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Once the base was dry, the retaining clips could be fitted. The spigot on the back of the rivet I made was drilled out with a 1.5mm drill to allow it to splay out. A little Hysol was put on the backplate of the clip and the assembly put in place.

The case was then balanced on its front, with the rivet head resting on a large drill bit clamped in a vice. I then used a centre punch to splay out the back of the rivet.





The two radios are now ready for their FT-154 mounting trays to be made.

She really will be a star on the circuit when you've finished.

Cheers. May be not quite a star, but a nice change from the usual 50 cals and camo nets!

Don't be modest. If she dosen't bring in the silverware the judges are on something!

A couple of days ago, I spotted a FT-154 mount on ebay. It was already at £50 with two bids, and the auction wasn't over, so I wasn't going to bid. There were however, a number of good photographs of the mount from various angles. It didn't look particularly complicated, so I decided I could probably make a copy with little cost and a little bit of effort.

The FT-154 Radio Mount is made in two layers. The lower part fastens down to the radio operators table. There are four shock mounts attached to this, and on top, a metal tray that the radio attaches to.

I started my copy by making the upper part of the mount. The 1.5mm aluminium was cut to the correct shape, and then the ends of the slots drilled with a slightly under size drill. They were then filed to elongate the slots to the correct length and width.

After much filing, the tray was trial fitted onto the receiver to ensure it was sliding freely.

On the bottom of the tray, there is a 'U' channel. This stiffens the sheet and also forms part of the brace for the electrical socket mount. This brace was made from an off cut of the 1.5mm sheet, folded to drop the height from the top of the channel to the main plate. This brace was riveted to the channel, which was in turn was welded to the sheet at four spots along its length. The socket mount was then riveted to the tray. It still needs the hole cutting to fit the socket.





This is where the day ran out and the mount was refitted to make sure the welding hadn't distorted the fit. It was then removed again, placed on a flat bench and a small fillet of Hysol applied along the edge of the channel.

The next stage will be to make the second upper tray before moving onto the shock mounts and the lower parts of the trays.

Had another trip out in the Dodge today for the Help for Heroes event at Sedgefield. A chilly but enjoyable trip out.



Here's my two BC-348 receivers along with the recently purchased BC-191 tuner. In time, I'll be making a BC-375 transmitter to fit the tuner into. I saw a complete BC-375 on ebay for $1500; about $1450 more than I have available!

As previously mentioned, complete BC-375 transmitters, if they become available, are asking serious money, so I decided to buy the tuning unit and build the rest myself. The tuner has most of the complicated parts, and I should be able to take moulds of the knobs to cast more for the rest of the unit. The only other difficult parts to make will be the gauges and louvres.



The picture below shows the BC-191 along with the BC-348 on the radio shelf, working out positioning and spacings, while the second picture shows a composite picture with a BC-375 image overlaid. The final set up should be something similar to this, although I will need to add a second shelf to support the other BC-348 receiver.

Before the weekend trip out, I also fitted six mounting clips to fasten in the warning flag, the weather vane and part of the child seat mount when not being used. I also fitted a switch into the meteorological panel for the panel light and partially wired up the light with the recently purchased cotton insulated wire.

armyairforce wrote:As previously mentioned, complete BC-375 transmitters, if they become available, are asking serious money, so I decided to buy the tuning unit and build the rest myself. The tuner has most of the complicated parts, and I should be able to take moulds of the knobs to cast more for the rest of the unit. The only other difficult parts to make will be the gauges and louvres.



The picture below shows the BC-191 along with the BC-348 on the radio shelf, working out positioning and spacings, while the second picture shows a composite picture with a BC-375 image overlaid. The final set up should be something similar to this, although I will need to add a second shelf to support the other BC-348 receiver.

I have a complete BC-375 setup for sale- it is listed on e-bay at the moment http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :MESELX:IT but I am willing to sell it off e-bay... Has EVERYTHING except wire... And I want to sell it to put the money into my WC-51 restoration.

Nice job, BTW, on the FT-154 mounting for the BC-348. I have built a couple of these myself- I recently sold an all original 348 (yes- 24VDC with the Dynamotor intact, etc). When I was first looking at the pics of the 348 repair, I thought I would have to yell at you- then I got further along, and realized that what you were doing was not what I'd surmised, and you were doing a nice job of it. Taking the face off a BC-348 is not an easy task- but it can be done, and those holes filled rather nicely, and black wrinkle paint applied. I did one about two years back which looks like new. One of these days I need to finish the conversion- It was hopelessly destroyed by a hack job many years back, and the owners just wanted it to play music... It is eyewash for a WWII aircraft. SO I am in the middle of doing that to the poor thing. But it had been hacked beyond feasible repair.

Let me know if you are interested in the BC-375E setup...

Scott
ng19delta<at>yahoo.com

I've already seen your BC-375, but as I said above, it's about $1450 more than I have unfortunately. A local museum contacted me today to say I could have access to their BC-375 to photograph and measure so I can make a copy. Thanks for bring it to my attention anyway. If money was no object, I would have jumped at it as they don't become available that often.

armyairforce wrote:I've already seen your BC-375, but as I said above, it's about $1450 more than I have unfortunately. A local museum contacted me today to say I could have access to their BC-375 to photograph and measure so I can make a copy. Thanks for bring it to my attention anyway. If money was no object, I would have jumped at it as they don't become available that often.

Perfectly Understandable! Sorry it is too much, but I think you know what they go for piece by piece... Glad to hear a local museum is willing to help- Do you have the manual? I have one for a BC-375C I am also willing to part with, probably in the $30 range, plus shipping. I don't know the differences between a "C" and an "E" model BC-375, but I do have a spare manual! The hardest part to copy would be the louvers on the back of the transmitter- There are a whole bunch of them...

Scott

A friend has a louvre tool which I want to have a go with, but failing that, I'll make a wooden press mould for the front. I can probably cheat on the back and miss them off, as once mounted in the truck, the back can't be seen. I guess it depends how well the front louvres go!

I've got a PDF of the manual which is enough for my needs, but thanks for the offer.

Let me check my spares- I might have a few extra knobs & meters which would be proper for the transmitter reproduction. I'll try to get over there in the next few days(at my parent's house) That would at least save you some trouble.

Scott