A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

When I get chance I'll post the photos up taken at the time of 788's disposal, detailing the damage to the wing. It ain't pretty...

Anyway, we've had another busy weekend working on 788, so that must mean it's well past time for...
01/02/2022 Update!
Mother Nature really chucked us a curveball this weekend. Yorkshire escaped the brunt of Storm Malik, but we still had 50+mph winds on Saturday morning. As far as engineering staff went, only Monty and I were in, and between us and the office and admissions staff we had all the benches, fences etc. back as they should be or safely stowed ready for opening time for what proved to be a very busy weekend. Once a year there is a York Residents' weekend where York residents can visit a number of local attractions for free, YAM participates in this and it just happened to fall on the weekend with the terrible weather! Monty and I took a look round all the outdoors aircraft and exhibits, to make sure they were OK and all their blanks, covers etc. were as they should be. 168's nice new canopy cover was sat snugly keeping the weather out of her!
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Checking round the rest of the aircraft the Victor had spat 2 jet pipe blanks and one intake blank
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She spat the other intake blank later in the day and we put these out of harm's way in the engineering workshop. There were a couple of canopy covers needed tightening down, we found in the workshop and fitted a rudder gag to the Silver Star as it's rudder was flapping, we removed the canvas roof from the Austin Champ as it was acting as a wind sock and we didn't want it blowing away, and on heading round to the back of the hangar we found that the Chippy had gone walkies and her cover had blown up! We put the cover back on
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And then decided that moving her into shelter next to our stored AEC Matador bowser was wise. If that big lump of iron can't protect her, nothing can! After all this, we decided we'd earned a brew so headed to the crewroom for a warm and a sit down. We then got on with the weekend's work. But first, we had a new member of the team to introduce to the jet... Snoopy!
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A very late Christmas present, I figured a beagle is just the thing we need to keep a certain Buccaneer hugger's pet fox out of our corner. He's already tried 788's cockpit for size and declared it a bit more comfortable than the Sopwith Kennel Mk.1 he's more used to flying!
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He may have an issue with reaching the rudder pedals though... Also someone left a box of jaffa cakes on the bench for us; thankyou random jaffa cake giver!
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Anyway to work, and WK640 got a look-in first! I had a genuine pukka Chippy altimeter to fit (it has a partly legible serial inked on but I forget what it was), and after finding I was one more P.8 compass up than I realised, I set Monty the task of using the complete P.8 compass setup we already have as a template for making a second one! So, altimeter overhauled, working (taken on a trip over the A66 with me last week to check it!) and in...
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...and Monty getting to grips with the compass plinth
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With our pet RNZAF Avionics Engineering officer kept quiet re-learning the mysteries of tinwork, I carried on with what is rapidly becoming the bane of my life, the flap/airbrake system on 788. I had to drill a skin section mostly off to access some of the captive nuts which needed changing
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discovering in the process that yet again the makers of the Meteor took a leaf out of De Havilland's book, using wood in the construction!
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This time for profiling wedges between the inner and outer skins of the upper wing surface. After lunch it was back to more of the same, Monty on with Chippy tinwork, me fighting the wing, and the wind trying to deafen us with the rattling hangar doors! I did try the oil and mole grips technique to remove one screw body...
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It lured me by feigning success, allowing itself to be turned a few turns, before snapping and therefore obliging me to change the captive nut. Oh Joy. But after a lot of drilling and riveting, and one of our admissions staff getting collared as he wandered past and literally lending a hand when I couldn't reach 2 places on the jet at once (cheers Thomas!), I'd replaced all the necessary captive nuts, refitted the wooden spacer, and riveted the skin back down
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before rubbing it back to shift the early onset of some corrosion, and then giving it a protective shot of primer
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Monty had had a successful day too, working methodically through the compass plinth manufacturing process to end the day with the lid piece nearly completed
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An interesting day, to say the least! Sunday could not have dawned any more different if it tried. Dry, still, clear...
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...and a bit on the nippy side!
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Another site check revealed no further casualties of the weather overnight apart from the Lightning's canopy cover had slipped a tad, but we soon put that right. The sun shining straight at the de-blanked XL231 into the throat of those intakes provided a photo opportunity even I couldn't refuse...
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In anticipation of day 2 of Resident's Weekend being uber busy, we moved Snoopy to where some of our younger (and in fairness older as well!) visitors could appreciate him more
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Monty was back on with his compass mount, Laurence was back with us doing some odd jobs including stencilling up our newly acquired locker for our personal gear (better than coats, phones, car keys etc lying around all over the work area), and Scott and I continued with the battle with 788's port hydraulics. We decided the next job, now that I had extra eyes to watch the alignment, was to fit the hyd rig to the airbrakes "in" line and crank them shut until the bolts holding the airbrakes on aligned with the extraction holes
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After an "oops, too far" by Scott, which meant I had to depressurise the system, pop the hyd rig onto the airbrake "out" line, and pump them open a bit again, we had the bolts aligned and were ready to commence battle in earnest. Once lined up we concentrated first on the inboard bolt, for no particular engineering reason. It very, very grudgingly played along with us, one tiny fraction of an inch at a time
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After a lot of work by Scott and I in the confined space of the wing... it was out!
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So we passed it over to Laurence for a clean up and some TLC which, as you can see, was much needed.
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As I said to more than one vistor on the day, access to the airbrakes is one of those jobs which would have been a bit awkward, probably unpopular, but totally doable back in the day. When you throw nearly 6 decades of weather, corrosion and neglect into the mix, it becomes a very different matter. I don't understand the logic of a system which has to be working in order for you to access it to repair it either. Very, very strange... Anyway, after lunch we had it's ourboard counterpart to fight with
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That one really didn't want to play, defying us for the best part of 3 hours before finally we could claim victory
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We passed it over to Laurence, to see if he could remove and reclaim the bolts out of it. I bet it's been a good number of decades since it was last inverted...
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The dataplate on it yielded an interesting gem of information...
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...it was originally an NF.11 item! Partly to keep muck out, and partly to give ourselves a morale boost, we placed the access panels back in place and also placed the replacement restored airbrake, patiently removed by Rich Woods from the wreck of VZ568 on a wet windy Welsh hillside a while ago, in it's new home
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Even Snoopy, who was very popular with our visitors and had so many photos taken he's considering hiring an agent, came down for a look-see...
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So that's one upper side apart, one quarter of the airbrake disassembly done. I think I might go find something different to do next time I'm in, as for now I'm sick of the sight of that portion of the Meteor! Monty had a successful day too...
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...he's edging ever closer to getting on with riveting! I think like me he enjoys the process of building missing components from scratch. It's very satisfying. I have some homework to build too, using my own NF.14 panel and the book, I've the instrument panel pitot/static piping to make up from this batch of "previously enjoyed" pipework as, surprise surprise, 788's is all missing.
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Slightly more exciting, we had an item arrive this week from our friend Mike Davey
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Yes, a Derwent starter quill drive. This enabled me to hook up the Derwent we have been working on for a few weeks to our trolley acc and give it a quick spin, proving 2 things which have concerned me are fine. Firstly, the trolley acc we restored is indeed more than up to the task of spinning the Derwents, and secondly, the starter motor we acquired for 788 is a good strong motor. It may only have been spun over for a few seconds, but it was enough to generate that unmistakable iconic Derwent "air raid siren" start up sound.
If hearing the beginning of a Derwent startup for the first time in decades doesn't make 788's ears prick up, I don't know what will!

Until next time folks...
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Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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TonyC
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by TonyC »

Yet another superb update Graham!

I have to say that it always amazes me, how parts of the airframe are relatively corrision free, whilst others, like the lower airbrake supports, have gone beyond saving.

As for your statement "I don't understand the logic of a system which has to be working in order for you to access it to repair it either.", the answer is simply...

...it's a 1950's British design :grinning:
...and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in Space cos there's bugger all down here on Earth!

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hunterxf382
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by hunterxf382 »

Another cracking update Graham - and loving the latest recruit to the team (Snoopy)!
I'm waiting to see a recreation of a classic pose with him sat inside the cockpit properly- scarf blowing rearwards in the wind etc... ;)
Good work by Monty on the compass mounts too!

Let's hope that Snoopy doesn't have an appetite for Jaffa Cakes if you left them both unattended, or a mutiny may result ;)

Little by little, with the occasional big leap, you are certainly getting there with 788! Hopefully when you next spin over that starter, you will record it for our delight?
Pete Buckingham
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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

Tony,
The way some bits of the jet are goosed, yet others are immaculate, is to an extent explained by her having been stood on grass for most of the last 6 decades. Therefore, a combination of catching damp underneath her, and the less than diligent paint prep and maintenance you would associate with the less user friendly/accessible underside, has exacerbated many of her issues. Weather has very much not been her friend.

Pete, the pic of him on the Nav's instrument binnacle was as close as I could manage for the classic kennel pose. Put him in the cockpit and he won't see over the side!
He is being taught that jaffa cakes are A Bad Thing. And we are careful to only eat them behind his back!
As to sharing a spooling Derwent, I can't spoil you all too much..
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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TEXANTOMCAT
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by TEXANTOMCAT »

Watch out for a WS788 'Only fans' page coming soon 'hear my Derwent spool for £4.99 a month' :)

xkekeith
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by xkekeith »

TEXANTOMCAT wrote:
Thu 03 Feb 2022, 10:14 am
Watch out for a WS788 'Only fans' page coming soon 'hear my Derwent spool for £4.99 a month' :)
😂

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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

Filth!!!
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hunterxf382
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by hunterxf382 »

Now that made me chuckle...lol
I've heard and seen many imaginative fund-raising ideas before, but "Only Fans" takes things to a new level of dark humour......lol
Pete Buckingham
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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

I'm sure 788 is better than sharing pay per view internet space with Katie Price. We ain't that desperate just yet...!
This week's homework is done though. The pipes I showed, part of a batch of components reclaimed from a doomed Meteor NF decades ago and passed our way a couple of years back, were first stripped of fittings...
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And then thanks to my ebay win pipe bending/cutting set, modified for a new lease of life on 788's instrument panel. Here they are in the process of being cut, bent and set up on the NF panel I have in my front room (doesn't everyone...?)
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One set of pipes ready for a new life behind 788's instrument panel!
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How very green and recycl-ey of us. Greta would be proud...
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TEXANTOMCAT
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by TEXANTOMCAT »

"we apologise for the delay in broadcasting the latest edition of 'Around the Meteor in 80 Rivets', our latest episode should be along soon, in the meantime, please enjoy this music'.


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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

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Calm yourselves people! :rolling_eyes: Life and a few very busy days at work have got in the way of my writing an update. However weather has stopped play today (and tomorrow, wahey!), so I can finally bring you...

16/02/2022 Update
But first, goodies. When I got home one night last week, there was a little package awaiting me. Turned out our friends at Sywell had sent a Red Cross Parcel of Meteor flavoured essentials, a load of RR nuts and a GGS camera magazine
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A GGS camera is on our want list for the cockpit of 788, but at least we have the film magazine for it when it occurs. Huge thanks Ben!
On to Saturday's shenanigans. We had a good number of bodies in, and yet more goodies awaited us!
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Our tame kiwi Monty was in to carry on with his compass mount fabrication for the Chipmunk cockpit, so he cracked on with that. I have had enough of flaps and airbrakes for now, so as a change the rest of us got on with trying to break into one of the last remaining areas of the jet we haven't accessed yet, the underwing drop tank mounts and their accessory bays. We need to be in these as our drop tanks have had to go outside for storage for now, and I'm keen to get them hung on the jet ASAP as I figure that, being 2 awkward cylindrical objects designed to dangle (oo err...), hanging them off the jet's wings will be the easiest place to restore them. So Kane and Laurence, being the young and nimble members of the team, went under the wing to begin clearing the paint and grot off the access panel either side of the tank latching units, while Scott and I being older and wiser climbed on the wing to attack the upper access panels.
It's fair to say it wasn't our most productive morning. The lads got the panels under the port wing and their associated screw heads cleaned off, but nothing was giving. On the top of the wing we managed to move...
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One screw. Bugger. So after lunch, brew and curses, we broke the hernia bar out.
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This is one of those tools which you reach for when things get really bad. It did help us getting a couple of the screws out, getting that first screw out so we had an anchor point for it was a Godsend...
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...but this was the extent of the success
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The grotty paint and corrosion under the wing didn't make for a pretty picture either, even after Laurence and Kane's efforts...
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This was as far as we got, seeing as we spent the latter half of the afternoon in a H&S course the museum were running, but Monty Scott and I were back in on the Sunday to carry on the fight. One of the boys had put the long extension lead away the day before rolled up in a way that seriously offended Monty's OCD, so he went marching off down the hangar with the reel in order to reel it back in in a much more aesthetically pleasing way, much to our amusement as it's a long reel!
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He then carried on with his Chippy job (once that is done he has a Meteor job in the pipeline he's looking forward to getting on with) while Scott and I cleared the paint from the screws on the port wing's drop tank latch access hatches
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dosing everything with penetrating oil once cleared of paint of course.
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And it was about this point that the day got all too much Springwatch-y for my liking. As expected, the screws in the lower panels were totally uninterested in undoing so we began drilling them out, port inboard first for no reason other than that's where I was
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We weren't prepared for what lay behind, or should I say above, the access panel as we coaxed it off
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yes, this virtually inaccessible bay was jammed full of nesting material. It's virtually a sealed bay, so how the feathered friends responsible gained access baffled us! Anyway, surprised but undaunted, we cleared the nest material out of the bay...
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And moved on to the port outer access panel. Once we had drilled the screws off...
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Yes, another and entirely unexpected nest. Given we couldn't see how anything could access these areas, we had assumed the one above the inner panel to be a one off, but no that'd be way too simple for 788! So we then cleared all this nest material out...
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How did nearly all this come out of such a small bay?!
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Before letting Henry Hoover take care of what remained in the 2 bays. After this, as I was trying to take a nice shot of the jet before we bailed for lunch, Monty returned and photobombed me.
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Hey ho... After lunch we got into the newly cleaned out port bays with the penetrating oil, on the mounting bolts for the latching unit, all its linkages, anything that looked like it once moved, and even the backs of the screws holding the upper surface access panel (with 788's serial pencilled on it) in place stubbornly.
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It seems we also got a spider too. Sorry!! So then we headed to the starboard wing, armed with the drill. There can't be any more nests, surely...?
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Yes, yes there can it seems. Apparently whatever bird is responsible had created and put on the market a whole terrace of luxurious properties in the Leeming area, only minutes from the main A1 trunk road, enjoying all the amenities a modern Royal Air Force station can offer! Last access panel, and what's the betting that what lurks behind this lovely looking bit of A-W tin begins with "N", ends in "T", and has "ES" in the middle?
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Yes, yes it did. This was the sum total of nesting material we found in the 4 bays
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They had been industrial little blighters! Add to this the amount we definitely didn't force feed YAM's Henry Hoover (sorry Henry) and it's quite a lot of nest. The only way they were getting in and out must have been to fly into and up the gap at the back of the latching unit, then over the side of the ribs it bolts to through the small gap between that and the upper wing skin/access panel.
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Impressive, and definitely as safe from predators as you can get! As you can see everythign in there got a good oiling too, before we retired for tea and a little well earned treat
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After this, we started packing up. I cleaned up the inside faces of the 4 access panels we had removed, which were in surprisingly good condition despite their status as nest floor for decades
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We even found A-W part numbers!
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The bays look better without all that nest in them, and have survived in better condition than I expected. I'll be happier with the upper panels off too though, so we can get in there and sort the bays out properly
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Monty made good progress with his compass mount too...
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It was in primer at close of play on Sunday...
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And trying the compass which will be mounted on it for size!
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Excellent work, I hope he is as chuffed with his work as we are. So, a long, busy, surprising weekend, it seems 788 isn't quite done throwing curveballs at us just yet! That said, the outer wings are the last bit for us to break fully into, so she hasn't got too many more places to hide surprises from us. I just wish that, when the tanks were discarded when she moved to Leeming from Patrington (she still had tanks fitted while on Patrington's gate, but the pics I have at Leeming show her without) someone had fitted the same nice blanking plates over the tank latches our F.8 enjoys in lieu of the pylons and tanks. This would have meant no birds, no nests, no corrosion. Oh well...
A few of these on Sunday night were both welcome and necessary!
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More next time...

EDIT... I nearly forgot, these photos popped up on my own Facebook, taken 6 years ago yesterday. Taken by Rich Woods, they show 788 being literally dragged from her grave right at the beginning of the project. I think it shows how far we have come, especially when you consider this is all done in our own time and we lost the best part of 2 years to COVID...
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Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
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TonyC
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by TonyC »

Excellent update as always but similarly leads to questions...

1: The corrision on the lower wing around the shackle points looks extensive, is it retrievable or will it requiry a new panel to be fabricated?
2: I'm unaware of the engineering term so can you tell me what is a Katie Price?
3: Aimed at TEXANTOMCAT, what on earth were you browsing for, when you found that video?

Enquiring minds need to know!
...and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in Space cos there's bugger all down here on Earth!

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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

To answer your questions...
1) we'll only know once we get it all rubbed back. I'm fairly certain it's only surface corrosion though, so I'm not worried. We can kill, eliminate, stabilise that!
2) err... a creature formerly known as Jordan, whose only known form of income is to shall we say lower her flaps and undercarriage on that Onlyfans page. Seems permanently broke, good at having road accidents while "under the influence". It's fair to say her best days, such as they were, are waaaay behind her.
3) I also would like to know...
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TEXANTOMCAT
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by TEXANTOMCAT »

Great update as ever chap- glad you liked the bits, am sorry there weren’t more as the lead I spoke to you about before Xmas was promising! Still good to spread these things about rather than them going to council landfill which is where the lot was heading...

As for the video- I googled ‘the masked meteor singer, Yorkshire’

I imagine you were young and needed the money- no judgement here 🙂👍

We’re presently struggling with sorting out Messrs Handley Page’s Jetstream tailplane with this bloody primer we can’t key back and stripper won’t touch. Arrrgh.

TT

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TonyC
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by TonyC »

Blue_2 wrote:
Wed 16 Feb 2022, 8:40 pm

2) err... a creature formerly known as Jordan, whose only known form of income is to shall we say lower her flaps and undercarriage on that Onlyfans page. Seems permanently broke, good at having road accidents while "under the influence". It's fair to say her best days, such as they were, are waaaay behind her.
That answer leads to sooooo many more questions but this being a family site.... :grin:
...and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in Space cos there's bugger all down here on Earth!

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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

Questions only a braver man than I could answer!
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Brenden S
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Brenden S »

Great to see the project humming along. Keep up the good work. One day I will make my way from down under to visit you.

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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

Cheers Brenden! I realise it is a bit of a trek for you...
After the fun of the storms at the back end of last week, I was looking forward to popping into the museum on Saturday afternoon to check all was well with the aircraft and site before the H&S course I was really there for. Mother Nature had another surprise for us... snow!
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So our tame Kiwi Monty, to who snow is an unusual sight, and I went around site. All seemed well with the aircraft, our stuff outside (some bits for 788 and the fuselage of 640) were fine, so we just took loads of pictures which I will post shortly in the photographic section if you'd care to take a look...
Back to normal service from the Naughty Corner at the weekend!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
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Other types meddled with by request!

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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

Well.... normal-ish service resumed. I had done myself a bit of a mischief at the 'day job', a recurrence of a rather nasty heel injury, so tasks able to be performed sitting down were the theme of the weekend for me. Scott was in too, flitting between us and the Buccaneers, and Monty came in to resume his battle with the new build Chipmunk compass mount he is making
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We had a visitor from our good friends at the Solway Aviation Museum, a great little museum up at Carlisle airport and well worth a visit if you are passing. Their NF.14 is missing her nosewheel door. Seeing as these are made of purest unobtanium, Steve came to take measurements and make technical drawings so he can fabricate a door for their NF.
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It's always good to help other museums and organisations if we can; plenty have, and continue to, help us!
As it is (or was) half term week, the museum had a series of talks on each day on various aircraft we have. Seeing as we were in, Scott and I had been asked to present on the Buccaneer and Meteor respectively. We're always happy to spread the word! I decided to bring in some of my own Meteor related stuff to back up my presentation with a "show and tell" table
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As you can see Snoopy of course got in on the act! Apart from giving my talk, most of the morning was spent making up stencils to get a job done I've been wanting to see off for a while now, giving 788 her identity back. As usual with 788, it's not the simple process of cutting stencils from the standard figures in "the book", that'd be too easy. I started on the starboard side. Take a look at this in service shot of 788...
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As you can see, the font and particularly the spacing are far from the standard application. We had a serious debate over this; do we apply the serial as it was, or do we do it as "the book" would have said it ought to have been done back in the 60's? We decided as close to how she appeared during her last years of service was the right way to go. So, with only some grainy photos to work off I made up the stencils based loosely on the standard 8in figures used at the time, we worked out their positioning and "interesting" spacing on the aircraft...
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...and committed ourselves!
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After letting this dry we moved the 8 across one place, painted, had a brew, then had the "moment of truth" demasking session...
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That'll do!
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Just the joins in the 8's to do, but we decided they could wait until the next day. My poor hoof had had enough for one day!
We returned bright and early on Sunday. As the Hurricane could testify, it was a tad brisk to say the least...
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After a brew and a warm, I cracked on with the fiddly job of masking up the little areas on the 8's to join them
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Very time consuming, yes I know we could have vinyls made etc. etc., but that's cheating in my book. The aircraft was done the slow old fashioned way with paint, stencils and patience before, and that's how she'll be done again.
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One side down, one side to go... The serial on the port side is again, as aptly described by one of our guides I showed the original photo to, "all over the bl**dy shop"...
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Much adjusting of angles of stencils and masking tape later, we had some serial on
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That piece of masking tape at the top is the datum line we worked off, following the rivet line which most closely corresponds to the positioning of the serial in the original photo in relation to the access panels. A fair few hours, and 2 Meteor talks later, and we're there!
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If you're going to be turbo picky the edges of some of the figures could be tidier, but bear in mind these will be tidied anyway when we mask the serials over to apply the orange paint. But I think this will more than suffice, 788 has her identity back, and one of the jobs I will now admit I was really, really not looking forward to is done and dusted.
Snoopy approves!
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In other news, Scott had been waving black paint at the Lightning
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The spine panels had been sealed before the onset of Winter with silver speed tape which, while effective, also looked very obvious. A quick coat of black has sorted that issue to make the jet a little more presentable pending her restoration beginning in earnest. Also painted black... (it's getting like a Rolling Stones song in here)
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Monty's compass mount for 640 received it's first coat. I reckon that'll do the job nicely! It's been a fiddly thing to construct but I reckon it'll more than do the job.
Now, on a slightly more negative note, attempted theft. We took the cockpit cover off 788 on Saturday to show our visitor from Carlisle the NF(T) cockpit fit, and found the rather rare Rebecca controller from the rear cockpit was not in its usual place where it had been on our last working weekend a fortnight previously, fitted to the nav's instrument binnacle. A more thorough search revealed it to fortunately be in the cockpit floor under the nav's seat, with a slightly dented and freshly paint chipped corner on its casing.
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Now these things don't just fall off, it takes quite a hefty upward shove (sometimes a gentle tap with a hammer in the mount in 788's case) to remove it from its mount so I can only assume someone has seen we have it on either social media or this forum, decided they want it more than us, picked a day we aren't there and tried to liberate it, then been disturbed or chickened it and chucked it back into the cockpit. This tallies up as one of the guides caught someone rummaging around on our workbench not very long ago, and turfed them out. so, and I shouldn't have to do this, anything pilferable and of value has now been removed from the jet and locked away pending marking up with smartwater. In addition we now have to mess about making sure the cockpit steps are well away from the jet at the end of the working day, again something we shouldn't have to mess about doing...
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And I've put a chain barrier round our work area to make it REALLY difficult for anyone to 'accidentally' stray round there.
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As I say, we shouldn't have to do this, but there's always someone on the make and views other collections as nothing more than a supply depot for their own project, so be vigilant in your museums/projects chaps.
On a much lighter note, speaking of other collections, one of our team Laurence is currently on holiday in Malta the lucky little beggar, so I had contacted my good friend Ezechiel at the Malta Aviation Museum (another great, friendly museum, well worth a visit and I'm desperate to get back out there for another look around!) to ask him to look after Our Man In Malta. He certainly did that, and Laurence got a very good look around the place, especially 788's sister ship preserved there, WS774
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That's your lot for this week. Hopefully I'll be a bit more mobile for the next working weekend, and back on the tools properly!
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That does look a bit bl**dy good though...!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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K5054NZ
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by K5054NZ »

Man, you leave a forum for a couple of days and come back to a huge bunch of updates! Look at that serial! Wow!
Zac in NZ
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hunterxf382
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by hunterxf382 »

Another excellent update Graham, and thank you for continuing updating everyone! Slightly soured by the attempted theft bit - that is so annoying in every way. To visit with the intention of stealing something is awful. Thankfully you are on the case and have secured everything just-in-case.... I hope this was a one-off incident for everyone's sake!

The stenciled serial is brilliant for authenticity but I hope casual visitors won't assume a bodge job has been carried out ;)
Maybe a handy reference shot placed adjacent to it might answer the inevitable questions....?
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

You are of course assuming the average visitor'll notice or even care Pete...! I'll probably put something on the new improved info board when I compile it though, just in case...
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by hunterxf382 »

There will always be one Graham.... if not now, eventually someone will comment ;) It might not be in person, it may pop up online as a query ;)

I do admire the decision to go with authentic though... nothing can beat that!

Wait for all the modellers trying to get those ultra small decals to have that "wonkiness"....lol ;)
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by K5054NZ »

hunterxf382 wrote:
Wed 02 Mar 2022, 8:08 pm
Wait for all the modellers trying to get those ultra small decals to have that "wonkiness"....lol ;)
Mine will be 1/48 so it'll be a tiny bit easier!!
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

K5054NZ wrote:
Fri 04 Mar 2022, 4:38 am
hunterxf382 wrote:
Wed 02 Mar 2022, 8:08 pm
Wait for all the modellers trying to get those ultra small decals to have that "wonkiness"....lol ;)
Mine will be 1/48 so it'll be a tiny bit easier!!
Unfortunately when I did my 1/48 788 I overlooked the wonkiness!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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