Having finished the latching mechanisms, I turned to the spare parts box holder.
Yep, as expected, I made a bollocks of the job. My welding is very inferior. Its something I just don't seem steady enough to do well, and it's only MIG work. Arc welding is completely out of the question for me. Anyhoo, the box frame has about 3lbs of weld on it, so what I lack in ability, I have sort of made up for in quantity. I'll probably never find the correct box, so the frame will probably not be put to the test. Unless, that is, I can talk one of the local wood workers into cutting down a larger box, to fit.
My most immediate problem is, WHERE THE HELL DID I PUT MY BAG OF FOOTMAN LOOPS? I have about six of the things remaining, but don't know where the damn things are. Searched
almost everywhere for them, without success. I say almost everywhere, because if I had looked 'everywhere' I would have found them, obviously! I will need 4 of those for the box carrier frame.
Haven't received the leather straps I ordered from UK yet, but they can't be far away...I hope.
The above photos are the pop rivets that will fasten the straps to their brackets. Nice large surface of the rivet heads should prevent straps from pulling away or moving around.
This Saturday I will buy a fresh bag of the slot headed bolts I used so heavily on securing the shield brackets etc. I plan to while away an hour or so sandblasting the heads, then fill the slots completely with body filler, and sand smooth Once painted, they will be a fairly reasonable copy for rivets. Good enough for my project anyway.
We're off to Bandiana for ANZAC Day in a couple of weeks, so if I haven't finished the bolt head filling by then, I'll finish when I get back. We have secured a visit to the museum on Tues 26th, and I'm looking forward to getting many more reference photos than I took last time. I was in tourist mode then.
Oh, nearly forgot. I resigned from my job last week. The last two of my required 4 weeks notice will be pre-booked and approved annual leave. Entirely coincidental that.
