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Post by baz62 on Feb 19, 2017 16:58:08 GMT 12
We've been eyeing the weather this weekend as Roger Lane who owns a J4 Archer Auster (G-AIJS)was in Christchurch hoping to meet Byron Kelly and his Lycoming powered J4 ZK-AXC. Fortunately the weather behaved and AXC could fly through the Lewis pass to Rangiora today, pick up Anthony Galbraith and then into Charlie Draper's strip at Drafield. I couldn't make the trip but spoke to Anthony who said after a tiki tour into Lake Coleridge, Mt White they landed at Ashburton and were going to go through the Ashburton Aviation Museum. Roger has been very impressed with his trip and is already planning a trip to come back. He's off to Auckland and will meet up with Les Wilson and check out his J5F ZK-BDY at Ardmore. We seem to have cornered the market for Auster visitors from the UK as the ones we get up flying go back buzzing about the experience and the scenery. Hopefully I can put up some photos or Anthony will if I poke him hard enough.
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Post by baronbeeza on Feb 19, 2017 17:01:52 GMT 12
Did I read that correctly ? Are you talking about a flying Auster ?
Regards to Byron.. a good bloke.
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Post by baz62 on Feb 19, 2017 20:42:36 GMT 12
Oh yes apparently they are quite the rage!
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Post by agalbraith on Feb 20, 2017 19:17:52 GMT 12
Twas a fun day, Byron...... Fred..... Baz, I am just sorting the photos now for the guys...
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Feb 20, 2017 19:28:01 GMT 12
I cannot see any “flying” Austers in those photographs....
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Post by agalbraith on Feb 20, 2017 19:30:31 GMT 12
AXC is a J4 re-engined with a Lycoming Freds is a Cub and we were in a J-1
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Post by ZacYates on Feb 22, 2017 12:57:17 GMT 12
In fact, the word "AUSTER" can even be seen on AXC's fin!
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Post by baz62 on May 21, 2017 16:57:28 GMT 12
Teresa and I are now living in our newly built house at Wigram. Old house is having some renovation work done before we rent it out. The house is empty but still have to move the garage contents including bits of Auster. Today I've been unpacking boxes in the office so set up this Corsair that Teresa bought me years ago. First aviation bit sorted! Anthony told me that Jim Mungal (pretty sure he is Shamus on here?) was in Christchurch and that he had something for the Auster that I would love! So we met at Anthony's house and over a cup of coffee he produced a logbook. My face must have been a picture as it was one of the missing airframe logbooks for BBZ! I have number 4 and this one is number three. While we all chatted i was flicking through the log book and found an entry on the day I was born. Jim is going to get in touch with the chap he got the box of logbooks from in case number 1 and 2 are still around. The books back together. Number 3 on the left. Thanks Jim you made my day!
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Post by ZacYates on May 21, 2017 17:09:14 GMT 12
Fantastic!
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Post by baronbeeza on May 21, 2017 17:21:26 GMT 12
Is that a crime ? dating an aeroplane that is older than you.....
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Post by exkiwiforces on Aug 1, 2017 22:37:55 GMT 12
Baz, how's the Auster going and btw how's your father in law going as my old man wants to catch up with him in regards to me?
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Post by baz62 on Aug 2, 2017 11:25:16 GMT 12
Short answer on the Auster is bugger all. Busy tidying up old house to rent it out plus new house always has something for me to do. Stouix is fine. What was your Dad's name as I can email him that plus contact details.
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Post by exkiwiforces on Aug 3, 2017 23:49:12 GMT 12
I know that feeling renting out houses, I've just sold my old house near RAAF Amberley QLD and it was a bit plane spotters/ Rockape party house in more ways than one.
I'll PM you on dad contact details.
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Post by baz62 on Nov 26, 2017 16:43:39 GMT 12
Further to the ongoing search for the missing logbooks I got a call from another Auster restorer in Warkworth, one Paul Morrison. He had BBZ at one point and sold it to the chap I bought it off. He said he had found another BBZ logbook! He popped it in the post and man was I eyeing the letterbox each day. Anyway a courier bad arrived and I carefully pulled it out. So I had boo 4 of 4 and book 3 of 4 so this was.......book 3? What the? So i grabbed book 3 from my office and looked inside the "new" one. Something was weird as the dates started about 6 months before the ones in my Book 3 but ended with the date of her final flight. Was it a copy because they lost a book? But then I looked at the cover again and realised it wasn't an Aircraft Logbook it was an Engine logbook. Specifically for a Gipsy Major 1 Serial no: 88677. And of course the engine that came with the project isn't this one. So somewhere there are two more engine log books and two more aircraft logbooks. So it looks like this engine was in her from new I wonder where it is now?
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Post by skyhawkdon on Nov 26, 2017 19:07:56 GMT 12
Oh man so close... like a jigsaw! But it is all coming home to Baz... hopefully!
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Post by baz62 on Feb 6, 2018 17:20:03 GMT 12
No Auster progress to report although I'm waiting for a small alloy part that means once I get it installed at the base of the fin the fabric can go on for the fin. On the Auster (and possbily most other similar types) the fin is fabriced and partially onto the fuselage. Then the rest of the fuselage fabric is attched to the fin fabric. This page is from the Repair and Maintenance manual for the Auster. It actually shows the high back version of the J5G and P but the theory is the same. Scan0001 by Barry Tod, on Flickr The small alloy part is seen here in the wreck of BRA. It's job is to provide something for the tailplane inspection plates to attach to. The rudder goes on to the right of the photo. The round stub is the rear attachment for the port horizontal stabiliser. IMG_2872 by Barry Tod, on Flickr Once removed and cleaned up (the one that came from BBZ had quite a lot of cracking and corrosion)it looked pretty good but still a few cracks. I was going to use it but discovered a NOS (new old stock) one so will fit that instead. IMG_2873 by Barry Tod, on Flickr With the fabric in place you can see it leaves an inspection hole for both sides which are covered by two alloy plates. IMG_2875 by Barry Tod, on Flickr And the inspection plates Inspection plates by Barry Tod, on Flickr One of the things I love doing is helping fellow Auster restorers. John Kelly based near Nelson is rebuilding ex-RNZAF J5 NZ1701/ZK-BQL. I got an email from him saying he heard that I might have some boot cowl bits available. BQL had a takeoff incident and there was some damage to his boot cowl. On the Auster the boot cowl is basically the firewall behind the engine and alloy sheetmetal that goes back to about the door hinges on the Auster. In this photo of mine its the silver and blue striped painted part on the front. IMG_0240 by Barry Tod, on Flickr Because I have quite a few parts it's sometimes hard to recall exactly what you have. I knew I had some bits of boot cowl but not exactly what kind of condition they were in. So Anthony Galbraith and I went to the hangar and dragged out anything boot cowl related. As soon as I looked at them I remembered I actually had a virtually complete boot cowl from another RNZAF Auster. Its stands out as it is camouflaged! I think it's either off NZ1703 or NZ1706 as they were both written off due to accidents. I'm leaning towards 06 as she ended up in the sea at a river mouth on the West Coast so she had a relatively smooth crash where as 03 didn't! The other thing about the boot cowl is although it would fit mine there are some differences on the firewall. If you look at these two photos taken from the inside of the boot cowl, the top one is for the J5F and the lower one is off the RNZAF J5. You can see mine has a large oval angled hole on the left side but the J5 doesn't. The reason for this is the J5 had a nose fuel tank behind the instrument panel and mine didn't having wing tanks. So the engine controls were routed in a different way. Plus on the RNZAF boot cowl there is a round hole on the top right for the fuel tank filler to stick through.(Which you can just see in the bottom photo) IMGP8067 by Barry Tod, on Flickr RNZAF J5 Boot cowl by Barry Tod, on Flickr Apart from the missing floor (which I have a spare for a pattern) he's good to go.
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Post by Mustang51 on Feb 6, 2018 20:38:53 GMT 12
Hmmmmm bit different to the Dog...... I replaced with 63 thou stainless, Bugger to work with. Baz, I need to book as flight when it's done. Will fly over specifically for the privilege.
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Post by baz62 on Jun 3, 2018 18:25:23 GMT 12
Last weekend Anthony Galbraith and I went out to my hangar to do a wee task on my Auster. Nothing too amazing but I wanted to get the fuselage off the rotating jig and back on her undercarriage. This is so I can carry out any paint touch ups but mainly to make it easier to put the rudder and brake pedals back in. When I bought the project the aircraft was sitting on the undercarriage normally used by the wartime Austers and the post war J1 series etc. The military MK6 and T7 and the later civilian J5 were given undercarriage legs around 2 inches taller. And the reason she was on the shorther legs was the previous owner loaned a right hand leg to another Auster owner who had damaged his and needed a loaner. He then proceeded to write his Auster off..........along with the loned leg! I would have thought he would replace the leg but nope. So the project came with two left hand long legs. Since I now have the correct legs I thought I'd put her on them. It's amazing how tall she looks compared with the shorter legs. June 32d 2018 118 by Barry Tod, on Flickr Anthony and I were discussing the rotating frame as with it bolted on the front the tail needed to be really high to get the legs sitting flat on the ground. It wasn't until I mentioned this to Auster rebuilder Andrew Vincent that he pointed out that as mine had the sloping firewall perhaps the frame had been built for a "straight" firewalled Auster. So we were discussing this point when Anthony pointed at an extra part of the frame that wasn't used and wondered if that's what it was for? Bingo. With two of these (Anthony had the other one at home) bolted to the top this changed the geometry between the front fuselage and the frame. Here's the extra bit of the frame: June 32d 2018 119 by Barry Tod, on Flickr If you compare the line of the firewall (the vertical line just forward of the windscreen) to the line of the hinge line of the door you can see there is quite an angle change. ATS is a J1N IMG_1544 by Barry Tod, on Flickr And BRA is a J5F like mine and sadly written off and sharing my aircraft in the hangar P1640002 by Barry Tod, on Flickr And a view of BRA in the foreground last weekend with BBZ back on her legs at rear. June 32d 2018 133 by Barry Tod, on Flickr With winter now upon us I'm planning a few jobs to do in the comfort of the garage or office. Hoping that I can get some fabric back on the fuselage this summer.
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Post by ZacYates on Jun 3, 2018 21:56:27 GMT 12
Congrats for getting back into it, Baz! I always enjoy seeing your updates and learning about what makes The Steel Aeroplane tick.
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Post by baz62 on Jun 4, 2018 9:57:40 GMT 12
Thanks Zac. The past year has been quite stressful and I can see why some projects seem to stall at times. Life has a way of getting in the way. Settling in to a newly built house has its own hurdles (plus my job workload has gothen crazy) but the main issue was dealing with my quite elderly parents. Dad has dementia but is physically fine whereas Mum (at 90)has a perfectly fine mind but is frail physically. She jokes that together they make one functioning human! And my brother Ken and I have had to put together an application for the Rest home subsidy which is a mission on its own! Now that things seem to be falling into place I can turn my mind onto the restoration and also get flying again. With all the stress going on I made the decision last year not to fly until things calmed down again. Anthony has been a very good friend (but sneakily managed to catch me up with his Auster project!) and a much needed listener as I wail on about life. This forum has been a good escape for me too with something interesting happening or something new to learn about aviation here in NZ. Anyway back to the project. If anyone has an oil pressure gauge connection (from the gauge to the engine itself) please get in touch. I have the gauge just nothing to screw into it.
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