My Teardrop

[DC3Td]

It was suggested i re-load some pics of my Teardrop affectionately known now as DC3TD.For the uninniciated this van was built by Mercury Caravans WA in 1952 utilising DC3 aircraft aluminium cladding. It was previously owned by both Willyn & Reddo.Pictures taken many years ago where it sat under a tree & sustained weather damage to the woodwork in the galley area(see cupboard doors/shelving area). One change i`d like to make is to install a false floor 5" above the floor & house a picnic table in a slide-out drawer.The top of the false floor is where the cooker,esky etc will situate. Will revamp the interior decor & fit FX Holden wheels.Once i retrieve pics from my other damaged camera i will upload. cheers gordon

[DC3Td]

So lets see whats going on in the galley:

Left outer & inner corner:


Right outer & inner:


Inside rear storage behind galley:

Looking up to roof:

Close up:

Small & tall cupboards (kerbside):

Opposite side:

gordon

[seeshell]

Hi Gordon

What a lovely and unusual teardrop. I particularly like the interior storage and hanging space in the living quarters - very effective!

It looks as if there are two openings at wall at the foot end of the bed / galley. Are they normally covered (and are showing because of being mid renovation), or is it a feature to get fresh air?

Good luck with your renovations.

Cheers
Seeshell

[DC3Td]

Hi Seeshell.Thanks. Looking into the galley from outside the none-too neat hole on the right was cut out decades ago to allow then owners feet to protrude. And you`d have food in there! The light coloured panel on the left is where the ice box once sat. Up top were/are 5 cupboard spaces as seen in first set of small pics. I am unable to enlarge those pics clearly but they also show sign writing on hatch & kerbside panel beside front window. The kerbside door was back then a seperate opening flyscreen & panel door.Brackets were fitted to either side at roof height to hold annexe poles.Through the years the fx under body wheels were changed to others to suit those owners requirements. I was told by a long ago owner that it had 16" Austin 3 stud wheels fitted to match his Austin as he used to show it at the Whiteman Park Museum. I bought a set but thinking about it i decided fx wheels which i bought originally are the way to go.
When Willyn owned it:

When Reddo owned it:


gordon

[DC3Td]

The galley tap as bought:

Bit of a clean:

The base plate:

Mock up showing eventual fitment albeit the spout needing a bit of tweaking to allow better flow into sink:

gordon

[seeshell]

Hi Gordon

I love the tap - that's going to look good in the back of the teardrop now it's all polished up a treat. Are you having any other fire themed items to go in it - I gather to match the flames at the wheels?

Cheers
Seeshell

[DC3Td]

Hi Seeshell. No, the FD plaque is it. The flames are gone.So too the wheels. When i saw the pics of van (first entry,this thread) I figured they were fj wheels so duly bought a set which turned out to be fx wheels. I was then led to believe that the Td had Austin 3 stud 16" fitted originally, so duly bought a set.Not to be, so a new axle/stubs are to be procurred & along with the fx wheels will situate under as opposed to protruding as you see in other pics. I have no way or don`t know how to successfully enlarge the first set of pics to give me a clearer view of other than what i can see. There was no ice box that can be seen in left side pic 4 & the different paint coloured section where it butted up to rear panel in Reply #1 although i now have a gal steel one to fit in place. Likewise no cupboard doors as also seen there. But i will easily replicate a set including a totally new frame when gutted the galley and will be able to go by the existing hinge holes that you can just make out. Given the fact that it probably never had a sink i obtained the one you see in Reply 4 & with a little bit of fudging will fit above the chiller box. Sounds/seems awkward but i got it worked out. gordo

[DC3Td]

So dad went shopping for his fav two wheeled girl & bought her these Devon spats:


Pick up tomorrow. gordon

[greedy53]

gordon looks like you have all under control nice to see that you are doing a ripper job

[DC3Td]

Showing the original angled wheel arch & paint remnants of where at some time other spats were fitted:

Chalk outline of spat design i was first going with using flat ali sheet

and here:


















Whew!! Some more over weekend. gordon

[DC3Td]

So if P/b works,some more pics:
Looking in to forward cabin area.This space always intrigued me as i figured there had to be something here originally.The tell tale indications being the two coach bolt heads seen below in Pic 2 on latch side.Same on other hinge side but they`re hidden mostly by old paint.Unlike the remainder of interior this,the curved front & both side panels to door edge was void of any paint (until blanked over & subsequently fleck painted) lending me to believe that there were probably cupboards or shelving fitted.


These pieces of timber here

and here,were covered by a sheet or two of fleck painted timber
with "bulk filler" in between them.The "bulk filler" being pieces of cut down wardrobe doors! You can see the paint lines on either side.

Close up:


I decided this space of around 5`4" W x 32" drop (from front window ledge) x 14" Deep (from edge of door hinges forward) could be used better with a set of shelving each side & centre cupboard such like this:

Before all of this though both door hinge supports will have to be replaced due to splitting & rot.Damn phillips heads will do that !!:

Particularly the kerbside door which itself will be discarded altogether & replicated with one as seen in beginning of this story.That being a panel/screen door.
The current fitted door:


It was mentioned at some point in time the reason for this door was because keys were lost for original & had to be broken into.I did find two keys screwed under floor to side chassis rail ahead of where springs bolt to.One fitted galley lock so i can only presume the other fitted the original door lock.So time now to get some timber work going for the new front storage cupboard/shelves.

[Roehm3108]

Love the spats, they're going to look great ;D ;D ;D Clever idea on utilising that front space too - you can never have enough storage space in a TD. Will you be putting some sort of rail in front of the shelves to stop things sliding out??

Ray

[DC3Td]

Gday Ray. Funny you should mention things falling out but no.There`s going to be a couple of trick things happening not seen in layout design.All will be revealed over next couple of weeks though.Bought some nice Tassie oak sticks for the frame work.Was going to get some extra pieces of hardwood to run cross ways under floor between outer chassis rails to support main centre rail but guess what? The big green shed dont sell anymore!! Plenty of treated cheap taiwan pine.No thank you.So off to timber yard instead. gordon

[Deleted]

Lookin' good Gordon.
Cheers
Reddo

[DC3Td]

Howdo Reddo. Ta.Will only get better.Trust me. gordo

[DC3Td]

Now in order to get the door frames sorted which provide upright support for the new front cupboard/shelf space it is neccessary to replace the floor which is "all but there" under the inner cabin cross beam (seen in Reply 10,first 3 pics) which bolted to the 3 chassis rails.An interesting demolition to say the least:

That`s a piece of mdf screwed & nailed from outside by removing J mould,lifting cladding away & screwing directly into ali frame through to the beam.
Same on left side:

One of the "attaching brackets"

The left fixing showing what appears to be the original J bolt (and some flooring,ha)

So once out, showing notch-outs where it rested across the ali frames:



Back inside & looking through literally the flooring that`s rotted away over the past 60 years or so:



You see here the two screws which were screwed under the cladding,into the frame & mdf piece which in turn screwed to the beam:

Flooring section shouldn`t be too much of a task.Luckily my old mate George left me a selection of ply sheets to make use of. gordon

[DC3Td]

OK,so some more pics.In order to get a better idea of how new storage space should look like i set in place a new inner floor/chassis cross beam of 5-3/8" x 2-1/4".Well two actually:

Added a couple of shelf supports:



Having two of these i figured was probably too much so reverted to one & will replace with a decent length of ali angle cut in to the curved ali ribs & will provide a much better look as well as allowing for a neater exterior fixing line.

With a couple of timber braces in place, the frame gives better indication of where shelves each side & centre door will eventually situate:

There should be somewhere in the vicinity of 2`4"H x 16"W x 12"D shelf space at top & 6" across base each side & 2'4"H x 2' 6"W of centre cupboard area.So that`s where it is at the moment. gordon

[JBJ]

Hi Gordon,

You're showing your age using inch measurements, but thats still acceptable in this "politically correct" era ( I hate that terminoligy nearly as much as black & white checked lino )

I draw house plans, & often find myself telling a client that the room size is " 12 foot x 3.6 metres". So i guess I'm more advanced towards oldtimers than you.

Keep at it. Nothing like the feeling of satisfaction you get from achieving a good result from something you are trying to do.

My first thoughts on your timber sizing is that normally we oversize by a big factor, & lighter smaller timbers generally will do the same job.

But I guess you need to work with what you arecomfortable with. I dont think a few kilos of timber weight will make a lot of difference in the towing of something light like your teardrop.

JBJ

[DC3Td]

Gday Dennis & thanks. I`m figuring 3 years our difference but who`s counting! Political correctness does nothing except provide jobs for the public service & a whole disservice to ones intelligence.
As for the timber beam which will bolt though to the three timber chassis rails i`m going with just the one now. A length of ali angle will screw into it & after notching out will further be screwed across its length bringing the ali ribs & cladding together.I`m of the mind to run a 6" wide weather strip of ali sheet between the ribs & cladding internal as well as same external.Reason being theres a lot of holes & splitting caused through the years.
I reckon the amount of timber i`ll be using whilst being strong will be nowhere near the weight of the old anchor tow rail/A frame. gordon

[seeshell]

Hi Gordon

Those cupboards will be particularly handy. Smallish cupboards really are best - things don't tend to wander and get lost in the back that way.

Coming along nicely - and don't worry about the metric/imperial. Especially when fixing old vans you're better off anyway in the old math - everything just "fits" then doesn't it?

Great work - love to see it coming along!
Seeshell

[DC3Td]

Hi Seeshell. Can never have too many cupboards.Did more or less & then some in the galley too but that area is under wraps until a later reveal. Always did/always do measure in the old skool.Just one of those things. There`s still some way to go with the refurb but its now going along ok & very little has changed in how i want its finished look.I did redesign the galley floor some time ago where i had a raised section to house a Ritec picnic table. And while it worked very well i wasn`t real happy so changed that for something more to what i could see in the original pictures & then added some subtle "bits & pieces". But you`ll see that later on. gordon

[dolphin73campervan]

Nov 11, 2012 16:14:55 GMT 10 JBJ said:

You're showing your age using inch measurements, but that's still acceptable in this "politically correct" era ( I hate that terminology nearly as much as black & white checked lino )

I concur with the black-and-white checked lino comment! A vastly overdone (and almost always historically incorrect) cliche!

[DC3Td]

Whilst getting other stuff sorted for the Td i got hold of a u beaut coupling which i`m hoping in due course will be ok for rego:



Inscribed as a Dymwood 30cwt 2Ball with patent number as well as part number it`s stood the years in remarkable condition.

Dusted off this hitch i made some 40 years ago.Good match.Just need a suitable tow vehicle to bolt it to. gordon

[humpyboy]

Hey Gordon, that Dymwood hitch is the same as what I had on my old STU

[DC3Td]

Gday humpy. Gee i hope Stu didn`t end up (parted out) in Kempsey! Had a couple of these on my trailers through the years but can`t remember the last time i saw this model. Solid as. Besides anything is better than what was on the old tow rail. gordon