Derk’s new Universal carrier Mk 1*

[derk derin]

I managed to piece together enough items to complete a 19 set for my carrier after a lot of help from Prairie Command members who all had items to sell or give me. I have the B set antenna lower mount but have to pick it up yet. I will build a mounting bracket for it and install it on the carrier when the warm weather returns.
Also need to build the variometer mounting bracket which shouldn’t be too difficult. Too cold right now to work out in the shop. Lots of small items to keep me busy inside for the rest of the winter!

[derk derin]

Todays project was the inserts for the flare pistol rounds bin. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be but I think what I built will work.
I will have to finish the top wood insert for the second bin on a warmer day. Too cold to work in the garage right now.

[derk derin]

As I was working on the flare rounds bin, Dave came over with a box of stuff that went with the carrier. Another exciting day for me! He had the FUC-01 manual with the waterproof cover and both inserts still there, the FUC-02 Illustrated parts manual, a spare carrier carburetor, a carrier trouble light, brass 1 inch flare pistol with 4 empty flare rounds that were fired off and a pile of American 1 inch flare rounds that were March,April & May 1945 dated.
The brass flare pistol was an exciting gift as in all my years of collecting I never owned the brass flare pistol.
The most exciting was the proper Mark 1* carrier manual with the waterproof cover. That was on my want list but wasn’t hopeful of ever finding one as I’ve never seen one before. Just a few images online.

[derk derin]

These foldout charts are almost always missing so it was nice they were still in the manual.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Excellent work on the seats, Derk! Lovely that you manged to find fabric so close to the look and texture of the orginal.

Am I the only one that thought.....is that a WS19 antenna mount used to fix the thread holder to the Singer table?

[derk derin]

Today I was back at the sewing machine. Another seemingly simple job took me hours to do! First attempt at sewing the pouch together left the side strip an inch short so I had to cut all my stitching and do it a second time.
The second attempt went way better when I extended the piece by an inch. Then when I was done I realized I sewed the panels on backwards so had to cut all the stitching again. Go upstairs for a coffee break and then try again for the 3rd time. I finally got it right so I had the confidence to make my second one! Now that they’re both done (with the wooden inserts) I have to go find some strips of leather tomorrow so I can finish off the leather edging.
I used old duffle bags for material and didn’t want to waste the Cbroadarrow stamp so I cut out the pattern so it would show inside the flap.
There’s no doubt that 2 Boyes magazines fit well into this pouch. I knew I would never find spare Boyes magazines so I cut apart an old metal shelf and fabricated a couple dummy mags to store in the pouch.

[David Dunlop]

Nice sewing, Derk.

What was the normal issue of Boyes Magazines on the Universal Carriers and did they carry extra bulk rounds?


David