UC Grenade Box Interior

rob love · #1 14-03-06, 04:53

Brad was asking about this, so I thought that I would share what I have for all to see. It took me a while to find this box out in the shed, and it's gotten pretty cold out again (-20C). Below are two photos of the origional interior of the grenade boxes. This particular box was the one by the driver, but the others are the similar.
The cradles are 7 layers of wood. They were likely glued together, but have long since seperated. They are held to the bottom by four wood screws. The thick piece of felt on the lid is attched to a thin strip of wood, which in turn is held by two small screws.

Here it is shown with two 36Ms in the cradles. Below the grenades are removed from the cradles, showing the remains of the woodwork, which has been subject to some decay (or more likely fire damage when some previous owner removed the box with a torch). Behind the grenade box, is my new Bren magazine loading tool, which I just had to show off. This is the tool that stows in the angled box on the external battery box lid.

It is also worthy to note that the boxes had another thin sandwich of wood between the division plate, and the boxes themselves. I believe the same also goes for the drivers box where it attached to the stowage bin.
If anyone wants any more detailed photos, just ask and I will post them here.

Jordan Baker · #2 14-03-06, 05:02

Perhaps Bruce parker cna reply to this thread too. These are very different then the original ones he made plans from. Perhaps there were different styles.

Jordan

rob love · #3 14-03-06, 15:55

On the wooden cradle (or "packing, tray" as the manual calls it) I can find the part number 12169 along with the FMco 42 date. The manual refers to 12169A being superceded by a 12169B, so there could be a different design, or it might have been something as simple as a different chamfer on the wood.
I have run in to this type of packing before, bt would love to see any variation on the design.
The manual refers to the grenade boxes as Box, hand grenade, no4, and no5, so I am guessing that these standardised boxes were used on other vehicles of the time.

rob love · #4 14-03-06, 21:02

Brad
Everything on the left side is plywood. If I squeeze the remnants together, they come out to 1" thick. The routed out portion goes through 4 of the 7 layers of wood.

The top felt is 21mm thick, or 7/8 in inches. It is on a piece strip of 3 layer plywood about 1/8 thick. Total thickness of the combination is 1"
The following photo is a closeup of the wood cradle removed fromthe box. This is from the burnt side, but there is enough material there to figure out what belonged.

Can someone post a picture of the other style? While the manual shows a change in the cradle (the wood part) it never makes any change in the felt portion.

Regarding the box for the loading tool, yes, it was also padded, but with 1/8 rubber sheet, held in place by split rivets. With the price this loader ended up costing me, I thnk my box just may incorporate a padlock on it as well!!
It must be gold lined aircraft that transport this stuff from England.
When it rains, it pours, however. After keeping an eye out for years for one, I ended up buying two in the same week. The second one is still waiting for an export permit from the English authority, before it can be shipped.

rob love · #5 14-03-06, 21:57

Bred
Yep, pretty much 2" X 3". Hard to get it exact, as there aren't two opposing sides to any of the cradles, but measuring at the corners gets pretty much that. The bottom of the routered out part is 32mm X 51mm.

As I mentioned before, the routering goes through the 4th layer, but just barely touches the 5th. So i guess that means the holes are about 9/16" deep.

rob love · #6 15-03-06, 14:31

Looks like a lot of woodworking. I'm use to a bit more frugal use of wood when it comes to carriers.
The two grenades on the drivers box are not located any closer than they otherwise would be. The cut corner really does not affect the grenade placement.

Jordan Baker · #7 13-04-06, 04:57

Here is a picture of the plywood spacer between the armour plate and the grenade bin. Me being a dork forgot to measure the length, heith and width of it. Anyone have them?

#8 13-04-06, 05:09

with that said now i can add my wooden backs, Cheers

BM