My '44 Flying Control Dodge

[armyairforce]

That would be great, thanks.

[ng19delta]

PM me an adress- if I find I have useful stuff, I'll send it along, gratis!

Scott

[armyairforce]

PM sent, cheers!

[armyairforce]

Hi Scott.

Have you managed to find anything I could use? I haven't done any building for a few weeks what with work and family, but there's no great hurry on the radio build and installation. It's just ongoing work that will be done when it's done.

I found out the other day that the farm I keep the Dodge at was a wartime anti-aircraft battery. There's still a couple of cast concrete buildings, although everything else has gone.

[ng19delta]

Hi Scott.

Have you managed to find anything I could use? I haven't done any building for a few weeks what with work and family, but there's no great hurry on the radio build and installation. It's just ongoing work that will be done when it's done.

I found out the other day that the farm I keep the Dodge at was a wartime anti-aircraft battery. There's still a couple of cast concrete buildings, although everything else has gone.

Hi Steve- I actually have not had the chance to dig anything up yet, but I do have one or two knobs on hand- I have to go to my storage at the parents place for the others. Christmas, garage problems, all the usual fun items are jumping in the way- But I will try to get them out to you before the new year!

Scott

[armyairforce]

Thanks

[armyairforce]

No major work on the Dodge of late, been too busy with work, but there was an event at the Durham Light Infantry Museum today, so it was an excuse to give the Dodge a run out. The last trip out was to Sedgefield in early November, though I have popped over to the barn every few weeks and given it a run and check over, especially during the snow and ice.

Once home, I added a rain flap over the weather vane socket. In the barn, it is under cover, so it isn't an issue. At events, the weather vane is fitted, so again not an issue, but when it's on my drive before or after an event, the rain can get in the socket and drain into the vane bearings or instrument panel below. If I know it's going to chuck it down, I'll stick a tarp over, but I've been caught out a few times by unforecast rain overnight. The solution was a small leather flap over the hole which should keep the worst of the weather out.

[armyairforce]

Here's a few pictures from the DLI museum.

[ng19delta]

Haven't forgotten about you Steve! I have a couple of the large round knobs on my desk for you, and have to remember where my spares of the rectangular ones are, as well looking at a few meters I was going through the other day, seeing if I had any correct ones...

Scott

[armyairforce]

Cheers. The transmitter project is a little way off yet, so I'm not in a desparate hurry for them.

[armyairforce]

Did a bit of servicing today, plugs cleaned and gapped, dizzy bits cleaned, fuel filter cleaned etc., and did a quick video of the start afterwards. Over the freezing weeks in December, this 67 year old truck was starting better than my modern car, and that was after being left for two weeks in a barn between engine runs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUnudpuV1iI

[Phil P]

Yep my Dodge was just the same. It was frozen solid at one point and I mean SOLID. The water pump wouldn't turn at all. 2 hours with a paint stripper gun and a hot air blower thawed it out. After checking everything it fired and ran before it had done one full turn on the starter motor. My Volvo fired after a few seconds and then stopped after a few more seconds. Eventually starting with a lot of spluttering and misfiring. It is a petrol engine Volvo. The Hippo needed the the boost starter/charger to get it going but only after a few 30 second goes on the starter and wait 2 minutes. When it did start the unit was filled with blue grey smoke that just hung in the air like the moors scene in Wuthering Hieghts! The temperature IN the unit was -5c and -9c outside according to the Volvo read out.

Phil

[armyairforce]

A job that I've been wanting to do for a while was to add windows to the Dodge. The cold wet day on Saturday prompted some action, as driving in the rain with the sides open gets a bit cold and damp. Freezing cold isn't ideal with the Mrs and little legs on board, and neither can pull off the Smurf look.

The sides and rear doors are to be skinned in aluminium sheet to give a thin section to bolt the glazing through, otherwise, the glazing would be recessed by 1/2 inch due to the thickness of the ply, and this would allow rain to gather and soak into the ply. The right side has two long windows as I need a good view for lane changing or overtaking. The left side just has the front window as the rear will be obscured by the radios.

[armyairforce]

The following three pictures show the view from the drivers seat. Overall, the view is good, and where the radios will block the left side, I can lean slightly to get a better view. The aluminium sheet will have a slightly smaller opening than the wood, allowing the glazing to have a small overlap where it will be bolted.

The sides will still be free to fold down so that on the rare occasions when it gets hot, they can be opened for fresh air.

[armyairforce]

The following sections will block in the gap in the front of the body just behind the doors. They have been primed with dilute waterproof PVA before they receive checkers. The sheet aluminium should arrive tomorrow afternoon, so perhaps I'll get a little more work done before it gets dark.