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The engine is a 4 cylinder 10.8 HP (1232 cc) overhead inlet, side exhaust Coventry Climax made under licence by Triumph and during the late 1980's would overheat and boil after about 8 miles. It was either rubbish around the exhaust ports in the block or a blocked radiator so radiator was removed followed by the engine which was partially dismantled short block status. Over the years I had read in the club magazine about the amount of rust and debris that had been found in similar engines along with aluminium corrosion - the water inlet confirmed this when removed, the rear port was completely blocked and the top flange broke off in the process The cylinder head and studs were removed as were the sump and its studs before all the core plugs were knocked out. The amount of rust and rubbish was horrendous which explained the overheating problem, the block was probed and poked with a variety of screwdrivers chisels and lengths of bar and power washed until all the areas around the cylinders and exhaust ports were clear. The radiator had always had a greasy film around the filler which I think was due to pumping water pump grease into the pump bearings to stop it leaking so much but what to use to try cleaning it. I was wary of using some of the chemical cleaners on an 80 year old brass cored radiator and after some research found that a lot of people in the US used their equivalent of Fairy Liquid to clean out oil contaminated radiators on old trucks. An old zinc bath, my submersible pump and warm water with plenty Fairy Liquid was connected to the radiator and I reverse flushed it several times and then left it overnight full of the mixture and then flushed it a few times next day. There was no restriction to flow and the greasy film had disappeared so it was back to the engine, I don't think the engine had done more than 1,000 miles since being bored and having new bearings in 1963 and after checking the bores and a couple of the big ends didn't think it was necessary to strip it down any further. A couple of the cylinder head stud threads in the block were a bit suspect so I retapped as far as I could and sourced some new studs, fitted new exhaust valve guides, ground in the valves, treated it to a new timing chain, selected the best cam follower housings and followers from spares that had been removed from a scrap 6 cylinder engine from a 2 door Gloria Coupe that my father had broken for spares in the 1950's (wish we still had that one) and fitted a set of new brass core plugs. The engine was re-assembled with new water inlet and new water pump The clutch had some surface rust on the flywheel and pressure plate and was easily cleaned up with emery cloth before being bolted back on and the engine was installed with new rubber engine mounts - the old ones were past their best The carburettors were then fitted - there is a small side draught and a larger down draught working on the same principle as the progressive twin choke weber where the small one opens to half throttle and then opens the large one until they are both fully open as this is a Gloria Vitesse engine. New oil, plugs, plug wires, points, condenser filled with water and some petrol in the tank it fired up and ran with good oil pressure, it did require a bit of tweaking of the jets to get it running reasonably well and that is how it ran last year but the more miles it did the smokier the exhaust became until it was becoming really bad when hot. The last thing I needed was some tree-hugging do-gooder phoning the police complaining about an old car belching out smoke - I had already a run in with Police Scotland about carrying a shotgun on the roadside a couple of years ago. I also had water leaking up the cylinder head studs and when tightening them a little further felt a couple of them let go in the block This year I took the engine out again thinking that the piston rings were rusted and allowing oil up the bores but when all stripped down they were in perfect condition and discovered that the inlet valve guides were badly worn. They had felt quite good last year and I think they had been gummed up with oily carbon that hadn't come off when I power washed it but as it ran more the new oil had slowly washed it away - 4 new inlet guides duly sourced and fitted. The cylinder head studs were a different story as the threads in the block were stripped on two of them and another three were suspect. A club member had repaired his by making some 1/2" UNF OD inserts and tapping them 3/8" BSF for the studs but he had the benefit of access to a milling machine and I don't so I needed a different solution. By chance I had some Jaguar 3.8 waisted cylinder head studs with 7/16" UNF threads and 3/8" dia waist section. I made a steel block with 3 different ID sized inserts that I could clamp on to the block face - a 3/8" one to line it up using original stud, second one for 7/16" tapping drill and a third one to line up the 7/16" UNF tap as the hole was threaded. The Jaguar studs were cut and a 3/8" BSF thread cut on the waisted section The engine was assembled once again with a thread sealant applied to the cylinder head studs this time to stop any water coming up the studs. Another change I made was to fit a single downdraught Zenith carb as the throttle spindles on the SU's are very worn and I couldn't get the engine to run properly, it is now a lot more driveable with just a slight hesitation on take off but isn't a problem on the road. I may try to refurbish the SU's at some point to return it to Vitesse specification.

Its that time of year to do a bit of maintenance on the E tank as all the time its quietly removing rust the anodes are being eaten away - so today was the day. As you will see, they've been hard at work and it was time to put some old gang mower and triple bottom blades to good use.

Happy New Year to all forum users Lets hope 2021 is a better year for us all Paul and Wendy

Happy and prosperous New Year to one and all

Hogmanay in lockdown - bah humbug! As I raise another glass of navy rum A guid new year tae ane an' aw and mony may ye see.

Happy and safe new year to all from Dover.

Happy New Year to you as well Paul!

We have put together a quick Christmas video. Merry Chrismas everyone and we hope to see you in 2021

Next came choosing material for the interior trim, a lot of which could not be removed intact in order to gain access to the framework , I decided to go with a modern type green vinyl similar in colour to the original along with dark green rubber backed carpeting. The original carpeting was a short pile hessian backed type but I could not find it in a suitable green and I did not think dying it to the correct colour would be a feasible proposition. As someone had coloured the leather rear seats and arm rests with a hideous blue in the past I also ordered a leather renovation kit in the same shade of green as the vinyl and if the original side panels which I was going to re-use didn't look right I could do them as well. The rear arm rests along with the rexine attachments had to be fitted first before the boot floor as these formed the inside of the boot. The boot floor was duly cut to size, covered in the new vinyl and fitted along with the repainted steel covers. The old rexine side panels don't look too bad against the new vinyl and the arm rests turned out quite good as well alongside the original rear panels, this is after the seat had also been done. Before the side panel could be fitted a new door seal was required, not just any door seal but a 3/8" dia piece of wing piping, you can see it running down the door pillar here You can't buy 3/8" wing piping and certainly not in green so as always we'll just make it. Sewing machine was already there as I had bought it to do the Carlton interior, and a new 3/8" foot was purchased The original piping had an orange rubber pipe running through it and I managed to get some 10 mm bunsen burner tubing which was the perfect size for the job but I just couldn't get the vinyl to feed through the machine. I tried various methods of lubricating it until someone advised using tissue paper and it worked a treat but a bit of a pain to remove from the thread afterwards. Once a new piece of carpet was sewn on the bottom of the side panels they were then fitted along with the back seat.

For the last few months I have been medically chair bound with the exception of odd forays to the garages and workshop to find things. Father Christmas was very good to me giving me a comfy office chair, an LED head torch and a Drill Doctor drill sharpener. My new lockdown past time is sitting at the kitchen table in my comfy chair ,my headlight beaming away and my drill sharpener on the table in front of me. Over 50 years of workshopping I have somehow amassed a huge collection of drill bits , some were my Father's , Rhys gave me a pile of Morse tapered lathe drills but most I have bought when embarking on a new project. Although I am quite capable of sharpening drill bits ,it has not been a regular workshop maintenance task and consequently it was quicker to buy some new drills rather than sort out and sharpen old ones, UNTIL NOW ! The drill Doctor machine will cope with drills from 1mm ( if you are careful ) up to 3/4" . The drill bit is set in a chuck which aligns the flutes to produce a point angle of 118 - 135 degrees with minor up or down variation. The chuck is then slotted into a holding socket above the diamond grinding wheel to be rotated slowly by hand, two turns will dress up a tired drill to new, 10 turns will restore a broken drill. The machine was not cheap but works extremely well, will cater for split point drills and masonry bits, clean working ,not too noisy and a nice way to spend a few hours in the warm recycling useful things. I would certainly never have stood at the grinder for many hours hand sharpening hundreds of drill bits. I have now ordered a couple of graded drill bit holders so that I can again sit at the table and sort out all the sizes and then give a couple of sets to my sons. I recently bought a spring caliper guage for measuring valve shims and was very pleasantly surprised to find that it can display in mm / inches and also fractions of inches so I can now identify some of the odd sized tapping drills I have. That should take up a few hours maybe I will improve my set up with my headlamp and some wireless earphones tuned in to Planet Rock!

Things didn't go quite as planned yesterday. First of all I will say I did take my camera this time. Unfortunately I didn't check the battery was fully charged. Though the snow, such as it was, had thawed, there was a slight touch of drizzle in the air. Water on frozen ground can be interesting. Didn't set off to the field till after lunch. Where the bridleway joins the farm track, there is a bit of a drop. Normally not a problem but it had been rutted by a tractor at some time and some lumps off earth left sticking up. Now frozen solid. Trying to pick the best way down, as the front wheels dropped off the lane, the tote box on the front dug in and came off. Next the rear axle got high sided on righthand side. Front wheels in the gully, one rear wheel in the air spinning merrily, nothing was going anywhere. Unhitched the trailer and put the tractor in 1st high box. By lifting the tractor rear end and pushing best I could, managed get the tractor on to the farm track. Trailer back on and tote box, chainsaw etc in the trailer proceeded to the field. The tree I was going to fell, was at one side of a gateway between two fields. The ground had been nicely paddled by cattle and sheep and now frozen and starting to thaw, made walking rather dodgy. The tree had grow from out the side of the bank. The only way I could get to cut it was off the bank. Also I couldn't get to it to cut a notch out the side I wanted it to fall. Though with it leaning into the field anyway, that was where it was going to drop. It wasn't the best of jobs, or safest I've done due to the trees position, but by being very careful it dropped right where I expected and wanted. I was cutting some of the limbs up, trailer length, and loading them and twiggy stuff into the trailer, when Carol arrived and assisted with the loading. With the tote box etc balanced on top of the load of wood, the slow journey home down the rough track was made. Depending on the weather, rain forecast for tomorrow, it could be the end of the week before the jobs finished. If it doesn't kill me first.

The finished article It looks alright outside a new barn conversion where the local builder allowed me to use the concrete drive to make final adjustments to the engine and brakes before taking it out on the road. What started as a mechanical makeover turned into something a lot bigger and I wish I could have kept more of its originality (I have all the interior trim in a box for the next custodian) but it still has all the dings, dents, scratched and chipped paintwork that it collected over the last 83 years and the chrome is showing its age. On the other hand I can take it out on the road and go to rallies and galas without worrying about people touching it or kids with sticky fingers making a mess on it. In August 2019 I entered the Garioch Vehicle Restoration Society rally where it attracted quite a lot of attention although 'his lordship' sitting in the back seat may have been part of the reason Sam isn't in to car rallies, ' I'm bored, can we go home now?' I'm hoping that we do get to some rallies this year as the car is less than 20 miles from where it was first registered in 1937 and when we got the car it had yellow bulbs in the headlights and fog lights, a GB plate on the back and a transfer of French road signs on the windscreen so someone had taken it to France at some point. I'm sure that someone in the area has old photographs hiding in the loft as you wouldn't take a car like this to France without taking photographs. That's it then and I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings.

A bit more progress on the snow plough. In this video we finish making the clevis forks and get the hydraulic cylinder cleaned up and painted with primer. I was very pleased with how the clevis forks turned out.

This advert for the smaller aero engines arrived today all the way from the USA Now framed and with the display...

A couple of issues of Popular Mechanics magazine from 1970 arrived today They are of interest because they contain small articles on the Otline model 249 hedge trimmer and the Amp Champ generator. Information sourced from David (factory)s post on this forum

With the under dash wiring done I could now finish the carpeting of the bulkhead, side panels and floor. When I initially started in 2006 I removed the gearbox cover which was made of moulded hard rubber and had broken in 3 pieces but I was going to make a mould from it and do one in fibreglass but in the meantime it had fallen off a shelf and was now in a hundred pieces. A modified one was made from aluminium and made it a lot easier to carpet. The vinyl edging around the carpeting is wider than I would have liked but the rubber backing just cracks and the carpet splits if you sew too close to the edge, I didn't have this trouble with the hessian backed stuff I used on the Carlton. The bulkhead and the side panels with air conditioning facility - no fuses required! then renovated front seats fitted The new front brake cylinders and shoes along with the new hubs and bearings were next The tyres were all different makes and sizes and well over 50 years old so new 5.50 x 16 Blockley tyres tubes and tube protectors were ordered, the wheels sand blasted and powder coated to prevent damaging the new tubes. The original colour had been cream then repainted yellow and I couldn't decide whether to go black to match the body, green to match the interior but in the end decided to go with silver. Not far to go now but we still have the engine saga.

In 1963 when we got the car the old man repaired the join between the front and rear wins with a couple of plates as we didn't have any welding gear at that time and there was also a lot of corrosion on the front wings where the headlamp support bolted through to a bracket under the wing. Once the wings were removed the extent of the corrosion became apparent and new metal from a half sheet of 20 SWG mild steel I had left over from a previous project was formed and welded in. Not a perfect job but blends in well with the 'patina' of the rest of the wings, the corrosion around the headlamp support was a bit more extensive and a double curved piece was formed on a sandbag and carefully welded in to prevent buckling. A quick grind down, thin skim of filler, sanded, primed and given a quick spray of cellulose with an air brush and an acceptable finish was achieved. A new bracket under the wing had to be made as the old one had more holes than it did metal The running board strips had also been replaced by wooden ones in 1963 and the wings were full of holes from previous repairs to the strips but by carefully placing new ones I was able to hide nearly all of them because welding them all up would have corrugated the running boards and I didn't want to try sorting that out. The wings were now firmly attached to the body which in turn was firmly attached to the chassis and in the future if someone wishes to restore it to concours condition there is enough originality left to do so.

Photos are becoming a bit thin on the ground now. Under the back seat there were two crossmembers on the chassis with plates for holding two six volt batteries, one of these had to be replaced and I decided to convert it to one single 12 volt battery while I was at it. I test fitted the new battery and noticed a bit of a spark as I put the terminal on and thought that everything was switched off and it was. I knew the wiring to the back of the car was needing replacing but when I added an ammeter to the main cable there was a 3 amp discharge with nothing switched on, so the rest of the wiring was now suspect. There were a couple of burned wires under the dash, several added wires under the bonnet and a couple of duplicates to the front lights, the club came to the rescue with a wiring diagram and it really isn't a complicated system and I removed the lot to start from scratch. Although cotton braided cable is available the thought of measuring the various lengths, making sure I had enough and getting the right colours seemed a bit too much like hard work. I had plastic covered wire from 2 Triumph 2000's a Mark 10 Jag and an XJ6 all in BL colour codes so decided to follow their coding system and make up my own loom and use some vintage style trunking to hide most of them. It was a cold spell and paint wasn't drying, glue wasn't going off so I thought I'll do the wiring but hadn't reckoned on trying to straighten out cold plastic wire that had been coiled up for the best part of 25 years, it was a real pita to feed six or seven cables through the trunking and had to pull some through two or three at a time with a squirt of WD40 to help it along. Once done it looks quite in keeping with the rest of the car with only a couple of inches at the control box showing and fixed to the chassis with brass clips Two solenoid were added for the horns and the headlights to lessen the load on the wires passing down the inside of the steering column and the underside of the dash is also a lot neater. The reconditioned steering box was also fitted at this stage before a new plywood bulkhead section around the pedals and steering column was installed. This is the final tally of all the woodwork that was replaced

Happy new Year to one and all

Happy New Year to all.

All the Best one and all. And here's to a much better 2021.

Happy new year everyone! Here's to a better 2021!

Picked up this 230v Little Wonder Hedge Cutter a few days ago. Makes a nice companion for the massive 42" cut petrol version

Some more progress on the Bolens HT snow plough replica. In this video we start the repairs to the blade

Spoke to a farmer neighbour on Friday, at a distance naturally, and mentioned I'd had to order some firewood. First time for 4yrs. "Needn't have done that", said he. "There's a tree you can take down in a field". Typical! Yesterday I gave my chainsaw a check over and ran it briefly. Checked over the Sears/Roper and fuelled it up. Attached the tote box, then loaded that with all I'll need. This afternoon it'll be "TIMBER!"

Sorry Stormin, but I just had to wind you up a bit - we need some friendly banter in these gloomy times!

Started today off by swapping the tyres onto the smaller wheels ... wheel as it came on the tractor first step, split the wheel second step, clean out all the horrible dried out grease one wheel was missing its gasket and the others was in an awful state so I cracked out some gasket paper finished article, unfortunately I’ve not been able to fit it as the previous owner had used metric bolts to fit the wheels ... at her fix for another day!

Wow! That is a super cool advertisement, nice find!

Got a drill sharpener myself, though I doubt I would get away with using it in the house. Workshop is a bit chilly for working in. With the lockdown restrictions, my farm work and trips over to Scotland are curtailed. Jigsaws have been rooted out. More books read and a daily 2-1/2 approx. mile walk round the block. I'm even doing the washing up. Sometimes!

I bought a basic Martek Drill Sharpener back in 1986, attaches to an electric drill and fixed into a drill holder back in that period. Only covered bits from 1/8" upwards. Still have it, but not used much. I tend to dispose of, or sharpen by hand, any bits under 1/8" and use only for wood after. Although I was successful in hand sharpening 2 off 1/32" drill bits after I broke them while working on my latest project. To be on the safe side, I started the hole with a good one, then followed up with the sharpened one and went fine with no issues. Winter 'clips my wings' with projects due cold workshop and other priorities. Like you're having to do, I do much of small work on the table in the warmer conditions. The other thing keeping me busy is learning the secrets of a different OS from Windows to MacBook Pro after 15 years using Microsoft.

Finally got around to cleaning up the Aquabug cover that my mate got mended for me Its now in the display next to the machine, I still think it looks better without the cover so am leaving it off for now...

Further progress on the Bolens HT snow plough replica despite the workshop feeling like it is 10 degrees colder than outside and the outside temperature is at freezing point. The workshop soon warmed up or we got the hang of the temperature. We finished work on the swivel, started making the clevis forks and finished the main frame. Video of progress

Following on from the article by Patrick Knight with extra photos by the editor as published in the latest edition of the VHGMC Magazine The Cultivator , I have two ITC Skimmer machines, one is complete ready to work, the other is mobile and has all major new old stock parts for a rebuild. Rarer still I have a new condition operation and parts manual for the skimmer from which measurements etc can be scaled to make up missing frame. Sadly I have disposed of most of my entire range collection due to ill health, the machines I have are available if anyone is interested. The skimmers are unique machines based around an MG6 chassis but fitted with a second final drive gearbox driving the tracks working speed when skimming was 25ft per minute. Quite amazing machines that would travel, skim 1/2″ of sand over a 4ft width, elevate and break up the sand and then discharge at about 5ft off the ground into a dumper all from a 600cc petrol engine. Being slightly lacking in power many waterboard machines were modified for bigger engines, one of my current machines was purchased in Devon with a brand new for Escort engine and gearbox fitted ( never run from new), another was fitted with a twin cylinder electric start engine.Both now have original type Ransomes petrol engines. When I first set out to collect one of every model MG made the ITW ( wheeled model),Whitlock loading shovel WR8 were the Holy Grails of which there were thought to be very few remaining, Skimmers were known of but none seen, over the years many more Whitlocks and ITW machines have come to light as have a number of Skimmers. The search is now on to find out what happened to the ITW Barge Tractor which evolved over a number of prototypes the final model I believe was sold to Port of London so far never to be seen or heard of again, UNLESS YOU KNOW DIFFERENT Happy Christmas

With the boot floor finished it was time to refurbish the boot lid, it originally had a small steel flap which hinged down to extend the boot floor and with the lid opened against a canvas retaining strap gave a significant increase in carrying capacity. The inner lining had seen better days and my father had removed the flap long ago but for some unknown reason it was still in an old shed complete with it's chrome hinge. The rexine was removed from the flap, the rust sanded off and new vinyl glued on, the hinge was eased off and straightened and a new panel made from 4 mm plywood and again covered in vinyl. When not being used it is popped against the boot lid. The aluminium protectors and the retaining lugs were still usable. The nearside door was next for attention and needed a new section where the lower hinge attached as the original was split and the screw holes were stripped, simply screwing the split together and plugging the holes didn't look as if it would work so a rather rough piece was cut, bolted and glued to the upper frame and screwed and glued to the bottom door frame. Only the front half of the plywood lower section remained but it was used as a rough template and a full length piece was cut and sanded to shape but when placed against the frame I only had about 1/8" of aluminium on the leading edge to fold back over. Took a few tries and checks of the frame to realise it was made of 9 mm ply and not 12 mm - a total waste of a good piece of 12 mm plywood ! That was soon corrected and then screwed and glued to the frame. These doors are quite interesting, the triangular black piece actually hinges up and provides a straight door top for using the sidescreens and when cut away doors are required an armrest unfolds and screws to the top of the cutaway The finished door, with new rear and lower panel and original armrest and flap in leather. The lower hinge was non original and I found some hinges of the correct depth and width at Vintage Supplies which had to be cut to length and drilled but they fitted perfectly. The threaded plate in the door top was stripped so a new one had to be made and the offcuts from the hinge did the job. Just as well as my aberdonian tightness did cringe at paying over 40 quid each for them, the offside door was better and only needed a new piece of ply and all the trim.

I don't think I'd worry about the letters that have moved, Richard. Doubt anyone will notice if you don't tell them.

@Wristpin Thanks for the tip on the air filter, I managed to find a new old stock one on eBay the other day for £1.40 + post so a bit of a bargain! @Triumph66 Thanks, I’ve seen your on a Facebook group I think, that would of been the dream tractor! @Joseph Your right, always good to meet another Norfolk boy! Looks like you’ve got some nice tractors! This morning I cleaned took the wheels apart and fitted the new tyres. Unfortunately a previous owner had jammed some metric bolts in the stub axles, so another job for another day!

Here are some photos of the TAS P7 ice auger, it cleaned up pretty well. I had to replace the kill switch and make a new carb diaphragm and gasket, replaced the fuel and vent lines and the spark plug and it fired right up.

At least we can go out in the garden and build a snowman !

Thank you. My brother's first car in the early 1960's was a 1935 Morris 8 tourer, YS 5104, followed by a 1936 Ford model Y. If my father hadn't had a spare fiver in 1963 I wouldn't have the car now and there were a couple of times I thought it was going to go belly up and I'd have to sell it for spares but I got there eventually.

I'm always grateful Alan and thanks. If the Topic/thread provides interest and something to read/look at being produced, then it has served it's purpose. Interests vary and is always good to see them all in material forms such as on this Forum, irrespective of varying skill levels and subjects. Reckon you're right Norm. They are obscured by the wheels. Only needed a few thousands of an inch variation on the flatness of the retaining plate while heating up for the lettering to be able to shift. Humbled John. Thanks. Learned to love the qualities of metals and lucky to have lots of patience. Things take me a long time to do, what with learning as I go. A project to me is loads of smaller projects which combine to make a finished one, hence the slow pace. Happy with the progress and the finished item is in sight Regards Well I somehow endured the low temperatures and managed to get some colour on this Water Cart. Matt finish is important as it seems to improve the appearance of a model this size. I had to use 2 different primers, one on the metal parts and another on the wood. Top coat went on fine with only a few undesirable bits in it which were easy to remove after. I used my 45 year old Badger 200 Airbrush, which had done many Murals on Car and Van panels back in the 1970s and still going strong- Once dry, I was able to pick out the raised lettering in yellow, a challenge with a tiny 6 bristled sable brush and an Eye Glass, while holding my breath to keep my hand steady- Currently a partial assembly to keep the bits together and dust free- Colour variations are due to available light, but the last image is what the colour is by eye. Valve internal parts now fitted. Matt varnish for top coat is on order. Currently dulling off the shiny wheel rims using acid to etch the finish. Regards

Both supplied by Orline products, I guess these would match the pictures in the articles (neither are mine). David

on the final model it was the steering wheel mechanism and an option for a higher ratio of gears to give a higher road speed, it is not recorded if the one machine sold to London Docks had the higher gear option. The machine was also fitted with the flywheel driven electric kit to power the lights.

Don’t think that you will find a float as it will probably have a “cube carb” with a needle valve operated by a diaphragm. If you are lucky it will respond to a good clean to remove gum and stale fuel - best done in an ultra sonic tank. . Not so lucky the diaphragms will have hardened or split. Worst of all it won’t respond and will need a replacement carb. Dare I say that a Chinese copy carb will cost far less than even a genuine diaphragm and gasket set. Have a look at Garden Hire Spares.

Nice finds!

Brilliant, Joseph. BTW. Another year or so and you'll be as tall as your dad. Merry Christmas.

Such things dreams are made of !

One day Jonathan I’m sure the original barge tractor will be found, hopefully by me 😁

I made an aluminum base plate based on DustyB's picture provided. Thanks again DustyB! I used an old scrap speed limit sign I had and cut it out of that. Believe it or not, I was able to find locally, NOS 10-32 Palnuts. It was an all or none purchase so now I have around 80-100 of these... I was not able to find any feet that were close to original so I decided to use what I had, and since I have extra Palnuts, I used them as fasteners on the feet as well. Not correct as original, but it all matches nicely and I think it looks good...

I'm running out of suitable complimentary words Richard.