Ryan's M3 medium

[anthony urek]

.............Now back to Ryan's Grant...........

[Ryan]

We're in SA tonight for a border raid tomorrow, but of the four legged type and wooly. I have however seen some interesting armour bits for an M3 on our journey and hope to see more tomorrow.

[lynx42]

Going through Murrayville are we Ryan?

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by lynx42

Going through Murrayville are we Ryan?

No, somewhere else. And they ended up being for an M3 Stuart and tightly held.

Interesting pics Alex, are they sentinel bogies used on a large gantry?

[cantankrs]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Interesting pics Alex, are they sentinel bogies used on a large gantry?

Don't know about a gantry. You couldn't use the complete bogie on a gantry cos the gantry would tilt backwards and forwards.

Notice in the pics that there seems to be a difference between the wheels on the bogies and the wheel on its own. The bogie wheels appear to have seperate rims with tyres (a la Lee/Grant) whereas the single wheel has grooves in the rim presumably for the rubber to be molded straight onto the wheel (something like Bren Carrier wheels). I read somewhere that the Australian Sentinel tyres were inferior to the American Lee/Grant tyres, having a habit of failing under use.

Also we picked up what I thought was a Lee/Grant bogie in Victoria but close inspection shows that the casting is very similar to the Lee/Grant but 'rougher'. It is not exactly like any of the US made suspension variants I have seen. I initially thought it might have been produced by a different subcontractor - and that may still be the reason, but I think the Sentinel 'evolved' before production got going and wonder if it might be a pre-production Australian manufactured bogie for the Sentinel, or whether it was a locally produced 'replacement' bogie for the Lee/Grants as it has their bolt-to-hull layout. May never know for sure.

Alex