Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Finally found one of the Koehler Wheat Lamps as fitted to these vehicles. It also came with the charger. I’ll have to modify the charger as the vehicle one has a high/low charger function and an on/off switch. It was also wired for 12v DC to match the vehicle. Whereas this one is setup for 120v AC. But the main concern was getting the proper style hookups.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Finally found one of the Koehler Wheat Lamps as fitted to these vehicles. It also came with the charger. I’ll have to modify the charger as the vehicle one has a high/low charger function and an on/off switch. It was also wired for 12v DC to match the vehicle. Whereas this one is setup for 120v AC. But the main concern was getting the proper style hookups.

Good find, that's a hard one to get. They are a commercial mining lamp from the 1930s but because they aren't pretty brass nobody thought to save any.

[Jordan Baker]

I’ve been looking for about 2 years now. Found it on eBay. The seller never posted pictures of the charger but said it came with one. So I was happy when he sent me some pictures of it that it matched the original bits in the Overloon Museum Otter.

[Jordan Baker]

Few more bits for this project. Just got the side/tail light sockets made up.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Few more bits for this project. Just got the side/tail light sockets made up.

Why made up? Are there not enough of these out there?

[Jordan Baker]

The Otter only had one left. Also they need to be in the braided wire loom. Finding those in the correct length is the issue. This way I’ve got all new wiring at the correct length for the application. Plus I have a few boxes of NOS barrel ends. I did the same for the Wire3 and I was quite happy with how they turned out.

[Ganmain Tony]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

Why made up? Are there not enough of these out there?

Where are they Bruce? I’d be very interested in a few if you knew where I could find them.

Another very nice restoration Jordan. Watching with interest.

[Jordan Baker]

Another nice find for this project. The Otter windscreens. I’ve only found one wartime picture with them fitted.

[David Dunlop]

Nice find, Jordan.

Was their an Installation Kit for the windscreens, or were the Otters built with the basic hardware for windscreens preinstalled?

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Nice find, Jordan.

Was their an Installation Kit for the windscreens, or were the Otters built with the basic hardware for windscreens preinstalled?

David

There is a similar windshield for the Fox, and it even has a defroster that plugs into the dash inspection lamp socket. The openings are not adapted, they simply are a hinged armoured block with a strip welded around the opening to prevent bullet splash. The windows are made to sleeve into the openings with cutouts to avoid hinges, locks, etc. and have a spring loaded swivel catch to hold them in place. They would be a great help driving any distance at speed or in the cold but do limit your visibility.

[Jordan Baker]

This is the windscreen for the Fox AC as mentioned by Bruce.


David, no I believe these were standard issue with the Otters. But it was just one of those items hardly ever seen.

[Jordan Baker]

Found another picture with the windscreen in place.

[Jordan Baker]

Another nice mail delivery. An NOS voltage regulator as used in the Otter.

[Jordan Baker]

Thanksgoes to the collective knowledge on this forum for helping me identify the proper items to eventually rebuild this part back to brand new condition.

The Otter wiring junction box. The box with two fuses had the power from the battery come in then go out to the interior light and wheat lamp. The wireless set power cable also was wired into this box. The box held two Slydlok 1533 fuse holders and fuses. Interestingly enough these are still made and readily available. The over painted fuse box is a picture I took while visiting the Overloon Museums Otter. The other one is what is left in my Otter.

[Jordan Baker]

Another nice original component added for the rebuild.

[Robert Bergeron]

Nice engine cover / access doors ! What a find !

[Jordan Baker]

Thanks Robert. The power of the internet at work.

Small steps were made today. I made up the section of wiring for the interior lamp. New wiring and new tinned copper shielding.

[Jordan Baker]

Another item coming together. The charger for the wheat lamp. See post #61 for an original charging panel from the Overloon Otter. A big thanks to another MLU’er for providing me with a dimensional drawing of the mounting plate. The lamp hookup parts were salvaged from the charger that came with the lamp. I also drew up a wiring diagram for how this will be wired up. I’ll be using two adjustable voltage reducers purchased online. I suspect the original was a unique part since it dropped the 12v into two different voltages all contained in one unit.

I’ve also been inspired by David’s electroplating of parts for his wireless restoration. So I’ve ordered the necessary items and look forward to properly refinishing the charger parts.

[Robert Bergeron]

Great work Jordan .That’s a very intricate / complex restoration !

[Jordan Baker]

Found some time to paint the plate and mount it with the Wheat Lamp in place. One day the rest of the Otter will look the same.

[David Dunlop]

Well done, Jordan!

Now it will be easier to read the manuals when you are tinkering inside the Otter.

David

[Jordan Baker]

Today I pulled out the interior panel that held the fuse box. I wanted to get access to the fuse box so I could begin rebuilding the mounts for the Slydlok fuses.

What a surprise when I removed the fuse box from the panel and some original paint was still present including an inked on part number.

Now for the conundrum. It’s common belief that the interior was painted white. However this is clearly not white but a light tan colour.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Has the colour changed due to heat? The interior white probably wasn't enamel white. It is a chalky coating that was meant to powder instead of becoming shrapnel fragments if hit, and that stuff does yellow.

My NOS fuse Fox boxes were white and the sandblasting I did on the interior uncovered white, not saying the Otter isn't but you'd think it should be.

[David Dunlop]

Keep an open mind about the actual colour, Jordan, until you have checked other hidden locations to see what turns up.

My money would still be on 'white' as the true interior colour. Don't forget that if two pieces are in close proximity to one another, moisture can get in between them and stay for quite some time. If one part starts to rust, the stain can transfer to the other parts white paint and discolour it without that part getting seriously rusty itself. If the part with the surviving number was on the 'high' side, or top, of the installation, the lower part would have more moisture contact over time, so rust more noticably.

Nice find with the numbers, though.

David

[Jordan Baker]

I’m wondering if it did change from heat due to the fire that occurred in this vehicle at some point. However looking closely at it, the colour is very consistent. I’ll see what turns up as more parts come off.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Heat wouldn't change the paint that much, and it would be more localized. My bet is on your initial observation - light tan not white.

BTW, very impressed that you found the folding engine cover. Postwar, that plate armour would have been the first or second thing to come off and be repurposed into a plow blade or almost anything else.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Now for the conundrum. It’s common belief that the interior was painted white. However this is clearly not white but a light tan colour.

I have seen the interior paint on Sherman tanks in the same sort of tan shade. I know at least one restorer had that shade replicated.

But it is a fact that the interior paint of US AFVs is was white, so the shift in colour was entirely due to aging and other influences.

What do the records say about paint colour specification?

[David Herbert]

There is white paint in my house that is nothing like as white as it was when I applied it fifteen years ago (non smoking household). The Otter is over 70 years old and has been through a war and lived outside for a good part of its life. I understand that the paint example above was reasonably well protected from degradation but I still don't think that it can have been immune from aging.
It is documented that MOST British AFVs were specified on the order to be painted inside with paint which had an aluminium based pigment but that fairly early in the war we ran low on that paint and quite a lot of Valentines (at least) were painted white inside from new. I would have thought that Canada would have been a bit less subject to war shortages than Britain and so less likely to need to deviate from specification. It should be possible to find what the order for Otters actually specified.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

It will be interesting to see where this goes as Jordan removes and gets behind more parts.

Follow the evidence as it were.

Adding my 2 cents, when I was gently scraping the bins in the Elliot's Otter for markings in every instance they came up white. Likewise the backs of all the 18 gauge Fox panels holding the bins to the interior armour were white once scaping down the 'patina' of rust discolouration. Some NOS interior parts (other than the junction and fuse boxes that were white) removed from the packaging did look covered in a thick 'buff' but I put that down to age.

[chris vickery]

I would opt for white being correct, the colour you have as more cream likely a washout or chemical change in the composition over years.
Olive drab paint for example is the worst for this. Look at the colour of original WW2 Canadian vehicles and you would think they painted them mustard yellow as years of sun fading.