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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 7, 2019 12:13:29 GMT 12
I hope you guys choose to leave her original paint on. Looks too good to paint over and very historic as it is. Although I am sure you are as there appears no need to paint her. Great job! Andrew Gormlie told me the other day he's confident that the paint is good enough to stay as it is, in original condition, with just a good clean and perhaps a couple of touch ups. It looks like a real time capsule,just as it would have looked on the flight line.
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Post by kiwi285 on Jul 17, 2019 15:27:46 GMT 12
One of the booms is now attached to the wing and the team are dealing with other jobs until we can go up to Pukekohe and look for more attach bolts and the miriad of other parts needed to carry on with. Thanks to some fantastic help from Denys Jones at Ferrymead, we now have most of the info we need to start sorting through the electrical wiring on the back of the fuselage pod. I see Des today was printing and assembling circuit diagrams and putting them into clear sleeves in a hard backed folder for protection and no doubt will be poring over them in the coming weeks. Managed to leave my camera at the museum so will post some photos tomorrow.
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Post by kiwi285 on Jul 19, 2019 14:57:28 GMT 12
Here are a couple of photos from Wednesday. I gather the team was busy working around the back of the fuselage pod sorting out electrical wiring and inserting the air duct from the wing leading edge to the back of the fuse pod. We were missing one of these extension tubes but the boys have made a replacement one. Sounds like we are going up to Pukekohe on Tuesday - weather permitting. 190719 001 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 190719 002 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 19, 2019 18:03:06 GMT 12
Looking good!
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Jul 19, 2019 18:15:14 GMT 12
So these two airframes sharing the same hangar today were once contemporary colleagues for a time?
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Post by kiwi285 on Jul 26, 2019 19:25:36 GMT 12
The team working on the Vampire started the process of getting the engine attached to the airframe. Honestly the designers of these machines should be made to show how to get the engine in and out - it is near impossible. There must be the thickness of a cigarette paper between the sides of the engine and the wing root. They spent virtually the whole day trying to maneuver the engine to get it in place and then get the four mount bolts into the lugs. Surely half an inch extra width on the fuselage pod wouldn't have made that much difference to the flying characteristics. I think they finally got the bolts into place. I heard one of them say there was no way in hell it was coming out again. 260719 (2) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 260719 (3) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 260719 (5) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 260719 (6) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr
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Post by Venomnut on Jul 26, 2019 21:19:31 GMT 12
It'll be worth all of that hard work once you hear the whine of that Goblin.
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Post by camtech on Jul 27, 2019 17:44:26 GMT 12
Of course, you know that the British way was to build an engine and an instrument panel, then build an aircraft around them.
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Post by 30sqnatc on Jul 27, 2019 19:15:15 GMT 12
And only after it was finished and put together was 'how to maintain it' considered.
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Post by isc on Jul 27, 2019 22:07:33 GMT 12
A lot of British machinery I'v worked on, it seems that they start building it from inside to the outside, but it's the inside bit that later needs work done, so you end up pulling the B*** thing to bits to fix or replace a 10c part, a bit of thought often could have saved all that. I suppose the Vampire being a war time design and build was rushed together with the thought that it's life would only be at the most a few hundred hours, so it might not survive long enough to need an engine change---- and now 70 years on! isc
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Post by kiwi285 on Aug 3, 2019 21:00:25 GMT 12
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Post by kiwi285 on Aug 22, 2019 19:26:05 GMT 12
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Post by aeromedia on Aug 22, 2019 19:45:00 GMT 12
Looking great. You guys pull off some incredible stuff. Nothing appears to be beyond you. Love the updates.
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axelford
Squadron Leader
I have visited 13 Plane wreck sites and counting, happy to help with info!
Posts: 120
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Post by axelford on Sept 1, 2019 20:58:40 GMT 12
Very cool! Happy to hear the original paint scheme is being kept.
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Post by kiwi285 on Sept 14, 2019 17:41:45 GMT 12
The team has made some great progress with the assembly. The tailplane is bolted in place although they are still searching for the bolts for the elevator. They have put hydraulic fluid into the system and apart from one small leak all appears to be well. Today they were putting fuel into the fuselage tank and after a couple of hours there were no leaks. Next week they are going to push it outside and spin up the engine to pressurize the tanks to see what that produces. A couple of them are keen to fire up the engine so will see what transpires. 130919 002 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 130919 001 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 130919 004 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 14, 2019 18:19:31 GMT 12
Please don't use that word 'fire'
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Post by kiwi285 on Sept 25, 2019 16:35:40 GMT 12
The team is having a frustrating time at present with a fuel leak from the front of the engine and trying to find appropriate seals to stop leaks from one of the fuel cocks.
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Post by kiwi285 on Sept 27, 2019 15:01:04 GMT 12
The team working on the Vampire pushed it outside this morning with the intention os spooling up the engine to see whether we had any other fuel leaks. Unfortunately when they went to use the electrical box with the start sequence they had no response except the generation of heat so the aircraft was pushed back into the hangar whilst they figure out where to go from here. Sounds typical of old aircraft, little happens as expected unless the system has been overhauled beforehand. Keeps us all in work and on our toes.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 27, 2019 16:56:26 GMT 12
That's a shame.
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Post by oj on Sept 27, 2019 19:43:00 GMT 12
Well, it's a three step starter-motor acceleration sequence with relays switching out the big limiting resistors on the firewall until full battery-cart voltage is applied during the last speed-up stage. Better get Electro-magician Des Underwood on to it!
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