Shells.

What to do about the shells.

Where do you get them and how do you restore them...

RESTORING OLD SHELLS : Make sure they are not live. Most of the dealers will know this but one might slip the net or you just might want to test them for your own peace of mind. The shell should have something written on it. If it has some ominous looking filling which is a red colour and has "recovery proof" written on the outside then theres a good chance that this is an inert plastic filling. Test a bit by chipping some off about the size of a pea and lighting it in the garden. If it flares up it is real explosive. If you see a man in a dress holding a bright light who seems to know all the bad bits of your life it means the shell went off whilst you were chipping it. If it melts and bubbles then it is the inert filler which is used to make the weight of a real shell for tests. If the shell is light blue and has "inert" or "practice" on it anywhere then this is what it says. Although if it has no rifling the tracers could be live. Anyway, heres the method I use to restore even the oldest looking shell. Turn it in a lathe and use fine sandpaper to get any loose rust etc. off or even take a few thou off with a lathe tool. Stop the lathe and, using car body filler, fill in the rifling and any other pits or dents in the shell. Wait for this to dry or bring all other shells up to this stage. Turn the shell again when dry and fine sand it until smooth. The job you do here determines the quality of the finished product. While it is still turning spray the primer from an aerosol. Grey for your smoke shells and illuminators and red oxide for your HE shells. Allow to dry. It is reasonable to leave the lathe running because the shell will dry in minutes. Spray the final coat and any other coats you may think nescessary. Heres the fiddly bit. With the shell in the lathe cut a piece of cardboard roughly the shape of one side of the shell and clamp it in the jaws where you would usually clamp the lathe tools so that it is almost touching the shell along its profile. Decide where you are going to have your hazard bands usually near the top. Make two marks on the card the width of the band. These are your guide marks. Using a model paintbrush with the colour on it for the band run the lathe and paint in the band between the two marks. This may need several coats as if you try to put one thick coat on it usually starts spitting it back at you. If you have a variable speed lathe drop the speed. Try to change the shells without moving the card. When your shells are lined up the bands should all be in the same place. There is another method of banding if you have an airbrush. This is to put wide masking tape covering the whole area where the band is going to be. Spin the shell on the lathe and using a stanley knife on your markers on the card cut the tape on the shell. Stop the shell and remove the tape where the band is going to be. Airbrush in the band with several coats. Remember to use a compatible paint to the one underneath. Stencils can be bought but not usually when you are looking for them. Use one inch stencils for the "105" and half inch for the rest. An airbrush is superior to car aerosols here as aerosols tend to be a bit of an overkill and nearly always run or get under the stencil.

EXPENSIVE ALTERNATIVE : I was at the Farnborough British Army and Royal Navy (Barn Dance) exhibition where the arms companies try to sell you 200 tanks or the like. I was on the Royal Ordnance stand and noticed four perfect 105mm shells. A smoke, illuminator, HESH and an HE. They were perfect. I picked one up and nearly threw it over my shoulder. It weighed about 3 ounces. It was a fibreglass replica. I instantly got hold of the company who makes these and this is what they said. One shell would be in the hundreds of pounds. If I were to get together all the people who wanted a full compliment they would then work out a price. Did we want them coloured and stencilled and did we want a metallised rifling band and metallised fuze area. Remember these come with fuzes too which instantly saves £25 to £40 each shell. I left this open. This included HESH shells which you hardly ever see as real ones. I have made the address available in case anybody is actually willing to buy these shells. The weight saving is phenominal. With a full weight of shells in an Abbot, and if you were to go down a dip, the Abbot sits down hard enough in the bottom of the dip to snap the back torsion bars.