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

[horsa]

Yep, that last mount is what I'm used to seeing for the Bren cradle when used on the heavy Vickers mount.

Did the Kiwi carrier have there as well or were they only on the Aussie carriers?

[Lynn Eades]

Apart from the first forty carriers which were a copy of the original British Bren MkII (I am rebuilding one) The rest of those built here, were of the Australian pattern.

[horsa]

Had the T-16 out for our local army base's annual open house and WWII public show battles this past weekend. We had decent weather for a change which was nice since the wife and kids came out and camped. They all dress out as part of a French FFI Resistance Maquis unit and used my wife's '32 Citroen while I ran around with the carrier stirring up the dust.

Probably only drove 10 miles total but burned up almost five gallons of gas, although we did idle quite a bit. And the tracks need adjustment again since they have stretched out a little more after driving over about a mile of rocky terrain.

[horsa]

A few more photos and some video clips from the same event this past weekend. Usually my group is British airborne but we opted to don black berets with Royal Armoured Corps badges this time since we had the carrier out. Not that the public here in America knows the difference.

Staging the vehicles before one of the show battles. We were tail end Charlie following up the two Shermans and a Stuart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd2Kfui8aTA

Video clip filmed from the gunner side as we follow a Sherman tank through a patch of mud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyJMw...ature=youtu.be

And this third video was shot by my younger 10 year old daughter. She did a pretty good job keeping it steady as one of the Shermans was approaching her about 45 seconds into the video clip. The T-16 isn't in the video since we were out to film so you'll see a jeep taking up the rear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-h51Gr3Eko

[RichardT10829]

Awesome David, great work

[andrew honychurch]

great stuff, its really good to see it covered in dust as well!!! It back to the workshop for me then.

Did you have any running issues over the weekend or was all as expected?

[horsa]

There really wasn't any problems with starting and running now that I have the electric fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator hooked up into the system. On flat pavement I did some driving in third gear while there were no other vehicles with me but never had space and opportunity to get into fourth gear. There is a fairly steep half mile road having about 20 percent grade with a 5mph speed limit posted on the base. First run we did in first gear and lumbered up but the second run uphill was done in second gear and it also had no issues with the long climb or fuel issues. Temperatures were getting on the hot side in the afternoons but the carrier temp gauge never made it to the 200 degree mark.

Only issue towards the end of the tour was degraded turning to the left. But the tiller bars on that side had a lot more play by then and the tracks now need adjustment like I'd mentioned before. I'll need to adjust the steering and braking linkage as well which will be more of a pain since it will mean pulling the floor locker to get access.

At least nothing broke and there were no vapor lock issues