[Private_collector]

Good evening,
It's been one hell of a long time since I've been active here, and although this year hasn't been great for me, it hasn't been great for most of the world either, so I won't moan. Suffice to say I'm still alive! Who was it that said "rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated!"?

Although I've not felt up to working on any heavy project, I have been tarting up an old Land Rover Defender that belonged to my Wife's late Father. We've taken it from a tray back ute, to an enclosed canopy for reasonably comfortable overnight camping. Naturally, it's camo green in color, and has a decidedly 'retro' appearance. Have been away for a couple of brief trips in recent months, with hopefully many more in the future. The other thing I've been amusing myself with, and I can't really explain why I got into this, is the building of movie props. Most significantly, Dr Who props! I built a full scale Dalek that was to be my costume at a work function which sadly had to be cancelled, thanks to COVID-19. So now I have an almost 6ft tall Ironside Dalek sitting in my dining room. I built it on an electric wheelchair base, and it's driven from inside. Obviously, no Dalek is complete without that iconic voice, so it won't come as a surprise that mine has that too.

In the past couple of years I've been in the workshop (where my CMP and 25pr build are waiting) about 5 times in total. Two of those were in the past couple of months, after having the roof replaced due to hail damage. None of those times were to actually do anything, but it is my plan to return to the 25pr in particular, fairly soon. Just haven't had the stamina to do anything that is strenuous. The CMP won't get a look in for a while yet, but after being in hospital recently, I came out more determined to get the 25pr back on track. Then I got a huge motivation boost by stumbling onto a particular part I've been searching for, for years.

After exhausting all avenues for a correct No. 5, Illuminating Apparatus, I found one advertised just a few hours away from my place. It was listed without description to it's purpose, and it appeared the seller did not know it was 25pr application. He obviously knew WHAT it was, hence the high price he was asking, but I suspect it would have been much more if he knew how rare it was. When I got it home, I opened it up and found it was absolutely complete, with exception of a battery. Even the spare parts were in their boxes labelled "A" & "B". After all these years I couldn't believe I finally had one, AND it was complete. I've just finished 2 weeks of renovating, to as good a condition as possible, including color change to match my shield. See attached photos, if I can remember how to upload them. Let me know if it hasn't worked! I will endeavour to add the 'before' photos now, and the 'after' ones in next post.