the showman

Back home now after a long 4 days at RPT, the weather was scorching hot which made the ground as hard as concrete, there were a few breakages in the working area, but everyone had a Good time.
We had plenty of exhibitors in the arena display on both days and no one had to be towed out.
Im very greatful to everyone who supported me and the show and hope you all had a good time and got home safely.
Once again chaps , THANK- YOU.
Thanks to Paul for the photos, first class coverage as always mate

On Chris,s tablet now. A little better. Was a good show and good site. Worth the trip down. That is a story on it,s own.
Arrived about 5pm Friday, found Chris, set up camp, chin wagged till well after dark.
Saturday woke to a misty morning but not cold. Sun soon had things really warmed up. I'm not used to so much sunshine and heat.
After the arena parade, we went off to try our hand at ploughing. The ground was a tad hard. As in concrete. My plough would only go as deep as the turf and wheels struggling for grip. Some bright spark suggested trying a tandem pull, using trac horse. I think it may have been me. Well it seemed a good idea at the time.
So off Chris, Paul and I went. That's when the plough broke. I think the bit? of extra weight applied to the plough didn't help. Lesson number one learned.
Being gluttons for punishment, we fitted Chris's plough to the Black Horse. But no tandem pull this time or weight on the plough. I think Paul was elswhere.
Nigel got two lads with bigger tractors to loosen up the groung then off we went. This time we got a lot of usfull advice from a nice bystander. But we still struggled so gave up and went for a brew.
Sunday was another scorching day, apart from the parade it was a do nothing day.

A really enjoyable day at Rural Past Times at Sedlescombe today
 
The weather was a bit hot for my liking and the ground was like concrete, so the working area was hard work, but a good varied
turnout which made Mr Showman a happy chappy  
 
Nice to meet up with Tom and Simon from Norfolk
 
Here's some photos...
 
 

Lots of adjustment and fiddling about going on Alan, the ground was so hard poor Norms plough ended up a bit broken...
 

Morning all, yesterday was a great start to RPT.. As Paul mentioned it was a bit hot, most of us finished the day with very red arms.. My Wife thinks I look like a turnip with a beard
 
It was good to catch up with all you guy's and girls again, and good to finally meet you Norm and your amazing black machine
 
All in all a great day, a bit of machine driving, a bit of chatting and answering questions, and plenty of chilling out and nattering in front of Chris's caravan watching the world wonder by

a few more picts of sataday
 

Many thanks for chris (mr showman )  for all the hard work and many meetings he had to attend to turn this into what must be the most chilled out and most relaxing show in the country

just returned from rpt and put the machines to bed a great show well done chris for your efforts 
great to see everyone again

I just got back from RPT via the pub and a slap up dinner to say thanks to Chris for organising a very relaxed and chilled out day out at Sedlescombe. Also I got a VERY PLEASANT surprise when Nigel and Ian presented me with my Bolens Ride a Matic for me to have a ride around the grounds (well actually more than one ride around!). Thanks chaps. I am certainty coming back next year for the weekend. Also great to meet up with Tom (a new Bolens convert), Simon, Norman and Ben.
Again, I reiterate, a fantastic day out and one to put in your diary for 2016.

Back home now after a long 4 days at RPT, the weather was scorching hot which made the ground as hard as concrete, there were a few breakages in the working area, but everyone had a Good time.
We had plenty of exhibitors in the arena display on both days and no one had to be towed out.
Im very greatful to everyone who supported me and the show and hope you all had a good time and got home safely.
Once again chaps , THANK- YOU.
Thanks to Paul for the photos, first class coverage as always mate

Van all loaded, 3 Wheelhorse's, 2 disc harrows, dozer blade, plough, zig zag harrow and 4 wheel trailer, besides all the
usual stuff

Ive had some good ones off the bay half the price of halfords, they normally have the size on the listings

I'd to drill the one on the C-125 out, but the C-121 gave no problem. I use the same type of pin as in Chris's photo. Much easier when changing hitches.
  Speaking of which, I'll be taking the two below to RPT. One is spoken for but the other is up for grabs. They go in a slot hitch.
 

Another map

Most of the Wheehorse's i have the rear pin rusts up and they won't come out to change the hitch or split the tranny.
Here's one i did this morning on a tractor that i want to take to RPT.
It takes me just over an hour with several drill bits and a lot of drilling

Here's a little map for you all, hope that helps

Another map

Slight change of plan, I will be there Saturday now (was just going to be Sunday)
 
Sounds like a good weekend, hope we get the weather !!

Looking forward to meeting you all, we are expecting to arrive at approximately 9pm Friday evening. See you all there
Tom

Thanks guy's, you don't have long to wait
 
More progress today, I fitted a couple of stoppers to limit the steering lock a tad and stop the calipers from hitting the axle, but I forgot to take a photo..
 
A battery cut-off switch is now fitted..
 

 
 
And the empty headlamp hole now has a cover... Sorry Nigel, I just had to go for the brushed steel look to match the dash panel.
 

St Micheals hospice have a silent auction there so bring some cash as there's often a bargain to be had

During the show on Saturday the working area will be open all day for ploughing or whatever you want to do except for arena times and as they have given us our own slot and there will be a few of us i will expect everyone to support it, they may even give us two slots, one in the morning and one afternoon.
On Sunday it will be much the same except ploughing will finish at 3' oclock, if you have harrows you can carry on as we need to get the field back to how it was before you lot dug it up.
I know we're all going to have a good weekend and i would like to thank you all for your support

Had a bit of time on mine today after getting new nuts and bolts yesterday.
I've cleaned all the rust off and freed every thing off so its all adjustable and painted it with red primer, here's a coupl of photos

The idea being when it's plugged in to the stop/run circuit will be in run mode.. So if the plug is attached to the driver and the driver get thrown off for some reason, the plug get pulled and the engine stops
 
Ian,  I think you meant to say that if the driver SELF EJECTS in SHEAR TERROR via his inbuilt REAR END propulsion system, then the plug gets pulled stopping the engine.

Thanks mate, all I need to do now is find a better way of mounting it..
 
 
 
 
They are.. Just a very very pale shade
 
 
An update from inside the workshop.... The bench WN was on ended up looking like this yesterday!!
After the struggle of lifting her off the bench last time we decided the easiest thing to do this time was to slide drag the bench to the doorway and roll her down some ramps,,,
To be fair on the bench it has put up with a lot of punishment for the past er... many years including the weight of the 6x6 being built on it..
The bench will be rebuilt a lot stronger and on castor wheels
 

 
 
I'm very happy to report that all the changes that have happened on WN have been worth it..
Thanks to the new higher fuel outlet on the tank she starts up straight away with no hassles or queasy-start..  A little choke, no throttle push the starter button and she roars into life..
Today I realized that I was no longer thinking about the brakes when using then, I guess the relocated front master cylinder is doing it's job now
 
And now the big one.. Steering..
 
Gone is the twitchyness that was there under hard throttle while turning.. There is even a fair amount of self centering going on.. Oh, and the steering is so much lighter than what it was
The only downside was the amount of wheel turning needed to steer..
It was about 1/2 a turn lock to lock, the A35 steering box made that 2.2 turns lock to lock!!
 
This was sorted today by drilling and extra hole in the drop link a bit closer to the wheel and giving the connecting rod a bend so it didn't hit the exhaust or anywhere else..
The lock is now 1.5 turns lock to lock which feels right.. In fact it now has so much lock that the front brake calipers hit the front axle on full lock, so I need to make a couple of simple stoppers to stop that happening..
 

 
 
The fender pan is as done as it's going to get before the shows, it still needs loads more work but that can wait until I get her ready for final paint.
 

 
 
I have also installed a plug under the dash..
 

 
 
Nope, it's not for plugging in headphones   It is in fact wired into the bikes stop/run circuit.    The plan is to grind out some of the plastic bit that separates the positive and negative and weld both bits together.
The idea being when it's plugged in to the stop/run circuit will be in run mode.. So if the plug is attached to the driver and the driver get thrown off for some reason, the plug get pulled and the engine stops
 

 
 
I'm now so tired I can hardly type without having to correct a smelling mistake on every other turd, so it's just as well I'm on the last three photo's..
Here's WN out in the wild yesterday.