steveo578 Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Guy motors received an royal commision award shortly after WW2 for developing a very similar manipulator for armoured car hulls and similar systems were used in Churchill production and by Vickers for there tank production but the vickers system used a attachment to the nose and tail of the hull boat. It says something about Adrians dedication that he would make such an item normally only seen in large factories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlinuk Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Thought I would share a couple of pics of the RAM Kangaroo as it is now. We plan to have this up and running at this years War and Peace Show !!!! Enjoy:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy8men Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 nice work, i look forward to seeing it down at w&p rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex van de Wetering Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Thanks for posting these pics! Excellent...I would love to see it in action in the Kangaroo role! Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 When were RAM Kangaroos first put into action in Normandy? Was it a planned pre D-Day affair or a 'quick fix' following the problems of not having infantry to support the armour. Were the turrets simply removed, or was there some additional equipment added for the troops inside? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I don't think they were used until Holland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I don't think they were used until Holland. Oh, there you go then. What were they like inside....seats for the troops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormin Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Adrian, I must have missed this thread the first time round but have a few more questions regarding the fabrication. How do you cut the large plates, floor and side? They look to be laser rather than flame cut, and I'm assuming these days that's a job for a CNC machine. If so why not have the rivet holes lasered in at the same time? I notice for repairs to panels you use mig welding, but what about replicating the original welds on joints, surely this is a job for a stick welder to get the original look or do you manage somehow with Mig technique? I know it's a customers machine and not your choice but the new steel looks obviously different to the original and aged / pitted original. Do you ever try to source aged plate, to give a more original look, or consider if it's new there's no point trying to disguise it as anything but? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Norman, all good questions! The plates are flame cut and pre-cutting the holes is not really an option as they have to be drilled to fit on assembly. The rivet holes need to be close tolerance on diameter otherwise the rivets will not set correctly. We use MIG when we are going to disguise the weld, i.e sectioning a plate in but where welds will be left visible, we generally use stick. Contrary to popular opinion, some of the larger weld runs on Shermans were done with MIG or at least a wire fed weld, in the factory. I have seen pictures of the M4A4 production line that shows this and there was bits of wire sticking out of one of the welds in my Sherman. I have had some sucess in getting MIG to look like stick but generally we use the original methods. The problem with using an old plate to replace damage is the welds. It is possible to distress them to look like the plate, indeed we rebuilt a Sherman turret that needed a whiole new bustle built. This was originally a casting obviously and we made it up from plate and tube sections. A lot od welding, sculpting with a grinder and then finishing with a die grinder and needle gun left it nicely textured and contoured. A lot of work though! Frankly, unless the plate is very pitted, when blasted and with a few coats of paint, new looks much like old. You cannot see the join in my Shermans side where there is a three foot section of new plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Oh, there you go then. What were they like inside....seats for the troops? I'm not sure tbh, I don't think there was a lot done to the insides other than removing all irrelevant stowage. Hanno probably knows more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supertrack Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Nice job , what is the engine in the Ram ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 R-975 radial. Do you have a spare one? :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supertrack Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 The man who have the ram don't have engine ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 He does but you can never have too many radial engines......:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antony Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Unfortunately a bit blurred, but the Ram Running at Beltring. The first time I believe that a Ram has been in running condition since the fifties. The second picture shows Stanley Brand from East Grinstead, who is one of about seven remaining Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment Veterans in the UK. He is now 88 and was a Radio Operater in a Kangaroo, and was involved in the liberation of Holland. I felt very honoured to meet him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacko2111 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I know I'm considerably late in this conversation, but there is/was a RAM/Kangaroo sitting in a gateway to a house just on the outskirts of Desborough where I live, anyone know it??? Form what I remember it's rather battered and pretty sure it's a non runner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcspool Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I'm not sure tbh, I don't think there was a lot done to the insides other than removing all irrelevant stowage. Hanno probably knows more. A bit late on my reply, but.... indeed Ram (and Priest) Kangaroos were not fitted with bench seats, contrary to popular belief (or endless re-quoting of incorrect sources). Ref. http://web.inter.nl.net/users/spoelstra/g104/1cacr/ramkang.html: "after removal of the Ram's turret, the interior was rearranged. Work entailed the removal of 6-pdr. ammunition stowage boxes and associated equipment. The No.19 wireless set was relocated from the rear of the turret into the left-hand sponson. Eight to eleven infantry were to be carried in the open topped compartment." Besides there simply is no room for benches, the purpose of the Kangaroo was to carry the infantry from the start line of an operation to their objectives. It was not used like an APC is used today, where the infantry "live" in their vehicles and the APC is also uses for tactical movements. We have not (yet) found an exact description of the work carried out by the workshops on M7 Priests and Ram tanks to convert them to Kangaroos, but Peter Brown dug up a technical report which throws some light on the conversion of Kangaroos in Italy - see my web page here: http://web.inter.nl.net/users/spoelstra/g104/apckang2.htm HTH, Hanno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcspool Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 The second picture shows Stanley Brand from East Grinstead, who is one of about seven remaining Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment Veterans in the UK. He is now 88 and was a Radio Operater in a Kangaroo, and was involved in the liberation of Holland. I felt very honoured to meet him. Rightly so, the Kangaroo operators were a special bunch! :salute: But I guess Stanley Brand was a member of the British 49 Royal Tank Regiment, rather than the 1st Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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