Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Last of the front hatches finished up. The only thing that needed replacement were a few badly corroded nuts.

Next was the removal of the door vision hatches. In some of my pictures you may have noticed some text. I am really enjoying the text feature my iPhone and iPad have. It is super simple to add some captions right after taking a picture. Such as noting which shim went where or the location of specific bolts. Yes I’m doing my best to put the same bolt back in the same spot.

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Yes I’m doing my best to put the same bolt back in the same spot.

Putting them where they came from beats mixing them up and discovering they are either too short to do the job at their new location or that they are too long and interfere with another part you've spent hours getting "just right"....

[Jordan Baker]

Many of the boss head bolts called for in the manual are all very close in length. Varies by 1/8” sometimes.


The one door hatch after needle scaling revealed what I believe to be a Hamilton Bridge Company number. Hand painted on the metal prior to the KG#3 layer.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Jordan.

That number find is interesting. Very possibly a form of 'Production Control Number' applied by Hamilton bridge to track their work flow and allow them to identify the scope of any manufacturing problems that came to light on the line.

Be interesting to find a similar applied number on the core, armoured body assembly of your Otter and see how far off it might be from the actual Serial Number assigned to the completed vehicle.

Marconi was using a similar number system on all the chassis units for the various main 52-Set components, and similar number systems also showed up on major sub-assemblies they had contracted out to other manufacturers.

Keep up the good work!


David

[Jordan Baker]

Hi David.

Hamilton Bridge’s part number for that assembly was A42 and B42. So I’m guessing it’s related to that. I did find a hand stamped number of 223 on the bottom right inside edge of the driver’s visor. I’ve also found a hand stamped number on the turret ring.

If only this was 40-50 years ago, I would have been able to track down some Hamilton Bridge employees.

[Jordan Baker]

Door vision hatches all taken apart, sandblasted and repainted and put aside.

Next up was the cover plates in the armoured body. These plates gave access to points on the frame for the rear spring mounts and steering arm. It was neat to see more hand applied assembly markings from Hamilton Bridge.

[Jordan Baker]

One of the plates needed to be fixed up as the weld had totally cracked. A new side plate was made as the original had the bolt holes torch cut out. I was going to weld them up and redrill but then realized the plate had been ground down and was too narrow. So I made up a new one with some scrap that happened to be the correct dimensions. The holes were punched using the punch press. I have to say it it much nicer the drilling them. A quick countersink was done and the part was ready to be welded to the original piece. Everything bolted into place on the hull to ensure perfect alignment. It then got tack welded to hold it in position. It was then properly welded up on the bench once off the hull. A quick sandblast was done and it was painted up along with the other plates last night.


One day the rest of the hull will look as nice as this little plate.