Richie's Mk1 Restoration

[RichardT10829]

Well it's been ages since I posted anything up here.... Most of my pics end up in my carrier album on Facebook... I have been busy today with the air intake ducts... The originals from my carrier were cut to bits with a gas axe wielding maniac.. A few years back Shaun took me to a certain bushed area and we managed to dig up some carrier spares including a pair of ducts !!!!!!!

They have sat shelved for a while waiting for some work.


Here is the gunners side duct after some gentle cleaning....as you can see it has rotted out in the usual places. My dilemma was do I replace the rotted bits out with new material ? I had a ponder about it for a week or so and decided that I was going to maintain as much original fabric as possible and utilise the remains of my ducts that came with the carrier, coupled with the original ducts Shaun and I found.


Here is what is left of my ducts to work with


So I got to work cleaning up all the bits I had.... The left duct I had previously stripped to pattern the plate work for future builds. This was before I bought Nigel's vol.3 (doe)




I decided to offer up what material I had left then had to decide where to make the cuts etc


Having decided where I was going to make the cut I had to mark up and lose the gas axe wrecked edges


Followed by trimming in the original rail from the buried duct


Once happy I 45'd the edges ready for welding followed by adding some other plates to check my clearances


So basically I have retained about 98% original fabric! I just need to graft in a small square of 5mm sheet...... Unfortunately I don't have any original 5mm scrap lying about as it was all used to fill in the centre bulkhead and glacis plate.



Rivets to follow..

[tankbarrell]

Originally Posted by RichardT10829

A few years back Shaun took me to a certain bushed area

I think that's a Norfolk thing...........

[RichardT10829]

Hahaha "My you got a purdy mouth".........

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by RichardT10829

Well it's been ages since I posted anything up here.... Most of my pics end up in my carrier album on Facebook... I have been busy today with the air intake ducts...

Richard,

Great work on preserving and re-using as much of the original metal as possible

But as MLU is THE place for Carrier enthusiasts, I do wonder why the passers-by on FB are treated with more pictures than we are...

Hanno

[RichardT10829]

Nothing personal it's when I photo the job on my phone it goes onto my album... Plus my project has taken so long I presumed folk would have lost interest in its progress :-)

I will sit down and drag some photos over from the past years efforts.

[George McKenzie]

I was thinking that we would be in trouble if there was a war that they needed our carries in .I find it amazing how they could build so many army vehicles in such a short time .I wish we were closer . I could use some advice .Thanks for MLU a great site . I have a drill press that I got the USA patent on .It uses electric drills weighs 1 KG and can drill holes any where any shape as fast as you can put the bolts in .I sold 200 for $120 but need a company to do it as I want to do my army things it would be great for anyone that is doing the armor on a carrier

[RichardT10829]

Well here we go... Some pics and updates from this year, some things I forgot to take pics of, like the cam plate install etc... But never the less here we go

Well after much grunting wheezing and generally wanting to kill myself, I got the centre axle un seized and removed. Once out it was easy enough to clean with grinder and wire wheel, it was then re painted ready for re installation.
At the same time the axle was removed, I pulled the rollers and cleaned them up, give them a quick flash over and rebuilt and placed back in the hull, complete with new high tensile bolts. A good pal from Canada came good with some NOS leather gaiters which were put on once the axle was back in.

Mark stands triumphant with the demon axle


A quick flash over


And returned back to the hull


Photo taken before I had nipped up the metal clamping plate

Amongst that most of the work of late has been cleaning and re introducing bits to the hull, including the rear bell cranks for the brakes
Seen here stripped down and brushed with wire wheel on grinder

[RichardT10829]

I had bagged up all the needle rollers which I then cleaned one by one with cellulose thinners.



The parts were all cleaned as per the cast case ready for paint. Then rebuilt with some fresh grease... All that is needed is the cork seals top and bottom



I managed to get an accurate ammeter for my dash so mocked it up for motivation



Just need the correct bolts and the bezel rings !

I have been hangin track and coating it.....ooh how controversial ! :-)



Just left one large horribly seized section to go, which was placed in the bath of death soup



Some other items taken from the molasses bath



I need to rebuild the pumps but I am unsure how to press the mandrels out without damaging the pulleys

Here is one of the original engine mounts after cleaning and a new cotter pin

[RichardT10829]

I have also been back on the rivets, I have had the folding armour laser cut along with the joggle, just need to fire in the 5/16th rivets for the joggle.



And finally queue shameless plug for rivet snaps.



A few sets have been made and sent around the globe :-)