Halftrack to Halftrack

[Guest]

One thing that sets out the older soldiers was the amount of ex WW2 items of equipment that were still kicking around or in some cases you were issued during the mid 60's and before which today are museum exhibits. One such item that I remember having a touching relationship with, was our old LAD vehicle with us in Germany. I say touching, because had I not when on guard duty one night decided to play around with the drivers window hatch end up with severe bruising of my hand when the hatch dropped open. I also learned a valuable lesson - if you do not know what it is - then leave it alone!!!
So for Discusion purposes only the image below will show you where I am going with my next build.....[ATTACH]318820[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

After finally finding all of the bits and parts I would need from the box, (there must be about three kits in there) a start was made on the chassis....[ATTACH]318821[/ATTACH]

And after some deliberation I replaced the power drive shaft for the winch with a length of ally tube, and wrapped the winch with a length of wire for the start on the winch cable. After which it was a coat of primer as seen here and then a top coat.

[ATTACH]318822[/ATTACH]

[JR]

Mick.
Ah remember these, but never saw one in action.
Pulling up seat, but away from that window! :smiling:
John

[Guest]

The engine had the usual Eduard attachments added, but I did replace all of the fan blades instead of just adding them to the kit version, plus adding the spark plug wires and thin ally tube to represnt the tops of the plugs.

[ATTACH]318823[/ATTACH]
And the fan blades... which the new blades are resting on....

[ATTACH]318824[/ATTACH]

The engine was then put aside to wait for paint.

[Guest]

Hi John,
We had one of these when we were based in Munster. You need a blind for that window....
Mike

[JR]

Mike.
Nice work on the fan and engine, I take it you must have been with tanks then ?
John.

[Guest]

Attention has now turned to the 'cab' area. New flooring was added via Eduard along with foot pedals and handbrake. On the firewall I added the fuse boxes and some wiring (solder) and again set it aside for paint and weathering.

[ATTACH]318825[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]318828[/ATTACH][ATTACH]318829[/ATTACH]
Now onto the work area....

[Guest]

John,
Started off in 2 CG for five years. Here I fitted the SCAT (Should not Cost A Tenner) 120mm Wombat mounts into the 432's among other things. Then got tired of walking and running and went over to 17/21st atfer a struggle with senior regiment bull...t. And spent the rest of my time there with late Chieftains.

[Guest]

After as I said earlier sorting out the parts I would need for the start of this build, I think there are about three sets of sides, two or three interiors, blah, blah. So you take your pick, and I still end up with half a box of spares.
The interior of these vehicles was not to any common plan, so it was built for purpose, and if memory serves me correctly I did see one set up as an ambulance....
So on with the build - the interior fuel tanks were fitted, a work bench, set of old office drawers (metal, storage, use off), pair of tool box floor trays welded to floor to stop tool boxes moving and a pair of old apple boxes used to store chains and straps.

[ATTACH]318830[/ATTACH][ATTACH]318831[/ATTACH][ATTACH]318832[/ATTACH]

The brass angle is to hold the sides apart, as is the sprue at the door...

[ATTACH]318833[/ATTACH][ATTACH]318834[/ATTACH]
This is now ready for final assembly.

[Guest]

The roof 'box' was the next item to tackle, and here it was a case of carefull measurments, check and re-check. Once the final rear shape had been constructed I added the interior bracing and future work will be adding hooks to hang ropes etc.
It was not built as part of the work area for the simple reason I did not want to struggle with trying to add parts and risk any damage.

[ATTACH]318835[/ATTACH]

The Brass along the sides are for strength, while the panel at the end will be removed prior to final fitting as will the angle across the door. The 'scribble' on the roof is to show where the interior lights/wiring will go.

[ATTACH]318836[/ATTACH]
...And a test fit.

[Guest]

Having had a set of drawings from an early edition of 'Modelworld' by Almarks in my collection. There is a layout of the hoist and gantry and it was these that went through the scanner/printer. Working on these drawings I used some Plastruct 'U' angle to form up the outside of the frame. With my wish for three hands and twenty fingers, I decided to now tape the copy to a piece of foam board, raid the sewing basket (Her's, not mine) for dressmaking pins and went to work setting out each part, remembering which way round the frame is positioned.
And this is where we are today....
[ATTACH]318837[/ATTACH]
Cheers, Mike

[Gauge1TrainsDK]

It all looks really good - I am impressed.

[JR]

Great work Mike, liking the foam board support while doing the crane, how do you cope with any glue sticking to the board. I've resulted in using a slightly greased metal sheet and steel bars to keep the shape.

I was with 42 LAD, as a recy mec drove the Scamell, and Leyland recovery. The regiment went over to 109 SP from 5 . 5 field gun, unfortunately it was disbanded in 1977
John

[Steve Jones]

Well you have certainly come back fighting Mike. This is wonderful work.

Excuse my ignorance but does the contraption/overall vehicle have an actual name? Was the hoist/crane designed for a specific job or was it used for various things? What would be the most common use for it?

Many thanks in advance

[JR]

Well you have certainly come back fighting Mike. This is wonderful work.

Excuse my ignorance but does the contraption/overall vehicle have an actual name? Was the hoist/crane designed for a specific job or was it used for various things? What would be the most common use for it?

Many thanks in advance

I'll leave that to Mike Steve, as its his blog.
John .