How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

I hadn't (and it's Oh God o'clock here (0220A)) but it certainly wouldn't have had a crew of five, I don't think.

Trades were: Driver/Electrician, Operator Wireless & Line, Operator Keyboard & Crypto, etc.

Depending on size of station, the truck would probably have a crew of two, plus extra operators supplied separately if required. (If it was attached to a signal office there would be a lot more people required: office staff, cypher clerks, despatch riders, security, etc. and you end up with a small village.)

I'll give it some thought. (During daylight!)

Chris. (Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...)

The puzzling question is that if the crew was four (or less) then why did all three CMP wireless trucks (HUW, WIRE-3 and WIRE-5) have two seats in the cab and three in the back. Maybe it's as simple as the co-driver selecting the cab seat vs. the rear body seat based on need. I wonder however because it's not like the army to let a driver go solo without a co-driver and the rear seats (save one) seem more suited for travelling rather than operating the radio equipment.

[Jordan Baker]

Today I got the seat pan assemblies all painted. Taking advantage of the lovely high heat and humidity, the seats were painted in POR15. After about 1.5 hours the POR15 was slightly tacky and I painted on the top coat of the final colour. I find if I can time it right the top colour gets chemically bonded to the POR15 and once everything sets up you’ve got a very tough layering of paint. I also painted up the seat base mounting hardware. More on this below.

[Jordan Baker]

I also made up a stamping die to make the front seat retaining strip. I only had one original and it was quite heavily pitted. The piece needed an offset bend in 1/8” plate. The 10ton press was maxed out but thankfully I was able to do the pressing in stages working along the length.

[Jordan Baker]

And one can’t forget the 9 rings and 24 springs per seat. Once the springs were mounted I gave them all a quick spray with the paint. The cab seats were also mount to the bases.

[David Dunlop]

Looking really good, Jordan.

David

[Jordan Baker]

Full day of sewing and the five seat back covers are all done.

[Jordan Baker]

Forgot to post these pictures up the other day.

The quick release knobs used in the Wire3 had large washers and chain to act as keepers. I ended up using a handheld punch setup in the shop press to punch the small hole into the washers. The chain wire was then passed through the small hole and then the wire was welded up. I decided to do a number of practice welds first and I am glad I did. I had the Mig welder down to the lowest heat and speed settings to get them welded up. If I lingered the wire heated up too much and would evaporate.

[Chris Suslowicz]

You're making a beautiful job of this restoration.



Chris.