We make videos and books about machines and the people who love them. Portrayal is for "gearheads!"
Portrayal Press is the worlds largest publisher of technical manuals on everything from WW2 jeeps to tents with over 2,000 titles. We publish high quality books on history & restorations like the Studebaker US6 by David Doyle, Ford GPW Restoration Standards by Mike Wright. www.portrayalpress.com
Portrayal.tv is an on demand "tv channel" for people who love machines. "ShopTime" is a weekly series (every Thursday) where we restore vehicles like WW2 jeeps and the venerable Studebaker Weasel, vintage tube radios and more. We also produce history segments as well as shows on firearms, motorcycles and aviation. We have a special offer for our Youtube subscribers.
Learn more here: portrayal.tv/yt/263-welcome-to-our-youtube-friends
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Portrayal
Greetings and thank you so much for supporting our channel! If you would like to see more ShopTime™ and support our efforts to make these weekly videos, we have a special offer for our Youtube subscribers. portrayal.tv/yt/263-welcome-to-our-youtube-friends
1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 21
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Portrayal
Gotta love 1940's technology. Our 1943 Willys MB with original 6 volt system fired right up in the 20F weather. We had to take it for a quick cruise around in the snow. #g503 #ww2history #wwiihistory
2 years ago | [YT] | 40
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Portrayal
Happy Thursday!
2 years ago | [YT] | 0
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Portrayal
Happy Holidays to each of you. Santa says you have been so good this year that you deserve more ShopTime™ - check out the free episodes here: portrayal.tv/yt/263-welcome-to-our-youtube-friends
2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 26
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Portrayal
Does Murph go on his official first test drive? Tune in and find out!
2 years ago | [YT] | 2
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Portrayal
Happy Fall y'all! Been out in the woods a bunch this last month and the 1944 M29 Weasel has been serving in its intended role as a "cargo carrier". They are simply awesome little machines.
We are going to restore this one at some point, but for now, just maintaining and enjoying it.
2 years ago | [YT] | 34
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Portrayal
Thank you all - we made 6,000 subs! Woohoo!
Hard at work this weekend on another Willys MB - new video will drop next Friday. We are getting real close to driving this bad boy.
Meanwhile enjoying the fall and our restored 1943 Willys MB.
2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 61
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Portrayal
What kind of video content do you want to see from Portrayal?
2 years ago | [YT] | 7
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Portrayal
Making big progress on Murph.
Spent most of last weekend at the Redball Swap Meet & MV Show...great time and I scored a bunch of parts, including an original glove box latch that cleaned up to like new.
I also made a major score in a rare accessory for Murph. Reveal on Thursday night on Portrayal.tv.
2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 16
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Portrayal
Yesterday, we put the first coat of red oxide primer on Murph, the 1943 Willys MB. The primer shows every imperfection.
Overall, this is a really nice Type I ACM tub - almost all original metal, mostly new hat channels and all of the cracks/rust/holes, etc. repaired with new steel.
My general approach to restoration is to make repairs as invisible as I can and leave the area looking factory new when I am finished. I often don't meet that standard.
What standard to you use? Would love to hear in a comment below!
There were a couple of areas on this tub where either my current skill level is not high enough or I wasn't willing to do all of the work necessary to make the repair "perfect".
One example is the rear floor.
This jeep had a communications reel (RL31) mounted in the rear floor and those Signal Corps guys beat the heck out of the floor and rear fender tops when they threw in heavy copper wire reels on their way to laying comm cables. I know the reel was installed because the original feet clips were still on the tub (and they will be going back on too).
I think this history is amazing... but my eyes stop every time I look at that floor. On the plus side, I did get almost all of the damage out of the fender tops (many hours of shrinking and hammer and dolly).
Since these old warriors are only original once, part of me likes to preserve this history and "patina". The other part of me feels like it is a lack of craftsmanship on my part.
I did spend many hours getting the floor as straight as it is...there was a depression in the center of at least 2 inches and the only way to have repaired it would have been to remove the rear floor hat channel (and probably replace it) and spend another day or so getting the panel flat. If I put a reel in there, you will see some damage, a rear passenger seat will cover almost all of it up.
Where is the line?
The other area is the front quarter on both sides - around the "A" pillar. The driver side was repaired by the PO and he did just enough work there to really make it hard to repair correctly. I cut most of his welding away and redid the repair....in retrospect, I probably should have removed the repair panel completely, fixed some underlying issues and then started over with a new patch panel or made my own.
The passenger side is also just a little wavy - partially from 80 years of use and partially because I had to fix a big rot hole in the step/transition/A pillar itself. With the A pillar in the way, it is nearly impossible to flatten that panel. The only "solution" would have been to remove the A pillar, do the repairs, then reinstall the A pillar.
Again...where is the line?
I will do some sanding today and then put another coat of primer on it. Once the OD goes on, many of these blemishes will fade...and once the grab handles and the like get bolted on, you won't see too much.
In the meantime, I will sand, grab the body hammer and dolly and keep messing with this thing until I get it to where I can live with it.
Cheers
2 years ago | [YT] | 21
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