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Post by corsairarm on Aug 29, 2021 10:44:25 GMT 12
You guys are doing an excellent job on both the Mossie and Hudson. Keep it up. Can you guys start again under level3 or are you still confirned to home ?
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Post by agile on Aug 29, 2021 12:05:35 GMT 12
Thanks for the kind words one and all.
The Park will be closed under L3 and even were it not, I think the idea of L3 is still to minimise unnecessary contact with others so we are best to be patient. We resumed work in L2 last time.
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Post by denysjones on Sept 9, 2021 15:12:19 GMT 12
Hasn't time trickled by since I've had progress to report but thankfully we can now access the park and so today I popped in and delivered assorted bits that have been covering the home work bench. In that stash of parts we got the other month we were lucky enough to acquire this It is/was the last storage container to make the full set you'll recall I'd been working on in the nav's bay. It is for the storage of the "6B/110 Sight Tail Drift" in AirMin speak (not the drift recorder from a few months back). The interesting bit about it is that this example was, based on the remnants thereon, finished in black crickle paint and the wording on it was in US broken letter stencil font whilst all the examples I've ever seen conformed to all other things Hudson interiorwise being green and block capital font as you see in this view of 2049 (Dave Homewood photo). I do have a recollection of seeing a Lockheed company factory photo somewhere back in time and the recollection seems to be black so perhaps that was late war US fit. So I've run with it and put it in place today and dropped the sight in for appearances.. The reason the sight has this storage location is that there wasn't much space for Lockheed to choose from to install the sight in the floor of the bay as there is only a narrow footway on the starboard side so they went for the option of a trap door and the nav installing the sight only when he needed to use it so that it wasn't at risk of his damaging it, again here it is posed for the photo. The plate it is mounted on was in situ in the a/c but is pretty basic and worn, and I guess a Lockheed job, so I'll replace it with the pristine new AirMin one which came with our sight. cheers
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Post by davidd on Sept 10, 2021 11:39:50 GMT 12
Good stuff there Denys! Incidentally is "crickle" a British or American term? I have certainly seen "crackle" used for describing this finish, but never the crickle version. I await breathlessly for your sage comments.
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Post by denysjones on Sept 10, 2021 14:45:05 GMT 12
Crickle or crackle... Dave, I know not for sure... as I typed it I couldn't make my mind up so threw myself at the mercy of the spell check of the forum software and both passed so I concluded that perhaps its a case where the former passes muster for the US and the latter for the UK.
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Post by camtech on Sept 10, 2021 20:33:35 GMT 12
The term was "crickle" when I was repainting/repairing instrument panels back in the 60's and 70's. Mainly British panels, I might say.
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Post by davidd on Sept 12, 2021 11:22:18 GMT 12
Perhaps copyright issues then? Seems pretty silly if so!
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Post by denysjones on Sept 18, 2021 21:11:54 GMT 12
This week is a bit of deja vu. If you retrace over past months' postings you'll recall all the bits and bobs that have gone in the course of the work on 2035's port engine accessory bay Such as life is I now get the chance to do it all over again on the starboard. Luckily before lockdown the majority of the items attached to the firewall had been removed and so provided the workshop relief to lockdown. Now we've a stockpile of recognised refurbished bits ready to go back on albeit soon running out of bench space for them,amazing how many of them there are. Therefore foremost in today's task list, now that it is cleared of obstructions, was cleaning and polishing the firewall itself. However to launch the day the now refurbished and bedecked surge chamber took up position in the hell hole of the hydraulic and fuel systems' plumbing. This location matches Lockheed's blueprint of the systems but I'm still none the wiser about what sort of support bracket stabilises it nor how or where it attaches to the bay structure...perhaps time yet has secrets to offer up but at least now we have relativity to work from! cheers
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Post by shorty on Sept 19, 2021 19:14:52 GMT 12
Denys, PM sent
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Post by denysjones on Sept 20, 2021 8:44:20 GMT 12
Shorty,
Don't know whats happened but haven't got it so have sent you one with my email address.
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Post by denysjones on Sept 25, 2021 21:12:30 GMT 12
One of the week's tasks was another finishing bit in the port accessory bay. This snip from the parts book shows a collecting of cable conduits on the outboard of the bay. At the bottom of the snip item 40 is the ground power supply plug box on the nacelle wall. Item 41 is called out as "tubing flexible plastic" which is kind of interesting and must be a latter mod item because firmly attached to our box, so much so it was a real struggle and lots of CRC to undo the connection, was this metal item. As further proof of its originality and length of time in place it has obviously been vibration rubbing against another item and has worn the prominent hole along with another abrasion to the right. Looking at the parts book illustration I was suddenly struck by the gathering of conduits and looking back at the post of August 7th you can see, as I did, that the number of conduits matches the number of unions on the leading edge rib (one already "conduited") so that's what I'm working on until otherwise proven! Therefrom arises another problem. The 1944 parts book we have calls out other conduits in the cluster to be flexible plastic like 41 is specified, but the one that I already had put back in place said "conduited", where originally found, is either 28 or 36 and is definitely metal. So I offered up our newly repaired tube and it's a perfect fit. The second of the vibration abrasions on the the tube matches the main engine oil feed running horizontally across the shot but as yet I've to id the cause of the hole. Thus I advance the notion that early production aircraft were outfitted with metal items and late production had changed material which means I'll run with metal for the others. It does however leave a puzzle in the case of the large one across the top of the illustration which is called out as a Rubbercraft product. Something for this week's agenda of thoughts!
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Post by davidd on Sept 28, 2021 11:30:18 GMT 12
Too tough for me Denys!
David D
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Post by denysjones on Oct 2, 2021 20:32:50 GMT 12
Moving forward from last week's puzzle I made up the conduit number 28 from the outboard rib to the throttle cutoff warning box and so fitted that to start today. Last Saturday the starboard rear engine frame clean down was finished and it got the first coat of the epoxy anti-corrosion finish applied and later in the week I had need to go on site on other business but used the opportunity to apply the second coat so as to set things up for a blitz day today refitting items to the frame. Today was one of those days of satisfaction of progress as I started the top down re-installation of items to the firewall, relieving the pressure on the pile of bits shown the other week. Here you see various items and brackets on the rear of the firewall which relate to the pulley brackets to the front that you may recall of old plus the second exhaust gas analyser cell in place. The last period of the day saw the figuring out of the feeds to the cell and bending up same from copper tube...but more of that next week folks! Earlier in the week Andrew Gormlie from Classic Flyers dropped in on a southern tour and dropped off these These bomb racks resulted in us sorting out two for the Mosquito and releasing two therefrom which coupled with the other two from TRG together gives me the last four I needed to give a whole set for the Hudson. Andrew departed happily with a windscreen for a Harvard (best Mike Feist explains what they want that for). These racks are slightly later production model, hence suit the Mosquito, than the ones for the Hudson by way of the bomb stays on them so for the Hudson they will get swapped for the earlier variant which we are blessed with considerable stocks of. cheers
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 2, 2021 20:43:28 GMT 12
It's wonderful to see the inter-cooperation between the museums. Perhaps the WONZ Forum helps that to happen a little, where needs are seen on these awesome threads.
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Post by agile on Oct 3, 2021 8:08:08 GMT 12
Perhaps the WONZ Forum helps that to happen a little, where needs are seen on these awesome threads. It definitely does, both through seeing others wants and being able to PM people you don't have contact details for. I got involved with Ferrymead in the first place by contacting Denys via the forum.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 3, 2021 8:48:06 GMT 12
That is awesome Alex, I did not know that!
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Post by baz62 on Oct 3, 2021 13:29:55 GMT 12
Perhaps the WONZ Forum helps that to happen a little, where needs are seen on these awesome threads. It definitely does, both through seeing others wants and being able to PM people you don't have contact details for. I got involved with Ferrymead in the first place by contacting Denys via the forum. Oh totally agree that the Forum has a big help putting people and parts together. I recall not long after getting the Auster I got an email from a pilot who got his Auster rating on my Auster. Even photographed the page in his logbook and sent it to me.
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Post by denysjones on Oct 9, 2021 20:55:30 GMT 12
Quite a different subject matter this week folks...not nuts, bolts, and metal but a totally different aviation history matter. When the old CHC terminal building, the one known as the Pascoe terminal after the architect, was demolished a number of items from it were cast aside with no consideration of their historic value. One was the sculpture, by well known local artist Russell Clark, commemorating that London to Christchurch air race. Those here of suitable age will remember it on the wall upstairs in the terminal near the hair dressing salon. Cast aside it ended up out in the elements in the site maintenance yard until rescued by local air race enthusiast and FAS member David Laughlin. Since then it has been in our care and damage restored pending promised funds for its preservation which having not been forthcoming led to a team of two leaping into the breach and fabricate a suitable display case for it. Thus task one for today was to mount the unit on the wall panel to be its home in the hangars and offer up the enclosure units for final fitting. Thereafter of course the day reverted to the same old stuff!
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Post by kiwi285 on Oct 11, 2021 20:52:11 GMT 12
Earlier in the week Andrew Gormlie from Classic Flyers dropped in on a southern tour and dropped off these These bomb racks resulted in us sorting out two for the Mosquito and releasing two therefrom which coupled with the other two from TRG together gives me the last four I needed to give a whole set for the Hudson. Andrew departed happily with a windscreen for a Harvard (best Mike Feist explains what they want that for). These racks are slightly later production model, hence suit the Mosquito, than the ones for the Hudson by way of the bomb stays on them so for the Hudson they will get swapped for the earlier variant which we are blessed with considerable stocks of. cheers Yes Denys - it is one of the things that I am sure we all now make use of and the info and parts available can make a big difference to our own projects. Those bomb racks have been at Classic Flyers ever since I started there and they have been moved on numerous occasions as projects have been finished and new ones come on board. Someone told me that they were from a Fairey Swordfish but I wasn't sure about that as we don't have one in NZ that I am aware of (except our replica). Andrew had asked me to snoop around to see whether I could locate a Harvard windscreen (probably BER) that could be used to form a mould. Airworthy one are like rocking horse manure and as we are looking to participate in the restoration of a Harvard we needed to look at the prospect of getting some made. Deny remembered seeing one in their store ands when found we did a deal that was beneficial to both of us. For us the next job here will be to create a mould for the windscreen. This trading is beneficial to all involved and needs to be encouraged as we all have too many projects and are rapidly running out of years in which to complete them.
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Post by agile on Oct 17, 2021 9:29:25 GMT 12
Things down in Mossie land have been trucking along nicely. The Big Repair has been progressing, with the second-to-last piece of inner skin now in place: Note the neat square hole in the centre of shot. This is where the drain for the hydraulic buffer unit behind the instrument panel exited the aircraft. This drain pipe was added in 1946(!) because according to the mod sheet 'The buffer unit at present has only a vent plug in the top and should the piston gland leak badly, the pilot is sprayed with hydraulic fluid when the hydraulic services are operated'. I daresay that'd get your attention on finals or on the bomb run! As with all other post-war mods we will document and reverse this one. Last weekend was a big weekend in Mossie land. (I missed it as I was swanning around my old scarfie haunts). The big repair has now progressed to the point where the cockpit entry door frame has been installed between the inner and outer skins. There is a second frame to go inside the cockpit, which should be in place soon, then there's a bit of a shape issue to be corrected under the DV window before we install the final piece of inner skin and start replacing the balsa and outer skin. To keep things in shape while it was glued the cockpit door was screwed in place, which meant that Dagy had to resort to the escape hatch to exit the aircraft. I really wish I had been there for that but fortunately Robbie immortalised the situation on film: Elsewhere while Dagy has been scratching his head over the Big Repair I have been tidying up all the skin joints and openings: The large rectangular opening is for the dinghy box, the large circular one is for the HF aerial (which will be blanked over since 487 Squadron aircraft weren't fitted with this equipment, at least by the time they got to Europe) and the smaller circular ones are for the fuselage tank refuelling cap and associated bonding point. I even got so carried away as to start the first coat of red dope, but this has been somewhat stymied as our 'dope dealer' can't hook us up at the moment: A parts trade with Dylan (Avspecs' avionics guru, friend of the project and all-round top bloke) has scored us the cockpit inspection lamp. This nifty little gadget plugs into the cockpit floodlamp mounted inside the canopy : ...and lives in a pouch on the cockpit door when not in use: Incidentally the jettison arrangements on the door (the yellow lever in the centre) are yet another post war mod to be reversed at some stage as the wartime aircraft had a cable arrangement terminating in a triangular handle hanging about where the 'Beware of Airscrews' signage is located. The signage all seems a bit useless, as generally it would be obscured in flight by the ladder. Anyway thanks for all the positive comments and especially to those forumites who have donated to the Society - it is much appreciated in these straightened times. Cheers A
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