Jump to content

Patrick Tipton

Administrators
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    898

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    144

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Patrick Tipton

  1. Patrick Tipton
    I just welded my straps back in today. They are originally spot welded underneath that panel on the hat channel. The one closest to the passenger side of the hull seems misplaced (too far too left), but there was still a nice section spot welded in place so I am pretty sure it is correct. There is a little weld to the right where someone had another strap at some point. John's solution is practical...these straps are in the way and a pain if you remove the tank with the engine in place. I am hoping to never do that but we shall see!
  2. Patrick Tipton
    @M29C3284Alexander - many thanks! All better? 🤣
  3. Patrick Tipton
    Here you go:
  4. Patrick Tipton
    Thanks for keeping me out of the ditches!
  5. Patrick Tipton
    Non-floater - very hard to find in nice shape. If you want to trade for a nearly mint floater....I have one!
  6. Patrick Tipton
    Yes....the doors are different between the M29 and M29C, but yes! It goes between the two panels to which the radiator is mounted. That is a stretcher mount. I know the Norwegians modified lots of Weasels, but there may have been US brackets too...I am better at this point on the early Weasels 😉
  7. Patrick Tipton
    That is the radiator door opening mechanism.
  8. Patrick Tipton
    Bead blasted, primed and painted. 2 down, 30 more to go!🤣
  9. Patrick Tipton
    More work. I am really going back and forth on whether or not to have the inside of the hull soda blasted before painting.....thoughts? Cleaning it is rough...I am getting there...but there are a lot of nooks and crannies! I have a fairly mismatched undercarriage with T24, M29 and later style suspension parts. My goal right now is to get a complete set of later cast style yolks and brackets together, cleaned and painted so I can get this machine back running. I have 4 early style yokes that were field modified with a web to keep them from bending. I am going to cut that web out and probably install them all on one side so that the driver side (as an example) will be more correct. I may make these pieces as they are bent probably 1/8 or 3/16 steel pieces that I think I can fabricate. I have plenty of bogie wheels...lots of 44 and 45 dated. They are in great shape - just need cleaning. These are the early style yokes with the field modified web and later style "bogie brackets". The early brackets are a Y with straight arms and point down when installed...the later ones are installed "up". See the differences in the next picture. Anyone have any early brackets lying around?
  10. Patrick Tipton
    @OZM29C John you do great work. I will make up something....
  11. Patrick Tipton
    Good question...wondering that myself. I don't think the T24 had a first aid kit....based on reading the parts manual one too many times..but....
  12. Patrick Tipton
    Lots more progress. Still no hull paint, but loads of progress! The parachute brackets are really interesting. The outer brackets were welded by a master welder....the guy (gal)...was dragging the electrode from weld to weld...never lifting and having to restrike....the evidence is everywhere. Very cool. I can imagine welding all day long.....between boredom and motivation to do my part to win the war.... and thinking...hey, how efficient can I be... I will do a complete writeup at some point on M29 Ord # 1005...the third production M29...very similar to the T24 with just a few changes. I found the original registration number under a few layers of paint. I am going to try and strip the yellow from the outside of the hull and see if I can get the original camo....tbd.
  13. Patrick Tipton
    Thank you @M29C3284 Alexander....that is very helpful. I now have about 5 decent pictures of various T24 bottoms with the yellow paint. I am going with it...whether I can stomach brushing it on is another question but....🤣
  14. Patrick Tipton
    Thanks @OZM29CJohn! I am having fun with it. As for the yellow paint...I am not sure if that is it the Bakelite paint or not....it would certainly make sense. What confuses me is a series of factory photos that show the undercarriage of early T24's (like hull #023) where the hull is all white... One theory is that the Bakelite paint was applied by brush at the same time they applied the black camo. That color picture you have is the clearest example of "yellow"....otherwise the bottom of all of the T24's in service I see are enough in the shadow that I am not sure....I am going to have to make a choice soon!
  15. Patrick Tipton
    Very cool John. I like these little mementos...
  16. Patrick Tipton
    I am down to a few more small fixes and the hull is finished. Yesterday, we were chasing threads and drilling holes that had been welded up by a PO. We also painted the first couple of pieces white. It is a great feeling to see white. Since the original T24 lower hull was painted with what they called "Bakelite" paint - it had phenolic in it to keep the snow from sticking to the hull and undercarriage parts, I am guessing it would have been semi-gloss or glossy...just like the bottom of a set of skis. I am still painting the sides and top with a base coat clear and a more matte clear to make it look more lusterless - which I think should look pretty original and still be easier to maintain than a true lusterless paint.
  17. Patrick Tipton
    Dan...think it should have a paper gasket... SD-197234...same on both the T15 and the later variants... the T15 part number is G154-01-94036, Ordnance # A307417 Happy Memorial Day to you!
  18. Patrick Tipton
    So Dan at Beachwood lost his Weasel top patterns in Hurricane Sandy....and doesn't want to make more Weasel tops. I am not sure about anyone else...but the hardest part is that there is a bunch of specialized hardware on them and no one makes it..... I have a set of hardware, but am trying to find someone to make me a T24 top too...
  19. Patrick Tipton
    Beautiful @OZM29C John! I was super fortunate to get three of the four of those brackets and the hardware...which includes 4 cast pieces...the circle "spacer" you see in the 2nd to last picture. I need to make one bracket....which should be pretty easy...I will probably have my local metal supplier cut the plate and I will drill and weld the circle up at the top. Fun stuff and thank you for posting! Patrick
  20. Patrick Tipton
    I have started working on the parachute brackets and related hardware. I was incredibly lucky to get them. I am missing one bracket out of 8...not a difficult fab project. I will get good pictures and dimensions for everyone who needs these shortly, but here is a little teaser.
  21. Patrick Tipton
    Greetings! So there is a section in TM 9-772 that describes how to activate and blow up the Weasel. It has quite a few pictures and diagrams - very cool system, although I have almost no hope of ever seeing any original bits! The detonator itself is stored behind the driver in that little compartment (cover almost always gone) on the bulkhead. If you don't have the manuals, you can download them (links above) or we sell a set of everything for a little over $100.... I believe the charge was C3.....plastic explosive but an earlier and less stable version of C4.... There is a polish gentleman making very nice repros too....about $300.
  22. Patrick Tipton
    Dan - if you are going to replace the whole side, I would try and install all of the hat channels and the 45 degree gussets before installing the side. It is a little extra work, but sure give you a lot of control and is a much more comfortable way to work. The other reason I plug welded is because I wanted to try and give some corrosion protection inside of the hat channels. I really don't think you can spot weld with any type of primer - even the so called "weldable" primers. It is a mess with a MIG welder. One option that I considered was using a cavity spray (some type of wax I believe) after spot welding. Like all engineering problems/solutions....there are always compromises... Patrick
  23. Patrick Tipton
    Following Dan. I have a Lenco too...but I plug welded my hull. I think spot welders are great for new metal - the Lenco would likely do the trick, but once you get any age/corrosion etc....they just don't work for me...even when I feel like I have things super clean. Patrick
  24. Patrick Tipton
    John - that is a beautiful repair - my machining skills are not there at this point. 😍 Both of the water pumps I have opened up so far have had very nice seal surfaces that cleaned up with just a little 3M pad. Given that Weasel water pumps are pretty hard to find these days, your solution is fantastic to salvage an otherwise unusable water pump! Cheers! Patrick
  25. Patrick Tipton
    Ha! You busted me! YEP 🙂 Had to push it off and redo. Good eyes my friend!😅 By the way, I took a flyer on a coupe of NOS Studebaker water pump rebuild kits for a 40's truck....same as our Weasel. I paid far less than what is currently being charged for the NOS Weasel impellers...and it came with the impeller, shaft and seals 🙂
×
×
  • Create New...