DONE!!!
A few weeks ago we visited the Overloon museum to see how the last stage of the Conger restoration turned out and to see the finished vehicle in the exposition, rather than the workshop. My good friend Tim Böhme, a car race photographer, who also has a great interest in WW2, came along for the ride.
This thread started with the sentence “The greatest challenge will be bringing the Conger back as close to its original configuration as possible, within the museum’s budget”
Funding these sorts of projects always is a great struggle for a museum, especially when you consider that they are only possible when enough entrance tickets are being sold. So, in stead of ordering all the parts outdoors, most of them were fabricated indoors; with a lot of ingenuity and hard work the 8mm steel plates were produced, as well as the launch tube, plumbing etc. This meant that the project took longer than the projects the museum is used to, but the staff was very patient and also very determined to do this sole Conger survivor justice.
I think the volunteers at the museum really did a great job and it shows what can be done with a limited budget. Together with them we turned a section of the museum into a small photo set. Tim took a series of pictures, three of which are displayed below.
Soon the Conger will get a sign next to it, but visitors that day were already very interested in this unusual vehicle....especially when they heard that we believe it is the sole survivor of the 5 or 10 (?) vehicles initially converted by Chubb in Wolverhampton.
I will post an impression of the 3D CAD work I did for the project in the next few days. This will give an idea how we determined location of fasteners and some of the measurements.
A big thanks to all the MLU members that helped with suggestions, pictures, expert advice, information etc. A special thanks to Nigel Watson who helped us to find the original provisional working instructions!
Please enjoy the pictures!
Alex