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An old Brit back in uniform!

timmymac

Well-Known Member
First pic is what I bought, thinking it was US M26. After discovering it was not American, (and getting some VERY useful documents from a fellow BOCN member) came to the conclusion it was Probably an L2. Hard to tell , as frag coil was also inside practice L3 as well. Anyway, with this in mind I tried to properly outfit the chap. He's a far cry from original but at least he's not taken anymore for a Yank.
 

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Rick, I had bought an L3A2 from a guy on GUNBROKER & it had this fuse, (which I didn't know any better) was not correct, well screw weeks prior to getting this "M26" I replaced fuse on L3A2 with bolt s shown. Prior to VERY light coat OD, I coated the blue lever with clear laquer ( so later I can take off green to original blue is I need to. If you look at lever pic close you'll see the marking. L134A1. I don't even know what this goes on (please help) I'd of course like to put real marked up lever on it but...... Better than what WAS on it. On the lettering, I paint the lettering area yellow, then apply 1/4" vinyl Letters & paint OD green & remove vinyl. Hit it with a coat so semi-gloss lacquer to finish.
 

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Rick, I had bought an L3A2 from a guy on GUNBROKER & it had this fuse, (which I didn't know any better) was not correct, well screw weeks prior to getting this "M26" I replaced fuse on L3A2 with bolt s shown. Prior to VERY light coat OD, I coated the blue lever with clear laquer ( so later I can take off green to original blue is I need to. If you look at lever pic close you'll see the marking. L134A1. I don't even know what this goes on (please help) I'd of course like to put real marked up lever on it but...... Better than what WAS on it. On the lettering, I paint the lettering area yellow, then apply 1/4" vinyl Letters & paint OD green & remove vinyl. Hit it with a coat so semi-gloss lacquer to finish.
Brilliant...
 
Rick, I had bought an L3A2 from a guy on GUNBROKER & it had this fuse, (which I didn't know any better) was not correct, well screw weeks prior to getting this "M26" I replaced fuse on L3A2 with bolt s shown. Prior to VERY light coat OD, I coated the blue lever with clear laquer ( so later I can take off green to original blue is I need to. If you look at lever pic close you'll see the marking. L134A1. I don't even know what this goes on (please help) I'd of course like to put real marked up lever on it but...... Better than what WAS on it. On the lettering, I paint the lettering area yellow, then apply 1/4" vinyl Letters & paint OD green & remove vinyl. Hit it with a coat so semi-gloss lacquer to finish.


The L134A1 is used on the rubber bodied L56A1 practice grenade
http://www.lexpev.nl/grenades/europe/unitedkingdom/l56.html
 

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I think and im sure someone will step in if im wrong or confirm that the L134A1 was replaced with the L159A1 which has a plastic striker housing.
 
heres a thread from last year i did on how i re stencilled some l2 grenades using rubber stamps.
http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/85242-Stenciling-on-grenades
cheers, paul.

Paul does it like its done @ factory & of course when ya look close you can tell the difference. To try to make up for that, I put a very thin, sloppy yellow coat. better in some places than others to try & simulate the roll on method. This because the paint from roll on is almost NEVER perfect, sometimes like on Vietman era lemons, it looks like a drunk 3yr. old did it. Here are some pics of another couple I did when I did replicas ( bodies are both old M69 that had no original paint left, cut the clip tang off a M228 and plus some shaving off of the head at the front (for the brit of course), got L109 parts on SA065.jpg066.jpg Just plugged hole rounded a little more on the 67. Marking on this would fool a Marine DI at a couple of feet away. Don't make replicas anymore, the only thing I will do is restore & only in extreme cases.
 
Paul I just looked again @ the L2A1&2 you did, HOLY CRAP! That would fool a Royal Marine Gunny in his hand!! OUTSTANDING
 
I could make use of an L134A1 if anyone has a spare.
Actually Rick , you can have this one because The day I painted this one, I saw an unmarked L2 lever on SA. I'll be able to get green off without too much damage too blue. You welcome to it if ya want it. When I get 'em I'll give ya a shout
 
First pic is what I bought, thinking it was US M26. After discovering it was not American, (and getting some VERY useful documents from a fellow BOCN member) came to the conclusion it was Probably an L2. Hard to tell , as frag coil was also inside practice L3 as well. Anyway, with this in mind I tried to properly outfit the chap. He's a far cry from original but at least he's not taken anymore for a Yank.

I am sorry that I have come late to this thread. One thing to bear in mind when faced with L2/M26 hybrids is that during the development of the L2 (known at the time as an X5) Fort Halstead produced quite a few experimental designs with various American Fuzes and British Fuzes in combination with American and British bodies. These models are now very rare. The following list of a few example design drawing titles will give an idea of the work carried out.
P3/17704/SK/371 Grenade Hand Fitted with US Striker Mechanism in UK Body
P3/17707/SK/371 US Striker Mechanism modified for UK Rimfire Cap
P3/17708/SK/371 Grenade Hand Fitted with Redesigned Striker Mechanism : US firing chain space
P3/17709/SK/371 Grenade Fitted with Redesigned Striker Mechanism : US Firing chain space.
 
Paul does it like its done @ factory & of course when ya look close you can tell the difference. To try to make up for that, I put a very thin, sloppy yellow coat. better in some places than others to try & simulate the roll on method. This because the paint from roll on is almost NEVER perfect, sometimes like on Vietman era lemons, it looks like a drunk 3yr. old did it. Here are some pics of another couple I did when I did replicas ( bodies are both old M69 that had no original paint left, cut the clip tang off a M228 and plus some shaving off of the head at the front (for the brit of course), got L109 parts on SA
View attachment 88391View attachment 88392 Just plugged hole rounded a little more on the 67. Marking on this would fool a Marine DI at a couple of feet away. Don't make replicas anymore, the only thing I will do is restore & only in extreme cases.
Very nice work timmymac. Excellent. No one would defile a good M69 but since you said paint was cacked then "no harm no foul" ..............Dano
 
Thanks Dano. I might add this was done prior to my conversion to the "Thou shalt not make something fake out of something real" camp!
 
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