WS19 NOS unboxing video

[Alex van de Wetering]

WS19 NOS unboxing video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LTG...ature=youtu.be

Alex

[Michael R.]

Good job Colin !

[Patrick Johnson]

Were further videos produced that opened up the other packages in both boxes? I personally would be interested in seeing the accessories just as much as the unveiling of the main Transmitter/Receiver!
Does anyone know how the Museum acquired this fully crated WS19 Sherman Installation kit? I had heard of one about two years ago west of Toronto but could never locate the owner.

[David Dunlop]

The eBay site in the States seems to average a complete in the crates Mk II 19-Set and/or Installation Kit being auctioned off or quietly being parted out each year for a while now. There must have been a pile of them found somewhere at some point.

David

[Patrick Johnson]

Hi David,
I wish I shared your experience, I have checked eBay almost daily (the U.S. site) for the past 3-4 years and have never come across an auction posting a complete 19 set or installation kit in its crate, nor an auction with multiple components from a kit. Very rarely do you find NOS parts on eBay, and when they do they usually stand out! Perhaps I am searching under the wrong terms, as I would certainly have bid on any kits as the novelty alone would make it a fascinating purchase. Instead, I've picked up all my pieces for my Sherman tank project from locations in the States, England, and here in Ontario.
I am still hopeful that one day an installation kit for a Sherman tank will appear at auction which would include the thin metal straps that were used to hold the cables against the turret interior. These were all left in the tanks when they were mothballed so they are super hard to find. I have a few that appear to have come from armoured vehicles, but they are the wrong shape according to my references. I have the complete mounting straps and nuts/bolts for a Bren carrier (three pouch set, all C-Broad arrow marked) but they are not the same shape as for the Sherman, thus are surplus to my needs. Anyone need a set for a Bren?
Installation straps are the last items I need for my Sherman tank project, where I will have on display within a replica turret (rear 1/3) all the workings of a truly operational WS19 set complete with all control wiring and control boxes, including an original NOS turret wiring box and a complete Sherman mounting kit for the Variometer! Almost everything is in mint or near mint condition which makes it extra special.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Patrick.

With the exception of one installation for what I recall was some model of Sherman that was advertised as such, the other show up by analysis and in some instances emailing sellers to ask key questions.

I peaked about two years ago with 14 different searches on eBay for 19-Set stuff. It never used to be like that but I suspect eBay seriously dumbed down their search engine to provide more product hits for their growing eBay Store Merchants. At one time you used to be able to employ very precise searches and get exactly what you were looking for. Those days are gone, so I went with a shotgun approach to searches. You end up with a lot of emails in your in box and a number of duplicate or more results, but you also find bits you would otherwise miss completely.

I look for frequent items from the same seller and that is when I start to suspect what they are doing. A mint transceiver shows up. Then a psu, then other bits that could only be coming from a kit. You can then contact them and ask if they have ever run across something obscure that should be in the kit, like the bags of hardware, packing slips, content lists, or the shipping boxes or crates. These are things many sellers do not recognize the value/importance of and toss outright or set aside and do not advertise. You nearly always get answers that confirm what is going on. The other consideration is many sellers do not want to deal with very heavy items to ship. They would rather part a kit out into smaller, manageable bits and perhaps increase. Their profits.

I have recently cut back my 19-Set searches. I think I just have four left. I have now found nearly all of what I had been looking for, but have also become suspicious eBay Searches can be easily hacked when you are active on their site. I am finding more and more results showing up for searches that have nothing even close in common to what I am looking for, and the sellers being listed are nearly always in Eastern European countries. Bulgaria is the worst. I stepped completely away from searching for military pocket watches as I was getting dozens and dozens of results for genuine WW2 German Nazi pocket watches that were so fake it was absolutely laughable and all from ‘different’ sellers in Bulgaria.

Anyway, Patrick, I think I have totally highjacked this thread now. I guess my key comment is you really need to be a detective these days to figure out what sometimes goes on on eBay.

Cheers for now,

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Patrick Johnson

I am still hopeful that one day an installation kit for a Sherman tank will appear at auction which would include the thin metal straps that were used to hold the cables against the turret interior.
...

...
Installation straps are the last items I need for my Sherman tank project, where I will have on display within a replica turret (rear 1/3) all the workings of a truly operational WS19 set complete with all control wiring and control boxes, including an original NOS turret wiring box and a complete Sherman mounting kit for the Variometer! Almost everything is in mint or near mint condition which makes it extra special.

Bear in mind that there are at least two, and possibly three different sizes of the cable clip set that you are looking for - to cope with the variations in cabling (screened conduit - UK and Canada, fabric coated (UK and possibly Canada) and plastic coated multicore (U.S.). It's possible that the Sherman only ever used the screened conduit type wiring, but I have a T26E1 (Pershing) installation kit with plastic-coated multicore that is a fraction of the diameter of the flexible conduit variety.

(I also have some loose cable clips from various countries/sources for the WS19, so if you let me know which variety of cabling you have I might be able to find some suitable (original) clips.)

Chris.