My wife hasn't seen it yet

[Maurice Donckers]

The orriginal armour plate has a rougher surface then mild steel , also it is Chisselled straight after hardening . This results is that you can see a lot of stripes on the surface of the plate`s .
I discoverred that riveting goes the best with a decent hammer , and keep the rivets cold . I mannaged to do about 10 an evening before my hand started to give up .

[RichardT10829]

my thoughts were to make the armour out of mild steel also, this would benefit by keeping the weight down slightly, but as mentioned it will not look 100% correct unless some prep work is done, you could put some fine media in the paint to give the surface some texture, and prior to paint the chinks and grooves type affairs could be put into the metal with a grinder.

in the UK you can hire a pair of pneumatic rivvet hammers quite cheap.

[Lynn Eades]

If your carrier is English built it does not have the "chisel marks" that the Canadian carriers have, so it will look fine with mild steel. The English armour had a pattern on it like you would get if you painted it with a paint roller, before the paint smooths out. By the time it had a coat of paint, the pattern in the steel is hidden. There is variation in the thickness of the front armour between the various Mk1 carriers. Talk to the McDell boys about it.

[RichardT10829]

Phil can you get shed loads of pics put on here so i can drool i take it the loops on the front pannel are the work of a previous farmer/owner ? or are they something added by the MOD ?

also with the front plate you are lucky as the Fergus carrier i have been looking at has been chopped around the second angle bar that runs accross the front and the steering box is just lying there rather than fixed as per yours.

Richard

[Phill]

Thank you for all the replies. I noticed the chisel marks on the rear plate so it must be original. Small portions of the original armor plate are left along with the rivets, all around the perimeter; we noticed the plate on the front was thicker. I got a picture of a decal on the front right fender, almost readable. Strangely when my son turns the steering wheel, standing in front, the machine seems to move. There is a layer of snow on her today. Phil

[Phill]

Here is the decal pic. Phil

[Ledsel]

It's a "command" decal But I can't tell which.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Phill

Strangely when my son turns the steering wheel, standing in front, the machine seems to move.

That's a good thing, Phil. What happens with standard carrier steering is that for the first x-degrees the steering mechanism slides a crosstube connecting the forward bogies back & forth, warping the track to either side for a slight change in direction. Beyond that x-degree point, the steering mechanism applies the brake on whatever side you're turning toward, thus slowing that track and allowing the other side to slew the carrier around. Historically it's a simple but effective mechanism but with the caveat that the brakes tend to wear out unevenly and prematurely; with the T-16, the Americans went with controlled differential steering instead, which is more effective and more reliable than track-warp steering. The fact that your carrier moves slightly with pressure on the wheel means that neither the steering linkages nor the crosstube are locked up.

[Jordan Baker]

You have the remains of a MK2 Carrier. I can tell by the upper engine frame rails and the lack of radio battery holes in the rear plate. The other partial give-away is the fold up seat attached to the armoured rad cover.