Sexton restoration photos

Here are a few photos of a Sexton II that I brought back from Seco in Georgia 2 years ago. The hull is now totally gutted with a majority of the removed parts rebuilt(not the engine !) and waiting for the hull to be sand blasted and painted. This photo taken after arrival in London.

Pulling the engine

Welding being done by Tommy Allen, a WWII vet who has restored a welding rig like he used during the war.

Gun tube repaired and muzzle brake fabricated

Back in gun mount, sand blasted and painted

[servicepub (RIP)]

Beauty!!!

Clive

[Jonnie]

Very nice, but I am very jealous!!!

[Nick Balmer]

Hello

I am currently in the process of scratchbuilding a model of a Sexton, and have found your photos really great.

You don't have any more photos of the gun and mounting from other angles, or of the component bits.

I have yet to build my scale gun barrel. It's great to see a full scale one being built.

Within every modeller like me, is probably a desire to be able to build a full scale one!

Although the wife would probably not appreciate a Sexton in her back garden.

I always rather fancied building a 1924 Rolls Royce replica.

Only for some reason, Rolls Royce chassis don't seem to materialise from orchards, in quite the numbers that CMP's do.

Regards

Nick Balmer

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally posted by pkitson
Welding being done by Tommy Allen, a WWII vet who has restored a welding rig like he used during the war.

Well, speaking of an authentic restoration! You're also putting wartime air in the tyres, eh?

Keep up the good work, Perry!

Regards,
Hanno

P.S. can you find your Sexton in one of Joe DeMarco's pictures of March 2000?

[Waycool]

Wow what a beauty! Is it going to be a runner? and if so can you drive it to Windsor? hehe

[Bill Mulholland]

Perry;
Bloody marvelous on the Sexton! Also, please pass on the same to Tommy Allen on the KL. Mine may look half as good.....someday!
Cheers, Bill

[Rob Fast]

keep up the great work of keeping Canadian military history alive for everyone. Cheers Rob

attached is a photo of the Sexton fresh from the spray booth after sandblasting and paint

new rear fenders, gerry can holders and repaired slave cable receptacle

front fenders being fabricated

hole where one of the 50 gallon fuel tanks resides

new engine oil tank awaiting paint

view from engine deck into fighting compartment, installing drivers controls

one of the 50 gallon fuel tanks with ends cut out for refurbishing

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Perry..
That is an excellent job you are doing..I have some original doumentation from an engine mechanic and his hand written notebooks and course material from the school he went to in Ft Knox in '41 dealing with the R975-E2 and C1 and both types of magnetos..All the settings and specs are in there and his notes are worth there weight in gold..
For instance and I'm quoting the book the .....Scintilla mags are timed to the engine in full advance position.(Hand written in pencil..."22Deg.automatic advance") and it goes on...
and then...the Bosch magneto is timed to the engine in the full retard position..(Again in pencil..."25 Deg.advance...) and it goes on...and tells how to do both different mags.and gives the corrections on the settings from the original printing in pencil.so obviously the original books were wrong...
These are well worth seeing ...

[Alex van de Wetering]

Perry,

Absolutely stunning! Restoring soft-skins is one thing, but Armour......

I am looking forward to new progress-shots!

regards,

Alex van de Wetering, The Netherlands

p.s. The CMP looks great too. Fully operating(?)

A few more photos

One more photo, its starting to look the part.

[Perry Kitson]

A belated update. Working on the engine now. Just a few small items to finish on the hull.

[Perry Kitson]

A couple of photos of the engine during teardown. You can see the condensation damage in the one photo (this was the worst cylinder).