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Post by shorty on Sept 1, 2008 22:43:30 GMT 12
"and please leave the contents of your wallets on the captains seat, thank you."
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Post by Gavin Conroy on Sept 2, 2008 22:22:51 GMT 12
The double start was great. Ringing ears afterwards and it was only idling. A great achievement Al, well done indeed. Took the photo below of a forum member today in a very fresh Tiger. He was also present at the double start and I am sure he will share his thoughts when he gets home. But who is he? I am sure it wont take long to figure out The aircraft is ZK-ALK and has only recently flown after a long break on the ground, very nice machine
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 2, 2008 22:59:21 GMT 12
Great shots again Gav. ZK-ALK is yet another great advert for the team at Mandeville. I noticed that in the shots of the Bristol, there are not many cars parked directly behind her. Tony Wytenburg's photo immediately after the very first start attempt is a good reason why not to get to close behined her. The missing spinner and the condition of her paint is something that bugs me. Easily fixed though. I'm looking forward to getting her a bit more presentable and getting some shots of her into the sun. Fun times ahead! After what people have said about the sound of her, I've really got to get out and about and give her to someone else. Wayne Tantrum said the sound in the cockpit was quite 'sheltered' compared to being outside. Sheltered?!? Crikey! I have always run her with all the windows and the escape hatch open just to hear and feel the noise. I can't imagine how it could sound any better. As I have said, the view from the escape hatch is quite overpowering. More video is next on the list even if I have to film it myself.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 3, 2008 0:10:56 GMT 12
That is a stunning Tiger Moth, where is that to be based at?
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 3, 2008 22:24:21 GMT 12
To quote the delivery pilot "she has been in for a bit of a tart-up". I'm curious how good the 'full tart-up' would look!
I kicked off my restoration of the pneumatic system today by hooking a dive tank into the recharge union of the main air system. Sadly my dive bottle gave up at 125 psi (which did register in the cockpit). Air pressure was confirmed as getting to both pair of brake pedals as their characteristic hiss-hissing came straight back to life. The normal system pressure is 450 psi and with only 125 psi, nothing registered on the gauge that measures output pressure to the calipers. I'll get the dive tank refilled tomorrow and check whether or not 450 psi does the business. I did a quick bleed of the LH caliper today and was pleased to see clean fresh smelling OM-15 run from the caliper. OM-15 is the standard red mineral based hydraulic fluid that you see everywhere in aviation and has a distinctive sweet smell. I've decided to prove the entire brake system first instead of repairing the Hymatic compressors and finding out that they happily pump up a can of worms. Im curious if the 125 psi will be there in the morning.
I visited The Marlborough Express this afternoon on the way home from work. They are keen to publicise Sunday's successful double ground run, report on Jim Howard's involvement in CPT not just on Sunday but on the delivery flight out from the UK way back in the 1950s.
Friends of the Bristol will meet shortly to decide on a series of dates on which to kick off the public running events that I am so keen to provide. I see these as a means to show so so many people what the Bristol is and used to be. These running events will, I'm sure, draw in a useful amount of revenue that can be put back into her preservation and/or further reactivation.
Today was a refreshing return to the cave that is the port nacelle and a branch away from the hard core engine gig that was the last 10 weeks! She sounded even more alive today when her pneumatic 'arteries' resounded with the sound that you usually associate with dodgy plumbing that runs through a block of old student flats when the water mains thaws out after a real stroppy frost.
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Post by skyhawkdon on Sept 4, 2008 7:48:52 GMT 12
Al, have you pulled the port oil pump yet to check for the same problem the RH one had?
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 4, 2008 21:29:20 GMT 12
That's a good question Don. So far I haven't taken the pump off to inspect it. There are a few reasons for this; 1, the port engine has a cover over its dipstick hatch which the stbd didn't. This let rainwater into the stbd oil tank which eventually settled in the oil feed hose. 2, the port engine ran happily for several minutes on its first run with no sign of distress due to oil starvation. This was before I could even imagine that a pump could suffer so much in storage. Stbd ran for one minute and seized shortly after the problem was recognised and the engine shut down. 3, the port engine behaved predictably when hot oil primed. Oil pressure registered steadily in the cockpit during the priming process. The stbd side was intermittent if at all when hot oil primed. That should have been warning bells but a lack of deep down knowledge of the system meant that the bells weren't heard. 4, The port oil tank was empty when I started the project and the stbd still had 4 gallons. ie no source of corrosive substance against the magnesium pump body. 5, As of today, the port engine has probably had a good 15 minutes of running. The run today to check the repair to the port engine driven compressor indicated a steady 120 psi immediately after start. That is 10 psi above the limit but was expected with cold oil. The stbd side registered 80 psi on her first start which is 10-20 psi below what is expected.
As I look at all my justification to the fact that I haven't pulled the pump, I do know that I can easily boroscope the oil inlet and make sure. As we all know, prevention is 2 months 2 weeks easier than fixin'...
I found a stuck inlet valve to the port Hymatic compressor today. I had susected such and refitted her this afternoon. That meant that a ground run was needed to check her out put. Sadly the output was nil but it meant that I got to run her again. Today Stuart Tantrum joined me in the cockpit to check it all out. He has been a great source of advice and support since I started the project and it was nice to have him on board to (literally) feel the vibe.
I think I know why the compressor wasn't charging and I will confirm that tomorrow with hopefully a strategically placed pressure blank. Damn, that probably means another engine run.......... ;D
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 5, 2008 22:18:41 GMT 12
Had a very promising day today. It appears that the pneumatic system is basically sound. I pumped it up to 350 psi this morning with a scuba tank and from what my observer at ground zero reported, the pucks of the 3 piston brake caliper reacted to my pushings on the brake pedals. Certainly in the cockpit there was much hissing and squishing when the pedals were pushed and released. There is a triple gauge that registers main and emergency pressures and the individual pressures to the brake units. Even though there is obvious movement at the caliper, nothing registers on the gauge. I'll take that gauge out and bench test it next week. I didn't get a full day in Bristolville today due to a bit of a sleep in and a visit from the Marlborough Express newspaper. I suggested they run a bit of an update on Big Bird's progress and the upcoming public run days that I want to kick off. Also it was important to me to link the involvement of my 'passenger' 88 year old Captain Jim Howard in Sundays important ground run. As I have mentioned, Jim delivered ZK-CPT from the UK in 1966 over exactly 3 weeks and 92 hours 30 minutes flight time. Jim flew Wellingtons during WW2 and came home to DH Rapides, Express, Electra, Lodestar, DC-3, Bristol and Argosy. He delivered many Wellingtons to units around the UK and while most were Armstrong Siddley Pegasus powered, he flew a few Hercules powered ones. He mentioned that they were seriously powerful and fast and needed to be kept under control. He knew Sir Keith Park in the RAF and thought it was ironic that years later, he would fly Sir Keith, his family and their car across the ditch in a B-170 after the war. When Straits Air Freight Express was bought by NAC and expanded, the need for more Bristols was a consequence. Most of the remaining B-170s were ferried by professional ferry crews. One that came out of Pakistan was met by Jim in Auckland so that he could assist in the navigation and communication down to Blenheim. He reckoned it was one of the more hair raising flights he had done. Mind you, the Pakistani Air Force was famous for writing to the Bristol Aircraft Company complaining about the poor spin recovery characteristics of the B-170! WTF?!? Anyway, I am keen to get into the the pneumatics next week. It seems like it is going to be an even sided fight. I am a human with a brain and troubleshooting ability. The Pneumatic system exists without the need for a brain and is full of trouble to be shot. The undercarriage needs a bit of a look over before she is wheeled out on to the airfield for a leg stretch. The day is coming though. The Aeroclub old boys have coffee at 3 oclock on Fridays. There are a few Bristol pilots amongst them and I'd love to surprise them by taxiing CPT down to join them for a brew...
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 8, 2008 22:17:39 GMT 12
I tracked down a couple of short video clips of the run on Sunday 31st August
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Post by nzompilot on Sept 9, 2008 18:38:26 GMT 12
Bristol fires up memoriesRachel Young - The Marlborough Express | Tuesday, 09 September 2008 Firing up the engines of a unique aircraft bought memories flooding back for ex-pilot Jim Howard. The Blenheim based Bristol Type 170 Freighter Merchant Courier is the only Bristol in the world with both engines operating, thanks to the persistence of pilot and engineer Alistair Marshall. Mr Marshall said a public viewing would be held within the next month and this would become a regular event. He particularly wants to get together all the pilots who had ever been involved with the Bristol Freighter. He hoped to have the plane in the 2009 Classic Fighters airshow. Mr Howard said Mr Marshall's work was absolutely wonderful. Mr Howard, who was in charge of flying the plane from England to Blenheim, watched delightedly as the plane he flew for more than 20 years switched on its engines last week. "It's really a great experience after being out of flying for so many years." It bought back many memories for him including those of his first officer, Ron Alexander, who made the trek from England with him but unfortunately died in an aeroplane accident in 1976. He said it was the first time since 1989 the engines had run. The last time it was flown was in 1986 when the Marlborough Aero Club rescued it from a scrap heap and brought it to Omaka. The Bristol B170 Freighter ZK-CPT Merchant Courier is a twin engined aircraft, designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company at the end of World War 2. Its huge bulbous nose opens to allow cargo access. Mr Marshall said ultimately it would be great to see this piece of aviation history fly again but right now he was happy to have made a special memory for Mr Howard. www.stuff.co.nz/marlboroughexpress/4686679a6563.html
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 11, 2008 21:44:19 GMT 12
Craig, that photo was taken by Jim's Granddaughter and highlights two things. The old girl really needs some cosmetic treatment as well as the deep down re-invigoration that she is already getting. The other was that it was a shame that the shot wasnt zoomed out just a tad. The spinner is just visible in the shot and just behind that was 14 feet of spinning aluminium! It would have been a great action shot. I can be seen looking over Jim's shoulder and was thinking the same thing at the time. I haven't had a great deal of time off in the last few days and that time had been spent finishing the annual servicing to our beloved Andrews A-1 ZK-BLU. That will be squared away tomorrow. I have managed to strip and inspect a proportional brake valve that was part of our recent parts donation. The captains left pedal appears to have a leak that quickly bleeds precious compressed air. I have never thought of air as precious but when it comes in a dive tank, it suddenly has a tangible and spendable value. If it is possible, I will isolate 3 of the 4 storage cylinders in the aircraft so that I can concentrate on looking for leaks without charging the entire system. The first time I charged the system from a dive bottle I almost went in search of a FLAK jacket just incase the port nacelle became a working replica of a daisycutter bomb. I certainly wore earmuffs! The creaking and moaning of the pneumatic system was very similar to a lot of the older people I know when they awaken from a deep sleep. I remember from my training on DH Devons that pneumatic bottles are made from a specific alloy that resists corrosion and when really really pushed, fails in a splitting rather than splintering process. I talked with the Chairman of the Friends of the Bristol today with regard to the public 'Enjoy-the-noise' event that I am planning. It will probably be on the afternoon of Sunday 28th September. I want to have ZK-CPT out on the airfield and facing into the sun for the many people with cameras. This will also put her behind a fence that is a necessity these days with H&S and liability etc. For an hour or so, she will be open to all visitors, upstairs and downstairs. Hopefully the 'Rattle-ya-fillings' run up will coincide with the opening of the aeroclub bar and those that wanna pop in for a Fanta afterwards are most welcome.
That's the plan for the moment. She is looking forward to telling as many people as possible how good she feels to be alive. She makes her point in no uncertain terms!!!! So far she has only quietly uttered those feelings at idle. With operative brakes, chocks and chains, maybe she can be tempted to get rowdy! As I write that, I remember Peter Jacksons King Kong when another monster was restrained in a similar manner......... Seriously though, a lot of thought will have to be given to the safety of those who have come to enjoy her. Looking forward to it!
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 12, 2008 21:34:23 GMT 12
Had a bloody good day on the field today. I kicked off nice and early and got into the pneumatic system. My concerns over the cost of air are now a thing of the past. My 230V compressor is useful to for giving the system a wee top up and it operates OK on the pressure that it produces. Craig Buchanan (nzompilot) rocked up today to have a catch up and saw first hand how the smallest jobs become much much bigger very quickly. When I repaired the Hymatic compressor, the copper seals that seal up its external oil line, leaked during an engine run. Today I took them out and annealled them both which seemed to work well. However, when one of them dropped into the darkness of the port cave, it was never to be seen again. I was brave enough to climb through the trapdoor and crawl into the nacelle looking for said gasket. Did I find it? Of course not! After a fairly thorough search in the cave I gave up and thought that I'd raid one off a spare accessory gearbox that we had in storage. No luck there either as it had already been thiefed off with by someone else. Grrrr..... There was no real option other than to jump on the lathe and make one. I found a soft aluminium rod and soon churned out a few so that we have spares. It was good to get back on the lathe and make swarf. The gaskets were .840" OD by .710" ID and 1/16th thick. I soon fitted them both and was suddenly in the happy position of needing a short ground run to prove them and check the output of the Hymatic compressor. Today I chose to check out my mate Wayne Tantrum on the ways and means of starting a Bristol Hercules. There were two reasons for this. 1, I knew where to look for the leak check and 2, I had heard so much about how awesome these engines sound that I wanted to experience it for myself. The gaskets sealed up good and that was good. HOWEVER, I now know how glorious those engines sound! To check the gaskets, I had roped my second residence (stepladder) to the nacelle, cowl door and undercarriage leg. For this, I wore earmuffs (obviously) and climbed up the ladder maybe a metre from the exhausts. My first impressions was the hard pulsing 'percussion' from each short pipe, the warmth of the air and the glorious music inside the earmuffs. They took the hard crackle out of the sound and it sounded amazing. Gavins report that these engines leave you with ringing ears is bang on. And that is only at idle! The intriguing thing that people have told me is that you can feel the vibe through your feet. That is also true. What a monster! 14 cylinders feeding 28 exhaust ports into 14 exhaust pipes makes for an intoxicating sound. As I have said in the past she sounds more like a V-12 than a radial. Today I was soaking up the sound knowing that it was quite unhealthy to do so as, at times, it was clear that the decibels were seriously high. However, like a rock concert or a cigarette, you tend to enjoy it more than you fret about the results. I climbed back upstairs to check on progress in the office. Thankfully, the psi's were slowly climbing across the pressure gauge. With that job done, ZK-CPT is now fully self sufficient. I'll do the same repair job on the other compressor some time soon. I suspect I can get surgical on that one and do it in situ. Hymatic compressors are unfeasibly simple and a simple fault has a simple fix. Meanwhile my trusty offsider looked as happy as the proverbial in proverbial sitting in the captains chair with the window open and a fist full of throttles. Wayne has given me free rein of his workshops, machinery, tools and materials to assist in this project. It felt good to give him the run down and then leave him alone upstairs to awaken Hercules while we watched from below. Wayne's business Antique Aero Engineering LTD is in the final process of rebuilding a hugely historic ex RNZAF AVRO 504K complete with its original Gnome Mono rotary, a Stearman and a Champion Citabria. The logbooks for the AVRO have both Kingsford-Smith and Ulm in their pages. His Dad Stuart used to own the AVRO and did all the hard work getting the airframe, engine and logbooks all together again. His perserverance led to finding the logbooks in a secondhand bookshop! All aircraft are works of art and like all aircraft of their time, its a shame to hide their skeleton under a fabric skin. Wayne got a kick out of being a Bristol Boss today and I got an equal kick out of watching him do it. The boys from SoundsAero Maintenance clambered up into the cockpit while we were running. It was nice to show them where some of their tools and materials had gone and what the outcome of their generosity was. Even though the aircraft is pointing its tail (and noise) away from the airfield, she can be heard from all corners. Even over in the AHC and the Air Park, the sound draws people to her. There is something that I have yet to address. Neither engine, in my care, has yet been above 1500 rpm and they are built to run at up to 2800 rpm at around 57 inches Hg. Personally I don't see the need to run them that hard these days but man I'm curious how good that would sound! The list of need to do's on Big Bird is getting pretty short now and more and more people are asking what would be needed to make her fly again. I know pretty much what is needed - a whole swag of $$$$$. It is pleasing to note that so many people are asking the same question. There are other B.170's in the world that would need a lot less work than CPT but is nice to see the interest building. Perhaps one day, I'll stumble across someone who sees more reasons to do it than why not to. Don't laugh - it happened to the Vulcan! Anyway, I'm looking forward to tackling the last of the undercarriage jobs and then enjoying seeing her burping around the airfield under her own steam. Like I said, a bloody good day
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Post by nzompilot on Sept 12, 2008 21:58:17 GMT 12
Agreed Al a very enjoyable few hours from my side. Even if I spent half an hour looking for a needle in a haystack (copper seal in engine narcelle/gear leg) I do have a new found respect for all things Bristol and the intricacies of big bird. As well as for the sheer effort you've put in so far Al. Also I found that the only way I fit into the cockpit is bent triple! Bring on the old girl charging across the field under her own steam ;D ;D
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Post by avro683 on Sept 13, 2008 2:11:17 GMT 12
Fantastic news Al I havent been checking your prgress for awhile and what progress you have made! That is great news to hear you have been able to sort out the lubrication concerns on the engine and that she now turns over much easier! I read with interest your efforts on returning the pneumatic system to servicable condition. Won't be long now before you go from Bristol runner to Bristol Driver!
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 17, 2008 21:28:48 GMT 12
Steady as she goes in Bristolville. The STBD compressor has been repaired and as I had hoped, it was able to be done 'surgically' and didn't require its disassembly. I bench tested her on a lathe and she huffs and puffs nicely. It is interesting to see the emergency air system has held on to the 200 psi that I piped into it last week. I haven't yet run the STBD engine to test the compressor but that will happen in the next day or so. I could have done that this afternoon but I have decided to wait so that I can get together a certain small group of people who can crowd into the cockpit. These are the founders of the 'Friends of the Bristol' group who ensured CPT's survival. I get a kick out of a troubleshooting engine run like you wouldn't believe, but I'd like to combine them with others who have quietly done a lot for her over the years. As far as the get-the-old-girl-taxiing-for-the-airshow project is going, the project is just about got. I'm confident that she would now safely start, taxi, steer and stop as well as she ever did. Today I took a step back from manuals, spanners, rags and unfeasibly badly positioned nuts that require seven different 7/16th ring spanners just to make the removal of one nut last the good part of one hour......... to getting into some cosmetics. A couple of hours was spent with the waterblaster, scrubbing brush and some industrial truck cleaner that seemed to have a very mild cutting compound. The guys from Halstead Joinery lent me another stepladder and a plank so that I could cover more acres with less effort. It was messy soapy slippery work but the results at stumps were pretty obvious. The old girl scrubs up pretty good! I only wish she was a Volkswagen or something of similar acreage. She will probably see the results of a working bee before her public ground run in a couple of weeks. FOB meets next Monday to plan what will be done for her rowdy debut. I want to have her all clean and tidy inside and out and open to all visitors for an hour or two(?) so that people can kick, climb, smell and hug her before she takes the stage and does her thing. The timing might just coincide with the opening of the aeroclub bar.......... Tomorrow is my day off so she will get some similar attention. Hopefully the weather plays the game!
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Post by Gavin Conroy on Sept 19, 2008 22:20:12 GMT 12
Great work Al. Have been away a lot with work lately so havent seen the old girl for a while and cant wait to see the old girl taxi under her own power.
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Post by baz62 on Sept 20, 2008 8:50:19 GMT 12
Can anyone guess what the desktop background on my computer is? No prizes for correct answer!!
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 20, 2008 20:12:46 GMT 12
Yeah Gav, where you been at? You'll be logging more hours than me if you don't look out.... I spent the morning flying and what a pleasant morning it was too. Woke up in Timaru, blasted off to 25000 feet in search of a tailwind, cruised to Wellington at 310 knots, fanged off out of Wellies to Gisborne for a sandwich, raced a Seneca out of Gizzy back to Wellies (we won), did the mostest funnest radar vectored ILS ever and then zapped across the Strait for a 1 o'clock knock off in 'Nam (Blen-Nam). The ILS was fun because the radar man vectored us in quite tight to the localiser and instead of a defined base leg before an intercept heading, he worked out a one turn heading which turned us through 180 degrees and slid us nicely onto the localiser beam. We were in visual conditions on top of a glass flat layer of Stratus that topped out at 3000 feet as far as could be seen. The intercept altitude of the ILS is usually at 3000 feet and as I levelled at 245 knots indicated, the right wingtip appeared to slice into the cloud and the speed rush was awesome! As I levelled, the power came off and the props came up to slow the big ship down to 180 knots for the ILS descent. The skill of the controller and the nature of the cloud combined to make it an exhilarating event. I never thought an instrument approach could be so memorable. Some of the passengers even commented on it as they disembarked. It's a special wee memory that you file away and enjoy forever. Underneath the cloud was a gloomy old day that showed no hint of the fun that existed in the sunshine just a few hundred feet above. It reminded me of that new sport of swooping that paragliders and parachutists are into at the mo. Anyway, as I was waiting to board the trip home, I texted my man Marty Nicholl to confirm an appointment with his paintbrush. CPT had had her face and hide prepared last week and was ready for a serious makeover. Marty made CPT the aeronautical equivalent of Helen Clark in election year. CPT is funnily enough quite similar to our Prime Minister, in that if you make subtle improvements in the few bits that can be improved, people look through the fact that it is still seriously ugly. I'm waiting for the man to E-mail me some proof of what he achieved.
Whilst he was doing his thing, I climbed up onto the roof of the cockpit to survey what is needed to pretty up the windscreen framing and some of the glazing. Two things became evident, quite a bit of prettying-up is needed and Crikey, it would be a long way to fall! I think it is work doing and at the same time I will replace a lot of the weather sealant up there. Mr and Mrs Bristol fitted a serious amount of perspex to the cockpit of the B.170 and on CPT, much of was painted out in service to reduce the UV. Marty is a good keen man and we soon talked ourselves into a bit of a makeover of one or two or three other painted areas. We'll see what can be done...........
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 20, 2008 20:55:00 GMT 12
Capt. Jim Howard and the cockpit exterior on 31 August Marty's work as of this afternoon. She still needs a bit more Clarkin' but she is headed in the right direction. ;D
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Post by DragonflyDH90 on Sept 20, 2008 23:26:23 GMT 12
Marty is certainly a legend....he is a talented man and seems to be very hand with a needle and thread also.
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