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Post by johnnyfalcon on Jul 19, 2019 18:19:12 GMT 12
Agreed. Fantastic progress!
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Post by isc on Jul 19, 2019 23:46:23 GMT 12
I think it's going to be like a restored tractor, much better than the day it rolled out of the factory, good work. isc
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Post by Mustang51 on Jul 20, 2019 23:35:14 GMT 12
Here in the UK still and following progress. Bloody marvellous what you guys have achieved. I am guessing that there shall be a bit of polite "told you so" to the naysayers when it is rolled out finished and you fire the old girl up for the first time. Fantastic achievement !!!!!
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Post by kiwi285 on Jul 22, 2019 11:21:26 GMT 12
Thanks guys and gals - we really appreciate the comments and your thoughts. The team really works well and we all thoroughly enjoy our time there.
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Post by Mustang51 on Jul 23, 2019 22:35:02 GMT 12
When it stops being fun.....................
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Post by kiwi285 on Jul 24, 2019 6:48:52 GMT 12
Unfortunately all good things come to an end sometime. But in the meantime we are all having fun.
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Post by kiwi285 on Jul 25, 2019 15:14:43 GMT 12
Yesterday most of the team were unloading spares from Pukekohe whilst a few of us were pottering away on the Avenger and Vampire. We should have the last bomb door completed on Friday as we are going to use up some part sheets to finish the last section. Des and I are going to have a go at putting sections of piano hinge on the doors between the main hinge points as this will keep both doors on each side tied together and fitting down their full length. Ian has been away for the last two weeks so we have been doing some of the smaller fiddly jobs to keep things ticking along.
Alan, Dion and Richard were again working on the elevators and I see that they are now both on and it looks like the actuating arm is attached and that it is all working as advertised.
Dave came up to Pukekohe with us on Tuesday and spent some time walking around looking for some of the missing radio and radar gear from the rear compartment. He came home with several black boxes and mounting trays so we are looking forward to seeing this refurbished and mounted in the rear fuse.
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Post by kiwi285 on Jul 26, 2019 19:29:10 GMT 12
The port bomb bay door is in to stay - we riveted in the piano hinge sections and I'm not drilling them out. Next week the starboard door and then that job is complete.
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Post by kiwi285 on Aug 4, 2019 9:27:33 GMT 12
The last door is now complete and apart from some smaller jobs most of the team has become involved in other projects. Dave has gone overseas now so there will be no progress on the radio gear that we acquired but I will pull out the drawings of the rear seat and will have a go at fabricating that.
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Post by kiwi285 on Aug 12, 2019 14:38:25 GMT 12
Both new build bomb bay doors are now nailed in and I will not be taking them out again unless the circumstances are dire. If we have a spell of fine weather I guess Dave might give some thought to painting the beast.
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Post by kiwi285 on Sept 14, 2019 17:25:43 GMT 12
Went back to work yesterday after about 3 weeks away and I see that Cal has just about finished the seat and hinges. Looks pretty smart to me. Not a lot else happening with the Avanger at the moment as most of the team are either away or working on the Vampire. More news on that thread. 130919 006 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 130919 005 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr
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Post by kiwi285 on Sept 21, 2019 16:39:40 GMT 12
I believe that we have some prop parts and exhaust system items on the way from the US so that is great news. I guess that there will be a push on to see if we can have the aircraft displaying at the airshow in mid January. Bruce tells me that whilst I was away they fired up the hydraulic system and exercised the bomb bay doors without any hassles. I believe that the doors don't meet in the middle at the rear of the bay so we will have to get in there and make some adjustments to the linkage. Figuring just which way to go with the adjustments will be an exercise in itself because of the cross linking arm.
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Post by kiwi285 on Sept 25, 2019 16:39:26 GMT 12
Ian arrived in today so a couple of the team spent some time looking at the arms on the bomb bay doors to figure out how to adjust the closing of the inner doors to get them to work as expected.
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Post by kiwi285 on Sept 26, 2019 16:28:20 GMT 12
As you may have gathered from my last comment - whilst I was away they hooked up all the hydraulic hoses and exercised the doors without any problems so that was a relief. Bruce also mentioned that they had no leaks whatsoever on the bonb bay door circuit. We just need to get them to come together at the back end. Cal and I have just about finished the folding seat in the rear compartment so that leaves Dave to carry on with his work there. Looks like I will become involved in the entering of Vampire stock into our computer system. I look in amazement at the amount of stock that is there to be entered and think that after 50 odd years it would be unheard of that such a cache should now appear. I helped Des last Friday and most of the boxes that we looked at have never been opened since the RNZAF purchased them. Some of the boxes have what appears to be a rubberised seal over the whole box so we left them intact. This could well be a job that takes months to complete.
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Post by Mustang51 on Sept 27, 2019 8:48:04 GMT 12
It shall.....I started to do an exercise on the Canberra spares for temora a number of years ago. Took ten days off, worked on the list every day and did not make a dent !
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Post by agalbraith on Sept 27, 2019 8:48:56 GMT 12
Always look forward to the Avengers progress, thanks Mike!
Also great news on all that stock, I suspect a few restorations may be able to benefit one day from those parts.
When I brought this 40 foot container in with 2 Austers and all the ex RCAF spares, it was the same thing. Everything was all so beautifully packed and wrapped...and often signed. Seemed a shame at the time to open some stuff as some of the tags and part number stamps had long gone, but WE552 needed them fitted rather than in a box unused.
Loving your updates...keep em coming!
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Post by kiwi285 on Sept 27, 2019 14:55:07 GMT 12
Ian was in again this morning and he, Cal and Bruce spent some time adjusting the actuation arms and have got it working just right. So that was great news. When we manufactured the doors we left the area in front of the front hinge untouched so that when everything fitted we could make up two small sections to fill in the area. I have made them so we can now get them riveted into place ready for painting. Dave arrived back this morning after his trip to the UK. He told me that he webt to Duxford to have a look at their Avenger and managed to meet the head of the restoration section there and exchanged contact details so we now have a contact person at that esteemed organisation. Dave said that the rear compartment of their Avenger is almost completely bare so our is in especially good and complete condition (must admit I was surprised by that, I figured their aircraft would have been completely restored). When we have been entering the Vampire stock into the computer we have come across quite a few radio/radar boxes and have put them on Dave work bench as they didn't look like Vampire boxes, so he had quite a job first thing. He has identified some of the boxes as belonging to the Avenger but I also heard them mentioning PBY so there is obviously some other units there too. One of the boxed appears to be out of the turret so I will try and identify just where it goes. I know there was a reasonable sized box attached to the main pipe frame behind the seat that I was going to try and build a dummy for, but hadn't got round to it, so maybe I'll be lucky.
They are expecting the engine and prop parts soon so I guess that when they arrive some of the team will be back onto the Avenger. The Airshow is coming up in mid January and I am sure there will be a push on to have the Avenger operating at the show as well as the Vampire.
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Post by kiwi285 on Oct 19, 2019 15:58:47 GMT 12
I noted yesterday that some of the team have started masking around the cockpit area so I guess that with the warmer weather we are going to see some painting being carried out. The push will start when the final shipment of parts arrives from Chino and we can start sorting out the engine bay.
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Post by kiwi285 on Nov 20, 2019 20:20:15 GMT 12
I believe that a largish shipping crate is currently sitting in Tauranga awaiting delivery to Classic Flyers. Our exhaust pipes and propeller have arrived from Chino so we will be starting work on the Avenger again as well. Dave has been working away on all of the gear for the rear compartment and I see that someone has started masking up the cockpit area in readiness for some painting. ACTION AGAIN.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 20, 2019 20:49:05 GMT 12
Brilliant news Mike!
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