Floor boards
 

Attachment 112213

Does anyone have any details of the floor boards (CTL 12478 and CTL 12974)? I've found a picture on Jordan Baker's restoration post, but can't find any dimendions anywhere. It looks like the rifle butt holders and bucket for the BREN tripod mount to them, so I will need them.

Any help appreciated.

Tom I made some for my MK2 before I realized I needed to get the correct stowage bins made instead. I used this plate illustration as a guide. They are shown as planking and listed as "29 floorboard Left and 30 floorboard right" with 2 sets of part numbers for the different variants.

I made two bearers sufficient in height to clear the brake rods etc and positioned them accordingly, before screwing the "scaled" size planking to them. I made them from ordinary Pine with dark oak stain. Ron

PS, Not sure if the image has uploaded? But click on the attachment if not.

Hopefully you have the MK-I* specific mounting brackets for the BREN tripod attached to your lower engine rails? While shown here, all four felt tabs are missing.

The floorboards are a local production item. When positioning the support blocks remember to allow clearance for the angle iron at the transition from floor to lower hull side. The height of the support blocks can be made to allow the top of the board to be level with the rear bogie “inboard” arm. A clearance cutout helps when removing the floor boards for cleaning.

Jordan B or Rob L may have some BREN tripod head floor box dimensions.

The double sided retainer for the weapons shoulder stock (butt holder) ... if you are making without a pattern . . . notice in the image how the right side is larger to accommodate the BREN shoulder stock. In particular the MK-I/MK-I* BREN butt plate is much wider than the butt of an SMLE or NO. 4 MKI/MKI* rifle. You will see that greater width corresponds to the upper bracket.

Thanks for the info gents. That should give me plenty of data to start making up some boards (A Carrier accessory that isn't going to cost a fortune!).

The construction in the Picture Ron provide looks like multiple boards, whilst the images above would seem to show a ply construction (if you look closely you can see the TL number), similar to the construction of the radiator blanking board. I have an original blanking board, so think I will use a similar material thickness to that.

I hadn't noticed the difference in widths of the butt holder, but it makes perfect sense if the BREN was stored there whilst the Boys AT gun was in the front, as with the detailed youtube video on Carrier Weapon Handling.

I have one of the BREN tripod mounts for the engine rails, so will have to make a second. However, I thin my engine cover came from a UK Mortar Carrier, so not sure if the holes for the clamps will be there.

According to the Carrier Platoon manual, there could be a spare Bren in the vehicle, making a total of 2. There was only one Boys rifle per platoon. I'm not sure there would have been 1 boys and 2 Brens in the same vehicle.

I always went with fairly heavy ply (5/8 or 3/4) on those floorboards, as they need to support the weight of a man. The minimum thickness could likely be deduced from the manual by looking a the lengths of the attaching screws for the butt and tripod sockets.

Well spotted on the part number. :thup: Ron

Thanks Rob, that’s good thinking.

One of the surviving Bren carriers still has its floor boards. They were made from shiplap with runners underneath

Rob, I believe what you say is correct, however the MkI* U.Cs of the 41-42 era were all fitted out to carry a Boys (in the right rear compartment) The fitting out of carriers to suit different uses in the platoon came later, or have I got that wrong?
With the pre universal carriers, the large locker was for Bren (gun) spares, according to the early stowage plans and this leads me to believe (as you say) the carriers were issued with more than one Brengun.
Later in the war the Boys was probably scaled back as armour grew thicker in the same way as the USA's 37mm anti tank gun became obsolete.
Tom, the blanking board was originally only 3 ply (one thick ply in the middle) about 9 to 10mm thick.
If i remember correctly the ship lap boards were about 32mm thick and something like 115mm wide.