Got carried away!

[Lynn Eades]

Most of the fittings on your carrier will have the year of manufacture of that part, so you will be able to quite quickly get close. 1941? or 42?
The radiator will have a little brass tag soldered to it up in the curved bit at the top where the fan goes past. It will give month and year.
Be careful with that nice looking steering wheel.
Take lots of photos even for the mundane stuff, like which way bolts go in, and if you're removing rivets, which holes have flat ones or none (for bolts?)
If your're good with a welder or you know someone who is, then you might be able to patch rather than replace?

[John A. Rippingham]

Thanks Lynn will have a look today for the dates.

I have a friend who is a very good welder so i'm hoping to patch the piece in front of the driver. Can armour plate be welded with normal mild steel rods or do i need something different?

John

[eddy8men]

hi john

the hull number is stamped on the top of the angle iron behind the gunner seat but i'll show you when I come over.
I used normal mig wire when I rebuilt my t16 with no issues other than when doing short welds on the wading plates when I had a few that cracked the weld when cooling, all the long armour welds where fine, maybe it has something to do with the heat and how much you're putting into it but whatever the reason you'll be fine with a standard mig.

rick

[Lynn Eades]

Stainless works well. It is what they used when they built the first welded hulls.

[RichardT10829]

Gear stick housing has a good one IMHO it had little chance of being changed out during its service... If you look down the side of the cast bracket it will have the part number followed my FM Co and a date ie FM Co 42 denotes it was made 1942 ;-)

I had a dig about last night for you and have located some original front mudguards. They are straight but could do with a tidy up.

I can openly recommend any cast work produced by Ben Hawkins, and any fab work by Old Buck Restorations based in Suffolk.

Get yourself a plastic vat and fill it with molasses and water and soak any seized bits..... Saves you a packet on grit blasting!!!!

Excellent for seized track too.

I agree with Lynn, stainless is the way to go for steel that thick, make your weld prep 45 degree from both sides leaving a small flat you get good penetration and the root weld pulls the graft into the original plate as it cools. A nice easy fix that. Front armour, you will be able to polish out the weld a treat too..... Very jealous !!!

[John A. Rippingham]

Thanks guys your help is really appeciated.

Richard, front wings, great, keep them to one side for me please.

thanks for the advice on the welding, my mate can tig it with stainless.

Well the suns out here in manchester so i'm going to spend the day looking for dates, not the female type!!!

thanks again for your help

[RichardT10829]

You will struggle to Tig 10mm matey unless it is a mahoooosive inverter.

[John A. Rippingham]

Hello Richard,

I'll bear that in mind, thanks.

A couple more pictures and questions,



Is this piece of wood supposed to be there? I think the chain is the only part of the brake steering i have, the other chain and the rest of the linkage to the steering collum is missing. Also is the small piece of tube fastened to the rail original?






What is suposed to be on this panel? I've got the remains of something?



Found another number on the back. and cb 5804 on the front.



What is this tube for?

I had a look at the dates cast into various parts and they all have 42 on them.

Is the red primmer you can see all over the carrier the normal colour used from the factory? The green it's painted with has been done after it was cut, so i'm wondering if the original paint is between the green and the red, and maybe the number is still there, where were the numbers painted when they were originaly done?

thanks

John