Having been following Martin Hunt's account of how he and Melvyn Camps rebuilt the boiler of 1927 Super Sentinel 6887 'Vectis Knight', I was delighted to see it - and them - at the EATES Saffron Walden Crank Up.
I thought that others who know as little about Sentinels as I do might like to see it with the 3-way tipping body tipped:
At first I thought there had been a disaster, as it looked like this:
However Martin explained that he was using the steam lance, fitted for cleaning the boiler tubes, to warm the engine after checking the clearance on the push rods for the poppet valves. The correct clearance is nil when cold, but it's good to confirm things are OK with a hot engine. You can't sit there with the engine ticking over with a Sentinel (no clutch), hence the use of the lance.
Here are a couple of pictures of the bits you can't easily see with the body down, a red items are props to secure the body when it's up:
If I'd thought more quickly, I'd have photographed the ram end too.
Here's Martin stowing the lance away again:
Thanks Martin, it was great to meet you and Melvyn.
Bill.