Our LRDG Chev

[Andrew H.]

We found that the "feet" attaching the firewall to the chassis were rusted through in places, so the rusted bits were cut out and replaced with small, welded-in patches. This was "fiddly" work that required a lot of patience.

Also one of the "toe panels" was so badly rusted that it was not useable, so a new one was made from scratch. This was also quite fiddly work as it is a double thickness panel with lots of bends and angles. The yellow one is the original panel and the red one is the new mirror image copy. All the bending and folding was done in an ordinary vice, as we have very few tools. We have not done this type of work before, so it was a steep learning curve and some things have had to be done twice before we get it right.

[Andrew H.]

So that brings us more or less up to where we are today. The truck is now on its wheels, so we can push it around the workshop, but there is still a lot to do. The next items are to finish the panel work on the rear of the cab and then make a start on the rear Godfriedson "ammo" body. The motor is away being reconditioned.

We decided also to see if we could make a Vickers machine gun out of wood and I think we achieved quite good realism, at least from about 5 metres away.

Future posts will be less frequent, depending on our rate of progress.

[Kuno]

Andrew - that looks really good; the Chevrolet and the Vickers. I hope your rate of progress is quick so that we can see the completed truck very soon...

[Andrew H.]

Our next job was to restore the petrol tank, which is quite rusty. We made an improvised molasses tank out of old boards and two thicknesses of heavy duty polythene sheeting. We submerged the petrol tank in the molasses at 6:1 strength for 18 days and this was the result. Unfortunately our molasses tank was not quite deep enough to completely submerge the petrol tank, so the exposed parts are still rusty. However we are still impressed by its effectiveness on the submerged parts. Its surprising more people don't use molasses, which is cheap, biodegradable, non-toxic and convenient, as long as you're not in a hurry .

[Andrew H.]

We also used molasses to get rid of rust on the seat springs. Here are three pics showing the seat before and after the molasses treatment and then after painting with RIPO and high-build "rust barrier red" primer. As we don't have a spray painting outfit it was a slow and laborious job to brush-paint the individual springs but that's how it was done .

[Andrew H.]

The other day we had a mock-up assembly to see how the seat riser and cab look when they are attached to the chassis and we are quite pleased with the result. The next thing will be to make the rear cab sheet-metal.

[Andrew H.]

Today we made a start on the rear curved cab panel using a friend's home-made English wheel. We were quoted $1,000 by a professional panel-beater to make the rear cab panel but that was far too much for us. It was surprisingly easy to use the English wheel considering we had never done it before. We are constantly finding we can do things we never dreamed we would ever be capable of doing!

In pic 1 the panel is being pushed backwards and forwards through the wheeling machine rather like using an old two-man crosscut saw. You can see the same panel (framed by the wheeling machine) on the restored LRDG truck in the background. Pic 2 shows the new panel temporarily screwed onto the framework of our truck to see if it fits properly (it does). We will spot-weld it onto the framework at a later date.

[Marc Montgomery]

Great work! Although these were Canadian made vehicles, (originally LRDG had CMPs)
I don't think there are any LRDG examples in Canada...or??????

[Kuno]

Marc; such 1533x2 Chevrolets in LRDG configuration are currently 1 in California, 4 in New Zealand and Andrew is building the fifth one... none in Canada as far as I am aware of.

[DaveBuckle]

I much enjoyed reading your posts - having just returned from a trip to NZ I was amazed at the military re-enactments group at Wanaka airshow: spent as much time talking to them as watching warbirds.
I also have a long standing fascination with the desert war and am recreating my Blitz from that campaign.
And your use of molasses was a revelation - I have used white vinegar a fair bit - how does it compare? Naively I accidentally dissolved my compliance plates in it though ...
Am coming back to NZ in about a year - I hear the do at Omaka is worth a look - any other suggestions from a local would be most welcome.
Ka Pai.

[Andrew H.]

Hi David,
Omaka is definitely worth a look. I cannot compare molasses with white vinegar, which I have never used. I know molasses works extremely well (at 6:1 mix) as long as you're not in a hurry, as it is usually 10 to 14 days before the rust disappears. I have recently heard that molasses is not good on hardened steel, like gear cogs, crankshafts etc as it causes pitting. But it is excellent on panel steel, chassis, brackets etc.