll take to a show one day and somebody will recognise it and come up with a photo or story of a relative who used to drive it but that's a very long shot... I've yet to drive an MW, but I'm looking forward to having a go in ours when it's ready towards the end of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64EK26 Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 Hi 13RE80 was sold at Ruddington Auctions on 12th June 1961 43YR07 was sold at Ruddington Auctions on 10th November 1960 Hope this helps Cheers Richard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 1 hour ago, 64EK26 said: 13RE80 was sold at Ruddington Auctions on 12th June 1961 43YR07 was sold at Ruddington Auctions on 10th November 1960 Richard I suspect those dates were when they were struck off census, there were no auctions on those dates. They were sold several auctions later on each occasion on the second day. 13 RE 80 on 23rd November 1961 £30 43 YR 07 on 19th April 1961 no idea of price it was part of a multiple lot of 16 trucks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64EK26 Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Hi Clive That make sense, it would be logical to be struck off census before being sold. The original cost of 13RE80 was £273 and 13 Shillings Cheers Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 That sounds good value Richard. I have always hoped to see one used by the Reserve Force RUC. About 12 were hired from the WO & the other 35 odd which assumed Belfast registrations with the EZ suffix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 Thanks for the info @64EK26 & @fv1609, it's very much appreciated. It's been very interesting seeing bits and pieces of information slowly come together for our truck. I wonder what will be discovered next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob.Brindley Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 Some more progress this week on both our Bedford MW and our BSA M20. First up, the MW: This weekend, all of the woodwork for the cab was completed! Our friend Mark has worked tirelessly over the last few weeks replicating all of the parts and getting a perfect fit. The bulkhead will be sent away for blasting shortly and then we can start on the metal repairs. Once the metalwork is complete, we'll refit the woodwork to it. The M20: Whilst Mark has been busy working on the cab, Dad and I have spent the time tidying up our BSA M20 ready for this years show season. Last week, we'd just got the base coat of green on which meant that, this week, it was time for stencils. On Friday evening / Saturday morning, I spent some time at work drawing up the artwork in Illustrator and then used our vinyl cutter with masking vinyl to produce the stencils: With the stencils produced, it was over the dad's house to start applying them. Relatively quickly, we had the census numbers applied: And after a few more hours work: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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