[Mike K]

Is this the base in question ? A fellow MLUer emailed these AWM pics to me

BTW the 11 set pictured would be a EK Cole British one, not the el cheapo AWA Aust. clone.

For those who have the cheap Aussie power suppies, the genemotor casings are made from a terrible, nasty pot metal that tends to crack and expand, probably from impurities in the base metal ( zinc ?) . The best solution is to squeeze super glue into the cracks. Sometimes the casings are distorted to the point of jamming the rotating armature .. the ball races each end , are out of alignment. I cannot imagine why or who was responsible for AWA making such a botch up of the job. During the war ,the sets were not issued to units until many faults were worked out. At wars end here, the first set the Aust. army junked and declared surplus was the 11 set . With around 6000 made , think of the wasted man hours of labour and huge cost.