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Thread: Just got my MkIII Compass back from Trademark London

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  1. #1
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    Just got my MkIII Compass back from Trademark London

    Well, I got given an estate MkIII compass made by the Canadianicon Kodak Company in 1942 and it was in pretty sorry shape. I sent it off to Paul Crespel at Trade Mark London for restoration and I think it came back looking pretty good.

    It's not totally period looking any longer though as CKC used a LOT of radium - far more than Francis Barker did in the UKicon-made MkIII compasses and it was actually at unsafe levels - over 29 micro-sieverts/hr. 3 micro-sieverts/hr is considered hazardous to your health. So I had all the original radium cleaned out and it's now down to about 1.15 micro-sieverts/hr which is a safe level and the lights are now all tritium capsules - not radium paint.

    Before:






    After:





    The Original dial had to be replaced with a new one made by Francis Barker (they are interchangeable - CKC made the MkIII under license from FB). Paul tells me at some point in the compass' history some quartermaster had attempted to "repair" the instrument when the kerosene damping fluid leaked out, probably in the 1950's before the compass left Canadian service. The "gasket" was redone using putty and the ham-fisted oaf had also cracked the dial. The restoration also required a new viewing glass as the original had been scratched up with a screwdriver from the bad repair job.

    Here's the original dial and glass:





    Compass has an interesting history. It was issued to a Captain Haddad of the Royal Canadian Medical Corps. He was a doctor who served from 1939 to 1945 in both Europe and Africa and again in the Korean War for the duration. I got a few items from his estate when a friend and I were asked to clear out the milsurp stuff by the widow. Supposedly this compass was his from WW2 and stayed with him even after he left the service. I have the original webbing case for it with his name inscribed on the back.



    I also got a nice Fairbairn Sykes dagger, some desert warfare goggles and some original What Price Victory pamphlets from the same "cache".
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    Last edited by Badger; 02-19-2011 at 01:55 PM.
    Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!

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    very nice...thanks for sharing.

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    Looks very nice. I've been haunting Trademark's website looking for one myself......

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    It won't have been some dodgy quartermaster that tried to repair it in service Claven. It was probably bodged OUTside its military service. The bowl was filled not with kero but with de-gassed isoprophyl alcohol and done in a vacuum tank in an instrument workshop in order to deareate it. We didn't remove the bowl window at all except at a Base workshop. Our UKicon spec compasses have a grille over the case glass too. Re-filling was done with the small 8BA brass screw (DON'T use steel......., please...............) in the side of the bowl, below the bubble trap. It was usually the fibre seal that failed and when it did, the alcohol destroyed the shellac that sealed the recessed screw.

    These compasses regularly feature on Ebay at a price depending on their condition. We still use identical compasses to this very day on the basis that if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Only ours are in mils and are not marked with the compass points around the sides of the case.

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    Hi Peter,

    I don't believe the MkIII ever had a grille over the cover, not even the Francis Barker-made UKicon examples. In fact, CKC as a secondary contractor also supplied these to the MOD. You might be thinking of the more recent production Francis Barker M71 compass or the substitute standard Stanley G150, both of which do have a protective grille.

    Interestingly, Paul Crespel who wrote the book on the history of Francis Barker and UK MoD compasses holds a differing opinion from yours. According to him, almost half of the MkIII's he sees for repair have been rebuilt in UK/Commonwealth service with putty - a practise for which he has lots of explitives since at best, it repaired the compass for a year or two until the putty degraded and they were then MUCH harder to properly repair. I know the history of this particular compass as I know who exactly it was issued to, how he came to have it and that it sat in a shaddow box since 1954. According to my info it was repaired with (yuck) putty in the Canadianicon Forces Supply System sometime between 1945 and the start of the Korean war.

    I forget which is which, but between Stanley and Francis Barker, one uses isopropyl alcohol and the other distilled kerosene for the damping fluid. I could be wrong as to which is in the mkIII?

    I tend to look at these compasses more as fine instruments than beater milsurp stuff. They are remarkably well made, certified accurate to within a half degree by the manufacturer and incredibly easy to read and use, even on a dark night. I intend to actually use this one in the bush as I can't imagine a better compass for that purpose New-made Francis Barkers (nearly identical to the MkIII except in mills) sell new for over 360 UK pounds.

    Here are some good MkIII compass links:

    http://www.trademarklondon.com/mkiii_compasses_37.html

    Radium hazards in old compasses:
    http://www.trademarklondon.com/compass_repairs_11.html

    Compass fluids:
    http://www.trademarklondon.com/compass_fluid_32.html

    EDIT: Just re-reading Paul's site, it's the Stanley compasses that use Isopropyl alcohol, so the ones you are issued today are probably the G-150's. The Francis-Barker ones are kerosene.
    Last edited by Claven2; 10-05-2010 at 10:18 AM.
    Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!

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    Well, blow me down Clav........ I've just walked over to the technical store and inspected about 65 or so Compass, Prismatic, Mk3's in both degrees and mils and the've all got grilles over the case glass or 'lens, outer'. and certainly those recently overhauled are iso. filled. PM sent but in the meantime, in the nicest way, maybe you could tell the author of the book, he ought to pop in and see us.

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    Hi Peter,

    Are you absolutely sure they were MkIII compasses and not M71 M72 or M73 compasses? An M71 is a MkIII upgraded to have the grille. Certainly my MkIII could never have had a grille as the holes are just not there for the screws that mount one.

    Now this is interesting, this MkIII on e-bay does have the grille but is a 1944 made compass, whereas mine is a 1942. Albeit the compass on e-bay is in poor condition, but here are other differences as well. For example, look at where the lume is inside the lid. On the earlier compass, it's identical to a M1913 francis barker marching compass (UKicon MoD WW1 item) with lume all down the length, while on the 1944 compass there is no lume on the bottom due to their being a screw there to retain the guard cage. That being said, this compass looks to have been upgraded to M71 since original MkIII's had reddish-orange anti-friction rings while upgraded or overhauled compasses have black rings. Mine was missing the ring and only the black ones are still available, that's why it isn't red.



    Now here is a unissued MkIII still in its waxed cardboard case from 1940 - no cage guard.


    Last edited by Claven2; 10-05-2010 at 06:20 PM.
    Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!

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    The plot thickens - the as-issued compasses in the Online Compass Museum show two variants of the MkIII, neither of which have guards:
    Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!

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    And yet, the pre-war MkI did have a guard as-issued.
    Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!

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    Found another CKC MkIII online (photos of CKC examples seem hard to locate). It also has not been fitted with a guard.

    Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!

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