Saturday, I went to the Holcombe village Fete with the Wessex SE club. Glad I did really, otherwise it would have been three Lister D's and nothing else! It was a pain of a day with regular rain showers of sufficient intensity to make me shuffle my subsidiary instruments display back into the car. The Coventry-Victor MA2 ran all day without a hiccup, just like it did at Astle Park. It's noticeably more frugal than the Norman T300, but must be approximately the same capacity. I've had a poke about on the Internet, but cannot find an indication of the cc - can anyone help? One thing against it, I cannot for the life of me see why, but it must be a good third heavier than the Norman.
Sunday, I went to the Bristol SE club rally - a much bigger deal altogether. There were some very interesting exhibits, one an air compressor used for diver's air bottles, so squashes air to 3,000 psi if not closely watched! Had the chance to chat to Mike H at some length and I discovered he is no fan of Bristol radials - " ... nasty, black oily things, filthy to work on ..." & much prefers turbines ;o))
It's worth exhibiting one's stuff just for the people you meet - I had a nice old boy ask about the Coventry-Victor who went on to say that he'd worked at ABC's building Mk II auxiliary engines from 1942 - 46. He lives in Bristol too, so we exchanged phone numbers.
I picked up a rotary converter (12v DC to 230v AC) at the weekend. In its original wooden box, it was a sad, uncared for thing and I got it for a tenner. Examination showed the box to be Brazilian mahogany and that the device functioned - they usually do in my experience. Yesterday was spent renovating the electronics (easy) and removing the flaking layer of thin washed-on WD khaki that disguised the wood beneath, repairing the glued joints, renovating and painting the rusted latches and ventilation plates, polishing the brass corner pieces and giving the wood a coat of mid gloss clear varnish. I've left the paint intact within the box, so anyone wanting to return it to its wartime colours will have a good guideline. There is a nice etched brass plate inside the lid giving instructions on how to attach it to "cipher machine X" and including a circuit diagram.
Another "instruments" addition was a Brown's Gyro Compass, all complete and in its original packing. There are two bottles of oil included inside the packing frame and I take it these are to fill the flywheel chamber, although I've not closely examined it yet. WW2 vintage, it is of the type I believe were fitted to such diverse applications as submarines and Lancasters.
Yesterday, I finally collected the WW2 bomb trolley that I actually bought about 18 months ago. I modified the hitch and towed it home sans mudguards, of course, with a trailer board on it - only across Bristol and no Law appeared to confound me. I'd originally intended to use it for a trailer-based display of aircraft/WD stationary/auxiliary engine stuff, but my collection has changed direction a bit - and anyway, I'd need to choose what I'd display now, so I'm about to put it on Ebay. If anyone here is interested, let me know & we can dicker.
Webshots pics to follow 'stat!
Regards,
Kim Siddorn,