25 Pounder info needed.

[Phillip]

Tony, great work.

The illuminating apparatus for the No.7 Director is interesting and your pictures have solved a small conundrum for me.

I picked one up several years ago but it is slightly different from yours as it has an attachment that illuminates the graticule rather than one that fits in the replacement cover. (My director has the replacement cover but this was already fitted).

The wander light is dated 1941 so these must have actually been useful (unlike the No.5 illuminating apparatus which was reported to be useless)

[Private_collector]

Hello Phillip,

Mine is a no. 1 mark 1 I.A., not a no. 7. That may explain the differences you found. Personally, I don't have a clue how these things work, but would welcome an education. Great piece of equipment. I must get a battery and try mine, when I get a chance. I hope the voltage is written on the bulbs, because I don't even know that much.

There are still some available from where I bought mine, and at $40, I think that's pretty reasonable. Especially when you get the privilege of opening the storage box that has been sealed up since last checked in mid (in my case) 1980s. Not exactly comparable to finding the Dead Sea Scrolls, but a different kind of treasure, regardless.

[Phillip]

Hi Tony,

To clarify, the illuminating apparatus is an Australian No1. Mk1 and is designed to fit the Director No.7. Look up Nigel's website on the laying of guns for a detailed explanation of the process.

Maker on the wander light is Stromberg Carlson, dated 1941 however plug is Australian made. This suggests that the design was used proprietary parts and did not change much between 1940's and the mid 1950's. The box is the same as a field telephone!

I'm curious to see what the difference is between the graticle lights.

[Private_collector]

Cheers Phillip!

If you tell me which bit is the graticle light, I can photograph it close up
for you, and/or take measurements.

[Private_collector]

The shield buildup is nearly finished.
20160508_170019-resized-1280.jpg 20160508_173346-resized-1280.jpg
Just a couple more things to be done, including the second color for one of the signs, brush painting all the bolts (both sides, two or more coats), finishing the leather strap for the canvas bag holder, and finishing the brackets for the slide rule and canvas cover. Now that i think about it, there's quite a bit more to do, damn it! At least I got all the brackets and instruments installed on the lower shield.
20160508_165954-resized-1280.jpg 20160508_173411-resized-1280.jpg
As usual, I started to run out of daylight before I got around to installing the upper shield, so I thought I better not attempt it today. It's not a job I can rush, and it will be a two person job, so it can wait until next weekend.
20160508_173556-resized-1280.jpg
Had an interesting time with this 9th Division sign, when I did the black background on Friday afternoon. I have a thing for symmetry, so alignment is important. I used a large carpenters square to get the position correct, then applied tabs of low tack tape to mark where the edges would be. Alas, at some stage the square had moved between applying two pieces of the aligning masking tape. Not realising this, everything I did from that point on was WRONG! This was only confirmed after the paint was applied and all the masking materials removed. I couldn't believe how such a stupid mistake could be made. I always recheck alignment again after final position is marked......except that one occasion. As a resuly, I had to wait for the paint to dry, rub back all the edges, then remask (after measuring multiple times) and repaint again, slightly larger this time. The platypus and boomerang in white, were very much easier. It's not perfect, but I chose to go with higher detail of the design, which meant the lines were not quite as 'clean' as would have been if I accepted image with less detail. I can live with that. The platypus would have lost his facial detail if I smoothed the image any further!

Still looking for an illuminating apparatus box! Anything considered!!!! Seriously.
The space where the box should be, just looks so bare without that piece in place.

Also, I have another, more exciting, piece of news to tell. I don't think I'll go into that until I can take and upload photos at same time. Sorry!

[Private_collector]

Another small job done.
20160508_204629-resized-1280.jpg 20160508_204655-resized-1280.jpg

[Private_collector]

Several minor things achieved today.
20160515_172653-resized-1280.jpg 20160515_172500-resized-1280.jpg
The seat is wearing coat 1 of 4 or 5 coats of varnish, wand will get a light sanding between each coat. The seat is quite nice timber, though I'm sure that was not a consideration at time of manufacture.
20160515_172330-resized-1280.jpg
Slide rule brackets are finished and painted, but not yet attached.
I had intentions of putting the upper shield back on today, and the brackets would have gone on shortly thereafter, but I lost some time working on something else. Next post is dedicated to that one.
20160515_172634-resized-1280.jpg
Second color is now applied to the artillery unit signage. Despite numerous layers of masking tape, some of the solvent caused the blue (applied last weekend) to react with the initial layer of tape, resulting in a slight change in texture. I started to polish this out with cutting compound, and found it heavily scratched the surface. I put a stop to that pretty damn quickly, but not before making another job for myself later on. I'll probably end up sanding both red & blue with 1200 w & d, then applying a satin clear over the whole thing. This will have to be done before I can spray the flat white colored unit number. Figures!

[CWO (ret) Gilles Aubé]

I have acquired the same unit do we know what batteries voltage we need ?
Gilles

Originally Posted by Phillip

Tony, great work.

The illuminating apparatus for the No.7 Director is interesting and your pictures have solved a small conundrum for me.

I picked one up several years ago but it is slightly different from yours as it has an attachment that illuminates the graticule rather than one that fits in the replacement cover. (My director has the replacement cover but this was already fitted).

The wander light is dated 1941 so these must have actually been useful (unlike the No.5 illuminating apparatus which was reported to be useless)

[Niels V]

https://www.bva-auctions.com/auction...r.pageNumber=8
you probably want to take look here

[Private_collector]

Good evening,
It's been one hell of a long time since I've been active here, and although this year hasn't been great for me, it hasn't been great for most of the world either, so I won't moan. Suffice to say I'm still alive! Who was it that said "rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated!"?

Although I've not felt up to working on any heavy project, I have been tarting up an old Land Rover Defender that belonged to my Wife's late Father. We've taken it from a tray back ute, to an enclosed canopy for reasonably comfortable overnight camping. Naturally, it's camo green in color, and has a decidedly 'retro' appearance. Have been away for a couple of brief trips in recent months, with hopefully many more in the future. The other thing I've been amusing myself with, and I can't really explain why I got into this, is the building of movie props. Most significantly, Dr Who props! I built a full scale Dalek that was to be my costume at a work function which sadly had to be cancelled, thanks to COVID-19. So now I have an almost 6ft tall Ironside Dalek sitting in my dining room. I built it on an electric wheelchair base, and it's driven from inside. Obviously, no Dalek is complete without that iconic voice, so it won't come as a surprise that mine has that too.

In the past couple of years I've been in the workshop (where my CMP and 25pr build are waiting) about 5 times in total. Two of those were in the past couple of months, after having the roof replaced due to hail damage. None of those times were to actually do anything, but it is my plan to return to the 25pr in particular, fairly soon. Just haven't had the stamina to do anything that is strenuous. The CMP won't get a look in for a while yet, but after being in hospital recently, I came out more determined to get the 25pr back on track. Then I got a huge motivation boost by stumbling onto a particular part I've been searching for, for years.

After exhausting all avenues for a correct No. 5, Illuminating Apparatus, I found one advertised just a few hours away from my place. It was listed without description to it's purpose, and it appeared the seller did not know it was 25pr application. He obviously knew WHAT it was, hence the high price he was asking, but I suspect it would have been much more if he knew how rare it was. When I got it home, I opened it up and found it was absolutely complete, with exception of a battery. Even the spare parts were in their boxes labelled "A" & "B". After all these years I couldn't believe I finally had one, AND it was complete. I've just finished 2 weeks of renovating, to as good a condition as possible, including color change to match my shield. See attached photos, if I can remember how to upload them. Let me know if it hasn't worked! I will endeavour to add the 'before' photos now, and the 'after' ones in next post.

[Private_collector]

Some photos after I refurbished the unit.
Ended up having to make one of the labels inside lid of the spare part boxes (box A) from what was readable on the old, unsalvagable one. A quick soak in strong tea/coffee mixture aged the paper a little!

Now, if anyone has a set of trails for sale, we need to talk!!!

[rob love]

Great to hear from you again, and that you are on the top side of the grass.



What a great find. Certainly it is one of the holy grails for a 25 pounder, and on my short list of 25 pdr items to find yet. I do have the apparatus, but not the container. Your photos will go a long way towards making one if I have to go that route.



I have a spare 25 pdr carriage here, but postage to your end of the world would be ridiculous.

[David Dunlop]

Nice to hear from you again, Tony. Great find for the 25 pdr!

All Best Wishes to you and the family for Christmas!

David

[m606paz]

Good to hear from you Tony!
I have missed your progress on the CMP as well as all your comments. Merry Christmas and may we start to see that CMP more assembled next year!
Best regards!

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by rob love

Great to hear from you again, and that you are on the top side of the grass.



What a great find. Certainly it is one of the holy grails for a 25 pounder, and on my short list of 25 pdr items to find yet. I do have the apparatus, but not the container. Your photos will go a long way towards making one if I have to go that route.



I have a spare 25 pdr carriage here, but postage to your end of the world would be ridiculous.

Hi Rob,
Might not be as ridiculous as you would think, if a freight forwarding company brought it in with other things. That said, closer to home would save a lot, no doubt.

Would you like me to send you more drawings to aid your construction of a case? Happy to do so, if it helps. Possibly doing a seperate thread on MLU might benefit others also, if anyone is interested. It really is a most over-engineered little box, in reality. Quite complex. Without detailed photos an measurements, it would be almost impossible to replicate convincingly. I might have tried, some years ago, but the lack of available reference materials (or a real one to study) put me off.
T

[rob love]

There was a fellow from down under a few years ago that was after some 105mm artillery items I had. He mentioned that a neighbor of his regularly imported farm equipment from Saskatchewan via seacans, which is the next province over. He felt his stuff could hitch a ride in one of those. The deal never did come to fruition however...he kind of dropped off communications.


The box certainly merits a thread on it's own, with plenty of photos. It looks like some of the hinges are actually where they rolled the ends of the sheetmetal rather than simply adding piano hinges to the appropriate spots. Photos of all sides and back would be mucho appreciated.