Australian Army Land-Rover Canopy Clues -REMLR

Many ex-military Land-Rover enthusiasts look around for a Landy to restore and when they find one its had a busy civilian life since it was turned out of military service and it is a rare one that does'nt have a hardtop fitted. So where do you start looking for a military canopy? Your city Land-Rover parts counter? Not likely. So you go to a swapmeet or two and watch the classified adverts for a few weeks... and when you find some canopy ('tilt' for UK readers) or related parts for sale... you look them over and wonder whether they're correct. One thing for sure, the necessary parts are getting difficult to find in good order and putting a canopy on the Land-Rover all ship shape isn't easy if you've never handled one before.

This aim of the canopy clues listed here is to spread some basic info around and help you come up with the correct parts and fit them as per original. Something not included here is the care and maintenance of the canvas itself; look it up in the camping books.

	Canopy hoop set Front shot of a 109" fitted for canopy showing: front, middle and rear hoops, the horizontals joining the hoops and the doortop rope rails, and the front rope rail bracket fixed to the top of the windscreen frame.
	Canopy hoop set Rear shot of above showing a 109" fitted for canopy: front, middle and rear hoops (note footings), the horizontals joining the hoops, the rear footman loops and rope ties, and footman loops on the inside of the front rope rail bracket fixed to the top of the windscreen frame.
	Canopy hoop set Front shot of a 88" fitted for canopy showing: front and rear hoops, the middle hoop top (has no sides), the horizontals joining the hoops and the doortop rope rails, the doortop rope rail and the doorside rope rail brackets, and the front rope rail bracket fixed to the top of the windscreen frame.
	Canopy hoop set 109" Pic shows the 109" middle hoop with its flat footing (no socket). (Middle hoop not used on 88")
	Cab-only canopy hoop set Pic showing the hoop setup for a cab-only canopy as per 109" Australian Army cab canopy fitted to the Fire Tender, Wrecker, and Workshop variants. You can clearly see both of the door brackets, (1) the doortop rope rail and (2) the doorside rail.
	Cab-only canopy interior Pic showing the "rear window" setup for a cab-only canopy as per 109" Australian Army cab canopy fitted to the RAEME Workshop variant. Fitted across the rear hoop are two horizontals that support rifle brackets. Note the NSN.
	Canopy hoop set footing clamps Both 88" and 109" canopies use a set four hoop footing clamps. In this photo a clamp is shown that secures the footing of the front hoop which is bracketed to another standard hoop (the cab hoop). Note that the cab hoop sits in the cab hoop socket, an extra fitted to many Land-Rovers. It is to the rear of the front hoop socket as pictured here.
	Door rope rails set This pic with doors off shows the doortop rope rail bracket (horizontal) and the doorside rope rail bracket (vertical) in position.
	Interior of canopy 88" This early 1960's pic shows the interior webbing/straps threaded thru the front and rear footman loops to tension the canopy roof... and the interior webbing/straps around each footing of the front hoop near the doorside rails which tensions the canopy sides (88" Command Reconnaissance).
	Interior of canopy 109" As above but a Fitted For Wireless variant clearly showing the front hoop flap in place and the front webbing/straps attached to the footman loops on the front rope rail bracket. This early FFW does not have a FFR interior curtain fitted along the front hoop line (to function as a blackout measure for the operator's 'office' - 109" Fitted For Wireless). For pics that show the FFR curtain rolled up... click here ( from this page ) For pics that show the FFR curtain rolled down... click here ( from this page ).
	Canopy tied down Pic shows an early 109" canopy all tied down. Note rear ties. Note the rear of the canopy. The flaps on each side of the rear of the canopy tuck in behind/thru the side covers, going around the corner to meet the buckle situated on the side of the canopy.
	Canopy sides rolled up Before including some broomsticks inside the rolled up canopy sides: looking daggy...
	Canopy sides rolled up After including some broomsticks inside the rolled up canopy sides: looking tidy.
	Snug canopy hint Canopies can be difficult to fit snugly along the length of the doorside rope rail, especially down in the corner above the fuel tank cap. The big hint here is not usually noticed - its on the inside. Loop the lower rope (that ends up holding down the side of the canopy and is tied off on one of the rear ties) on the inside of the canopy to the tie AND ditto for the rope end -on the outside- to the very same tie (before tensioning). The canopy is then tensioned downwards AND frontwards.

Some Series 3 FFR canopy pics