Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Yes I’ve thought of that but I don’t have a spare sender kicking about. A friend of mine has a photo etch machine and said I could borrow it. So at some point I’ll be trying that out to make my own photo etched part.


On a different note I’ve finished up the door locks. Both were pretty simple and not make parts. Everything was cleaned up then repainted. Interestingly the door locks are different. The one with the cotter pin is what is shown in the pictures and seen on other restored Otters. The other one is a bit of a mystery but it clearly has been on the Otter from the factory.

[Grant Bowker]

Looking at the version without the cotter pin, I see the body marked A64 and the handle C64 which makes me wonder if the whole assembly might have a part number ending with 64. Also consider other names for the assembly - latch, catch, lock...

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by jordan baker

on a different note i’ve finished up the door locks. Both were pretty simple and not make parts. Everything was cleaned up then repainted. Interestingly the door locks are different. The one with the cotter pin is what is shown in the pictures and seen on other restored otters. The other one is a bit of a mystery but it clearly has been on the otter from the factory.

Here are the three locks on my C15TA, in both left hand and right hand versions. They do not have a cotter pin like on yours - the bolt may have been a modification when the truck was being restored.

I suspect your "other one" is an earlier version of the lock. The later one looks like it has been beefed up.

0dc70809-c895-47c3-975e-1bce2cc5f26e.jpg b13183d7-ef7c-44ae-85bc-8ad7d5755efb.jpg 5b76e8af-c45c-4be0-a1af-bfa2dcf4db70.jpg

[Jordan Baker]

Interesting differences in these parts. It’s a shame there is not more photographic evidence to look over for these kinds of details.

One of the projects I’ve been putting off for a while is that of the fenders. They still needed some minor attention to get the ready for painting. I was fortunate that one of the original fenders still had the d flap retaining strap and some canvas mounted. I had to make one mirrored copy for the left front fender. Thankfully Hamilton Bridge seemed to use standard size metal bars. Also thankful in that I had a long piece of the same size in my metal pile. In the past I would have marked out, centre punched and drilled each hole. However I figured I’d use my punch press. It was then pretty easy to line up the original abd clamp it to my new part. Then it I just punched away.

One last comment, I love how dark green the canvas is.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Interesting differences in these parts. It’s a shame there is not more photographic evidence to look over for these kinds of details.

Here are two photos showing details. Both were made in 1947 when in Netherlands Army service (one could even be yours?). They both seem to have the "humpback" (for lack of a better description) door locks.

2001_N0000081-04.jpg 2001_N0000081-05.jpg
Source: https://beeldbank.nimh.nl/foto-s/det...c-dac9b71bad64 and https://beeldbank.nimh.nl/foto-s/det...8-31602a8e6740


Edited to add a third photo made in 1949:

NL-HaNA_2.24.01.09_0_903-2551-groot.jpg
Source: http://hdl.handle.net/10648/a8c455da...8-003048976d84


This fourth photo made in 1946 seems to show your "first" type of door lock?

NL-HaNA_2.24.01.03_0_901-6415-groot.jpg
Source: http://hdl.handle.net/10648/a89bd9d4...8-003048976d84

[Jordan Baker]

Finally made some time to work on the Otter……So off with the doors and off with all the layers of paint….thanks to the needle scaler. Minor repair will be needed on the one door. At some point someone for reasons unknown took a torch to the middle of the door. Lots of layers of paint in its life but underneath the metal is close to pristine.


With regards to welding up the torch damage. Anything in particular I should be mindful of or can I just weld it up with my Mig welder?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

When it was a army running on conscripts, the Netherlands Army vehicles got copious amounts of paint applied to them "to keep the soldiers busy". I wonder if your Otter was ever fully stripped and repainted in Dutch service, or whether the new layers were painted on top of the wartime paint layers.

Have any other markings besides the "W/T" come up?

[rob love]

When welding armour plate, it is normal to preheat the area. As you are simply using it as filler rather than for bonding purposes, you ought to be ok with just mig welding it. But preheating it wouldn't hurt. Preheating will reduce the chances of warping or cracking.

Perhaps you need to talk with a mat tech from the forces. They get some training on welding armour. But in order to retain the armour strength, I'm pretty sure they would be using arc with special rod.