T-16 S/N 5399 T.D. 97377 Restoration

[horsa]

Appreciate the compliments Richard but the restoration is far from perfect. The hull had a lot of pitting which is still present and will remain so. It was a less than ideal specimen to start with for a restoration but the trade and cash price for the rusty bucket was the best I could afford on my meger budget. I'd been looking at carriers since the mid-80's and much nicer examples could have been had for less money back then but I had too many other projects and interests to branch into armor at the time.

I'm happy with the outcome so far considering what I started with. Being cheap, I don't mind putting in long hours on the project to save money. You'll soon learn all sorts of new skills once you get your hands on the carrier you recently bought in Canada. I'm now an expert at lots of things I'll likley never need to do again. Its been a good experience, one I'd highly recommend to others.

[horsa]

Got that last ammunition bin divider finished and installed into the rear gunner side of the hull. It was for twelve PIAT bombs in four carriers and the extra space was where other assorted gear like the field cooker was kept.



Wireless Number 19 Set is installed on the driver side. Still have a lot of testing to do with it but initially it seems to want to play. Power supply spins up fine and the power indicator light comes on. The light on the control box will light up if I switch it and the one up front with the driver to the "B" set so that is functioning properly. It was to alert the wireless operator that nobody was monitoring the "A" set. The control unit in the front has two dongles for the driver and gunner headsets. A third control unit is behind the gunner armour with two more dongles as there are two seats wedged in between the mortar bombs and the engine. It's one of the "Call Commander" types so they can only listen to intercom in theory or push the panic button which should create a tone in the other headsets.



And these last two shots show the armoured wing installed with temporary bolts and some of the toys in the racks. First shot you can see three mortar aiming rods stored behind the Bren. Another Bren is on the opposite outer hull wall but it isn't visible here.



Rifles, PIAT and fire extinguisher are on this side of the armoured wing. Sure would be tough getting to the extinguisher in an emergency.

[tankbarrell]

Tis a thing of beauty! Well done on a fantastic restoration.
Do you have a source for the catches on your rear bin? They are the same as used in Sherman internal stowage and I am in need of some.

Adrian

[horsa]

Hey Adrian,

It took me a long time to trace the history of those latches from the original WWII manufacturer through all the later companies that either bought the earlier businesses as they went bankrupt or ultimately purchased the manufacturing rights to them. The people with the current rights (as of March 2007) to the items are Shepherd Caster Corporation in Michigan. Their web address is www.shepherdcasters.com but they only sell parts to other companies which are their qualified distributers. I’d recommend you contact them through their web site eMail links and tell them the parts you are looking for and they should be able to recommend a distributer in the UK or Europe for you.

For the parts, the fastener is number 505564 and the strike is number 505555. To keep things confusing, some of their internal catalogs show the fastener as ZLA1002x and the strike as ZL1023X-B. The actual description when I got a sample from the manufacturer direct showed the fastener as Bassick Parts ZLA1002PS/LW17 and the strike as Bassick Parts ZL1023PS/LS29. Prices will vary with quantity but for reference, the fasteners are less than $5 each and the strikes are less than $1 each.

[David Ellery]

Hi David. Outstanding work on your T16, you have a very thorough eye for detail if that makes sense Your Bomb Carriers, could you tell me what you made them out of as I'd like to do the same for the British 3 inche Mortar. Keep up the good work and posts cheers David...

[horsa]

Just posted you a PM for a contact in your part of the world who can likely provide WWII surplus 3-inch bomb carriers. The 3-inch pattern have always seemed to be available even here in the USA. It's the 2-inch and PIAT patterns which are hard to find. And the 4.2-inch pattern don't seem to exist anymore which is why I had to resort to making my own.

Essentially the tubes are rolled cardboard and I ordered them from a place that could turn them out with the needed inside diameter, wall thickness and overall length that I needed. I used a hole saw to cut 4.2" wooden disks which I then bored 1.5" holes in the center to hold the fuzed bombs inside. The disks got nailed to the inside of the tube while a round was inside to ensure they stayed centered and flat. Then I rolled the disks in a tin filled with lacquer so they would get coated inside and outside. It dries quickly and will make them water resistant. I used an amber tinted lacquer since it matches early to mid-war originals I had for the 3-inch pattern. They quit doing this later in the war to save on materials but I want them to last so treated mine even though the carrier represents a D-Day+ time period. The black bands are packing crate straps with crimp clips. They get nailed to wooden spacers that I cut out with a skill saw (jig saw in some parts of the world). The end caps are made from sheet metal with the edges welded on. Originals would have been pressed but you can't really tell once painted. They have a strap guide spot welded to the end that opens just as the originals had. The handle and closing strap are actually a wartime double buckle web strap that I had available here and they fit onto another short crimped piece of flat metal strap which was patterned after the type used on all other mortar bomb carriers. Quite a production but doing them over a few weekends like an assembly line made it go quickly. Also got the opportunity to teach my kids about WWII English Cottage Industry

[tankbarrell]

David,

thanks for the contact on the clamps, getting prices as I type!

Regards,

Adrian