Author Topic: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog  (Read 29099 times)

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« on: December 24, 2013, 08:09:06 AM »
Another project is an ex-South African Defence Force, Radio Relay truck.  The vehicle was imported to Victoria by an ex-pat South African and sold to Four Wheel Dives in Blackburn South.  It is an unusual unit in Australia, being a CKD SIIB built during the SIII era with SIII synchromesh gearbox, front + rear Salisbury diffs and clamshell chassis.  It was saved from dismantling when it was taken to Tasmania and converted to a camper, but not before the front Salisbury was removed for another vehicle.

I purchased the vehicle from Dave B in Tasmania with the assistance of Phoenix and then drove it to Sydney.  (But not without a lot of time on the road, and eventually both brake and overheating problems, including a blown radiator hose.

















« Last Edit: December 24, 2013, 11:01:17 AM by Diana Alan »
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Young Eric

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 303
  • THANKS 31
  • Location: Gippsland Vic
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2013, 09:57:50 PM »
What engine ?

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2013, 12:54:31 AM »
Land Rover 6 cylinder. But low ratio gearbox.

It only klicked over 15,000 original km on the journey up from Melbourne.
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2014, 10:37:09 PM »
After Corowa and having waited over two years for a friend to do an internal curve on a sheet of folded aluminium I contacted Simon Allen who builds the Dodge command car replica bodies.  A fortnight after sending down the templates I received the finished panels.

I now have proper wheel arches!  8)

 
« Last Edit: May 25, 2014, 10:54:30 PM by Diana Alan »
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2014, 10:51:04 PM »
Spend the rest of the day preparing other panels for paint, sorry no piccys.  However while sanding the front grill panel I found four holes arranged in a square on both sides.  Placing an truck sized tac sign over the holes they were exact matches for the holes on both sides.  More than that, I found a third set of holes arranged in the same rectangle on the rear off-side of the vehicle.

Now I'm wondering if the vehicle had a formation sign and a unit sign on the front and a unit sign on the rear.  Its odd because none of the images of SADF vehicles I've seen had anything like tactical signs on their vehicles.

Another odd issue is a number of bolts on the LH rear that do nothing.  When you look at images of other SADF radio trucks they often have various bits of kit on the rear.  More investigation to do!
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Phoenix

  • Administrator
  • Veteran
  • *****
  • Posts: 2182
  • THANKS 87
    • REMLR
  • Location: Launceston, Tasmania
  • REMLR No: 129
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2014, 10:11:21 AM »
A much beter looking wheelarch now Diana!

Some mysterious holes and bolts it seems as well.  It all only adds to the mystery eh!
REMLR Webmaster
Eden - 1961 Series 2 Ambulance, 108-098
1973 Army Moke, 25-764

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2014, 11:33:49 AM »
I always wondered why they didn't fix the rear suspension sag instead of butchering the wheel arch.

When I had the springs re-set and an extra leaf inserted, the body came back up and now sits level, so you don't need the arches cut out.

The additional storage bin outside could be useful, as would a frame for one of the 24V charging sets.  The SADF used other SIIB as dedicated battery charging vehicles, so didn't usually need to carry generators.  AFAIK the radio body SIIB didn't generate their own 24V and were only used stationary.
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2014, 07:38:09 PM »
A couple of busy days, so far this weekend, I have sanded and etch primed most of Gogs panels, then re-sanded and re-etched several panels that mush have had acrylic paint previously.

Masked up the whole vehicle and this afternoon sprayed a coat of primer surfacer.

Maybe the first coat of colour tomorrow afternoon.  :)
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2014, 07:02:58 PM »
No painting today, was raining all day and we had several blackouts so good thing I wasn't in the middle of spraying.

Spent some time rubbing back and finding things that needed filling so dit that and then prepared the door tops for paint.

A few images to say I'm not fibbing about yesterday.

REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2014, 04:32:03 PM »
Gog a glass and a half! (or is that Cadbury's? in either case they're both chocolate!)
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Phoenix

  • Administrator
  • Veteran
  • *****
  • Posts: 2182
  • THANKS 87
    • REMLR
  • Location: Launceston, Tasmania
  • REMLR No: 129
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2014, 11:19:29 AM »
that will look so different in the light of day compared to what it did when I drove it!
REMLR Webmaster
Eden - 1961 Series 2 Ambulance, 108-098
1973 Army Moke, 25-764

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2014, 12:44:10 PM »
It will truly be a "demon of biblical proportions" or at least chocolate proportions.  It will certainly need some colour to break up the brown.  It is why I'm currently looking for a signwriter to reproduce some SADF unit signs and replicate the SADF Army polygon device.  The only images I have are too small to blow up digitally to print on vinyl adhesives.

I know it's not PC, but going from the date of the LPG installation in Tasmania, the vehicle would have been disposed of by the SADF before or about the same time as the essentially Afrikaans SADF was combined with the African nationalist forces and Bantustan defence forces to form the SANDF under the new 'Republic of South Africa' flag.  For this reason I'm seriously thinking of using the old Union of South Africa/(first) Republic of South Africa flag.



instead of the current flag:



Even though the earlier flag is associated with apartheid it is the correct flag for the vehicle's service.

What would others do in this situation?
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6

Offline Phil B

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 49
  • THANKS 4
  • Location: Sydney
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2014, 01:01:19 PM »
Diana,

As a National Serviceman and mechanic from that era I would say the old flag is the way to go to preserve the history.
Yes we all agree that apartheid was wrong but the history is still history no matter how hard others try to change it.
Don't get me wrong I fully support the new flag and all it stands for but my vote would be for the old one.

Regards,

Phil.

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2014, 07:00:10 PM »
As he said ^^^^^^^^ cheers Dennis :)

Offline Diana Alan

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 2241
  • THANKS 108
Re: Diana's ex-SADF SIIB Radio Relay, AK-032 - Gog
« Reply #14 on: June 15, 2014, 08:50:48 PM »
Sorry no piccies this week.

Stripped off almost all the masking and the vehicle is much improved in appearance.  Installed insect screens in the firewall vents (not original SADF but hate getting bugs inside when your travelling).  Then spent some time fixing on bits and pieces like the spare wheel retaining bracket.

When I purchased the vehicle it had a 3 way fridge, which burst it's boiler because of the sag in the rear end.  Not a fan of the 3 way fridges I purchased a 2 way engel to replace it.  Now I don't have to worry about CO build up inside the cab and so don't need all the louvered vents. last weekend I replaced the wall insulation in one hole and plated over it.  Noticing some holes that didn't quite fit I did some investigating.

The weight placard actually goes on the LHS and with luck I have been able to use that to cover the remaining evidence of the lower louver vent. 



and after that the fill in the back of the front mudguard where the tyre pressure plates were fitted.  Unfortunately I only have one placard for the front.  But finding the evidence of the plates fitted to the front, I am now satisfied the plates were fitted on the rear.  Probably in the bits that were cut our and now replaced.

Then I found the holes to match the warranty plate:



Now just have to work out where the data plate was fitted.

« Last Edit: June 15, 2014, 08:54:28 PM by Diana Alan »
REMLR 240.
Perentie FFR 50-422, SIII FFR 30-146, SIIA GunBuggy 112-726, Mk3 Inter 170-437, ex-SADF SIIB/SIII Radio Relay,
Army Trailers: No5 x 2, W/S x 2, PT1-1.2, Horndraulic ATR dog trailer.
Civilian: MY85 RRc HiLine 4.6, MY51 ex-RACQ 80", MY91 Defender/Reynolds Boughton 6x6, MY12 D4 SDV6