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well after quite a while in bits this is finally back together although not in bare polished look as i had initially intended due to pitting of the alloy, i dont think it would have looked as good as i would have liked
so ive gone for original mountfield red and a bit of black and white here and there
here are a few pics  

once the handles have been done i will update with finished pics 

axle is cream and looks origanl

Just love those early Bolens ride ons , where did that one come from ? What's its history?
Here's a couple of pics

picked this up today for andrew (triumph66)
 

send these photos to titch at machinrey decals he will soon sort them out for you

hope you get better soon gareth i caught shingles a few years ago and it was very  very painfull  and i certainly would not want it again

Well, look what crawled out of the shed this afternoon, (pardon the pun) even if it was after a weeks worth of magneto problems!
Still got the toolbox and bumper to sandblast and paint, then add some lights and it's done!

That's what I'm hoping, plus two power packs will go in the back of my Astra van with the rear seat up, no more bouncing around in the cabstar, and with the Nissan's horrendous thirst for diesel, the Astra should see big savings!

getting close to the end of this project now just a few issues to sort out, its funny how when you start a project like this you have a picture in your head of what it will look like, but as you progress your mind starts to wonder, anyway this is what it looks like, what do you think
 

My! You have been a busy beaver.

blimy gareth, what you going to do with them, i think your neighbours will have the hump if you start digging there paths up

they will make a nice unusual exhibit gareth

Been giving them a proper once over today. The new beaver has had a later pump conversion so for the sake of originality I'm going to borrow the one off the compact for the time being. The hardest thing to overcome is likely to be the rotten exhaust, I don't think there's any good ones left in my store.Everything else should be ok to source, although I may again struggle for a good recoil badge. The one beaver 4 above has allready been sold, the other one has been put aside for a rainy day.
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The plan is to do them up and show them with the original spec hammers(if I can find them). I've got elephants feet to demonstrate them on so the neighbours paths are quiet safe. I've managed to dig out today a couple of jcb's own hammers,probably from around 1990, hopefully I can make one good one out of them.

You know what they say, "In for a penny, in for a pound". After a 120 mile round trip ive just collected another beaver 1. This one probably dates from about 1988, and differs in it has the more conventional type controls etc. Also included in the lot was a Compact II, probably from about 1992, and a lot later bitsa that is for spares only. Better photos to follow once ive got them unloaded.
 

Got something to play with when it's raining now.

This arrived today, a 1/16 model of a Cub Cadet Garden Tractor, both steering and the front dozer blade move...
 
 

The new covers arrived but sadly they are of a different size, at least the supplier is prepared to have them back. Finally got my money back through paypal for the carb, after the seller said thy would only send a replacement once id removed my negative feedback, and accused me of ordering the wrong part etc, it had nothing to do with it being machined wrong!
In order to pay the bills ive had to refurb this much later Beaver 4(almost a before and after shot with the two side by side.) bar the frame the unit has changed very little over 30 years.

Added some more pieces to the Homelite powered tool collection.
Upgraded to a better example of the XLS Water Pump. The old one had a broken handle and was missing the gas tank.
An XL-12 toy chainsaw with box
And a Millitary version of the XL-A115 generator.

Finished the light looms, here's the sidelights at dusk

And the spots

Whilst moving some more junk out of the one unit today I came across a very reasonable recoil badge. Thought I was never going to find one!  I also about a week ago spotted some new take off genuine fuel tanks on ebay (fitted to generator that had a long life tank built into the frame probably) so for twenty quid bought it. Finally today it arrived.
After regrinding the valves, I have refitted the cylinder head and started to sort out the exhaust. The original one was beyond salvaging, holed, tatty and missing the spark arrestor. Where as later type exhausts are easy to obtain, and cheap  ( if you go the Chinese route), early ones are almost extinct. This is where my store comes in handy. There was one left, the chrome cover was a bit battered, and after beating it back into shape it looked ok, but I am a bit of a fussy bugger so found a company that still has some new covers in stock ( £50 ouch!), hopefully they will arrive tomorrow. Also I managed to find a better oil alert switch.  At long last though the Honda is starting to look like an engine again.

Removed the piston, conrod, flywheel and crank today. I know the flywheels were originally bare metal, however this leads to rust so I have given it a coat of matt black. The paint has also cured on the air shroud/recoil starter so I have fitted a new starter cord and handle, along with  3 genuine bolts ( a whole £3, lol!). I also had a lucky find on ebay which was an original spec nos air filter cover.
The last thing on todays list was to find out some original 80's spec dipstick out, a bit over the top perhaps but I like to keep things original if possible.
 

Must have had a tough life in the hire trade..i have a lot of honda engined machines...unbelievable reliable if give any bit of care. 

Today I removed the engine and hydraulic tank from the frame. After a pressure wash I was amazed just how good the engine started to look.
I was right with the fan, nearly 4 solid hours to get it off the crank, with lots of heating and penetrating fluid it eventually gave up the fight!
The good news is though, that the engine looks in pretty good condition internaly, I will probably fit a new set of rings for good measure, and regrind the valves,but that's about it.

Can't wait to start bolting things on, couldn't resist putting the polished brass oil pressure guage in, not original but piece of mind knowing there's pressure and the big ends fine.