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Post by davidd on Aug 11, 2015 17:59:14 GMT 12
Raw gasoline seems to have been used often for general cleaning by the RNZAF both in NZ and in the islands, despite the well-known down-sides of this practise. NAC also used petrol when cleaning a Lodestar (ZK-ALZ) at Palmerston North in 1947 - result, one written off Lodestar, and one very lucky tradesman! A PV-1 Ventura in the islands (1944) also caught fire during some "spring cleaning" - result, one airman dead, one Ventura severely singed, although it was soon restored to service. My old boss at Harman Motors (the late Laurie Harman) in Sydenham witnessed this particular incident from close up - very nasty. And somehow I still have trouble with the idea that hosing down an aircraft with gasoline was a standard practice; even in WW2 I cannot think that this brand of extreme excess with an always-in-demand resource (and a very dangerous one) would have been authorised by any responsible person in charge of fuel supplies. Water was often in short supply too at airstrips on atolls, but I would have thought that a simple brush would have been fairly useful at removing coral grit - but hey, I wasn't actually there! Of course the coral grit was most dangerous when it got into hydraulic equipment and when it was sucked through the supercharger, it's the abrasive effect. And the risk of spraying petrol over an airframe when there is every possibility that a certain amount will inveigle its way into the interior of the structure and pool in unexpected places would give anybody the horrors just thinking about it. All those wartime aircraft with big engines constituted a fire menace when being started up - even the amount that flows out of a Gipsy Major when starting is enough to make you think. However the flames produced by the exhausts of really big engines on starting should cause more cautious types to ponder the implications. David D
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 11, 2015 20:12:04 GMT 12
The chap who told me about this practice, done when he was with No. 11 Servicing Unit maintaining the Venturas for No. 2 (BR) Squadron in the Pacific, was Gilbert "Peter" Hulse who still lives here in Leamington, Cambridge. He has actually told me he story twice, the first time during a chat, the second time on camera. He did not mention rags or brushes as far as I can recall but he most certainly did state that they hosed down the aircraft regularly to prevent the build up of coral dust because it would build up like ice, with similar detriment if left. He said you could not hose it off with water or just wipe it off dry because he said it was sticky, not like 'normal' dust, and he reckoned petrol was the only thing hey had on hand that they found would remove it. On both tellings he said he was doing this one day and when he finished he asked out of curiosity the MT tanker driver how much fuel he'd used to clean the Ventura and was told when the driver checked the gauge he'd used around 150 gallons. So he was not applying it sparingly!!
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Post by davidd on Aug 11, 2015 21:32:19 GMT 12
Dave H, Bloody hell! Still sounds very hairy to me! I wonder how common that was. I don't think you would do it with aircraft such as Corsairs, with just too many ways for something like petrol to enter the outer wings which were fabric covered (and the ailerons were all plywood!) Petrol will penetrate just about anything. Coral dust would have been common on many of the fields used by the RNZAF (but probably not at Jacquinot Bay); perhaps the coral absorbed spilt oil, etc, which would make it pretty disgusting, and probably sticky. Maybe this "de-gunging" took place after careful preparations were made (no smoking, or vehicles, or footwear with steel caps within 100 yards or some such, and aircraft to be treated separated from others) at intervals when it was decided the build up was getting excessive? David D
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Post by baz62 on Aug 11, 2015 22:35:40 GMT 12
Dave H, Bloody hell! Still sounds very hairy to me! Go on David, tell Greg you want to give the Auster a wash with petrol, I'm sure he'll be fine with it!
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Post by davidd on Aug 13, 2015 18:41:33 GMT 12
I did once use some strong stuff on the Perspex many years ago, which did not work out too well! But petrol? No!!!! David D.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 18, 2015 13:09:39 GMT 12
After applying the petrol, next apply the match
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Post by davidd on Aug 18, 2015 18:06:43 GMT 12
Dave H, that is just extreme cruelty to a dumb and innocent animal! David D
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 18, 2015 23:58:53 GMT 12
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Post by artro219 on Aug 21, 2015 18:11:38 GMT 12
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Post by dewobz on Aug 31, 2015 11:28:07 GMT 12
Very nice indeed. Do you have more photos of the finished model? What have you used for that aerial wire & connection? It is excellent. Cheers Wally.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Sept 1, 2015 16:48:54 GMT 12
Superb work. Like Wally I think the aerial and wire are particularly well done.
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Post by artro219 on Sept 2, 2015 6:32:01 GMT 12
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Sept 2, 2015 8:21:14 GMT 12
That is...EXCEPTIONAL!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 2, 2015 11:16:55 GMT 12
Great results!!
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Post by dewobz on Sept 5, 2015 12:37:23 GMT 12
Excellent! The exposed engine looks great. Nice idea the photography around the base. Well done.
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Post by artro219 on Sept 10, 2015 6:53:18 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 10, 2015 9:11:29 GMT 12
Superb!
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Post by planecrazy on Sept 10, 2015 19:51:38 GMT 12
Wow awesome, love the weathering I think you nailed it!
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Post by komata on Sept 12, 2015 10:00:41 GMT 12
It's a beautiful model, but wouldn't the cowlings be close-by?
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Post by shorty on Sept 12, 2015 21:08:48 GMT 12
They are just out past the wingtips so they don't get blown about by the slipstream when doing the engine runs!
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