FAT Fast brothers Prairie Command restoration

[Rob Fast]

Sometimes you get what you wish for! My brother Tony and myself are about to undertake one of our most ambitious projects to date. We recently acquired the tough to find back FAT shell. With the 3 Fat frames/cabs we already had we should be able to piece together a very nice straight FAT. Once again we will be making use of the wealth of Fat restoration information here on MLU. We feel very fortunate to get the chance to restore this CMP fan favorite. See pics and more to come. Cheers Rob

Give us a year and we'll be looking for a Limber and 17/25 pounder. Sheesh!!!

[Keith Webb]

What a wonderful find indeed, and one of the most interesting CMPs too. Although we have a number of cab 12 FATs here, all our cab 13s are the Australian pattern as far as I know.
We'll be following this restoration with considerable interest.

[Rob Fast]

With my 3 wrecks I have a total of 4 doors, both sets different. Folded door skins on 1 set and solid skin with no wrap around outside folds on the other. Also 1 set has longer hinges than the other. Any FAT owners with some input here? I am covered with grinding dust at this point and loving it. Cheers for now , Rob

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Rob Fast

With my 3 wrecks I have a total of 4 doors, both sets different. Folded door skins on 1 set and solid skin with no wrap around outside folds on the other. Also 1 set has longer hinges than the other. Any FAT owners with some input here? I am covered with grinding dust at this point and loving it. Cheers for now , Rob

Rob, Could you post a close up of the door hinges? Dimensions would be appreciated as well.

Thanks

[derk derin]

Rob & Tony,
Way to go! Nice to see another project in the shop.You had better hurry,spring is almost here and it's back to the golf course.I keep missing your calls.Gun show here in West st. Paul on March 27th,opens at 10:00am.Come in early and I'll buy you breakfast!Good luck with the project.
Regards,Derk.

[Walde Libera]

Rob

I have a Mar.08/44 build CGT

I still have the rusty remnants of the rear doors; they are very similar to your 3/4 length double wall style, door skin folds and spot welds. The only difference is on mine is I have an additional storage shelf at the very bottom. Hinges are the shorter version and bolted to the outside of the body.

Seems the Cab 13 FAT rear bodies were made in at least 2 versions. Good luck on your project, have references from my project, happy to help!


Walde

[Keith Webb]

Interesting to see how they differ from the doors on the locally produced FATs in Australia. The crew doors were narrow and made from cut down front doors. The rear door on the No8 FAT was wider than the crew doors but still made from a front door. You can see the neat weld lines on the inside, which has the standard inner skin pattern.
The No9 FAT had the same crew doors as the No8 but two rear doors instead of one, which were new fabrications not using the front doors, and were held in place by a sliding bolt.
It bemuses me that both manufacturers made the same bodies with detail differences given the relatively small numbers produced, when a large production body like the 2A used on 15CWT CMPs here was only made by Holden.
The No6 Bofors tractor had crew doors about the same size as the others but these were made from scratch with a raised cross pattern on the inner skin. These bodies were only made by Holden.

[Rob Fast]

See hinge pics. Smaller hinge 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inch with 3 mounting slotted bolts. Larger hinge 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 inch with 2 mounting slotted bolts.

[Rob Fast]

Road trip. Remains of HUP body and floor/front doors/nose/pintal...all 3 back doors were there...also a 15cwt box with wheel wells cut out, but hthe tail gate is there. Why do I bring this stuff home??? I put on 400 kms!! The last pic is our FAT coming along nicely, just doing brake work and then we will be piecing it back together. Cheers Rob

[Bob Carriere]

..... 'cause it there........

I have often ask myself the same question.....

..........................it was good enough for Sir Hillary !!!!

Good finds...... keep us posted, with photos, of the Gun tractor progress.

Bob

[Rob Fast]

We may have jumped the gun on sandblasting the FAT back body, but we are hoping to have all the reconstruction of the back of end of body done this winter. Snow is on the way and I wanted it cleaned up while we can. My dog Winston is now 10 years, on a pain killer and an anti imflamatory every other day... Cheers Rob

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Rob Fast

I think I should have posted our 17 pounder recovery at the Gun Park thread. Please see the new thread there ...Fat Fast 17 pounder with a couple of more pics. Looking forward to all of your 17 pounder insites... Cheers Rob

Rob,

I moved all related postings to your new thread in the gun park. Great find!

Hanno

[Rob Fast]

Has anyone got an idea on the size/shape of the back FAT bullet light mounting plates? See pic and highlighted area. Thanks Rob

[Rob Fast]

details on back camo poles and camo bag. Missing a dozen of the 2 1/8 inch footman loops, No. 2 rifle clips and and always your input into stowage in the back of this FAT body. Can anyone help with the roof opening canvas and the support frame work dimensions? Also looking for a local Manitoba 20 inch rim on KIJIJI for the spare. Its come along way, just about ready to mount it on the back of the chassis. Tried to keep it original as possible with the little dings and dents/stretched skin etc... Cheers Rob

[Walde Libera]

Rob

A have a few pics of an original F.A.T. roof set up when I was in Newtonville in 2003. It was fairly straight forward; I made the support from 3/4 black pipe, just slightly raised so you gain a slope so rain will run off. The canvas roof cover is actually attached to the roof of the front body than again to the front of the rear body.

You can see remnants of the canvas in the first picture. Good reference picture is the last one. There is also another good one in the CMP Maintenance manual.

Walde

[Rob Fast]

great pics. It looks the whole crossmember canvas support is held together on both ends with a piece of flat iron and bolted into place in existing holes already there. Can you help me with the rise of the cross member in the center? The window pic also reveals how the canvas front retaining clip actually clips over a small tit on the top of the cab. I wonder how complicated this cover actually is? Surely there must an orginal??? Cheer for now and thanks again. Rob

[Rob Fast]

starting to look like a narly FAT. Tony did a quick canvas strip around the cab and body just to keep us semi weather proof. Missing a couple of Lee Enfield rifle clips mounted inside the Fat body on top of the cupboard marked NO. 2... Slightly larger clips than the No 1 clip, has this difference in clip size been talked about on this forum??? Tony does all of the work... Cheers Rob

[Keith Webb]

Looking really good, Rob!

[Rob Fast]

Down at my pond this afternoon. The FAT is up and running nicely, just fitted the canvas top body piece. Still have a lot of questions concerning the back canvas bag that held the camo net. Looking for 2 1/8 inch footman loops? Cheers Rob

[Rob Fast]

Bloody heavy. Here is what I came up with for the back camo bag. Cheers Rob

[Alex van de Wetering]

Rob,

The truck looks awesome with all those proper markings. Please post some more pics of the truck.

Alex

[derk derin]

Hi Rob,
You and Tony must be ready for a winter holiday after all that grass cutting and restoration work this summer! What's next on the restoration list? Maybe a 3 ton cargo? Are you finished at the golf course for the season? Come on by and I'll buy breakfast!
Regards,Derk.

[Rob Fast]

Yes, we are kinda done at the course for the season. Perfect golf weather, I have never pumped that much water, drought and hot. We are still broke.

Still have all the wiring to do on the FAT and then we are rolling the 17 PDR. into the shop. All gummed up, our first job there is freeing up the elevation/traverse gears etc...

The only restoration that might interest me is a Ford Lynx or the F-60B in Auburn...Bofors SP... It looks like it might be pretty incomplete though.

Maybe I'll start chasing the ladies again, it might be cheaper.

Cheers Rob

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Rob Fast

Maybe I'll start chasing the ladies again, it might be cheaper.

No it's not....at least not in the long run.

[Rob Fast]

Back left hand corner locker, see pic of orginal hold downs for something. All the jacks I own don't fit...any ideas? Cheers Rob

[Rob Fast]

yesterday. They do confirm back tire rack camo pole carrier slots. I am just getting thru them and will post any new insights revealed. Cheers Rob

[Rob Fast]

picked up at the Prairie Command /Shilo Museum...tour this weekend. See pics of artillery board clamp down brackets above mate seat. Also Fat back 4 seat riser brackets mounted on wood blocks. And see the Limber that I am looking for in Canada. Tough. Cheers Rob

[Barry Churcher]

Hi Rob
I believe this is what you are looking for.
Cheers,
Barry

[rob love]

I think I gave away a snatch block just like that maybe a month or two ago.

[Rob Fast]

Only on MLU do the questions get answered with pics to boot. I am on the hunt again for that tough to find FAT part. Thanks much appreciated. Cheers Rob and Tony