Hobbies

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Hobbies

My hobbies

An activity that you do for pleasure when you are not working

By that definition my 'Hobbies', 'Activities' and 'Events' are all really Hobbies. Even so I will continue to refer to them separately, accepting the there will be some overlap.

Also included in that definition would be eating, and watching TV. One an essential, the other a pastime. Neither covered here.

Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker chick looks out upon the world

A walk in the park

It is spring 2020, and we are in the midst of the Covid 19 lockdown. Part of our allowed time outside is for exercise in a local park. So that is the destination, on foot, less than 10 minutes away. On one of the walks, Wendy noticed a noise coming from high up in a tree. Similar to chicks in a nest when adults are nearby with food, but continuous. No keep quiet and hide in this nest. Just pump up the volume and let the world know that you have been born and that you crave food. More food, now!

Our first photos were taken using a mobile phone, short video clips without sound as it was very windy. The wind was actually useful as it kept moving the branches and leaves out of the way. The next day the wind was less and another, longer clip, with sound this time.

My dream motorhome

 

The motorhome that never was

 

pending

 

 This clip used to play here, but now you have to watch this on YouTube. The part of special interest is between 10 and 17 minutes. Watch the rear tyres bulge as the weight of the load is transferred. A FV432 armoured personnel carrier or similar on the DROPS skid pallet, weighing in at over 15 tons. Hopefully a shipping contained fitted out as a mobile home or workshop would be noting like 15 tons.

 

 

  Foden 8x6 DROPS Vehicle Intermediate Medium Mobility Load Carrier (IMMLC) trial at RARDE Chobham. Cross country at Long Valley Aldershot.

 

My motorhome history

 

What has happened with my motorhomes?

 

 

One that got away

I believe that this maybe a Mercedes coach O 321 H. There is a similar image here and an article about the Mercedes coach O 321 H from the manufacturer entitled 'The world champion bus in the guise of the O 321 H'.

Motorhome in Cheshire

The O 321 H, a medium-sized forward-control bus with nine seat rows which impressed customers with a remarkably spacious luggage compartment beneath the floor of the passenger area. This was a result of the new self-supporting construction featuring a frame/floor assembly with a body firmly welded to it and serving also to support the structure.

Perhaps that is what lent it to being converted to a motorhome.

I had seen an advert for this bus converted to a motorhome and made an appointment to drive all the way to Cheshire to view it in the car park of an industrial unit. It was a long journey and took longer than I wanted. Photos as I left were of the refinery at night, just a couple of miles down the road. refinery at night

They were a lovely couple who had spent a lot of time and love converting this from a coach / bus to a well appointed comfortable motorhome. Perhaps that is why I stayed talking so long.

Mark 12A Shore Supply

 

Carmichael Mark 12A 240v mains connection

 



 

 

 

 

Flag Counter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Scammell Register

 

The Scammell Register

 

 

18/05/2013 19:50

Dear Mr Hurst

Congratulations on saving a Scammell Super Major (as they were called in the early days)!

I was Heavy Vehicle Engineer at Scammell in its latter days and was involved in the early stages of the development of the rear-engine crashtenders in the late 1970s. However, my current interest is the technical history of Scammell I am writing for the Scammell Register. There are very few photographs of the chassis equipment about – to my embarrassment, I took none during the development and test. I spoke to Colin Nicklin at Carmichaels in case they had an archive, and he directed me to your website where I was pleased to see photos of the engine bay! Could I use one or two of these for my article – I know yours was Unipower-built, but the design was the same - and might you also have a picture of the PTO/gearbox area? By way of exchange, I thought you might be interested in the original vehicle spec sheet, a scan of which I attach.

I look forward to your response.

Best regards

John Fadelle

PS You mention the pneumatic throttle – the main reason for this was to facilitate the automatic change-over from automotive governor control (for road driving) to variable-speed governor control (for pumping) when the PTO was engaged.

Carmichael Mark 12A - Part 1

 

The story of my ownership of the Carmichael Mark 12A

 

It had arrived, it was now time to play.

Before anything else I had to replace the batteries as it had been standing for a good while and the existing batteries would not take a charge. Peter recommended a motor factors in Guildford called SED

Peter Edwards owns and runs 1st Defense Fire & Rescue Services Ltd which is based at Dunsfold Park, just south of Guildford. Dunsfold Park is where we kept our Carmichael Mark 12A and Bedford TM 6x6. Jez helped David and I with the restoration of both the Mark 12A and the TM.

SED supplied 4 large 12v truck batteries which I connected in parallel and series to provide the required 24v system. More on that later including the specs and wiring details.

This was all that was necessary to get the Mark 12A mobile and basically functional as a vehicle, but a lot more would be required to turn it back to a working fire engine / crash tender.

Dirty Weekend

Shortly after delivery the Mark 12A was back on a low loader. David and I have been going to the War and Peace Show near Paddock Wood, which has become the War and Peace Revival at a different location, for a number of years. More on about our visits to the various War and Peace Show can be found within Events. I took the opportunity of exhibiting both the Carmichael Mark 12A and the Bedford TM. The Mark 12A was the first to travel. The low loader driver stopped off on the way and put £100 of diesel into each vehicle. Less than a third of a tank. It is a good job that neither of them do a lot of miles.

Read that paragraph again at the start of the article about the dirty weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Subcategories

Photography

 

I have been interested in photography since childhood. This was generated in part by my father’s interest. My brother is also a professional photographer. His name is Trevor Hurst. Click on his name to link to his web site. I have used a wide range of equipment in that time including Pentax, Olympus, Nikon, Panasonic and Sony. My first Camera was a box brownie.

Natural History

 

Again I have been interested in Natural History since childhood. I started writing a book on animal classification in my first year at secondary school. I never completed it as there were already better books available. However, the research for my book did give me a good understanding of the structures of classification systems. At the time that I started compiling the book I thought that there were only two primary classifications known as Kingdoms. This was based on the Linnaean classification. The Animal Kingdom and the Plant Kingdom.

Trucks, Motorhome, Military and Motoring and other vehicles

 

Trucks includes the trucks, coaches, and library van, some of which were ex-military.

My history with motorhomes and my dream motorhome that never was.

Company cars as well as those I have driven is covered by motoring, and other vehicles is primarily for the boat.  

Computers and Tech

Genealogy and History

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