Buried Mk 1 Bren carrier restoration

[derk derin]

With the hull sandblasted,Rob sprayed on a coat of primer for me so it would not rust on me until I got it home and into the barn where I could put a coat of paint on it;



I am all loaded up and ready for home;

With the carrier home and a coat of paint on the hull,Gord found me a parts carrier for the linkages and rear end to use for the restoration;

Now the fun begins.That pile of rusted parts may not look salvageable but most of them were restored and put back on the carrier;

One of the Prairie Command members gave me 2 gas tanks to use;

The tracks were a challenge because the carriers were placed on the sand and the bottom sections of the track seized solid.The top parts of the track were flexible and could be saved so I used the top section of my track and Gord gave me his track as he had a good set for his carrier and I used the top section of his tracks to make a working set.I broke the sections into 21 link pieces to sneak them into the sandblaster and cleaned them up.The stiff sections I threw into the wood stove in my livingroom and heated them up.It worked so well that when I removed it from the stove,I almost dropped it on the carpet.It sure brought back the flexibility but recommend it be done outside for anybody wanting to try it!

When it was too cold to work outside,the livingroom became the workshop;