She's in!
Well things didn't go quite as smoothly as the first time but she is in one piece in her hangar now. So a few photos by Teresa to record the second move.
Here's Obiwan27 (aka Ken my brother) in the storage unit practicing his Superman pose by the Auster. You can't see the red and blue costume as he's in "Clark Kent" mode you see.
Here's Cameron Galbraith checking out the trailer, don't know where his dad Anthony is, probably got his nose in boxes of Auster parts looking to liberate anything that looks like it will fit his T7. ;D
I stored the hired trailer in with the Auster overnight so it didn't get nicked. Here we are with the trusty Landcruiser from my work hooking up the trailer.
Left of picture is the always helpful Shane Glassey. The wire in the photo leads to the very expensive electric tire air pump that Anthony brought along to put some air in the starboard tire.
Cost him $7 at the warehouse. yep that's Anthony, no expense spared!
On the left Cameron is telling me his Dad likes the look of some of the parts in some boxes. I am smiling and asking him to "Tell me more young Cameron".
Every famous photographer goes for at least one butt shot. So here's mine. (Thanks for that Teresa!)
As you can see that tire didn't have much air in it!
Thats better and a good shot of the air pump hard at work.
Ha ha ha ha and on the right a shot of Anthony's butt! Teresa the Auster please not men's butts!
Right with air in both tires she was easier to move about so we lined her up with the trailer. Now you may notice some additions to the trailer. When I went to pick it up it had these "roller" ramps sitting on it. Wayne at the Trailer Station said they were designed for that trailer for moving boxes. I of course could see another use for them so got them with the trailer.
Here's Obiwan fitting one while I demonstrate the robot dance to Cameron and Shane.
They weren't impressed by my dance skills and left. Obiwan is going "Huh? What did I miss?" Snooze you lose bro.
A quick roll up the ramp and hey presto she was up. I've got video of the loading and the unloading for your enjoyment too, I'll post that later. You'll love the first one when Anthony gets mown down by the Auster and comes off the trailer. I told you it wasn't as smooth as last time.
here I s l o w l y look for a spanner to remove the tailwheel while Anthony takes the weight of the fuselage. You can tell he's not used to physical labour, look at his face. ;D
"Now is it this bolt? No must be this bolt. No. This bolt." ;D
"Now is it this spanner? " Ha ha ha.
Aww Shane had to come and help him. Only using one hand though. Yep he's an Aircraft Engineer alright.
Oh bugger. While making fun of Anthony I then proceeded to close my socket and spanner set.....the wrong way. Aint Karma a beeach!
Teresa very kindly put it all back together for me. Thanks dear!
Like last time (but not exactly as you will discover) we put padding on the trailer's spare tire to sit the fuselage on.
As the weather was fine we decided to remove the tarp, which would help with drag and make it less likely to flap around and damage something.
Ah HA! I knew it. One car boot belonging to one Anthony Galbraith and what do I see? Auster parts!!
Ok seriously Anthony was being helpful and decided to take a few of the loose parts still in the storage unit out to the hangar. Thanks mate.
Here she is ready for the off while in the background I padlock the storage unit.
Here we are nipping along the road. Got her up to 80 but didn't go back in time. Oh wait that's 88 mph wasn't it.
I took the back roads (jeez they are bumpy) and decided to stop and check the load since Teresa noted that the tail had a certain bounce going over bumps in the road. As I pulled up one of the folded up tarps being used as packing just fell onto the road. Ah. That's not right.
And that wasn't all. Shane and Ken were behind us and came across a blanket on the road.
In the car:
Shane: "Is that one from under the tail?"
Obiwan:" Nah Baz has run over it. Must be someone elses."
Behind them Anthony also spied it and stopped and picked it up. Yep. It was mine alright.
We repacked and re tightened the strop and headed off again.
As we got into Rangiora it self I stopped to check the tail again. All ok so on we went. For all of 10 seconds. Beep beep beep goes Shane's horn which was the "stop there's something wrong" signal we came up with.
Shane and Obiwan observed the starboard tire bouncing off the deck a bit so we stopped and found the strop had lost some tension.
So we re tightened it. I say we but I supervised ha ha.
A moment in history here. Auster ZK-BBZ on Rangiora Airfield and in front of the Canterbury Aero Club's clubrooms. I'm sure BBZ would have been on the field at some stage when she was operated by the club.
There was some discussion as to wether or not BBZ's arrival counted as a landing. We decided it wasn't so sailed on by.....
As in the Olympics here is BBZ ready for her dismount! ;D
Tail up and tail wheel back on courtesy me and Anthony while Shane marches towards the front to supervise the trundle down the ramps.
This is actually the easiest way to move the Auster around, even more so when the engine is installed.
On the left I am showing Shane where the work benches will go while on the right Anthony demonstrates the Chicken dance. Don't give up your day job! Oh. Wait. You have! (Yes folks he actually has but fear not he starts his new job in 2 weeks........and its not dancing...........I don't think he'd get much if it was just quietly.)
Here I indicate where all the shelves are going while Shane seems to be thinking "Man theres a LOT of work to do on this Auster." He aint wrong there!
Ahhh the guilty party returns with his ill-gotten booty! Clutched in his left hand are wing ribs with the leading edge on the left and these ones are where the aileron is as the curved recess for it is seen on the right. Not sure what is in his right hand but it will be an Auster bit for sure!
Teresa checking to make sure nothing got "accidentally" left in the boot. Yeah thats right there are eyes watching your every move Mr Galbraith!!
We told Cameron we were going to lift him up by his ankles so he could reach the door to pull it down. He didn't believe us.
So here is the door closing which true to form went a little pear shaped.
I usually close the door by myself but with me, Shane and Anthony all pulling down the door got jammed here as one end got lower than the other end. And yep it was Anthony's end. Man he's been in a lot of trouble this time hasn't he boys and girls?
Well thats the story. Not too smooth this time but the end result was good to see.
Anthony thanks a lot, I know I take the mickey but your help is appreciated.
Thanks too to Shane who is just a legend and knows so much about what makes an Auster ticks. He had some interesting tips to repair a broken longeron (wooden strip that gives the fabric fuselage shape). He described it and then pointed out one that had had the repair done.
This is fascinating stuff for me as I need to learn the correct way to repair parts. Near enough is not good enough especially since I'll be flying around in the end result (as will some of you...........oh come on its perfectly safe! ;D
Thanks to Obiwan for his help on all three moves to date and last but not least my lovely wife Teresa who really got me into this!! ;D
Now to start!