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Post by Bruce on Jul 3, 2008 23:50:08 GMT 12
Bugger! hate it when that happens....
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802gwr
Warrant Officer
Posts: 30
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Post by 802gwr on Jul 4, 2008 11:59:14 GMT 12
All you guys that got so much enjoyment out of seeing the port engine fire up should have a collection to help hard working Al pay for the broken boroscope !!
Paul in BC
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Post by Bruce on Jul 4, 2008 14:05:52 GMT 12
Just trying to think how we could assist here... Time for another forum meeting with raffles?
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Post by Radialicious on Jul 4, 2008 21:34:32 GMT 12
Thanks guys! It is no problem - it adds even more colour to the project which is still a huge amount of fun for me. I'm looking forward to getting the new one as it took all the guesswork out of where and how to poke my hose. I have learnt that the clearance between the cylinder and sleeve is less than I thought. CRC takes several minutes to penetrate into the gap. A product called PB Blaster has been recommended and now that I have a system of delivering it, I might give it a try. The ultimate in my experience is Mouse Milk. It is purely a penetrating oil with little lubricating properties but jeez it could unstick just about anything. Dave, after the airshow and she is inhibited she will be parked up for probably quite a while. This time it will be done so that very little work will need to be done to re-awaken her. Marlborough Aero Club celebrated 80 years today and it would have been nice to spark her up as the bar was opened this afternoon. Sadly I was out and about battling this most charming weather system that NZ has been drowning in recently. The schedule took me from Blenheim to Wellington to Timaru to Wellington to Taupo to Wellington to Blenheim again. Quite a mission it was dodging ice, lightning and wind for the whole shift. Mind you after battling last Sundays southerly storm in Wellington, todays 38 knot gusts were just a zephyr. Last Sunday the whole Beech 1900 fleet had to share just one gate because of a 50 knot southerly. Gate 18 is in the lee of the terminal and is the only one that the bag chuckers were prepared to work in. I don't blame them as last year one opened our cargo door in a storm. The wind blew it open that hard that it sheared the ball-end bolts that attach the gas struts to the fuselage. Luckily his head was between his ear muffs when the door fell on him and no harm was done. If it wasn't for his head, my plane might have been damaged... Na just jokes, but I heard that several passengers were blown off their feet in that storm and airport security had to rescue a few from the northern boundary fence. On my second arrival a bag chucker marshalled me so close to the shelter of the terminal that when it came time to depart, I couldn't do a U turn off the gate. On dry tarmac it would have been OK but in the wet, my castoring nosewheel developed a mind of its own. Right in front of the viewing windows at Fuel Coffee I had to chuck in some reverse and pull off a three point turn. Very untidy. A Bristol would have used its built in head-wind to reverse off the gate with no such drama. ;D
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Post by Bruce on Jul 4, 2008 22:53:25 GMT 12
Yup Mouse Milk is great stuff -absolutely essential when trying to tidy up old (particularly British!) machinery....
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Post by Radialicious on Jul 4, 2008 23:07:50 GMT 12
I take my hat off to the guy from AVSPECS. They are trying to make a dollar from not only rebuilding but remanufacturing the absolute best of British. Never a harsh word said. However a picture says a thousand words............
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 5, 2008 0:08:34 GMT 12
You've got to admit that Spitfires and Mosquitoes look better than anything any other country has come up with though, don't ya?
As Rangi Ram would say, they make me so proud to be British.
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Post by Radialicious on Jul 10, 2008 22:36:14 GMT 12
Just a quick twenny's worth of an update. I had a fairly serious weekend on the jars and as a result didn't get to see a great deal of the airfield. This week my flying has kept me away also. I did however manage to pull the trouble-motor through a couple of revolutions with a lot less effort than what has been needed in the past. She is coming along nicely. I almost get the impression that this engine will absorb oil in her own time and not at the rate that I would like. As a result, I might make a change of tack and keep oiling her and letting her soak instead of oiling,turning,oiling,turning. In the meantime, I wanna get into the pneurotic system and see what is needed there. Hopefully this will 'psych' the trouble-motor into thinking I don't love her any more and she might up her game somewhat. Maybe digging a Bristol Hercules sized hole alongside might snap her out of it also. ;D Na, I gotta be kind to her. She showed an incredible keen-ness to reawaken and did her best even though her heart was poked. I have to be grateful that she has shown a willingness to try it all again and not pack her bags for Silenceville, Alabama. The oil pump problem has been described to many people now as being similar to a 60 year old being woken from a coma and immediately being told to get out of bed and run down to the dairy for a loaf of bread.
In the last week a number of Bristol Freighter and Hercules spares have come out of the woodwork as donations. It is exciting to see her being supported again by the community. Two days ago I was offered a pilots seat and a number of cockpit components from a local source. Today I was called by a gentleman who is also keen to donate some components.
The weather here has been nothing short of stunning recently but seriously cold. I took a few photos the other morning to illustrate this and will try and post them. At work the other morning it was minus 4 degrees and we had three 1900's awaiting de-ice treatment. We were all blasting off to different ends of the country and all hell broke loose when the Briggs and Stratton powered de-ice rig injested her own recoil start-rope. From all over the Blenheim base came demands for my attention. "if ya can fix a Bristol, ya can fix a Briggs!" was the common theme as I set to work on a small engine problem that affected many people. It was at the other end of the scale to my other big engine problem that doesn't affect quite as many.........
Work has me logging some serious hours at the moment but the roster looks like CPT will get some more attention in the next week or so. Perhaps trouble-motor will be reawakened in the near future.
P.S. I'm not sure if I posted this before but the wife of a friend of mine who saw the last engine run caught up with me recently. She wanted to thank me for the work that I had done and admitted to being very surprised that she cried when she saw CPT running. She was most surprised about her reaction as she QUOTE doesn't normally give a shit about old planes UNQUOTE. She has seen CPT many many times as her husband is a part owner in Marlborough Helicopters. Like many people she assumed that CPT was a silent relic and almost a forgotten monument in the aeroclub car park. I don't think she expected to hear and feel what she felt when the engines were started. Like I've mentioned before, aeroengines these days are simple, sterile and functional. My PT-6's, (which I quietly love taking to work everyday) are a complete letdown now that I have Bristol-blood. Wendy's reaction was exactly what I wanted people to feel from day one of this project. It's like a steam locomotive - you just don't see that kind of stuff anymore. The last time a steam train visited Blenheim, my girlfriend at the time asked "is it just me or does that thing seem alive?" It had a steam operated vacuum pump that powered the brakes and it made the loco sound like it was breathing as they topped up with water. Technology these days seems to reward itself with being quiet, useful and pretty. Steam locomotives and Bristol Freighters while useful aren't quiet and they sure aren't pretty. If my project can rock a person who knows next to nothing about old school aviation to the point of tears, that is pretty cool! None of my mates on the field have admitted to crying, but many have said that they enjoyed feeling the hairs on the back of their necks being exercised.
I'm looking forward to having both Bristol sisters out of bed and singing in the near future. There is now a whole generation in Blenheim that have never heard or felt what will soon happen and a few that are looking forward to it happening again ;D
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Post by shorty on Jul 11, 2008 21:39:51 GMT 12
Always said, you can't beat a pair big Bristols! :-)
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Post by Radialicious on Jul 21, 2008 22:22:18 GMT 12
Hey y'all, justa quick update. She's pretty slow going at the moment due to a combination of the weather, family birthday visits, weather, the 'flu and The Roster. All is good though, as in the background I have been gratefully recieving sizeable and significant donations of Bristol Freighter airframe and engine spares. Interest locally is snowballing and I have had to make space for it all in our storage 'facility'. This week will probably be taken up with transporting, sorting and storing all these goodies. I'm still waiting on my replacement boroscope so I can get back into surgically gooping the STBD sister.
Cheers to all, Al
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Post by Radialicious on Jul 22, 2008 21:24:49 GMT 12
This afternoon I organised a car transporter trailer and my mates Hilux to begin the process of shifting the rather massive donation that Friends of the Bristol recieved in the last week. A local gentleman rescued tons (literally) of Bristol bits years ago when he spotted a truck load off to the dump. It sounds like he was able to hijack the driver and suggest that it all be dumped at his place instead. Included in this was a couple of Bristol Hercules engines still assembled as powerplants. The intention was to one day attach one to something substantial and run it with a cut down propellor. It seems that other projects had more priority and the engines stayed in the shed ever since surrounded by crates and pallets of components and accessories. These were recently donated to FOTB and I delivered the first load this afternoon. I asked if there was still a plan to restore one of the engines to running condition to which the answer was a reluctant "No". As we are all well aware, these things aren't like the more common stationary engine restorations that you see at the machinery fairs. It is only when you stand alongside a Freighter powerplant that you realise how massive they are! I must have been snacking on too many cat biscuits recently because as of this afternoon, I am the proud owner of one of these powerplants. Yikes! The owner whilst sad to see her go, is pleased that I will take on his project and return one of his engines to running condition. She is now in storage at Omaka and will follow me to CHCH when I move down there. I intend to join the group of enthusiasts that restore old aeroengines and bolt them to a trailer for the purpose of wasting fuel and damaging eardrums. It is funny that 19 years ago I looked at another Hercules in a shed and wanted it real bad. At the time I wasn't in a position to secure that engine but soon settled on an Armstrong Siddley Cheetah Mk10 (Airspeed Oxford) that I restored over a couple of years to running condition. By jeez, the Hercules makes my Cheetah look like a tonka toy! Initially I won't do too much to my new toy other than get some penetrating oil into her and begin the free-ing up process. CPT will benefit from the generous donation of parts and there are already a number of components that are headed her way to replace some that are U/S or missing. A good day!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 22, 2008 22:07:19 GMT 12
Great news Al, at least you'll be able to take a little of the Bristol magic you've created with you when you leave.
Hey, maybe when it's on it's trailer and running, and the Bristol Freighter is taxiable, the big bird could tow the running trailer round the airfield for maximum effect. ;D
When do you move to Christchurch?
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Post by Kereru on Jul 23, 2008 8:59:17 GMT 12
Al is this one at Ashburton similar to the one you mention? The tour guide said it was out of a Bristol Freighter. It was very impressive up close. Did the Hastings use the same engine or a different one? Cheers
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Post by shorty on Jul 23, 2008 10:23:23 GMT 12
In the late 80's I was involved with the Solent N9946 at Richmond in California (This was the aircraft featured in "Raiders of the Lost Ark") and one of it's problems was the state of the engines. At the same time SAFE was disposing of the freighters so after some negotiation I got hold of 10 ex Freighter powerplants and some props so that a transplant can be done. These were moved down to storage in a barn in Christchurch initially and them shifted to Auckland at a later date for freighting to California. They are not the easiest (or cheapest) things to shift. I also had to make some storage/transit stands for them.I also got some stuff from Dwen including some ex TEAL Solent bits. So Al, I empathise with you in your new position of storeman! There is another power plant that John Smith has.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 23, 2008 11:27:31 GMT 12
Does that Oakland Solent still run its engines these days?
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Post by shorty on Jul 23, 2008 11:53:37 GMT 12
As far as I know only the two RH motors were run for the movie, I don't think it was run up again at Richmond and I also don't think it has been run since it was moved to Oakland. it was "movie magic" that made it seem like it was in the water also. Previously it had been owned by Howard Hughes (along with two others) as well
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 23, 2008 14:06:04 GMT 12
Thanks for that. The others sadly didn't survive, and now Oakland's and Auckland's are the only two remeianing Solents if I'm correct.
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Post by Radialicious on Jul 25, 2008 23:09:20 GMT 12
Colin, that is exactly what I have got! However mine is in nowhere near that condition. (Not yet). It is complete but minus the reduction gearbox/prop shaft so it looks a bit odd. In the next week or so I will have my hands on a transport/storage frame that will get it off its pallet and off the ground. The donation of parts and components continued again today with a ute load of Bristol bits transported to Omaka. Already I have identified a number of items that will be fitted to ZK-CPT to replace worn and/or missing items. Many of the bits and pieces are 'new' and in their greasepaper wrapping. The Hastings had the same engines but they were slightly different to the Freighter. The Hastings air intakes were in the leading edge of the wing so the ducting to the carbs must have been a bit different. Also, the Hastings had variable cowl flaps which allowed a bit more control of temps. As a result of this they were able to run leaner on takeoff than the Freighter which gave each engine another 40hp. The Freighter had fixed cowl outlets and had to run a bit richer to keep her cool. I believe the positioning of the exhausts on the Bristol was to augment the extraction of hot air from the cowls ala CT4E, Caribou etc. Shorty's photos are great! They illustrate exactly what I am up against.
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Post by shorty on Jul 26, 2008 9:11:40 GMT 12
When I got my engines I got one lifting eye that screwed onto the prop shaft so I made frames that bolted to the engine mounts and stored them upright, swapping the lifting eye from one to the other as required. Standing on their ends they are quite tall!
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Post by Radialicious on Jul 28, 2008 17:42:54 GMT 12
The beginnings of a new monster. Oh well, petrol is cheap........
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