Reproduction UC Track availability?

[ajmac]

Chaps,
I've been costing up for a restoration project.... which brought up a question about tracks. Does anyone know if reproduction or NOS track links and pins are available and what are the costs likely to be? On a final note does anyone know of a Mk1 for sale? I saw one on a dealer site but it has gone now.... I know who to, it is coming to the UK, not me though :-(

[RichardT10829]

50 quid says it was Johns carrier, and a further 20 says it was Kevin that has snaffled it

i dont know anywhere that is doing repro track yet, I contacted Staman a while ago to see if they would do it, they have done repro tracks for Stuarts and Shermans etc etc, along with the ruberised copies for the roads.

Martyn and I have both priced up sets to be cast and machined / pinned and based on enough to make a new full set you are looking at circa 4 - 9K best case scenario OUCH ! bearing in mind the rate of wear even for us using them on low hours its a big pill to swallow. there are sets about and second hand track is fairly affordable unless it is being held captive by MV pirates

the theory is that if there is enough of us to bulk buy reprowise, it gets cheaper, problem is most folks tend to try and "track" down (forgive the pun) NOS sets or second hand sets of links.

be very carefull when buying either as i have know folk try to pass off NOS sets when they were jiggered used sets, yes they had the correct amount of links, but they were all shot........

if your in Lincoln and into carriers you need to know Martyn Tasker, a great lad who is clued up on these beasts, i have no doubt you know him though

other carrier owners in the UK include, Kevin Powles (Suffolk),Shaun Hindle (suffolkish) Barry (london), Neil Ashley, Ron Pier, Nick (Yorkshire), Nigel Watson (Dundee), and Me (Newcastle) there are others but my absent mindedness strikes again... so sorry lads if i have missed you.

if you contact these folk they will keep you right on what to look out for etc, carriers do come up for sale and sometimes our brothers in Canada and Australia allow us to buy some back

finally when you do get a carrier you can paint her up in the Lincolns colours who formed part of 138bde 46th Div and were nortorious during Op Avalanche in Italy during ww2

[ajmac]

Martyn is about 5 mins away at the top of town, when this hectic week is over I'm going to give him a ring, small world!

[rob love]

Originally Posted by RichardT10829

50 quid says it was Johns carrier, and a further 20 says it was Kevin that has snaffled it

According to this post.... http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...94&postcount=8
....it was Eddy Wedlock who bought the carrier from John. Did you need an address to send me that 20 quid??

[RichardT10829]

dammit ! hahahahaha i heard Kevin was on the prowl for another carrier to restore and as he has bought em from John in the past it added up i bow my head and will buy you 20 quids worth of pints if you come over here to the UK

EDIT:- my greater bet was correct so you only owe me 30 quid then har har har har

[rob love]

Originally Posted by RichardT10829

dammit ! hahahahaha i heard Kevin was on the prowl for another carrier to restore and as he has bought em from John in the past it added up i bow my head and will buy you 20 quids worth of pints if you come over here to the UK

EDIT:- my greater bet was correct so you only owe me 30 quid then har har har har

Darn. I should have kept my mouth shut. Well, when you get over here, and at the rate that your British pound is plummeting, I'll likely only have to buy you a half a brew as equivelent to that 30 quid.

[eddy8men]

hi fella's
it was me that bought the carrier and it's coming to manchester when the shipping is sorted out, i've got no pics to show as yet which is why i haven't put anything on the forum but when i do i'll post them here, after which the begging and buying stage of the restoration will begin.

all the best

eddy

[Doghouse]

Originally Posted by ajmac

Chaps,
I've been costing up for a restoration project.... which brought up a question about tracks. Does anyone know if reproduction or NOS track links and pins are available and what are the costs likely to be? On a final note does anyone know of a Mk1 for sale? I saw one on a dealer site but it has gone now.... I know who to, it is coming to the UK, not me though :-(

Hi Ajmac, wow your other half sounds great! very supportive- think we're all in similar boats/ UC's there I agree with other folks here that there's huge expense singly but maybe as a group.... similar vein discussion over on the thread regarding wheels
http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...ad.php?t=14122
The idea of new track sounds great- even allowing for the heavy toll of road/ hard surface wear, if we all mostly do low mileage per year, won't a new set still last MANY years just as our current ones have?? even having a source of new track link SETS maybe might reduce the cost a little- what do you guys think?? If most of the cost is the inital mold setting up, then if we pool our resources....???
thanks again for y'all taking part in such an EXCELLENT forum!
David, a newbie from Ireland, (mk2)

[RichardT10829]

as per the other thread which is on the same lines, i would be willing to chip in with the many to have a mould made, but the problems i can potentially see are

who retains the completed mould ?

what can be put in place to prevent the mould being held to ransome by any one person or firm who want the business regardless if it could be made cheaper elsewhere ?

with these things its very much down to trust, i would be willing to take the step but there would have to be a clear published agreement of the terms and conditions to those that chip in so to speak.

[Doghouse]

I agree, but guess there's nothing we can't sort out together- where there's a will, there's a way, etc....
I might suggest if a mould were to be made, those chipping in would need to agree their "initial" order, check the supplier would be happy to proceed on the terms agreed (ie X price for Y sets of track of Z size to persons A,B,C etc) and if everyone agreed to that, then the mould cost might be moot- whether it's retained by the company, or one of the forum members but with a clear agreement anyone of the initial group can use it again- remembering of course that moulds don't last forever and I suspect can "fail" at any time.... Anyone any thoughts/ counter/better suggestions?
(there's ALWAYS better than mine )
Good discussion to be having
David

[eddy8men]

hi fella's

the track discussion has come up before and my first thought was china but there could be a problem with quality control, other than that it would have to be a local foundry and if the cost of machining was too high why not do it yourself, you'd need a pillar drill and a jig and some buggar willing to work for £30 a day for cash and you'd have your tracks in a couple of weeks (possibly). seems simple enough but then things often do until you start digging a little deeper but let's face it someone sometime is gonna have to bite the bullet and go down the new track route it's just a matter of time.

eddy

[ajmac]

We could do with merging parts of these threads together! I'll continue on this one due to the title!
I'm on to it.... when I get a good original as a pattern I'll get a quote, I've posed the question already.... watch this space. Depanding on the quote I'll consider stumping up the set-up costs and offering the track 'ready to fit', fag packet calculation shows it isn't going to be cheap as there are so many links for an entire carrier one of the reasons why no one has done it before.... perhaps. I dread to think how much the new Sherman track from Albert Steenman (sp?)

[Rod Bellars (RIP)]

I have a few carrier parts spare nos uc track ,wheels and some other bits as well as a reasonable stock of local pattern spares always willing to swap for artillery items I need but it is in Australia and limited amounts as becoming hard to find and in demand
regards
Rod

[Swiper]

I hope to have a sample of the track I will be producing at the War and Peace Show at Beltring this summer...

Just hoping the casting will be finished by then - as it'll let all interested parties scrutinise the product...

[carrierbarry]

How will we find you at Beltring?

Barry

[Swiper]

I'll be there with my living history group (53rd Welsh LHG) - at our stand there. I'll find out our exact location shortly, and anyone who wants my mobile number PM me and we can arrange a time to meet up.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by carrierbarry

How will we find you at Beltring?

Barry

He's easily recognized at any military vehicle show: older than he feels, young at heart, greyer than he cares to acknowledge, poorer than a churchmouse, rich because of his friendships, wise in the strangest and most arcane matters of 70yr old technology, wider around the middle than his wedding day, and probably instantly noticeable because he'll be wearing green.

There will that help?