My First Mills No5 in Section

[Edwardc]

Ok, I have wanted to do a Mills in section for a while now, I have practised sectioning on bullets, and other fuzes before finally taking the plunge and sourcing a Mills suitable for sectioning, I didnt want to section one i already own as they are excelent examples and I didnt want to muck it up!

So I got hold of a slightly ropey body with original base plug, striker, spring, filler plug and lever. The lever was in poor condition, the body had threads that didnt quite hold and there was not centre tube but i got it for a good price so I was happy. I then sourced a centre tube and repro det and i was set.

(This picture shows a repro lever that i didnt use in the end because it didnt 'look' right)

I set about marking and cutting the body, my aim was to make it look as close to one of the original factory sections I had seen from WW1. I used a dremel with a reinforced cutting disc and a large hacksaw, and a metal file and wet n' dry to finish the rough edges

I then marked up the centre tube for cutting, i used a ally one as it was easier to work. I used a dremel with small cut-off disc for this bit, and again the file and wet n' dry.

 

[Edwardc]

Once that was done I painted the body with satin black paint and the interior with red paint in the style I had seen the originals

Whilst that was drying I fillered and painted the lever, and painted the striker. Both had been aggressively electrolysed and wire brushed in the past and it showed. I only did a small filler job as i didnt want the lever to look to 'new'. I then painted both in satin black.

before assembling the final item and applying a little glue to the threads to keep it all together. At this stage I substituted the repro spring for a worn original as it looked better.

And this is the finished product. Im quite pleased

More pics on request, comments and (constructive) criticism welcome


thanks

Ed

 

[butterfly]

Well Ed,

all I can say is what an excellent job you have done on that one. I love the sectioned items, especially when displayed alongside un-sectioned ones within a collection. I bet you will get hours of pleasure looking at this one and more so having done it yourself.
Thanks for a comprehensive write up also, always nice to follow step by step.
Mills isnt my subject by any means, but did they really paint them? didnt they use shellac? excuse my ignorance.

just one piece of advice..........lock away the hacksaw and dremmel.......the others in your collection are no longer safe going on the results of this one!!!!!
congratulations
kind regards Kev

 

[Edwardc]

well yeah the outsides where done with shellac, i didnt have any and wasnt going to buy a load for one gren, so used a substitute. The insides on the original i have no idea what kind of paint was used but i used a red originally for my old vw beetle.

I have it on a perspex plinth displayed next to my no36 and my other no5. Agreed, i keep eyeing things up with a view to sectioning! Might dpo a few more grenades, its quite a bit of work though i spent 11hrs total over a week whilst my other half was away.

And as for the write up, i did it as i couldnt find one on here, lots of finished items but i want to show how i went throught the process!

cheers

Ed

 

[BOUGAINVILLE]

Many thanks Ed,

I found more than interesting your blow for blow account and photos of your sectioning. Many thanks for sharing with us all.

I also plan to section a grenade, in fact a Japanese Type 97 of which I have a few and have one eyed up that has rust pitting on the body. For me the body will be straight forward but instead of marking out the lines in pen I'm going to use masking tape as line markers, that way the line will still be clearly visible while cutting and guaranteed straight as well as easy to adjust in the setting up process.

The challenge for me will be the brass fuze. I might consider investing in a dremel as it looks as if it might be the best for fine work. Might also leave a margin when marking out the cuts and then file it down to a finish line with a small fine file. I presume that might be the best way to tackle the small brass fuze assembly.

I'm not in a hurry to start as I want to make sure I tackle it in the right way and am all ears at the moment.

Are there any suggestions?

Cheers,
BOUGAINVILLE

 

[Edwardc]

Think about it for a while and have a practise on some other stuff if you havent done any sectioning before. really look at your item and work out where you are going to cut roughly before you mark it etc, this includes the internal bits, i developed a kind of mental image of what i was going to cut and where

essential tools i would say were
- dremel or similar with some decent quality cut-off discs ( i used the large reinforced and non-reinforced and the small non-reinforced) for cutting the more awkward bits

- set of mini files for fine detailing, i used mine to get the corners of my cuts square

- decent metal file - i used mine for flattening

- decent wet and dry to finish the cut surfaces

- decent hacksaw blades

- bench vice or similar, i used this http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?TYPE=CATEGORY&CATEGORY=Multi+Angle+Vise

That tip about the masking tape is a good one, if i was to do another i would do that as one of my cuts (bottom one on the body) is about 1mm low on one side. When i cut mine, i cut the body to the size i wanted (measured it against an original - i was sent some photos) then i cut the inner tube slightly smaller and filled the edges to match. the only palce i didnt do this was the bottom cut on mine, as if i filed any more of the centre tube then i wouldnt have had enough thread left to grip, with hindsight i would have made the bottom cut in the body 2mm or so higher

other than that, dont rush, take your time, i did a small bit each day, the longest bit was filing and sanding and finishing, the cutting was actually quite straight forward

hope that helps. let me know if i can help more!

ed