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Post by denysjones on Feb 16, 2023 18:47:26 GMT 12
Thanks Dave..it still mystifies me as to the presence of the bracket on the floor, but also the one for the manual bomb jettison, item 89 in the post above, is present in 2035 just above it so should she have the one on the control wheel or not the early pilots' notes not withstanding?
As well as being in awe of your profound knowledge of the acronyms identifying US equipment I now include your greater recollection of the comics we both must read way back in the 1950s or so and hence knowing you Goofy from Goofey. :-)
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Post by denysjones on Feb 21, 2023 14:27:38 GMT 12
Running late for reporting in this week.... Saturday was another bitsy day in Hudson land, installing yet more plumbing by way of last week's bend ups and then onto sussing out a couple of others to follow on from them. The E&M manual has more than one system schematic for the hydraulic system, as they produced different simplified ones depending what subsystem the particular subject in question was, and the layouts as depicted bear somewhat superficial resemblance to the real world as a result. At the moment I have a puzzle with one T-joiner which on all the different schematics where it appears have it connecting to nothing. It is the item on the line directly above the non-return valve labelled S. It was in place in 2035 so after the line it is on was removed and refurbed it went back and so for the moment it remains unconnected....very strange! As a by the by U and Z are the hydraulic system pump pressure gauges and L and W be the pumps. Thus I did wonder if the mystery T-joiner was for the system pressure but no I found that elsewhere :-( In the afternoon I had a visit from Dag who was stood looking upwards at the two large toothpicks which have lurked above the Hudson wings for getting on 40 years now. These are new booms Mosquito-wing-spar-for-the-construction-of which were made for MoTaT's Mosquito many many years back and then declared surplus and so we gratefully took them. Dag departed with comments about "pity we've only got one pair but at least they'll save me heaps of time". So with the fuselage work nearing an end from the woodwork viewpoint obviously Dag thoughts are now turning onto fresh challenges. Meanwhile over in the rotorwing section there's continual procession of refurbished parts coming and going across Paul's work benches. To a fixed wing man's uneducated eye it appears to be a rotor head might be the object being worked on..but of course I could be wrong. toodles for now
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Post by ZacYates on Feb 22, 2023 10:32:54 GMT 12
"Late" or not, they're always a pleasure to read!
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Post by agile on Feb 22, 2023 17:02:32 GMT 12
We've also been looking out drawings for the 'fuselage jury rig' that goes in place of the wing. Definitely getting towards the pointy end of fuselage repairs... I'll do an update soon, I promise.
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Post by denysjones on Feb 26, 2023 14:14:33 GMT 12
Yesterday started with a few housekeeping matters in the way of delving into some of those piles of "not sure what these are so we'll put it off till another day" parts. With Alex and Angus chipping in we identified several mounts and covers from assorted radio gear but not Hudson related so off they went to the general radio store. The first Hudson job was a major-minor plumbing installation. Minor in that it entailed the two smallest, lengthwise, tubes in the hydraulic system at under 3inches in length and major in terms of the hassle of folding myself down and around into the bay under the pilot's station and then working over and around other tubes already to be found in situ. Here's a snip from the hydraulic tube makeup system layout of where the action was, this being the opposite end to last week's piece and to the front of the aircraft from that one. Reference part 13 on the snip. Now here is the corresponding photo. The arrow indicates the two short members inserted. The lower one was obviously easy but its mate directly above it wasn't but we got there. That lower piece is an interesting beast, being an original of 2035's in that it is a reducer stepping the tube diameter down to 1/2". The corresponding reduction for the line above has already taken place to right of shot. The two square objects with all the connections on them are four-way valves. Simply put the units provide functions of extension and retraction and pressure to hold either position. There are three in the system. The left one here is for the wing flaps, the right is the undercarriage, and the third is further to the right, towards the rear of the a/c, and is for the bomb doors. The two items projecting out towards the camera are the system pressure relief valves. Next on the agenda was to pursue tubes 1, 20, and 21 leading to X, the system pressure gauge. Number 21 was already in place but subsequently turned out to be 90 degrees out of rotation as to how it should lie and once that was sorted the track of 20 and 1 became clear but time in the day only allowed for 20 to be formed up. When tube 1 is made it will connect to opposite the upper of those two short tube inserted earlier. Over in Harvard land Gerry was the sole Team1058 worker on site but kept himself busy in the engine department which has moved on from cleaning everything to the task of outfitting the accessory area.
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Post by agile on Mar 4, 2023 7:21:04 GMT 12
So, to the promised Mossie update: The machine gun deck is slightly more fitted out, now wih the pneumatic plumbing, supportings for the gun rails and the electro-pneumatic firing valve: Not shown(yet) are the .303 link chutes. These are steel with a felt pad on top which had to be de-riveted. Riveting up though felt has been a total pain in the arse and we're still perfecting our technique. The metalwork for under the deck is corrosion treated, painted and ready to reinstall once we fabric the nose: Dagy has finished re-skinning the side panel, which was briefly re-hung so we could trim the edges to match the door and the fuselage forward: George and Oscar are making good progress reassembling our second aileron. Here the mass balances have been reattached to the leading edge and the end rib has been reinstalled: The spar from this aileron had a large corrosion hole in the middle, so a new section has been spliced in: Progress continues in the cockpit, with green paint starting to spread: And a new treadplate made for the cockpit doorway (thanks to the Avspecs lads for the drawing, and to Nigel Hope for turning the three 'buttons', which are for the cockpit ladder and door stay to clip into): With the side panel finished, the last big pieces of the fuselage to come off for restoration are the nose cone and the canopy. The nose cone came off reluctantly with all the corroded bolts having to be drilled out. Behind the nose cone was the usual mess of corrosion product and rat poo: Then the strip of ally carrying all the captive nuts and rusty bolt stubs had to be convinced to leave the aircraft. Heat works wonders on reluctant woodscrews: This revealed more of Standard Motors' unbeatable craftsmanship: The structure of the nose cone itself was not too bad... ...and it yielded up an interesting bit of history which I think the forum will appreciate: I think it says roughly 'J Clark's plane don't pinch it', presumably in the hope that Messers Horrell et al wouldn't chop it to bits with the other Woodbourne aircraft - I'd have written it in larger letters! Unfortunately most of the rivets and spotwelds in the nose cone had failed, requiring us to completely disassemble it: But we soon got on a roll riveting it back up, and for a while the workshop echoed with two teams of riveters: Dagy carried on the good work at home and texted me this picture during the week: I found time to rivet new captive nuts onto the strip for the nose cone, and to re-rivet/remanufacture nut plates for the forward armoured bulkhead. The egregiously slotted hole in the right hand nut plate is yet more wartime craftsmanship: This weekend will be a bit quiet as Dagy is away at a festival and I'm gearing up for a milestone birthday party, but normal restoration will resume the following weekend!
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Post by planecrazy on Mar 4, 2023 8:45:23 GMT 12
Great update Denys she is coming along!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 4, 2023 9:49:37 GMT 12
Really interesting to see Jim Clark's name inscribed like that.
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Post by agile on Mar 4, 2023 12:42:54 GMT 12
Great update Denys she is coming along! Thanks. I'm not Denys though - accept no imitations.
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Post by ZacYates on Mar 4, 2023 14:34:06 GMT 12
Superb stuff!
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Post by planecrazy on Mar 4, 2023 16:58:41 GMT 12
Great update Denys she is coming along! Thanks. I'm not Denys though - accept no imitations. Whoops sorry mate?!
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Post by denysjones on Mar 4, 2023 19:58:15 GMT 12
Yep Peter don't be confused by the young interloper, even if he was derelict from duty at the Park today due to the weak excuse of family commitments around the celebration of a zero digit birthday...normal service follows....
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Post by denysjones on Mar 4, 2023 20:00:50 GMT 12
This week we have a tale of three puzzle pieces which I've been puzzling over on the Hudson parts shelves for some time so I took home last Saturday these The large plate with its bluish colour suggested it might have come from a Hudson as the colour that the RNZAF resprayed the interior of at least 2035 with weathered out to that shade. The black one could also well be Hudson but likewise numerous other types have such in the instrument panel and related cockpit areas. The rod has four 2BA bolts and nuts so would have to be British in origin but there was so little green paint clean enough to absolutely say that is. So out with the paint stripper and in the case of the plate the striptex pad to remove the corrosion prior to repriming it. We now have The plate was devoid of any stampings but did have a crudely scratched "TOP" on it and that is how is posed in the second photo. It also came to light that the plate nuts on the reverse side are 2BA threaded so that goes against it being Hudson unless it is something cobbled up here by the RNZAF and using pre-war AirMin stuff, as I have in the past encountered BA items in situ in 2035. The black object turned up the part number 1052110 (any suggestions out there?), which isn't in the Hudson manual, along with what I presume is a manufacturing or inspection stamp of P above 13 in a circle. The third item hit the jackpot with these stampings on one end where S25 confirms it to be Sunderland and hopefully it is a brace for something cockpitwise as on the other end the two 2BA bolts still had a grip on a remnant of plywood. Looking at photos of our Sunderland cockpit of old I think we can see its position. Overall the consensus is that in the post quake tidy-up these three mistakenly found their way to the Hudson shelves not the Sunderland ones. Here's today's pipe work, now off for painting this week. The four larger tubes are the balance of the brake lines from the undercarriage into the fuselage to connect where some lines were already in place. Now all we need are the brake valves that these will now connect to finish this system off. The smaller diameter tube is number 21 from last week's trio leading to the hydraulic system pressure gauge. As always hope this is of interest.
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Post by Antonio on Mar 4, 2023 20:25:19 GMT 12
"As always hope this is of interest." You betcha
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Post by denysjones on Mar 11, 2023 20:08:29 GMT 12
First up this week was putting in the brake lines etc from last week's makeup work in the course of which the making of an obstacle came into play in respect of the starboard line which had to make its way to the famous old multi-function bay below the pilot's station. Along the aircraft centre line there is this tunnel and there is a "roof" to this tunnel, which of course is not in situ as yet, like a house room with an attic above, so all the control items are safely housed above interference from the nav's actions, attaching to the cross member in the upper areas. This all means the line had to either go above the tunnel...nope not a chance too many other things already up there...so must be through it and this led to a small aperture starboard side from whence you now see said brake line entering through and crossing over to join a multi-union collection topwise which I was now re-acquanited with having long forgotten its existence. (Apologies for photos here due to the cramped working location.....) However above it on the right of shot you will note the large union which immediately rang bells of panic as that is the right size for a fuel line. Some months back I faced the question of the feed from the fuel system from the multi-function bay out to the starboard and made up tubing to run up and over the top of the tunnel...damn...wrong! So today a revision to make up alternate plumbing to go via this path. I had quite lost sight of, and memory of, these last two unions given the now very cluttered and cramped situation of the multi-function bay. So today it was a case of undoing said fuel line and making up the new elements to follow the now revised track so here is our new member in test mode prior to heading off for prep and paint. You can also see some of the pulley units from the pilot's control pedestal above for controls to the various systems in the a/c. I also now note the black cables in shot which are some of the ones for the fuel dumps. There being four, one for each tank, with separate pull tabs above here. As a btw for those with a deep interest in colours this area is a really very very original example of the Lockheed Interior Green as it has not been subjected to the weather in all those years outside in Blenheim's climate. Ah well with having to go back over things past done and work forward in the light of new knowledge....them's the breaks! :0(
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Post by denysjones on Mar 25, 2023 19:48:55 GMT 12
Today, along with more of the usual plumbing works, I branched out into another dimension that I posted some weeks ago as being forthcoming, namely the lines in the B&P turret for 2035. Back then I posted the diagram of the whole system but for clarity sake here is a snip of it which is the left side (as the gunner sees it) and shows the swirl of lines around the hydraulic generator (= pump) these being underside of the table level, as it were, of the turret and so the view is looking down from above. Some years ago Dag, the CO of 633 Sqn, was back in the UK on a family visit and went to Hendon and photobombed the turret they have for me. This shot is looking upwards and outwards to the gunner's left. The grey items projecting downwards are simply transfer tubes (= risers) leading to the upper level (= above the table line) of the turret. Today saw two of the lines worked up, being A and D as per the diagram. These are now off for finishing and B and C await attention. You'll note I'm forming them in copper not brass. As it's for static display and they will be painted, as I've seen other turret's lines, the ease of working with soft copper versus harder brass wins out. As a point of interest here is a shot of the upper side of a turret in the UK where you see on left the topside of those risers and then the runs of tubing around to the right side to the turret rotation motor and the gun elevation ram. ttfn
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Post by baz62 on Mar 26, 2023 9:35:17 GMT 12
Wow there are some serious twisty bendy pipes to go in there! You must see hydraulic systems in your sleep!
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Post by denysjones on Apr 1, 2023 20:19:10 GMT 12
Some early work today got postponed by weather as it was to do with building matters getting ready for winter's worst. However the balmy afternoon allowed most of the tasks to get progresssed. So Alex and I gave Sunderland Dave a hand to install the right side seating pedestal and after fixing it down he began fitting it out with the front elements of the aft crew station. Hudsonland was more tedious plumbing stuff while over in 633Sqnland George and his apprentices Oscar and Reed were busy closing up an aileron using, as you see, original skins. In chopper space more parts and assemblies were visible (that team work on Sundays and sometimes weektime) cheers
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Post by denysjones on Apr 15, 2023 21:38:03 GMT 12
The last weekend's work was again more plumbing but with a minor difference from just runs of lines. On the B&P turret front the need arose to fabricate some tubes to "lift" the tube runs from below the turret table to above (English-speak uses terms like "distance" or "stand-off" tubes but "risers" makes sense to me). Simply put they are tubes which at one end have female threads (internal to the tubes) and at the other male (external to the tubes) but being from the era they are the threads were 1/4 BSP. We had a die for the male ends so first up I had to source the tap for the female ends. Thereafter it was plan sailing fabrication wise. So the tubes reported as WIP the other week plus a third are now in place. The leftmost one being connected to one of the newly made risers, the other two (plus one riser yet awaiting it's connection), having been in place already. Tubing making has come to a temporary halt pending receipt of supplies of more stocks of the required diameter materials and so today I looked into another aspect of the turret. Thus starting with a selection of items such as these which are segments of the slide mechanisms from the front of the turret for the gun barrel elevations. After an afternoon's sorting and cleaning we have a set for one of the guns in the turret. The gun barrel projects out through the black fitting and as it elevates or depresses the sliding units extend or compress to follow it (these being below the barrel). A perspex piece attaches above the barrel piece but that will come. On the homework front Bendix PD12 carburettors have been the latest topic. Off-forum discussions with Chrism, hereon, have been held of late regarding the variants of PD12's and the adaptors that fit them to assorted engines and so whilst delving into our stocks of said units I came across a somewhat forelorn looking sectioned unit. So now it is a WIP but is coming along nicely. Along with all of this today Rob, Andy and myself did some building R&M installing some new flashings on the hangars as part of a pre-winter programme. It's nearly 25 years since we built the hangars (a lot of people don't realise that those buildings were largely DIY projects) so the times are a-coming for such works and costs being what they are DIY becomes necessity, funded off our GiveALittle page. toodles
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Post by denysjones on Apr 24, 2023 9:02:35 GMT 12
During last week I got the sectioned PD12 carb finished and much improved it is if I do say so myself. Also on the home work bench was a spare turret slide from which the endeavour is to recover the piece at the left end here, where the perspex is riveted to and which pivots on a pin running across the major casting piece, this being needed for the slide shown here last week. Well it should pivot but our old enemy "dissimilar metal corrosion" has well and truly set in, but battle has commenced! Saturday saw a somewhat reduced turnout as some folks have turned this into an extra long weekend. Alex, Dag, and Angus were beavering away and were joined by Dean whose idle hands were turned to the completion of the re-assembly of the radiator shrouds for HR339. Angus continues his work on the wiring looms patiently lacing them up and so producing these excellent units. Gerry was busying himself on the accessory side of 1058's R1340 while just by way of a change I bent up yet more tubes for 2035 this time the targets were the last member of the oil pressure run from the port engine and then making a start on the corresponding member for the manifold pressure. Sunday morning I had to turn out bright and early as we had a hire of the C-47 hangar for a movie shoot filming some short pilot scenes, from a planned movie, to be used in pitching for investors. The plot sounds suitably involved with a Russian refugee from the revolution turned industrialist in the UK who makes his money selling his products to Germany and then has difficulties extracting himself from the deals when war breaks out, all of course including the mandatory femme fatale...ah well it all brings in money!
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