Many years ago my neighbour told me how he worked as a machinist at Dunlop during WW2 making aircraft wheels from magnesium (elektron) and he said you only took a large cut on the lathe once as the swarf would then catch alight and the only way to put it out was a bucket of sand ...... then you have to clean the lathe.

I remember at school they had magnesium tape and set it alight in a jar, made a brilliant light.

Hello All,

Anyone heard from Colin about how things are going for him and any progress on the Vickers? When I saw new activity on this thread I was pretty disappointed it was not Colin posting up a detailed update showcasing his masterful expertise.

Kind regards
Lionel

more
 

Got one of these, it fits into a brass cup . Think its part of a ground setup with a spike but not sure

Update?
 

No progress update since May last year .... please Colin, where are you up to? :note:

Mike

Vickers MkVI
 

I hope all is well, this whole thing has been a major inspiration to me as a model maker. I fact am working on a 1/24 scale model of the VI B.
I do have one question however, the rear number plate appears to be hinged, and there is a tubular bracket of sorts supporting it. Can anybody shed any light on the arrangement please.

George.

Hi George, email sent with photos

G'gay mate
 

Hi Colin

G'day mate, been a long time since we heard from you. I do hope you are going OK. Looking forward to more updates. Covid has slowed a lot of people's projects. Stay Safe.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks for those. Much appreciated.

George.

Hello all, I apologise for the long, long, long time since I worked on and posted my progress on the Vickers. I am here to say I have finished a lot of other commitments and have now brought them both into the workshop for some very much needed continued restoration.
I have removed the engine and trans out of Bower Bird and done some required alterations. I have acquired a fully reconditioned starter and that will be fitted prior to re-installation. I have also completed the driveline linkage jigsaw puzzle :) as it is quite a intricate system which will require a fine adjustment once it's all back in place. I have found a few more gauges and switches for the dash and acquired two complete hydraulic final drive motors for Wombat as I do not have ANY original final drive components like Bowerbird. I have a Hydraulic pump at the shop getting fully checked out before it gets installed. After the hydraulics are done, there will not be any of it visible from the outside as I intend making the sprocket drive look like the original. It may not drive quite as fast as Bowerbird but will be very user friendly. I am hoping to have them both driving in the not too distant future.
Once again I will keep posting photos of my progress.
Colin :salute:

Photos to date, not exactly in order. :rolleyes

And they're sideways :confused

And one is up side down. Now I'm really confused.

G'day Colin,

It is great to see some posts from you again, and that progress is still being made on the Vickers. It has been a long time between posts Colin. A lot of people have been in withdrawal.

Kind regards
Lionel

Hi Colin.

I’ve flipped them all around for you.

The rest flipped.

Manual
 

Hi Colin,

I assume you have the manual for the Vickers Mk.VIA?

Just saw this repro if you don't:

https://www.afvhandbooks.com/afvshop...-Handbook.html

Mike

Hi Mike, no I didn't but I certainly do now. That looks like some great information. Interestingly enough I just saw one page on there that said one revolution of the traversing Gbox turns the turret 5 deg but in another original book I have says it is 3 deg! Not that is makes a lot of difference to me. That could be extremely handy as I have a mech coming in the next week to help me set the steering clutches before it goes back in for the last time (I hope). In the meantime I am machining plates to fir the hyd final drives to Wombat. Will post pictures once that part is completed.
Thankyou very much for the info. I should get the download copy in a few hours.
Colin.

We can all breathe again
 

Hi Colin

So good to see you back on the projects again. I have been waiting a long time for your return , so we can all breathe again. My members and I have waited for this moment for you to continue work on your fantastic projects. Good on you mate. :salute:

Cheers Tony

Thank you Jordan for turning my photos around.👌 Hi Tony, It has been way too long but I am excited to get them running now.
I am at present making an adapter plate out of 25mm plate. AS I don't have any wide enough and don't want to buy any more, I have chosen to weld two pieces together and machine then as one. For the job they are doing the join will not be an issue.

Once again they are side ways :confused I just resized them smaller as that maybe the problem.

Quite a slowish process to make these, but they need to be quite exacting.

The drive motors are from a Komatsu skid steer loader with a two speed function.

They are a really good fit and should be really simple to drive. Perhaps someone could tell me why they are al sideways.

Are you taking the pictures with an I-phone or I-pad ? If so I understand that they use a different system to define which way up photos should be and the forum can't read it. You are not the only one to have this problem.
Great progress on the tanks and it's good to hear from you again.

David

Easy fix for posting from an IPhone of IPad. Change the rotation of the picture, save it then change it so it shows the proper orientation on your device and then save the edit again. It will now post in the proper orientation on the forum.

Found these pictures in a Facebook post.

Posted by Rob Stout
2nd Fife & Forfar Yeomanry MkVIB tanks in Bessbrook, Northern Ireland, on 25 March 1941, shortly before they moved to Yorkshire to join the 11th Armoured Div on the 7th June. They were the Divisional Cavalry for the 53rd (Welsh) Division which at that time included the 159th Infantry Brigade who would follow them to the 11th AD in June 1942 to replace the 30th Armoured Brigade.

More from the series.

Last one from the series

Thank you for the photos Jordan and thankyou David for the information.
I have still been working on the final drives.

I am still using any heavy plate I have.