VICKERS MK6B's resto

[Mike K]

Some nice lathe machining there Must be satisfying for you nearing the end of a long project.

Do you prefer carbide tooling or HSS ? I mostly use HSS for my lathe doesn't have the mass/rigidity required for coping with industrial grade carbide inserts.

Sharp positive rake carbide inserts are available these days but the cheaper Asian brands are not that good.

The chap down the road from me rebuilds Steam traction engines .. along the lines of your work, he has a a horizontal boring machine, radial arm drill and a massive FORD brand lathe. made during WW2.

[colin jones]

Hi Mike, I do like the carbide inserts mainly for the simplicity of changing them. I get most of mine on line but occasionally I need to grind my own for specific jobs. I still have plenty to do on these tanks but looking back at all the different jobs I have done to date, it doesn't seem so bad now

[RichardT10829]

Did all Vickers Mk6’s have the wider track when they left the factory ?

[colin jones]

Hi Richard, interesting question. Here's my thoughts on that. I don't believe they all had the wider track off the production line. I think it was for the Australian order only because of our standard wider track. The tank in Borden is fitted with the standard narrow gauge. I just can't imagine they would have had two different track horn widths for different models that would possibly be in the same outfit along with T16 and universal carriers that ran the standard narrow track as well. I too would love to get accurate information about this.

[colin jones]

Interesting photo here. This is a photo of the Vickers at Duxford and guess what?? it has Australian track and this tank just happens to be one of the ten we got in Australia. For those who are not familiar with tracks, the Australian track don't have riveted pins but held in place with lead plugs.

[Lynn Eades]

Colin, I think you will find that the VLT Mk 6B all had the wide horned track. (was Australia the only purchaser of the the Mk 6B?) they are from 1935-6 approx.(you tell me?)
Later (1938) the Australian Government bought one of Carrier, Armoured M.G.No2 Mk1 (Machine Gun Carrier) This was built by Nuffield (Morris) Its British numbers were T2831 and HMH384.(Ref. Nigel Watsons carrier books) This was one of Britian's earliest production standardized carriers. T2831 was the first of a batch of 150 M.G. Carriers
Mike Cecil's Australian Military Equipment Profiles Vol.2 refers to it as a "Bren No2 MkI (This info was not available to Mike at the time of printing)
Anyhoo, moving on.
Australia then built 151 LP1 carriers taking the wide track idea from their currently "in service" VLT Mk6B tanks (except that at some point, they changed to the lead plug retainer from the headed pins)As every one knows, this then carried over to the later LP2 and then the LP2A. Later those building the Windsors and T16s saw the stabilizing benefits of the wider rubber and adopted the idea.
I believe that that an upgrade was considered in British carrier production, but was rejected as it would complicate (wait for it!) the supply chain.

[colin jones]

Lynn, I certainly stand to be corrected, I'm sure there must have been others that purchased the tanks but it is odd that I have not seen the wider wheels or tracks on any other overseas machines unless they came from here. Interesting questions and a definitive answer would be most welcome.

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Lynn,

Aust purchased Vickers Mark VIA, not Mk.VIB - the thread title is misleading.

The misidentification of the MG No.2 Mk.1 was my fault in my reading of the contract card sourced from the Tank Museum. The card heading is 'armoured MG carriers No.2 Mk.1, followed by '150 Arm MG Carriers No.2 Mk.1; next 250 Bren carrier No.2 Mk.1; 26 Bren Carriers No.2 Mk.1', then the census number listing which includes T2831 is headed 'Bren' on the first line, then 'Carriers Machine Gun No.2 Mk.1' below. Any wonder I got confused!! But Mea culpa ...

Australia built 158 LP1, with the last 2 being experimental types more like the LP2, but still listed as LP1. (There is some confusion here that I've not been able to solve, as the number '160' appears on the side of a test rig similar in concept to the earliest iteration of a 'light tank' in what became the Australian Cruiser tank programme.)

Colin: as far as I'm aware, the Vickers Mk.VIA at Duxford was rebuilt in the UK from a wreck sourced from Australia, and utilised whatever parts were available and provided with the purchase. Two of the Aust Vickers Mk.VIA were sold to the Budge Collection, one (the worse of the two) was restored by RR Motors and then went to the Littlefield Collection. The other was sold to the IWM after Budge went bust. See my article on the Vickers Mk.VIA in the KVE newsletter circa January? 2018. You also have to remember that the Vickers tanks were used extensively for training from the time of their arrival until 1942. Track changes due to wear and tear were inevitable and as Aust carrier track was the same, so it is likely the Aust tracks were fitted in service.

Mike