[Matt Stephenson]

Progress is......progressing, but not as much as I had hoped.

Lately, I've had some long needed time away from work, which was an excellent opportunity to get some work done on the carrier, with the hope of getting it sandblasted and painted before going back to work.

I made up a list of things that needed to be accomplished before it could go away, which I guessed wasn't too great a task to achieve, however a spanner was thrown in the works, and its still not quite ready to go just yet.

I started off with some greatly appreciated help from Darrin Wright, who helped me to split the tracks. The mounting brackets on the floor in the front drivers/gunners section were all replaced and welded in. The mounting brackets for the Lewis ammo box and the ration boxes were also welded in place, but this is were it all came to a massive train wreck of a halt.

My previous attempts to fix the hole left in the floor under the engine and gearbox was no good. All the welds from the original steel to the new steel cracked, despite pre-heating and using different types of wire in the mig welder. Faced with this problem I consulted the local brains trust and tired to educate myself further by doing a google search, which revealed a previous thread on MLU on the problem of welding old face hardened, fatigued and brittle steel. After reading the thread and then talking with a mate who is a mechanical engineer and has much more experience welding than me, it was decided to cut out the section back to the engine rails and make it a more neater section to replace. So with the new floor plate plate piece, with the taping frames for the sump and gearbox already welded on, the new piece was carefully welded in using and arc/stick welder. I cant recall the type of welding rods used, but I do know that it has worked, and that the new piece is securely welded in place with no evidence of any cracking or welds not sticking.

I have since decided to leave the welds on the floor as is, as grinding them smooth might be tempting fate, and given that its under the engine, which itself is under a cover, then they are not readily noticeable.

Moving on from that drama, I began to grind all the other welds smooth from the reconstruction of the missing upper armour plates, and rebuild part of the missing mounting frame for the instrument panel, and then re-tap the multitude of mounting blocks for all the fittings in the carrier.

It was about this time that I decided that I was rushing things, and that I was rushing for no other reason to try and get it in and sandblasted while I was off on leave from work. I then remembered something my Dad told me once when I was younger; "Rushing only leads to cutting corners and stuff ups, which you will only regret later on". A quick phone call to the sandblaster had it postponed to a date to be confirmed.

I've still got a bit left to do before its actually ready to go away for sandblasting and paint. I still need to take out the driver's floor plate and steering column, unbolt the diff from the hull and remove the front idlers on their mounting plates from the hull. I also need to weld on some new exhaust shrouds under the hull, as the old ones were bent and twisted out of shape. As yet, I've got no bloody idea how I'm going to get that one done....

Lately, I've also been experimenting with paint colours for the carrier. Gina's recent thread on colours has been very helpful, and will help greatly on the final Khaki Green colour it get painted. I did do a test pot I had made up on part of the side of the hull, but it looks more olive green than khaki green to me.....

I've also done some work on the instrument cluster, which you can see in the attached pic.

For now, progress has slowed a bit, but I am enjoying the work more than I was when it felt I was rushing. The restoration of my carrier was never intended to be a race, it was intended as something I can enjoy and to help take my mind off the crap I have to deal with every other day at work.

Comments, criticism and advice welcome as always.