T-16 S/N 5399 T.D. 97377 Restoration

[tankbarrell]

Tis a thing of beauty! Well done on a fantastic restoration.
Do you have a source for the catches on your rear bin? They are the same as used in Sherman internal stowage and I am in need of some.

Adrian

[horsa]

Hey Adrian,

It took me a long time to trace the history of those latches from the original WWII manufacturer through all the later companies that either bought the earlier businesses as they went bankrupt or ultimately purchased the manufacturing rights to them. The people with the current rights (as of March 2007) to the items are Shepherd Caster Corporation in Michigan. Their web address is www.shepherdcasters.com but they only sell parts to other companies which are their qualified distributers. I’d recommend you contact them through their web site eMail links and tell them the parts you are looking for and they should be able to recommend a distributer in the UK or Europe for you.

For the parts, the fastener is number 505564 and the strike is number 505555. To keep things confusing, some of their internal catalogs show the fastener as ZLA1002x and the strike as ZL1023X-B. The actual description when I got a sample from the manufacturer direct showed the fastener as Bassick Parts ZLA1002PS/LW17 and the strike as Bassick Parts ZL1023PS/LS29. Prices will vary with quantity but for reference, the fasteners are less than $5 each and the strikes are less than $1 each.

[David Ellery]

Hi David. Outstanding work on your T16, you have a very thorough eye for detail if that makes sense Your Bomb Carriers, could you tell me what you made them out of as I'd like to do the same for the British 3 inche Mortar. Keep up the good work and posts cheers David...

[horsa]

Just posted you a PM for a contact in your part of the world who can likely provide WWII surplus 3-inch bomb carriers. The 3-inch pattern have always seemed to be available even here in the USA. It's the 2-inch and PIAT patterns which are hard to find. And the 4.2-inch pattern don't seem to exist anymore which is why I had to resort to making my own.

Essentially the tubes are rolled cardboard and I ordered them from a place that could turn them out with the needed inside diameter, wall thickness and overall length that I needed. I used a hole saw to cut 4.2" wooden disks which I then bored 1.5" holes in the center to hold the fuzed bombs inside. The disks got nailed to the inside of the tube while a round was inside to ensure they stayed centered and flat. Then I rolled the disks in a tin filled with lacquer so they would get coated inside and outside. It dries quickly and will make them water resistant. I used an amber tinted lacquer since it matches early to mid-war originals I had for the 3-inch pattern. They quit doing this later in the war to save on materials but I want them to last so treated mine even though the carrier represents a D-Day+ time period. The black bands are packing crate straps with crimp clips. They get nailed to wooden spacers that I cut out with a skill saw (jig saw in some parts of the world). The end caps are made from sheet metal with the edges welded on. Originals would have been pressed but you can't really tell once painted. They have a strap guide spot welded to the end that opens just as the originals had. The handle and closing strap are actually a wartime double buckle web strap that I had available here and they fit onto another short crimped piece of flat metal strap which was patterned after the type used on all other mortar bomb carriers. Quite a production but doing them over a few weekends like an assembly line made it go quickly. Also got the opportunity to teach my kids about WWII English Cottage Industry

[tankbarrell]

David,

thanks for the contact on the clamps, getting prices as I type!

Regards,

Adrian

[Nigel Watson]

Lovely job David. Always brilliant to see these machines given the treatment. You couldn't motor it up to South Carolina this July and give me a shot in it? That would be a nice wee run for it!!! Will be over on me hols!

Nigel

[horsa]

Hey Nigel,

Might be a problem with that run. Its 1150 miles from Austin, Texas to central South Carolina. Not sure if me and the carrier are up to 38 hours of continous driving at 30 mph

I've still got to finish cleaning up the panels that cover the engine compartment but after that, I'll shoot a series of photos with the vehicle outside and fully loaded up for you. Wasn't sure if you still planned to do a Vol III with modern photos or not.

We have a WWII vehicle rally here in Texas mid-March so that is where I plan to really break everything in. The fields in that area have a nice lush Normandy look to them. Good tank hunting ground.