How To: Ford CMP "Blitz" miscellany

[Jacques Reed]

With winter approaching here in Oz time to think about ticking off those pesky little restoration jobs that can be done in the comfort of the house and not in the shed on a cold Melbourne day.

First up is the log book holder cover flap.
Can anyone confirm what material was used on the cover? Was it canvas, or leather, or even vinyl perhaps?

Also the shape of it would be helpful such as square or rounded corners.

Hopefully the press snaps won't be too hard to match up.

Amazing what you find in unexpected places. Last year while cleaning out my late Father-in-Law's garden shed I found a vegemite jar containing some copper rivets as shown in the photo. Cut to the right length, they will be identical to those used to secure the flap to the back of the holder.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me on this.

Cheers,

[Jason Linders]

Hi Jacques Reed,
I will have a look at mine today and let you know and the thickness ,
but im sure its leather

if you need anymore info let me know

Thanks
Jason

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Jason,

Many thanks for that info. Will be glad to know its thickness and shape at the front.

Thought with the looseness in the existing rivets it might be leather, or maybe canvas doubled over to make it thicker where it is riveted to the back.

Cheers,

Jacques

[Jason Linders]

Hi Jacques ,
yes its leather and its 3mm thick
and it is only aswide as the log book pouch and square

hope this helps

Jason

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for that information.

It should be a straight forward fabrication once I find the correct press stud snaps.
Looks like another trip to the haberdashery shop with, or without, my wife.

It would be a cheaper trip without!

Cheers,

[Jason Linders]

Hi Jacques,
Let me know how you get on as we may have the correct ones,
as my wife has a new industrial sawing machine and has heavy duty snap clips
becouse my wife makes swags and pig dog collars and canvas gear for shooting and my military vehicles .

Thanks
Jason

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for that offer of the press stud snap clips.
Will see what Spotlight has this week and let you know if I have no luck.
Just thought too, my local bikie leather shop may have them. They made my Blitz .303 rifle holder leather pads for me. Might get them to make it for me and I can rivet it on.

One quick question: How far down is the bottom edge of the flap from the center of the press studs? I'm guessing only about an inch?

Cheers,

Jacques

[Jacques Reed]

Three months ago I started repainting my truck in a more accurate KG-J before winter set in. I had repainted the dash board and when I reinstalled the switch plates in it they looked a bit shabby by comparison. Even though they are still in a reasonable condition I thought it might be a good time to reproduce the graphics on a decal and put them on a spare set of plates I have. It would be a good wintertime project.

I had made decals before using Microsoft Paint so thought I could knock them out in a couple of days. After scanning my set of originals, and another light switch plate to get a couple of missing words, I set to work.
After completing the graphics I realized MS Paint had a few shortcomings and in the course of trying to correct them came upon paint.net. It is basically a freeware graphics editor developed from MS Paint but with a lot more capabilities. Rather than persevere with MS Paint I decided to start over again this time using the switch plate scans in the paint.net program. I am a big fan of it now and it wasn’t too hard to get a reasonable grasp of it having some experience with Paint. A couple more days work and then the decal graphics were done- again.

I test printed the graphics on my son’s monochrome laser printer instead of my inkjet printer as it needs to be printed in black only, and inkjet printer decals need a clear acrylic coating to prevent the ink from running when soaking the decal in water. This requirement is eliminated with a laser printed decal. Was quite impressed with the results even on plain A4 paper. He has been encouraging me to get a laser printer for a while, especially from the operating costs side. Suitably impressed, I went out and bought a new Brother monochrome laser printer for about the price of 6 new inkjet cartridges a few days later.

I obtained the A4 laser decal paper and was ready to print them. But first, a few more tests using plain A4 on my new printer. Here’s where I started pulling my hair out! When I put more than one image on a page the images shrank about 4%. I tried scaling the image but then the closest registration I could obtain between the switch holes was out by 1mm.

If I printed individual images on each A4 sheet the plates were printed full size with perfect registration, but it would be a waste of decal paper. I also noticed a fuzzy sawtooth edge on all the graphics and lettering on the laser printer images when viewed through a magnifying glass but not when it was printed it on my inkjet printer. What’s going on? A few more hours on the internet learning everything I could about decals, printers, file types, plug-ins, etc. Anyway, I could extend this post by a lot more but will save the reader a lot of computer geek-speak anguish.

Suffice to say, as a last resort, I contacted the Brother Help Centre last week and they informed me that I had to make one obscure change to the printer settings that I never saw in the manual, or if I did, I didn’t understand what it was. Bingo! Multiple clear, sharp, full size, perfect registration decals on one A4 sheet. I am always loathe to blame the equipment before exhausting every avenue but in this case I could have saved myself a lot of time if I had contacted them first. Still, I learnt a lot of other interesting stuff along the way so nothing was lost.

The spare switch plates were cleaned of all old paint and rust, then primed, spray puttied, and wet sanded, then primed again to provide a very smooth surface for the decals. Most off-the-shelf grey paints were too dark so I looked at hobby paints. Surprisingly, after comparing many colours, Testor’s Model Master, Canada Voodoo Grey, was the closest match- how appropriate for a CMP! Being a gloss paint it is also the best type surface for applying decals so that was another plus. A couple coats of that paint with an airbrush, then the decals, and a coat of clear satin acrylic to protect the decals completed the project. The decaled plates are to the left of the plates I scanned to produce the decals in the first photo and the plates I used for decaling are the ones in the right photo.

In all, a satisfying way to pass some time when the weather was not shed friendly.

Hope this is of interest to fellow MLU members.

Cheers

[Keith Webb]

Very impressive work Jacques! Now to find someone to correctly replicate the other zinc plates for gearshift, front axle, lubrication and cooling system, and of course the winch for FGTs.

I still have some of the original NOS publications and manufacturer's plates for Fords if anyone is in need of a set.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Keith,

Thanks, it was a good project even if more labour intensive than I originally thought. I have been lucky finding those other plates in fairly reasonable condition either originally on my truck or some donor trucks.

I got a Publications plate from you a while back and perhaps you could help me with some info?

My late war round gauge panel doesn't have any holes for those Publications and Manufacturers plate. But a Ford gauge panel has the 4 holes for them on the top of the panel. I don't want to start drilling extraneous holes in the round gauge panel- I usually want to weld up those type holes!

I have seen a photo somewhere of those plates on the door and seem to remember a driver's side door? I once had with 4 holes in it I think for them.

Did late war Australian cabs such as mine have them located on the driver's side door and if so, what was the position of the holes?

Cheers,

[Keith Webb]

Australian built trucks did not use the door for the plates. You sometimes find Ford RH doors drilled for them - I had a F60L like that but that I think mostly likely indicates the door has come from a Canadian imported F15 - the ones with the 2C1 bodies.

The other fairly common place to find these plates was the engine cover - I have seen quite a few like that.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi All,

This is sort of related to my Ford CMP restoration so will post it here:

Perhaps someone can identify it.

I pulled the canvas cover shown in the photos out of 20 year storage a few weeks ago to check its condition. It came with an F-15A I bought in the 90's.
I didn't think it was original, perhaps a replica, but upon close inspection it is not even close in size or design as it is about 6" too short on the body and has flaps on the side. When I looked inside I saw the markings "Michaelis Bayley 7-71"

It is obviously Vietnam Era by the date stamp and interestingly when I Googled Michaelis Bayley I learnt it is the company that currently makes Homey Ped Shoes. I guess shoe making sewing machines could fill a canvas sewing contract for the ADF.

My question is what does it fit? Vehicle? trailer?

Any info gratefully received.

Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Good Day All,

Firstly my apologies if this has been covered before but I am seeking some info on the bridge classification disks used on Australian CMP's.

I just need confirmation of the diameter and the thickness, or gauge, of the steel from which they are made.

I read somewhere that they are 6" in diameter but that does not seem to be the case based on the spacing of the bracket holes to hold it and a picture of what I believe to be an original on an F15. Rough proportioning from the photo of the original would put it at 7" to 7-1/2" diameter based on the 5" between centres of the mounting holes.

I also note from AWM photos "5" ton is the amount shown on a F15A disk. That seems high based on weight of vehicle and cargo capacity. Were different weights specified or did all F15A's get a 5 ton limit?

Thanks for any info. May try cutting out one on the lathe this winter if I can confirm the diameter and thickness. Bolted to a block of wood on a faceplate it shouldn't be too hard to do.

Cheers,

[gjamo]

Jaques be extra careful doing that I have seen some horrific accidents with tradesman doing the same thing.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Gjamo,

Thanks for the advice. I plan to bolt the plate to the wood with coach screws through the disk mounting holes and also bolt the steel plate outside the circle to the wood so that it does not fly around when cut all the way through. That part is only going to be scrap so a few extra holes in it won't matter. Could see a real disaster happening there otherwise.

Light feeds with the compound slide should do it. Any other suggestions out there?

Cheers,

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

I read somewhere that they are 6" in diameter but that does not seem to be the case based on the spacing of the bracket holes to hold it and a picture of what I believe to be an original on an F15. Rough proportioning from the photo of the original would put it at 7" to 7-1/2" diameter based on the 5" between centres of the mounting holes.

I also note from AWM photos "5" ton is the amount shown on a F15A disk. That seems high based on weight of vehicle and cargo capacity. Were different weights specified or did all F15A's get a 5 ton limit?

Jacques,

The diameter of the disc is the equal to the aperture of the headlight on CMPs.

The digit on the classification signs does not indicate the the weight of the vehicle, but the bridge weight class:
"The number designated the maximum weight class of vehicles which could safely cross that type of bridge".
Read more on this subject on the excellent Canadian Soldiers website.

HTH,
Hanno


ford3ton.jpg

[Jacques Reed]

My thanks to you all, Graeme, Mike, Jonathan, David, Tony and Hanno,

Your thoughts and ideas are most appreciated. Always good to get different ideas especially when it comes to safety. Most of us are keen amateurs so we don't always have the years of a metal working trade behind us to know all the risks. Much better to take a bit more time and a bit of fiddling around but do it safely.

I had originally considered cutting it out with my Ryobi sabre saw but I have found the blade wanders by 1-2 mm each side of the centre line. This is why the lathe method came to mind. The saw is relatively new and upon inspection I found the blade and holder can be wiggled 1-2 mm each side of the centre position. I found this out when I ripped a sheet of plywood using a bit of steel angle as a guide. I wondered why the cut was serpentine along the pencil line despite the guide.
The saw is good enough for cutting out plywood Santas at Christmas but that is about it. Not much good for an accurate cut. Doesn't seem to be any adjustment like a gib to take out the slack and upon checking other brands at the local hardware store they all have some degree of sloppiness there too. Design requirement or just cheap manufacturing?

So on that note I would be most appreciative to take up your offer of the disk Tony and that way save a bit of work at the same time. (Also keep all my eyes and fingers!)

Thanks too Hanno for that link. Makes a lot more sense now.

Cheers,

[Euan McDonald]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

With winter approaching here in Oz time to think about ticking off those pesky little restoration jobs that can be done in the comfort of the house and not in the shed on a cold Melbourne day.

First up is the log book holder cover flap.
Can anyone confirm what material was used on the cover? Was it canvas, or leather, or even vinyl perhaps?

Also the shape of it would be helpful such as square or rounded corners.

Hopefully the press snaps won't be too hard to match up.

Amazing what you find in unexpected places. Last year while cleaning out my late Father-in-Law's garden shed I found a vegemite jar containing some copper rivets as shown in the photo. Cut to the right length, they will be identical to those used to secure the flap to the back of the holder.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me on this.

Cheers,

Found this doc and thought it my be of interest.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Euan,

Thanks for that info. Confirms mine was in about the right place as per attached photos. There is a flat bracket spot welded to the back of the holder. It was butt welded to the lower cabin rear frame at the door and lap welded to the lower cab sheet metal on the other side. Mine is about 7" off the deck based on the original welded areas. Maybe close enough was good enough then?

Well you sure learn a lot of useless trivia when doing a restoration. I now know there are at least four types of press studs. After contacting leather workers, saddle makers, shoe repairers, even a press stud distributor no one could match up the female part to my existing male press stud on the holder.
One offered to drill out the old ones- no thanks, and replace them with what he had on the shelf. Anyway after some research I found the type I wanted are called S spring type. After a few wasted efforts trying to get the hole size and not the outside diameter of the studs from sellers who didn't know, care, or understand, I decided they were either 17mm or 15mm press studs and ordered a couple of each on Ebay for the princely sum of $4. Should be here soon from Hong Kong. Sad I can't give the locals the business but I tried.

On another note: I got my chain box lids folded last week. After waiting 9 months for another firm to do the job I told them on the fourth call/visit to forget it. I am fairly patient but not that patient. Found a small firm in another town and got them made overnight. Just have to make the slots for the padlock then take it back to get him to spot weld the piano hinges onto the lids and boxes.
Thanks Ian Fawbert for your kind help with photos and dimensions of an original many months ago.


Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Well, now that I am on my way to finishing off the chain boxes I will now have a place to mount the tail/stop lights.
I thought it would be a good time to revisit the red lenses for those lights.

I have some original ones which I think are made of celluloid but have substantially perished. I remember reading here on the forum that small AA Maglite red filters fit well and do the job. All well if you live in North America but in Aus they are not available individually and with a set of other bits that you must buy works out to over $80. No one seems to want to sell you four red filters and post them from the US unless you spend heaps also.

Back to drawing board, pardon the pun from this old draftsman.
I had tried red Perspex, but again, the Stymied Goddess was casting her spell. The thinnest Perspex available in Australia is 3mm which is bit thicker than original and is a lot lighter shade of red. It fits OK, though, as the internal retainer spring compensates for any thickness of the lens.
I called the Maglite distributor again and found I could buy the D and C size Maglite red filter individually so I bought a couple of them after confirming the diameter.

Using a "MacGyver" jig to hold the filter and a 1" hole saw (with the pilot drill removed!) I was able to get four tail/stop light lenses from the 7/8" diameter plug it creates as per attached photos.
Note the different shades of red: left lens- original, middle lens- Maglite, right lens- 3mm Perspex

Hope this is of some interest and I am sure there are many other ways to get the required red lenses but this may give others some ideas.

Cheers,

[Mike K]

well done Jacques

the boxes look very nice ...yes its not easy finding places to fabricate stuff .

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your comments. Actually I only had the lids fabricated. The boxes were originals but highly banged up as per the attached "before" photo. they also had lots of extraneous holes drilled in them over the years but at least the steel was still solid. Still, I wanted to save them if at all possible even though I had drawn up plans to make replicas if straightening wasn't successful.

I welded the holes marked "X" shut then took the boxes to my local metal working genius at Klouis Bumper Straightening Service in Seaford where Lou knocked/pressed out as many ding and creases as humanly possible. He is truly an old fashioned craftsman.

Success!- boxes saved and only the lids had to be replicas.

Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

Success!- boxes saved and only the lids had to be replicas.

With Christmas rapidly approaching I wanted to get the lid hinges spot weld on before businesses shut down for a few weeks.

The guy who has the heavy duty spot welder was able to do the job last Saturday as he was flying out to South Africa to see his family for a month the next day. Now that is service plus!

To paraphrase Rick on "American Restorations" All I have to do is shoot a coat of KG3 on it and it will really pop!

A Merry Christmas to all.

Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

I decided they were either 17mm or 15mm press studs and ordered a couple of each on Ebay for the princely sum of $4. Should be here soon from Hong Kong. Sad I can't give the locals the business but I tried

Well another loose end has been tied up. I received the press studs from Hong Kong two weeks ago and my gamble paid off. They turned out to be 17mm diameter to fit the existing studs. Local shoe repairer fitted them to a piece of leather for me and I just picked it up.

Please allow me a slight diversion but I noted with sadness the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor yesterday. I was a bit dismayed by the lack of coverage of the commemoration in the Australian media. It seemed to be relegated to a 20 second bite late into the news programs. I wound up watching the service streamed on my computer instead. Was moved to see three living survivors there of the five still left from the sinking of the USS Arizona. Having visited the Arizona twice, in the 70's and again in the 90's I never failed to get a bit choked up at the experience.

As a baby boomer whose father served in the US Army Signal Corps for all of WW2 in New Guinea and Australia, Dec 7th has always held a special place in my Dad's life and even in my upbringing. I guess to the young movers and shakers who now control the media it is ancient history but for some of us it is still as significant and relevant as the 4th of July.

When Japan woke the sleeping giant on the 7th Dec 1941 the world changed forever. The day deserves to be more than just a footnote in a news broadcast.

Cheers,

[Private_collector]

As always, Jacques, Your work is exceptional! Don't suppose you Wanna finish my truck, do ya?

I had the same thought regarding Pearl Harbour. Strikes me as ironic that our media in Australia climbs all over themselves to get best coverage of ANZAC Day, yet similarly significant commemorations in other parts of the world hardly get a look in. I know it's not 'our' event, but it sure is our history, regardless of where it occured. If not for Pearl Harbour, it is just possible USA may not have entered the war. That could have proved disastrous for Australia.

As you would recall, I've been known to hang around Pearl Harbour on occasion. We were there for the last time on the 71st anniversary of the attack. What an event, what a suitably sombre day. If you don't get a bit of 'dust' in your eyes on a day like that, you are a cold hearted individual. I wonder how many people have leaned over the railings of the Arizona memorial, watched drops of oil rise from the depths of the ship to expand in that familiar rainbow colored slick, and shed the odd tear or two. I know I have. You just can't help it. I bet it fogged your eyes like it did mine! If that experience doesn't put a lump in your throat, I can't imagine anything else would, and you better check your pulse.

Last weekend I stumbled across a boxed DVD set on Pearl Harbour, and bought it. I'm still working my way through it, but can wholeheartedly recommend it. There is 12 hours of features in the 8 disks. I think you would thoroughly enjoy it, Jacques. I can get it to you if interested to see it. See attached images.

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[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

As always, Jacques, Your work is exceptional! Don't suppose you Wanna finish my truck, do ya?

I had the same thought regarding Pearl Harbour. Strikes me as ironic that our media in Australia climbs all over themselves to get best coverage of ANZAC Day, yet similarly significant commemorations in other parts of the world hardly get a look in. I know it's not 'our' event, but it sure is our history, regardless of where it occured. If not for Pearl Harbour, it is just possible USA may not have entered the war. That could have proved disastrous for Australia.

Hi Tony,

Thank you for the offer of the loan of the videos on Pearl Harbor. No doubt it will include a bit on the salvage and repair of the 7th fleet. A subject of much interest in its own right. Will see if the local library or JB Hi Fi has it but if not may kindly take you up on the loan of the set.

The danger to Australia from Japan was driven home to me very personally two weeks ago. I traveled to Cairns to stay the weekend with my son who was laying over there. He sometimes is rostered to fly there on a Friday, spend the weekend in Cairns and fly the 737 freighter back to Melbourne on a Monday. A real tough assignment!
We both love old Warbirds so it would be a good chance to see the only P-39 Airacobra in Australia at the Mareeba War museum. A very unique airplane by any standard. I hired a car on the Saturday and we took off. Unfortunately when we arrived there the museum was shut and despite a few messages left on the phone we got no reply.

Oh well, we had a car, a full tank of petrol, our sunglasses on, and Daintree was only one hour away (apologies to the Blues Brothers)
Driving back, north of Mossman we saw a small historic marker which read "WW2 Bomb Site" A slight diversion was in order. I thought I knew a bit of Australian WW2 history but I never new Townsville was raided four times.
Most people can tell you about the midget sub raid on Sydney harbor or the bombing of Darwin but when I asked people my own age if they new Townsville was bombed I drew a blank. Apparently "Emily" flying boats conducted the raids flying from Rabaul in 1942. A single bomb was dropped at this site in the middle of a sugar cane farm injuring a 2 year old girl. On the 50th anniversary of that event she opened this roadside monument shown attached.

Hope this is of interest to all the readers.

Cheers,