Patrick Tipton Posted June 10, 2021 Author Share Posted June 10, 2021 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? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 11, 2021 Author Share Posted June 11, 2021 Bead blasted, primed and painted. 2 down, 30 more to go!🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M29C3284 Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 @Patrick Tipton Don't forget to add the footman loop next to the front bow pockets before you paint the hull. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 14, 2021 Author Share Posted June 14, 2021 22 minutes ago, M29C3284 said: @Patrick Tipton Don't forget to add the footman loop next to the front bow pockets before you paint the hull. Thanks for keeping me out of the ditches! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 @M29C3284Alexander - many thanks! All better? 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M29C3284 Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 @Patrick TiptonMuch better😃 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Brilliant Progress Patric! It’s happening. Well done, I enjoy going through your recent pictures and videos cheers Byron 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 Many thanks Bryon! I am very excited to see paint this week....little more cleaning but Wednesday looks like a go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 I finished the repairs to the hull over the weekend. I have one insulation tab to add by the drivers feet and to finish and install the battery tray - it is mostly ready for install, just needs to be trimmed and the rear battery hold down strap installed. I am going base coat/clear with a 2K epoxy primer. My paint guys said we could not add flattening agent to the white paint without getting a chaulky mess so this will be a first for me. I don't like spraying period but I am going to spray all of this outside - not the greatest condition, but I would rather have stuff in the paint than be inhaling this junk. The clear can be made fully matte so we shall see how it looks and wears. The nice thing about the epoxy primer is that I can use a little glaze before I base coat it if I have any areas I really don't like. I added a couple of pictures of my spot welder. It works great on new metal...much harder on older metal unless it is perfectly clean. Speaking of clean, I Tigged up a broken rod on the brush guard...hard to clean it completely and got some nice porosity🤪 if there is such a thing...I like to tell myself it looks original! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M29 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Pat I have been using this white epoxy prime coat by interlux for years on boats and now my T15 it is awesome looks just like the winter white paint of the T15. It can be sanded and used as a basecoat or be be clear coated with a satin clear. FYI dan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 Nice Dan! Thanks, that looks like a great product! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZM29C Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 @Patrick TiptonCan't wait to see the hull resplendent in a Coat of White👍👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 22, 2021 Author Share Posted June 22, 2021 Appreciate it John! ...and thanks again for all of the tech support! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 26, 2021 Author Share Posted June 26, 2021 I have been at the painting game for 3 days....painting a Weasel is a ton of work. The biggest issue is getting all the restoration debris out of the hull - really a pain. We must have vacuumed this hull 50 times, plus blow it out, flip it over, etc. I still managed to dump a bunch of sandblasting residue into the matte clearcoat so I have some repairs yet to do. The inside and bottom of the hull is finished thru clear cloat...with a lot of flattener so there is a little gloss, but not much. There are a couple of areas that need a little fixing, but it is supposed to rain tomorrow so I am going to get the hull back on springs and off the rotisserie and back in the shop. I am also going to start laying out the camo so I can paint a really flat clear coat on Sunday/Monday and call it a day. There is still a lot to do, but it is nice to see the hull in white! IMG_8486Small.mov 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAS1 Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 Looking great! What a difference the paint makes. 3 days and 1 year of prep work! Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZM29C Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 @Patrick Tipton BZ Patrick 👍👍👍 What a difference a coat of paint makes. I'll bet that you can't wait to start bolting the trinkets and jewellery onto the hull. This stage makes the restoration more satisfying. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAS1 Posted June 27, 2021 Share Posted June 27, 2021 On 5/28/2021 at 5:38 AM, Patrick Tipton said: 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. Does anyone have a part number or model number or picture of the detonator handle for the weasel? Thanks Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 On 6/26/2021 at 5:46 PM, OZM29C said: I'll bet that you can't wait to start bolting the trinkets and jewellery onto the hull. This stage makes the restoration more satisfying. Absolutely right John! I got all the debris cleaned up. After all of the prep work, I still managed to get out nearly a cup of dust/debris. Unbelievable! Wet sanding the inside of a Weasel hull is a staggering amount of work and I did the finish coats without moving the hull at all - I let it dry totally and then moved and repeated. I did not achieve a Ferrari finish, but then again, it isn't a Ferrari. I think I have developed OCD. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 On 6/27/2021 at 12:38 AM, RAS1 said: Does anyone have a part number or model number or picture of the detonator handle for the weasel? Thanks Dave Are you looking for the detonator itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAS1 Posted June 28, 2021 Share Posted June 28, 2021 Yes. I thought it would be cool to mock up something... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZM29C Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 On 6/29/2021 at 12:16 AM, RAS1 said: Yes. I thought it would be cool to mock up something... @RAS1 There is an excellent article in the April/May 2019 MVPA History in Motion Magazine that was written by Brock Jollife (M29C Floater owner). This article discusses the Demolition system in a T24. I am not sure on the copyright/ownership of this article so I won't scan it and post it here. Perhaps @Patrick Tipton would know the legalities of posting information from an MVPA magazine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 8 hours ago, OZM29C said: Perhaps @Patrick Tipton would know the legalities of posting information from an MVPA magazine? We can't legally post it without permission. That being said, I am working on a couple of projects with the publications editor for the MVPA - so let me see if we can get permission. It is good for the MVPA to get their content seen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZM29C Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 11 hours ago, Patrick Tipton said: We can't legally post it without permission. That being said, I am working on a couple of projects with the publications editor for the MVPA - so let me see if we can get permission. It is good for the MVPA to get their content seen! @Patrick TiptonThanks Patrick. I could always ask Brock permission but at this point of time the MVPA would be the first point of contact. It is a great article BTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted July 11, 2021 Author Share Posted July 11, 2021 I am cleaning mechanical parts and fixing the last bits of metal work. One issue I have/had is that I did not have a correctly early rear floor panel without the front access hole. I did have a junk piece of an M29C floor panel though with reasonable intact beads and another nice one to modify. Fired up the TIG welder. The metal on the donor piece was so pitted that I cut just about everything off but the bead. This made it easy to get the bead lined up correctly and installed but means more seams to hide. I will be out in a bit to work on this a little more. Should come out pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZM29C Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 @Patrick TiptonThats the way to do it Patrick, adapt, overcome and improvise. Well done 👍👍👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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