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MOTAT
Aug 29, 2019 10:00:02 GMT 12
Post by agalbraith on Aug 29, 2019 10:00:02 GMT 12
Wow, thats really really nice!! Thanks for the update
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MOTAT
Sept 6, 2019 10:06:23 GMT 12
Post by ErrolC on Sept 6, 2019 10:06:23 GMT 12
I might take a look at the LIVE DAY: AVIATION on Sunday.
MOTAT 2 Location Activities Times Rail Train Rides Rides every 20 minutes from 11am Rail Workshop open 10am – 4pm Aviation Blister Hangar open 10am – 4pm Aviation Aviation Workshop demonstrations 11:30am – 2:30pm Every hour on the half hour Aviation Hastings Tours 11am, 1pm, 3pm Aviation DC3 Tours (External Only) 12pm, 2pm Aviation 747 Demonstrations 10am – 4pm Aviation Aviation Display Hall Talks 11am – 2pm Aviation Harvard Demonstrations 10am – 3pm Every hour on the hour Aviation Avenger Wings Operating 10am – 4pm Aviation Sunderland talks 12pm, 3pm Aviation Display Hall Trio Singers 10am – 3pm Every hour on the hour Aviation Display Hall Make and Take: Avenger 10am – 4pm Aviation Display Hall Make and Take: Bull Roarers 10am – 4pm Behind the Aviation Display Hall Café Coffee Cart 10am – 4pm Behind the Aviation Display Hall Fritz Wieners Foo Truck 10am – 4pm Military Military Rides* Rides every 10 minutes
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Post by emron on Sept 6, 2019 19:56:14 GMT 12
But which Sunday Errol?
For those who just can’t wait, sorry, it’s not this coming weekend but the following, Sunday September-15.
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Post by ErrolC on Sept 17, 2019 12:09:17 GMT 12
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Post by Richard Wesley on Sept 17, 2019 21:18:44 GMT 12
Hi Errol, you need Ron the master of these things to answer, but in brief I think: 1) Sunderland front turret with amazingly well refabricated curved bracing units in black to replace missing parts 2) Sunderland mid gunners gun mounting, two of these sit on top of two frames inside the aircraft 3) Sunderland rear turret (actually two as there is another grey one under wraps behind) 4) P-40 undercarriage fairings and doors, built from scratch, with Sunderland front turret upper section in the background
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Post by ErrolC on Sept 17, 2019 22:25:22 GMT 12
Hi Errol, you need Ron the master of these things to answer, but in brief I think: 1) Sunderland front turret with amazingly well refabricated curved bracing units in black to replace missing parts 2) Sunderland mid gunners gun mounting, two of these sit on top of two frames inside the aircraft 3) Sunderland rear turret (actually two as there is another grey one under wraps behind) 4) P-40 undercarriage fairings and doors, built from scratch, with Sunderland front turret upper section in the background Cheers, here is how the side gun position looked 3 years ago Port .50 MG position by Errol Cavit, on Flickr
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MOTAT
Sept 18, 2019 9:31:20 GMT 12
Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 18, 2019 9:31:20 GMT 12
The team is producing such nice work there these days under Steve's leadership.
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MOTAT
Sept 18, 2019 9:51:09 GMT 12
Post by ErrolC on Sept 18, 2019 9:51:09 GMT 12
Sure are! BTW, MOTAT have an extensive online catalog now, with good search and filtering functions. Handy when you are trying to identify stuff so you can tag photos properly! And I discovered why I'd been putting off posting more photos from my visit just after the Solent went inside - several hanging aircraft to identify :-) collection.motat.org.nz/explore
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Post by emron on Sept 20, 2019 21:30:38 GMT 12
Hi Errol, you need Ron the master of these things to answer, but in brief I think: 1) Sunderland front turret with amazingly well refabricated curved bracing units in black to replace missing parts 2) Sunderland mid gunners gun mounting, two of these sit on top of two frames inside the aircraft 3) Sunderland rear turret (actually two as there is another grey one under wraps behind) 4) P-40 undercarriage fairings and doors, built from scratch, with Sunderland front turret upper section in the background Richard and Errol, a bit more detail: 1) Those two black painted bracing arms are the original ones that we borrowed to copy. The replicas that Mark and Steve are making are almost finished and will look just as good. 2) These two Bell Aircraft made US Navy Mk10 Mount Adapters are designed to be fired at shoulder height from the Catalina blister position. The basic frame is the same as what would have been used on the Sunderland and the yoke fits the socket in the waist gun position, so they’ll do for the time being. If anyone has the correct part number or close-up photo / diagram of the RNZAF version, please help out. Then we can make something more accurate. 4) We did have the fairing and doors for one side of the P40. Rob R. and his helpers have just finished hammering, wheeling, rolling and trimming the mirror image. I’ll leave you to guess which is the new one.
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Post by ErrolC on Sept 21, 2019 12:56:58 GMT 12
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Post by ErrolC on Sept 21, 2019 13:08:03 GMT 12
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Post by emron on Sept 22, 2019 22:19:23 GMT 12
Flying Boat Update
Last week Andy was making the final parts for the gun sight radius arm for the front turret and was looking for details of how the sight was attached. The clamp was missing from the original one that he’s copying. We found one photo and made a rough drawing. I found some close-up images during the week that confirmed it was in two halves that tightened around the neck of the sight. We had a good search through the turret spares today but nothing like them turned up. So I’ve cut out one set from 12mm bar and will test fit next week. That leaves enough material for a second set once I’ve checked the measurements.
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Post by ErrolC on Sept 25, 2019 22:20:36 GMT 12
Frank Cleary, who just finished my book, just sent this photo of a model of Aotearoa, the Short flying boat my father flew over the Tasman for seven years. Frank's father, who joined TEAL in 1947, the year my father left, built the model which is now on display at motat_NZ pbs.twimg.com/media/EFS_Su3VUAAPiIX.jpg
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Post by emron on Sept 28, 2019 18:57:08 GMT 12
That’s a piece of DC3. It’s the rearmost section of fairing from behind the undercarriage. Like the flaps it was close to the ground and collected a lot of condensation while ZK-BQK stood out on the grass. I recognise the red primer and recall having to make some basic in field repairs in the late 1980’s when it was already badly corroded.
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Post by emron on Sept 29, 2019 21:34:11 GMT 12
Flying Boat Update
I cut out the second gun sight clamp during the week. This is just the start, I need to make similar ones for the rear turret and both flexible waist gun mounts, I might leave them until later. Next problem is we don’t have any more illuminated sights, either RAF MkIII or US Navy Mk9. So next we’ll need to plan a production run of at least four replicas of the one original example we have.
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Post by emron on Oct 27, 2019 17:38:03 GMT 12
Hi Errol, you need Ron the master of these things to answer, but in brief I think: 1) Sunderland front turret with amazingly well refabricated curved bracing units in black to replace missing parts 2) Sunderland mid gunners gun mounting, two of these sit on top of two frames inside the aircraft 3) Sunderland rear turret (actually two as there is another grey one under wraps behind) 4) P-40 undercarriage fairings and doors, built from scratch, with Sunderland front turret upper section in the background Richard and Errol, a bit more detail: 1) Those two black painted bracing arms are the original ones that we borrowed to copy. The replicas that Mark and Steve are making are almost finished and will look just as good. 2) These two Bell Aircraft made US Navy Mk10 Mount Adapters are designed to be fired at shoulder height from the Catalina blister position. The basic frame is the same as what would have been used on the Sunderland and the yoke fits the socket in the waist gun position, so they’ll do for the time being. If anyone has the correct part number or close-up photo / diagram of the RNZAF version, please help out. Then we can make something more accurate. 4) We did have the fairing and doors for one side of the P40. Rob R. and his helpers have just finished hammering, wheeling, rolling and trimming the mirror image. I’ll leave you to guess which is the new one. Apart from making the small side door years ago I’ve had little input into this latest P-40 U/C fairing job. I recently offered to help sort out the two sets of attachment fittings for the large outer and the small inner main undercarriage doors as they were missing from the left and right legs. I don’t know if you’ve seen the wheel retraction videos but both doors remain linked to and follow the strut in and out. We had two genuine spring strut assemblies in storage for the front end of the main doors so they were soon installed. There was still one part of the rear cable assembly attached to the left leg, just the fork-end, the rest had been torched off. The fork-end is a Curtiss special so I machined the second one, as well as the two universal blocks for the door end. Once the fairings are test fitted again I’ll measure up the cable for length to go between. Likewise only the stub of one eye-bolt was left on the right side link arm to attach the small door, it had been torched off as well. We ordered in new eye-bolts and a couple of turnbuckles that would suffice as the linkage there. So we’ll soon be ready to fit both fairing assemblies back on and complete for the first time in many a year.
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Post by emron on Oct 27, 2019 21:09:43 GMT 12
Flying Boat Update When I turned up at the workshop this morning I was surprised to see the turret lying on it’s back and with all the rotating parts being removed. The Wednesday team had made a start on our plan to activate the front turret using electric motive power instead of hydraulics. At first they had tried to turn it on the baseplate by hand but it was seized solid. So they removed the base and turning ring to access all the bearings. They then discovered why it wouldn’t rotate. Bolts had been fitted during the mods to secure it in the fixed forward facing position. So we’ve taken the opportunity to clean and re-grease all the rollers before re-assembly. If we’re also going to activate the gun elevation then I may need to strengthen my design of the cradle and the side bearings to make sure they are durable. If we get this all to work does that mean we should call it an FN5E turret instead?. Just today I’ve sighted a clear close up photo showing the detail of the .50 mount adapter as used at the waist gun position of the RNZAF Sunderlands. I’ll be keeping with the US Navy pattern ones that we have for now but will be able to make some drawings to see if a replica is feasible.
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MOTAT
Oct 27, 2019 21:14:42 GMT 12
Post by curtiss on Oct 27, 2019 21:14:42 GMT 12
Have just sent you a message about the P40 U/C door linkages - I can probably help with some bits.
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MOTAT
Oct 27, 2019 22:58:17 GMT 12
Post by emron on Oct 27, 2019 22:58:17 GMT 12
Thanks for the offer, pm reply sent.
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Post by emron on Nov 29, 2019 20:47:51 GMT 12
Flying Boat Update On Sunday Dennis and I went searching through the Sunderland spares for a sample of the placard that’s mounted alongside the beam gun position. We didn’t find one of those but came away with the bow ladder and the mooring mast. That got me thinking about what other marine equipment we should find to fully outfit the bow compartment. I’d spent the previous Sunday sorting through the working copies of the Sunderland manuals in the workshop library. A.P.1566E is made up of numerous volumes including general information; pilot’s notes, instructions for repair; spare parts list and supplements. I thumbed through them and turned up a couple of useful diagrams. So the shopping list is now extended to: boat hook; bomb-sight stowage box; anchor chain; stowed bridle cable plus their brackets and tie-downs. The bridle cable that’s fixed to the two eyes on the bow was removed a while back and was badly rusted. I may need to obtain a replacement for that as well. Returning aft to the gun position I checked out the ammo boxes to see how the flexible ammo chutes are attached. Now all I need to find are two 5ft-6in. flexible chutes complete with end fittings (Stores Ref. 500/12) and enough dummy ammo and links to make up two 450-round belts.
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