T-16 S/N 5399 T.D. 97377 Restoration

[horsa]

Took the T-16 out over the weekend to attend a WWII military vehicle rally here in Texas. This allowed me to finally do some real test drives and check a few things out that couldn't be done in the front yard at home. Tracks are still loosening up and now the brakes have settled. So I'll need to adjust the control rods for all four of the tillers. The carb is still not performing as it should be so I was keeping the carrier in the lower gears so I'd have more power on the small hills and ditches. Should be able to resolve that one once I get a rebuild kit as I know I need to replace two of the parts.

Shot below is the carrier crossing a Bailey Bridge on the property.



Nothing fancy here but the kids had control of the camera all weekend and took photos mostly of the sky and our camp. They are used to seeing the Sherman, Hellcat and Stuart tanks each year so didn't take many shots of anything else.



This one shows the original GAU canvas meant to protect the wireless set. It has a weather flap rolled up on the top which is held that way with lift-the-dot fasteners. Almost all that I've seen are shrunk like this one and won't safely stretch over the armor wing. So I'm going to use mine as a pattern and see if one of the military canvas places can produce new reproductions which fit properly. If anyone else needs one for their T-16, post me a PM and we can see what the run will cost. More people means a cheaper price for everyone.


And if you have a high speed connection, this last link is a video clip of us driving over the bridge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQkUzSoUBVM

[colin jones]

Great shots Dave, I never knew they dewalt flashlights back in the 40s
Colin.

[horsa]

Hey Mark, got your PM about the radio canvas and will call you tomorrow about the other things.

It's always been amazing to me Colin, how much junk people put into my vehicles at events and then forget. I've attended reenactments with my airborne jeep and almost always find rifles and webbing that people have dumped off to save carrying it. Then they go home and forget about it until they are packing for the next event and call to see if I might happen to have it. Turns out the torch was a friend's and he ended up camping near us the second day out there.

Have some other shots from the weekend below. Mostly from the small public battle that was hosted on site. Me and the T-16 sat it out since it is pretty much a GI/German thing for the crowd. My older daughter got out there though with my full-auto Sten Mark V and her French Maquis impression.













Then there is my younger daugher wearing an original WWII Despatch Rider's pulp helmet. Who would have thought they made gear like that in such small sizes?



And of course the shot of her proving how hungry she is so I would start cooking the evening chow.

[horsa]

I finally received approval from ATF after an almost five month wait so that I could convert an Enfield rifle into a smoke discharger action. Here in the USA it is considered a short barrel rifle so requires federal papers similar to a live machine gun or live artillery piece. They have to be careful since you never can tell when groups of gang members will dump their AK-47s in favor of cut down Enfield’s when they go on killing sprees

The rifle I used was very beaten down as it had a long service life. It started life as a 1908 Number I Mark III produced by LSA Co which was London Small Arms. In 1914 it was condemned to emergency use only and the barrel, receiver and butt stock had EY stampings added with the 1914 date also being added with those markings on the butt stock. It had the addition of wire wrappings to reinforce it as a grenade launcher but I don't know if that occurred later in WWI or during WWII.

After cutting everything down and milling and threading the barrel for the 4" cup launcher and barrel nut, I blued the metal and refinished the wood which I'd carved down. Most of the carrier mounted launchers didn't retain the wood where the butt stock existed but I preferred to keep the wrist portion and carved it down into a small grip to make it easier to handle.

Shots below show the launcher mounted in my T-16 with and without protective covers as well as some closer shots with it dismounted.

[Neil Ashley]

On AFV applications its very eare to see the section of the butt left on.

The problem we have in the UK is that you cannot deactivate an idividual firearm component which is why you can't buy spare bren barrels to fit in your stowage.

To be on the right side of the law the tube has to be permanently attached to the SMLE action which then makes it impossible to fit the discharger in some applications.

I don't suppose you have a source for the covers?

[horsa]

Summerscales Army Surplus http://sas-surplus.co.uk/ has the canvas covers. Found them via eBay last year and I bought three covers in a fixed price listing. They were three for 5 GBPs at the time but now it looks like they are getting that much for each one. An example of their current eBay listings can be found at item number 360123135023.

I think these covers were for bore brushes. They are a Number 4 size which is roughly 4" diameter. I've seen Number 2 size covers coming out of Australia lately which people are selling under the guise of being 2-inch mortar muzzle covers.

For the 4" smoke discharger, it takes two of the covers to build one which will fit since the inside diameter of the cup is 4". Essentially you need a bigger diameter end piece and about another 1.5" of side material to create a proper looking and fitting muzzle cover. The examples I received all had very closely matching canvas and all were 1943 dated. I made the new end disk from the donor cover where the markings were located so the final product seen on my launcher has nice markings on the side and on the end.

Not sure what was really used during the war but would guess it was a shorter leather muzzle cover similar to the type used on 3-inch and 4.2-inch mortars. I've got examples of both of those for my mortars and they won't fit the smoke launcher barrel as one is too small and the other is too large.

[horsa]

Finally have started work on the front and side fender skirts for the carrier. The originals were pretty mauled and rusted like most of the other panels I started out with. Slowly getting them hammered out so I can see if they will look right and then will repair cracks by welding and eventually strip and paint the parts.

First photo shows one of the side skirts with most of the dents beaten out and a front skirt that hangs below the curved fender with a lot more work needed.



Test fitting with longer bolts in reversed positions for easier and quicker panel mounting. Sure gets old having to bolt them up for fit, remove them for pounding and then repeat over and over since I don't have a better pattern to work from. Not a lot of fun but I guess it is still better than mowing the grass