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Post by Radialicious on Sept 21, 2008 21:15:24 GMT 12
Yeah Ryan, his work in hand-stitching the linen seams on 4 wings, a centre section, 4 ailerons, 2 elevators, 2 tailplanes and a rudder for the AVRO 504K is just staggering. Word to the wise though - don't let him offer you a rum or two or he will get you stitched up just as good (speaking from experience...........). He is now rib stitching the AVRO for Antique Aero Engineering at the moment and did a great deal of the fabric work on the 7 Fokker DR.1 replicas for the Vintage Aviator. A good keen man and was once the owner of Tiger Moth ZK-BSN and is actively involved in the restoration of Mike Nicholls' Curtiss Hawk 75. It was a good weekend for visual progress on CPT this weekend and I caught up with some interesting people who had come to visit. Paul Harrison (project leader for the RNZAF Avenger restoration) and Graeme Claridge (aviationprints.co.nz) popped in in their way down to CHCH to celebrate the Canterbury Aero Club 80th and commiserate the carving up of Wigram. Shortly afterwards Bob Guard arrived with friends. Bob is now in the Head Shed for Air Nelson and has a gazillion hours on B.170's. He also has an extra special attachment to CPT as he was the Captain for her delivery from Woodbourne to Omaka on her final flight. He has some bloody good Bristol war stories and his recall of facts and information is amazing. He, like many of his breed, are quite excited to see her on the road to Rowdyville. I spent an hour at Omaka before work this morning trialling some cut and polish jippers that I hoped would bring the red surfaces back to life. It certainly did and the result was quite impressive. just like a beaut red apple or cricket ball. However, the remainder WILL be done with a polisher and NOT me and a couple of rags! Cut and polishing a tennis court would be more fun......... At this stage, the public open afternoon and engine run will be on Sunday 28th. Everyone is invited. We have suggested a 5 dollar entry to the event to cover the cost of fuel and raise some cash towards her preservation. I'm keen to also run a small raffle for a seat in the cockpit during the ground run. That in itself is quite an experience. Standing in the cockpit escape hatch looking down on those two monsters is something that is hard to describe! Hopefully I can spend a lot of time in Bristolville this week and get her ship shape and Bristol fashion for the weekend. I know she is looking forward to it!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 21, 2008 23:43:54 GMT 12
That looks great now that Marty has repainted the livery. And it is very nice to hear the old paint will buff up nice and shiny. I'm sure many people will be happy to pay a fiver towards seeing such a unique event. Will you have a few old Bristol drivers making speeches too?
Don't forget that if you hold a raffle at a pulic event like this I understand it legally has to be registered (with the council I think) just to cover your back. I don't think it costs anything. But that prize would be nice for someone to win.
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Post by alanl on Sept 22, 2008 1:23:57 GMT 12
Really enjoying the updates Al and looking forward to seeing the pics of next weekends fun. It's a pity it is so far from here to there else I would gladly pay a fiver to come and watch and of course hear! Cheers, Alan
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Post by Gavin Conroy on Sept 22, 2008 21:04:31 GMT 12
Hey Al, I will be bringing out the five $20 notes I promised you for gas if you got the old girl going so does that buy me a seat at the weekend................... Hint Hint. Great shot of Jim Howard in the cockpit by the way.
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 22, 2008 22:20:51 GMT 12
Gav, your generous donation will be VERY gratefully recieved! For that amount of cash we could almost arrange a private run just for you! Sunday 28th at 3.00pm is now confirmed as the inaugural public engine run event for ZK-CPT. On Friday I intend to have her towed out onto the airfield so that she is looking into the sun so that cameras don't have to. She will be open for visitors for an hour or so prior to being started and run-up. I am pleased to say that we all agreed on the 'raffle' concept for one lucky visitor. The 'winner' will share the cockpit with us for the occasion. We had a discussion about the legality of a raffle as such. As we understand it, Councils, Police and Internal Affairs etc only show an interest in raffles with a prize value above a certain monetary amount. It is hard to put such a value on ringing ears and a big smile. Marty suggested that if our govt could put a tax on fun, they probably would........ Sunday will be a feeler for what kind of interest is around for this kind of event. The Marlborough Express will be running a heads-up article tomorrow and the community bulletin on local radio will hopefully do the same for us. I'm only guessing how many people will show up but I'm looking forward to finally showing her off. It's hard to believe it will have been 6 months and one day since I kicked this crazy project off.
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Post by nzompilot on Sept 23, 2008 15:23:00 GMT 12
Due to having to buy a new camera to replace my old one which kinda gave up the ghost recently, I had a great excuse to spend part of the afternoon in Bristolville with Al.
I must say the work that Al and also Marty have done in cleaning up the paint work is amazing, the old girl is looking better and better.
I road tested the new camera (a Canon EOS 40D) and took quite a few close ups of various parts of CPT - hopefully to use as inspiration for modeling her. I can find a Mk32 Super Freighter but that'll need some work to convert into a Mk31 like CPT. I might even put it into a diorama with Al up a ladder attending to CPTs engines.
Unfortunately I wont get the opportunity to road test the new camera at sundays ground run, but hopefully I can get a few shots when she is shifted out onto the field at the end of the week - all going well.
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Post by 30sqnatc on Sept 23, 2008 21:10:15 GMT 12
'hopefully to use as inspiration for modeling her. I can find a Mk32 Super Freighter but that'll need some work to convert into a Mk31 like CPT.' I have part of an article from an old Airfix magazine on converting Mk32 into RNZAF Mk31. I'll search it out. May provide the missing inspiration. Unfortunately I misplaced the rest of the article several house moves ago.
Paul
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 23, 2008 21:24:09 GMT 12
I'm amazed there is not a conversion set for making a normal Bristol Freighter from that Airfix kit. I mean most Freighters used round the world were like ours rather than the Super Freighters. I don't know who even used the larger ones apart from some English Channel ferry company.
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 23, 2008 21:37:52 GMT 12
I too have that model, still in its box. As I recall, the Bristol method of getting another car into her belly was to add a simple fuselage plug. The doors were unchanged and in the case of the model, IIRC if the plug was removed, the front of the nose can be tacked back on without serious dramas.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 23, 2008 22:00:10 GMT 12
I thought it had a pointier nose. Maybe it was just their 1970's box art that looked like that?
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Post by Bruce on Sept 23, 2008 22:39:13 GMT 12
I have kitbashed a conversion on my Airfix Bristol and it certainly isnt that easy. The doors are a very diffent shape (They go right the way to the top of the nose on the superfreighter, without the fixed upper lip in front of the cockpit. The superfeighters nose also tapers quite a bit and the radius of the noses side profile is quite a bit smaller. On my kit I relocated the doors and built up a lot of new structure with plastic card - unfortunately the profile is a bit flat on the bottom. I Also couldnt show the doors open as I had really wanted. The Superfreighters tail fin also needs some serious chopping and reprofiling. I think there is a conversion kit available to make the standard freighter, but they are scarce as hens teeth... If I was doing the conversion again (which I may eventually) I'd make up some masters and create new nose components on my vac former. When making the model of Al, remember the oil stains!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 23, 2008 22:46:18 GMT 12
This sounds like a job for Dave Lochead to produce a kit.
Or perhaps to help out all the modellers, Al could modify the full sized one to look like the kits?
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 23, 2008 23:43:32 GMT 12
Yeah you guys are right, she is quite the different beast. I agree with Bruce that modifying her will be not as easy as I thought. Oil stains are just part of my day but to make a truly accurate copy don't forget to exaggerate the arches in my feet from spending six months on a stepladder........... Today was a cracker day in the sun even if the norwester was getting just a wee bit silly. I managed to replace the tailwheel 'liquid spring' shock strut with one that was part of the big donation that CPT benefitted from a few months back. She now has an element of suspension in her tail which will be useful when it comes to taxiing her. The rest of the day was spent on sussing out a repair to a leaky oil cooler in the STBD wing and catching up on some cosmetics. Hopefully my phone doesn't ring tomorrow and my day on standby will be a day in Bristolville. Fingers crossed......
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Post by Gavin Conroy on Sept 24, 2008 20:20:23 GMT 12
Caught up with Al for a while today and he is doing a great job cleaning the old girl up. She is looking pretty good. Wont look at cleaning my car as a chore after seeing him cleaning that monster. Good on ya mate
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Post by kiwi on Sept 25, 2008 6:33:15 GMT 12
Dave has done a resin conversion kit in the past , from memory it included engine cowls , wheels , fin and the new nose doors . I have the Airfix magazine article complete , as well as another which raises questions about the shape and position of the cockpit canopy and the depth of the fuselage . I can scan and email these for anyone interested who PM's their email addy . Wayne Thomas did a beautiful job converting an Airfix kit into an RNZAF version in camo a few years ago . He had an old conversion kit but found it was so wrong , he did the work himself .
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Post by Radialicious on Sept 26, 2008 21:56:06 GMT 12
We had a hilarious finish to the week today when we bowled the part time fence on the aeroclub carpark and set to dragging Big Bird out of captivity, and back onto an airfield. Marty had first dibbs on how to move her - his trusty V8 Land Rover. There was much debate as to whether or not his machine could do it. Other options had been volunteered, a Massey Fergy and a Clark tug. In Marty's typically understated fashion, "Narp, piece of piss", was a common utterance when his Landy was brought into doubt. There were two factors that drew the most debate. ZK-CPT today weighs about 27 000 lb (12 ton). (The DC-3 only ever topped out at 28 000 lb). The aeroclub car park is gravel. The equivalent of a fully laden DC-3 on gravel............ Hopefully the following photos illustrate the final result. I was pleasantly surprised that my efforts with a mop and polisher were evident in the photos. We have just a few cosmetic jobs to chop out before we have a bit of fun tomorrow. Weather permitting, she is gonna go out for a wander across the soft green grass of her airfield under her own power. I can already sense the comparisons. Willy (the killer whale). Andy Dufrane (sp) (Shawshank). Mandela etc etc ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 26, 2008 22:47:00 GMT 12
Fantastic. Two great pieces of 1940's British technology there!
She's looking nice and shiny round the nose now!
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Post by Bruce on Sept 26, 2008 23:16:42 GMT 12
Indeed, shape wise the Landy and the Bristol have a lot in common!
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Post by Barnsey on Sept 27, 2008 0:04:53 GMT 12
No stone chips on the Freighter's nose... can't have been too bad!! Well done and have fun.
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Post by contourcreative on Sept 27, 2008 6:45:39 GMT 12
Hi Bristol Freighter fans We did this postcard design in 2007 for Omaka...See it IS back in the air!!! Cheers Terry
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