Finished?

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This the way the jeep looks today, 23/1/2003 I did try and wash it, but the nice flat paint I used is impossible to get clean and shows up every wee fingerprint, oil spot, etc. It's kind of double edged because I like the way the jeep is mellowing and looking more "real" than it did to begin with, but at the same time, I don't...

The MB was rebuilt by the British Army at some point and it's got several nice wee differences from your average US jeep. This is the glove box catch, which is a very nicely made rotary thing with an eccentric cam on the inside to hold the door shut. OK, I admit this is actually an exact copy of the badly rusted original one. The stains on the dash are oil that escaped from the gearbox which was too full once the tranfer box pumped all it's oil into it. I built the gearbox using TM 10-1513 which only shows one oil thrower on the mainshaft bearing. Wrong !! There should be one on either side of the bearing.

Original data plate screws and pressed steel nuts. I spent ages making the hinge because I didn't think anyone would have them for sale, turns out repro ones are easily available......#:o)

The felt seals are made from a roll of 1940's carpet underlay that I just happened to have lying around. I'm not sure how close it is to the originals, but it has to be better than the horrible repro stuff I've seen and at least it's the right vintage.

The toolbox locks are copies of the corroded one that I had, but I couldn't make the actual lock part in the plunger, perhaps I'll do that some day. There are two repro locks available that I know of. One is just too horrible for words and loads of folk use them. The other is quite nice, but the lock is pressed from thin sheet and double skinned to make up the thickness. I don't know if that's right or not, but my original one is pressed from a single layer of thick sheet, so that's what I made.

Just a look forward.....

I'm really impressed with how quiet jeeps are, when I'm cruising along through the forest you can hear wee things like the thumbscrew chains rattling against the side of the tub. It's a bit different to my Landrover......

Dash

I got a pair of nice rubber tail light grommets from the USA, nothing like the horrible rubbery plastic things sold over here, but three times the price....

I've got a real bonnet that is really too far gone for easy repair, so I ended up using a Genmarc repro one which needed a fair amount of work to get it to fit properly. The real one has the punch marks for the air deflector, so I added them to the new one. The hood blocks are repro, but the mice got to them and chewed the corners. I was going to chuck them and get another pair, but Tony Sudds had none in stock at the time, so I sand-blasted the nibbled pair to take the "newness" off them. They look old and used which is fine.....#:o)

The trouble with having goats is they always want to be involved and no fence is high enough.......

Fearless-Eric inspects the MB....#:o)

I managed to get some real body handles which are made of much thinner wall tube than the repro's. They have some dents which is kind of nice.

Drivers side, nothing much worthy of mention.

The radiator seal is made of more of the 40's carpet underlay, stapled on through the original holes. The hose clips are the correct Willys type which I robbed off my PE-95-G generator. I did try some repro ones, but they are made of much thinner sheet and the ends bend before they are tight enough to seal the hose. Why go to all the bother of making repro stuff, but cheap out on materials and end up with something useless???????

British MOS vehicle plate and a few dead midges. I haven't found out what 351 is yet, but B398 seems to be the vehicle depot at Ash which rebuilt many British Army jeeps between 1946 and 55.

Engine rebuild plate.

This is a new, old stock crossover tube which I unwrapped from it's wartime packaging. I think it's a really nice touch that someone wrote on it all those years ago and it's still there.

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Email me at chaz@goatpark.f9.co.uk