A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

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

Post by K5054NZ »

Fantastic work, team!
Zac in NZ
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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

Cheers Zac!
I was on site again on Sunday (despite it being our weekend off, covid absences on the management team meant my better half had to give up her day off and work. And if you can't beat them...!) but a busy week at the day job means I've only just got round to posting an update on here. I can only apologize, and proffer you...
07/04/2022 Update
A lot had changed during the week. In common with many museums (and rightly so), our special Falklands 40th anniversary commemoration season has begun. The main display in the hangar has been set up, and certainly looks very striking as you enter the building...
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It also gives an unusual opportunity to photograph 2 generations of RN blue helicopters together
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Anyway, more on the Falklands later.

This last weekend's workday started on a slightly sad note. As anyone who has been keeping up with us for a while will know, we have a tradition on the Meteor team that, whenever an ex-Meteor man visits and makes himself know to us, firstly everything stops as they are usually an absolute goldmine of great stories, reminiscences and information, and secondly we ask them to sign the inside of the Starboard JB door. This is because we are very aware that, while the long term survival of the aircraft is as secure as these things can ever be I guess, sadly the "Meteor Boys" aren't getting any younger and are indeed slipping away, so at least their name lives on on "their" aircraft. This is only to be expected for an aircraft which entered and left service so long ago and, I'm sad to say, I was informed last week that one of the signatories of our door has passed away.
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Cliff Winfield first visited us not long after we had finally moved into the hangar. He was watching me remove and test the fuel gauge sender units from our main tank, and promptly explained to me how to service and test one despite having not laid eyes on one since the 1950's! A number of visits, and many happy hours of stories followed over the ensuing years, including getting slightly into trouble for disrupting a session of the West German parliament during an air test in an NF.11! Sadly I was informed a few weeks ago by his granddaughter's partner that Cliff was very unwell, and he let me know last week that sadly Cliff had passed. RIP Cliff, you'll be missed visiting the Naughty Corner. We'll carry on plugging away with 'your' Meatbox, don't worry!

Anyway, to 788 business. At the other end of the spectrum, YAM's young ambassador Oliver was in on Sunday. He has been to our corner a number of times, and according to his dad the Meteor is one of his YAM favourites. Seeing as this has been the first time he's visited when there's actually been a seat fitted in the cockpit for him to sit on, it would have been rude not to let him have a go!
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Inspiring the next generation is something we need to be doing NOW, while we can actually pass the knowledge and skills on. With kids like Oliver about, there's hope for the future of aircraft preservation.
Kane was in on Sunday, so he carried on with the canopy motor access panel he has been making. While he was doing this, I added topcoat no.2 to the fuel tank bay lid.
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So, leave it to dry and see if it wants one final coat.
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After he deriveted the bits he needed from the old motor access panel and used it to mark up the aperture needed in the new one, I drilled and cut the aperture in the new panel for Kane. I left the drudgery of finishing it with a file to him though, I'm not daft!
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The old hatch, and the flange it attaches to, were needed for the new panel. So the rivet holes were drilled, and the hatch and flange temporarily fitted using avdel fasteners for now.
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It would be 2 minutes work for me to countersink and rivet these, but it's Kane's project and I'm not swiping it off him. Test for fit I am happy with, cue one very nervous Kane...
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...just about perfect! We just need to sort out which of the billion holes riveting (yes. I still can't compute a riveted access panel.) the old panel in place to give a free captive nut upgrade to, and which to 'retire'
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Laurence was going to be cleaning and painting this bay last Sunday, but he swerved it claiming to have been called into work. Don't worry, it'll still be there next time Laurence! I gave the tank bay lid the slow, patient coat no.3 to get the best finish possible with a roller and metallic paint...
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I reckon it looks ok, especially with he canopy shuttle back on the track!
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I also oiled all the latches etc. on the lid, before tidying up, putting the cockpit cover on and calling it a day.
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I'll leave you with a flavour of the Falklands 40 display...
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More next time!
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 »

Bloody hell, the Falklands was 40 years ago, where does the time go but then again the 1st Gulf War was over 30 years and that really does seem like it was only a few years ago!

Nice update though and nice panel work from Kane, he deserves a whole packet of Jaffas for that!
...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 »

If Kane sees that my stash will be gone!!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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AndyXH558
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by AndyXH558 »

Graham, just one little complaint. The main harrier carrier take off picture on the banner is of a harrier gr7 or 9 which didnt participate in the Falklandsdue to them not being built.
Life's a piece of S*** if you look at it!

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AndyXH558
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by AndyXH558 »

oh and farm foods, 100 mcvities jaffa cakes for £3.99
Life's a piece of S*** if you look at it!

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

Post by Blue_2 »

Andy,
Message 1, good spot, not my concern though.
Message 2, good spot, VERY much my concern! :joy:
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
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 »

Work and life have got in the way, so I'm way behind on posting here. So, here's a round up from last weekend and Friday just gone...
17/04/2022 Update
Monty and I were in last Saturday. He was determined to get the last bits of the Chippy compass mount finished, so I went to get WL168 out of hibernation as she is the Meteor we are using for the Open Cockpit Day next month. Monty gave me a hand to get her custom made canopy cover off and folded before he headed back to the hangar, And I opened the lid to air her out
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The "office" had stayed dry, but could do with a bit of a clean
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So, leaving her open for the day, I went off back to 788 and got on with converting the canopy motor access panel to captive nut fittings
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Monty was busy, too busy to notice me sniping him crafting away!
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As a break from riveting, I took the compressor for a walk as all of 168's tyres were down. She looked much better after they were reinflated!
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As I was passing, the blue Hunter and the Vampire's nosewheels also got a bit of a boost. Then, it was back on the hyd/motor bay. I finished the captive nut fitting
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Then gave the bay a good clean out
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There's no rot in there, probably thanks to years of spilt OM15, and the only paintwork damage is a few scratches and scrapes in the floor of the bay. On the principle of "if it ain't broke...", I decided to prime the bare metal scratches, paint just the bay floor, and leave it at that. I also marked up on the old panel which holes we need to transfer to the new panel, so Kane can do this when he's back off his jollies.
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Nearing close of play, Monty had produced a kit of parts he was happy with for the compass mount for the Chippy
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...Simply assemble! He's done a top job. Next on his menu was going to be the wheel refurb, but we had a chat and it seems a waste to have an avionics man and not set him loose on the electric string in 788's electronics bay. I think over the coming weeks he's going to become good friends with this little hatch...
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Where black boxes and magic string aplenty await him!
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Before we left on Saturday, I couldn't resist a shot of the uplit Harrier
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Sunday, I was in bright and early. Well, early. The Nimrod guys intended to run their jet for the first time since pre-covid, and asked if I would assist as an extra body. Well, it'd be rude not to!
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Before we commenced I had time to get the hyd bay floor painted on 788
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Much better!
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Then it was to the Nimrod, for 20-odd minutes of noise. For 2 years hibernating she did incredibly well, the APU and 3 engines all behaving beautifully. A stuck air valve was all that stopped her running all 4, and other than the hyds needing some exercise she came away from the run with a remarkably clean sheet!
Back to 788 in the afternoon, and I was getting on with a lot of little fiddly jobs which I didn't bother photographing. I did get the bracket for the canopy motor microswitches painted...
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And made a start on carefully slotting the hyd tank into position. Part way in...
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...and more or less home, loosely sat in its mounts. I have to be careful as it's not the most robust of things
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I can see the upcoming work in this bay being very much a random swear word generator!
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So that was it for another weekend, time to put 788 to bed.
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My next venture in was Good Friday, with the intention of continuing to get 168 'show ready' for the open cockpit day. The lovely weather helped! However finding 168's manky perished nosewheel tyre had not held up was a bugger.
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As the sidewalls on this are a bit nasty, as you can see, we always intended to put the nosewheel we took off 788 on here. As with everything, best for 788, 2nd best for 168, anything else for spare. So that'll be a job for Scott and I tomorrow. Open the lid, on with the cleaning!
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(no, that's not a sample bottle) I headed to the hangar to grab a set of steps, and was pleasantly surprised to find the Harrier running her own lights!
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Lights running, as we usually have on the Dragonfly, Halifax, and now the Harrier, certainly brings a bit of life to the aircraft. Good to see. After grabbing what I needed, plus some tools to remove a couple of little bits from the cockpit, it was back to 168. This was the start point...
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The more I looked at the gunsight, the more I just thought "no, it's got to come out". Missing glass and corrosion right in front of our visitors' faces would never do. So I dropped the instrument panel to access the nut holding the sight in... then decided it could do with a repaint too...
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...well that escalated from a swift clean!
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I cleaned the inside of the screen, and the bits I had left in the cockpit, then lugged the panel and the sight over to the bench in the hangar leaving 168 open to air out again.
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I stripped the instruments out of the panel, rubbed it back and etch primed it, before beginning the work of dismantling the gunsight. Where 788 has a GGS5, 168's is a GGS4E so a little bit different. Stripping it down for cleaning up and painting revealed it has been 168's GGS since 1958...
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Fortuantely 788's sight doesn't have this little lot to argue with!
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Dismantled, ready for cleaning back and priming. After lunch and a brew, priorities and all that!
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Back from lunch, rubbing back the corrosion on the sight casing and cleaning and masking it ready for priming. If you ever wondered, this is what a GGS looks like inside
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I found the side of the sight facing the pilot had been daubed with black paint at some point, the scale for setting your target's wingspan included. I was able to clean some of the paint back and retrieve some of the scale, but most was long gone
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So, markings (including the handwritten ones I showed you earlier) masked off, it was on with the primer, then the matt black topcoats
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The primed panel also got a coat of black
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While this was drying I was back at the bench, cutting back the ruined top layer of the rubber crash pad which lives on the front of the sight, facing the pilot, so hopefully he'll rearrange his face a little less on the sight in the event of a crash landing
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I managed to get rid of the cracked, dry layer of rubber, shaped it back as a crash pad once more... then forgot to take a pic. Sorry. I'll get one tomorrow when I glue it back on the sight. Speaking of which... I reassembled the sight, then found in my stash clear perspex to make a replica sight glass, and a coloured perspex to make the flip down sun visor. So, apart from the crash pad... that's the sight finished!
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Proud of that. I had cleaned the GGS tray earlier, so I headed back to 168 to refit the sight
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I'll wire it up tomorrow, as I ran out of day. But I reckon it looks good!
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Also for tomorrow, reassembling this kit of parts
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...and fitting it. I hope to have the cockpit reassembled and clean, nosewheel changed, and jet ready for visitors by close of play tomorrow.
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I might even remember to post an update about tomorrow before the month's end!!
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 »

What to say, when everything has already been said other than "great work as always"! :thumbsup:

Have a Jaffa cake, you've earned! :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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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by K5054NZ »

TonyC wrote:
Sun 17 Apr 2022, 3:47 pm
What to say, when everything has already been said other than "great work as always"! :thumbsup:

Have a Jaffa cake, you've earned! :grinning:
I wholeheartedly echo every part of this post!
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

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

Post by Blue_2 »

Yes, I know, another late mark for me. In my defence, I was sent to the Wilds of Kent, and thence to the even Wilder Wilds of Scotland by work this week, and only just returned to the warm embrace of God's County (Yorkshire, in case you were under any misconceptions) at about 2130 last night. The bonus is a sneaky Friday off, so I can get caught up with admin, housework, and hopefully even get to the museum this afternoon. Anyway, some of that admin is this, so...
22/04/2022 Update
I'll start with a couple of pics from Sunday. We had to go pick up Minion from her shift in the museum's NAAFI, and decided to take Tuco as he had not visited YAM in a while. He seemed not keen on coming back in the next day to help me with the nosewheel change on 168 when asked...
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But was happy to pose by 788, practicing his "gimme food, I never get fed at home" look to try blag snacks from visitors.
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He also seemed to enjoy the Falklands 40 Exhibition!
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Anyway, now I've hooked you in with cute dog photos (because that is apparently how the internet works. Show them a cute animal and the punters will come flocking, I'm told...) it's time to get on with bringing you up to date on what turned out to be in turns a busy, frustrating, good fun, ultimately satisfying and productive Bank Holiday Monday. Scott and I were in, joined by that Lightning clever bloke, good mate and all round Good Egg Mr Darren Swinn. We sometimes let him cross the moat which protects us from Lincolnshire, better known as the River Humber, to come and do his magic to bring good things the way of our Lightning F.6, XS903. Before the inevitable questions are asked, and to see if you lot are really paying attention, I'll answer them now.
1) Yes, she's slated for a repaint. The removal of certain items to facilitate this has already begun.
2) Yes, we know the nose oleo is deflated, and are looking at either fixing it or fitting a collar.
Seeing as Darren was among us, I amended our plan for the day. It had been to change the nosewheel on the Meteor F.8, WL168, and then reassemble and refit the instrument panel. The new plan was for me to concentrate on the nosewheel change with Scott's assistance as that should only take an hour or so, then both of us go help Darren in his quest to bring electrical power back to some of 903's systems.
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Darren made a start too, removing the still-Binbrook marked ammonia bottle from the starboard Firestreak rail
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We soon had 168 jacked up, as per the book
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But, unlike when we did this same procedure on 788, absolutely nothing would come undone. Everything was seized, mauled, stupided, or a combination of all 3 into place. So, we put her back on the ground again and went back to good old fashioned engineering methods
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Bigger hammers and bigger spanners! The 2 bolts holding the wheel in place, and that the mudguard bolts to, were stuck firm.
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It didn't help our mood to note that someone had fitted the mudguard incorrectly, bizarrely fitting the bolts from the inside out, leaving them no room to clear when we tried to tap them out as thay fouled on the wheel itself, so we had to dremel them off to get the guard free. This had taken us to lunch time so far, and so we doused everything yet again in WD40, and declared lunch. At least I'd got the now far nicer looking crash pad stuck on 168's GGS!
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Happy with that.
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Darren was getting into the guts of 903, sussing out what had been removed by the RAF after retirement, what had "gone missing" in the interim, and what systems he could get life back into with his trusty meter and 12v test battery
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After a grumble filled lunch break, we headed back out to the jets. It seemed they had suddenly decided to cooperate with us... After a lot of carefully deployed percussion, we finally got the tiniest bit of movement in the 2 special bolts holding the nosewheel on 168...and then they decided to depart after all! So, spacers out of the forks, then drop the wheel...
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Success! The next bit of fun was getting the hub out of the old wheel, redy to go in the new one. Luckily we have 3 wheels (788's brand new fitted one, 788's old one now going on 168, and 168's old one) but only 2 hubs between them. Bearing in mind this probably hadn't been apart since the early 1980's at best, it took a bit of doing and a visit to the workshop but we got there
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After a clean and re-grease, we had this in the replacement wheel hub and the whole assembly ready to go back on 168! Darren was making progress too, powering up bits of 903 which hadn't shown signs of life since 1988
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After everything had had a go on 12v safely, we stepped it up to the full 24v. Here's something I never expected to see, 903 running her landing lights!
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Showing signs of life in the 'office' too...
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By about half past 2, 168 was back on 3 wheels with just the mudguard to find 2 new bolts for and refit...
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...and we felt that between the 3 of us, and what we had achieved on the 2 jets, we deserved that finest of rewards...
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After Jaffa o'clock, I went back to doing the last couple of jobs on 168 for now, fitting the GGS and the mudguard, and tidying up. GGS refitted...
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...mudguard on, 168 put to bed
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We did "taxy" her forward a couple of feet, to get the new nosewheel out of the puddle of debris and WD40 we created
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Before taking our Meteor nosewheel quick change kit (actually not that quick) back to the hangar
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Then mucking in on 903
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As you can see by the batteries on the wing, Darren was having fun with electrics still.
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The weather had certainly improved during the day!
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As there were 3 of us, and Darren knew the ways of such things, we decided to make Gary happy by taking the starboard mounted Firestreak off
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This is part of the process of getting the jet ready for its repaint. Us being us, we like to restore most if not all systems on the jets to working order. This includes being able to launch the missiles on command...

I hope that link works; we have to have the odd outbreak of morale to keep us going!
* No innocent blue Hunter T.7's were harmed in the making of this production.
Darren then carried on with the electrics, while we tried to fathom the process of removing the Red Top from the port rail, sadly with no success. He got more cockpit lighting running, in this pic, no he's not gone all French by indulging in that posh weirdness of eating an Ortolan under a tablecloth, he is actually trying to make the cockpit dark enough using 788's cockpit cover to get photographs of the panel lights he'd got running so far!
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After he had got his pics, I had a look-see...
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Again, not something I'd expected to get to see on 903. The 3 greens is reassuring! Apologies for the knees, but unless you are a pygmy, space is at a premium in a Lightning office. One system you may not be aware the Lightning has is illustrated below;
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Everyone knows a Shackleton carries the famous "spark plug" on its spine, but who knew that the Lightning does the same trick with a reel of wire?! Although as my learned friend Rich Woods pointed out, it could be a lawnmower style pull starter... One last bonus "that hasn't worked since 1988" moment was, when we pumped up the hydraulic pressure manually and selected flaps...
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...flaps happened!
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Deploying quietly and just as English Electric intended. No noises, no fuss, just down they went.
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There's a lot more life left in this jet than most people realise and that shabby paint belies...The day came to a close with much achieved on both these jets. Very, very happy with the day's work.
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I'm going to end this post on a 788 note, and in contrast to all we achieved on Monday not a very positive one I'm afraid. It seems we have had intruders in our corner AGAIN.
I was informed on Monday that last wednesday our ever vigilant Harrier team caught someone who had ignored the yellow wooden barrier, ignored the chain barrier, ignored the signs ("what signs?" He said when challenged) and was under the starboard wing rummaging in the boxes there. So I have now put the trolley acc in the way, and will be requesting the management remove from site any unauthorised person caught in our area.
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If our visitor from wednesday is on here, you know who you are and should be ashamed. The boxes you dug in, one was our useless junk and one was the one we had used to catch the ancient nests we dug out of the wing a few weeks ago, so I hope you caught some unpleasant bird crap based plague off it.The sooner CCTV gets installed, the better. I have been told this week deployment of such a system is now a top priority. in addition the fences round 788 will be beefed up. This saddens me as we pride ourselves on being open, approachable and accessible to our visitors when we are on site, we shouldn't have to fence away the jet and ourselves behind bars.
Thanks to the Harrier guys for keeping an eye out.
More, hopefully positive, progress to report next time. I'm in this weekend, to finish off 168's cockpit Spring Clean and hopefully get back to doing jobs on 788 herself.
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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

Post by HAVAVSOC »

Hi from Stradishall, (former home of WS788)

Very sorry to learn that you have been visited by someone with sticky fingers, perhaps a mouse trap in the box is required?

Last night our members were treated to an excellent presentation by Graham Pitchfork entitled "Escape from Behind Enemy Lines"

Graham will be at Elvington this coming week to see the Buccaneers, he has promised to say hello on behalf of all of us at Haverhill Aviation Society.

All the best,
John
www.havavsoc.org.uk

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

Post by TEXANTOMCAT »

Superb (and very humourous!) update! As we were a recent victim of theft from our Jetstream (at Cranfield) of irreplaceable items which had been installed since 1969 we feel your pain. These people deserve a special kind of hell - if only because almost by definition they must be 'into' aviation. The profanity filter prevents me from using a more accurate description.

Still - brill update well done!

TT

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

Post by TonyC »

Ditto, what :arrow_up: he said :clap:

Wonder if the "intruder" was the same person as last time?
...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 »

Thanks for your feedback chaps. John, I like your thinking! Shall keep an eye out over the weekend for Graham, IIRC the Bucc Aircrew Association jet is being officially handed over to YAM this weekend so I assume its that he's up for.

TT, there's far too much of this going on just now. Us, yourselves, the Wellesbourne guys, fuel at North Weald, it's a worrying trend. The disturbing thing being as you say, it's someone/persons who share our interests and we'd likely happily pass the time of day with... I do wonder if it is in part down to the popularity, and increasing cost of, surplus aircraft parts as 'mancave art'. Either people looking for stuff to punt on ebay to make a quick buck, or to have a 'cool thing' because buying stuff is too rich for their tastes now...

Tony, unknown. I just hope someone tries it this weekend, while I'm around to deal with them...
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
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 »

I'm less late to the computer desk this week!
25/04/2022 Update
So as you may remember from my last update, I was off to YAM Friday afternoon after doing domestic stuff and writing you all up the last epic. I got there and spent the couple of hours I had to play with reassembling the panel. I didn't think I needed it, but I had my copy of the F.8 Pilot's Notes on hand for reference
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Turns out that, on double checking the book, the panel had never had the cockpit lighting rotary dimmer switches which should have been fitted. My bad, given I made the panel a number of years ago seeing as 168's original had, ahem, gone walkies. I had a duff but cosmetically ok switch in stock, so I drilled the holes for both dimmers and once I had fitted the instruments I fitted the dimmer too, putting out a "can you just" call to Gary to find me another one. Dimmer aside, that's the panel ready to go in!
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I checked on 168 to make sure the new tyre was holding up
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I had no reason to doubt it, it never gave any trouble when it was fitted to 788...
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...but something was going to have to be done about that horrible blue grey shade of paint on the nose leg!
Saturday dawned windy, but at least it wasn't raining. Scott was in, and as part of our ongoing maintenance of aircraft on site we opened up the Lightning and Canberra to let their cockpits air out a bit. Then we turned our attentions back to 168 and prepping her for the open cockpit event. We decided the nose leg was letting the jet down, so we degreased it, rubbed it back, then broke out the masking supplies, silver paint, brushes and rollers!
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It's a fiddly thing to paint, with many nooks and crannies. It was much easier doing 788's in pieces off the jet! but that looks far better now
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While we had been doing this, a pair of Canberra batteries Darren had given us had been simmering away gently on the charger to see if they could be of any use. One was totally dead, so we fitted it in its correct place as additional ballast in our Canberra T.4. She needs all the help she can get in windy weather, including us making and fitting an elevator gag set for her as the weekend winds were fair bouncing the elevators about, that was another little job we got done. Anyway, the other battery took charge, so we decided to hook it up to 788 to test it for a new future as a test battery
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Turns out, it's just about perfect!
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Cheers Darren. The weather brightened up in the afternoon...
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...but we decided jobs on 2 Meteors, 1 Lightning and 1 Canberra was quite enough for one day!
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Sunday morning, after opening various aircraft up to air out again, I had the second dimmer switch required by WL168's instrument panel in my grubby paws, which it took longer to find the screws for than it took to fit!
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So, to the jet... and simply fit...
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I can only use the 2 upper mounts as the lower 2 were rather brutally hacksawed through when the panel was removed however many years ago, but it's more than enough to hold it in place
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I then turned my attention to the lower panel, taking the time to make the fuel gauges fit a little better. These gauges actually belong to me, and are spares for 788. Better completing a Meteor cockpit than gathering dust on a shelf though!
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The missing gauge from the lower panel is a stopwatch/clock. I suspect given the costs of such things it can stay missing! Speaking of missing, I then gave the cockpit a final clean round, during which I noticed the brake gauge (port side, behind the pilot's shoulder. A vital gauge so helpfully placed you can't miss it...) is missing. I found one at home, so it'll get chucked in next trip over. Spring clean done, and I even repainted the yellow and black GGS emergency retract knob!
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Much better than what we started with
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Fancy taking a turn in this seat?
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Come see us on May 8th and you can do just that... WL168 ready for her adoring public!
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Sunday was also productive in other ways. The YAM fire service were chucking out a double lockable cupboard and, given our recent doings with unwelcome visitors, wondered if we would want it.
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It has now taken up residence in what will eventually be our workshop; cheers chaps!
After lunch Scott split off to do some jobs on the other 168, Buccaneer XV168. I was back at 788, and after pigeon sh1t-proofing the freshly painted tank bay cover...
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...was trying to fathom the cockpit wiring. I had managed to run the front and rear cockpits' lighting independently off batteries, now it was time to get it all running from one power supply as it should. So, manuals and wiring diagrams ahoy. Fortunately, a previous liney had left sort of a crib sheet inside the rear cockpit fusebox lid...
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Bless you, long gone liney! To cut a long story of bad words, curses, grumpiness and emergency cups of tea short...
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...success! If I can embed it, here's a video tour of 788's working offices. Rear cockpit voltmeter reading 24V, UV and red lighting in both cockpits, Nav's map light, instrument gyros, gunsight, all running as they should off the one battery

Worth all the naughty words. I am still missing a couple of the red lights from the front cockpit, I think 3, so if anyone has any kicking around spare...
Scott's afternoon was productive too, getting the first new paint down on XV168's radome and on some panels prepped and primed a good while since
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You can see just from that she's going to look a different jet in her new paint. Come the end of the day, I took power off 788 and, after taking the Rebecca controller back out and locking it away safely, put the pigeon cover back on the cockpit
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intruder-proofed our corner as best I could...
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(I had trouble getting out and I know the way, so I hope they have as much trouble getting in!)... and we put all the other aircraft to bed
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5 different jets worked on over the 2 days, lots achieved...YAM certainly get their pound of flesh out of us!

More next time folks.
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 »

Excellent work by all involved, and as always these updates were a real treat to read and see Graham - thank you for again taking the time to post them. I for one really appreciate being able to follow what you're up to.
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

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

Post by TonyC »

Blue_2 wrote:
Mon 25 Apr 2022, 6:16 pm
intruder-proofed our corner as best I could...
I'm guessing that the installation of an electric fence, with cattle prods & tasers, wired to fire once the fence is disturbed, wouldn't sit well with the 'Powers that Be' at YAM?

Great work as alway though :thumbsup:
...and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in Space cos there's bugger all down here on Earth!

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

Post by grahamh »

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Thought it was about time I thanked you Graham for your updates, which are always the first thing I look for on this forum, not to mention for your amazing work in bringing WS788 back to life. It's more than 15 years since I've been to YAM and living in Canada now makes that a little harder to do but I look forward to one day saying hello in person, Graham to Graham! I'm sure there are plenty more out here like me who read on in wonder at your progress but don't take the time to thank you, so, belatedly, thank you. All the very best!

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

Post by Blue_2 »

Cheers for the comments chaps. Sadly, electric fences, cattle prods etc. generate paperwork, a thing I have a distinct allergy to!
Graham, thanks for taking the time to post, I do wonder if I'm talking to myself sometimes so it's nice to read confirmation to the contrary. It'll be nice to see you if you can make it across this side of 'The Pond' sometime.

Again, I'm late with an update and again I blame that work thing we all have to do to put bread on the table. And beer, there should always be room for a beer on the table. Anyway last weekend I had a productive couple of days at YAM, it was a bank holiday here in the UK and I was in on the Saturday and the Monday. We actually managed a whole couple of hours off on the Sunday, quite an achievement at the moment! Anyway, as you'll see I didn't get all that much done physically on the aircraft as I was busy with actual human beings, but I did get done a lot more to make the cockpit of 168 as close to how I want her for this weekend's events as I can get.
I'll start with the Chipmunk for a change though, and a story of the kindness of international strangers and the way our little network of aircraft restorers sometimes works to get the right components to the right people. Facebook groups are rapidly becoming THE marketplace for trading aircraft parts, with it seems new trading pages popping up weekly. There are so many it is difficult to keep an eye on them all, and our friend from the Midlands and fellow restorer Max Blood had spotted a post which had slipped me by from a chap in Norway. He had a little panel of English origin, for which he had no ID or provenance. Max identified it for him as the cover for the Coffman starter in the front cockpit of a Chippy. He then asked to help find a suitable home for it, at which point Max flagged me and the Chippy WK640 resto page up for it. I chatted to the chap, Tor, and he kindly agreed to send it over to us, not wanting a penny for it. It arrived during last week...
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With a nice little note too...
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The part itself is a lovely thing. It even came with the fixing screws and nuts...
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I thought "where can I put this that even I can't lose it?!" On the aeroplane seemed the obvious answer!
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So huge thanks to Tor for the donation, and to Max for punting it our way.
Back to things Meteor now, and the push to get the cockpit of WL168 "show ready" for this weekend. I found at home a brake gauge to replace the missing one out of 168, I'd noticed late on the previous weekend that hers had long gone walkies, so I got that fitted on Saturday morning
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The bare naked starboard throttle lever kept looking at me accusingly though...
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...until my OCD got the better of me and I decided it needed a knob making. So, template of the lever drawn, ally tube found on my shelf...
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...and 788's throttles used for reference.
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The NF setup differs slightly, but it's close enough for what we are trying to do. Much chopping, filing, drilling, and mild swearing later, I had a 'something like' on the bench
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I took a lot of care to make sure any and all sharp edges were eliminated. After all, the throttles are one of those things hangar pilots just love to play with! Then, time to fit it to the jet...
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Better, but it's still niggling me.
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It should really have an end cap on, with a Press To Transmit thumb switch fitted, on the F.8 rather than being just an open ended pipe, so the OCD niggle just wouldn't go away...
However, my afternoon was taken up with other matters of the visitor variety. My friend and WW2 aircraft historian Wim Govaerts was over from Belgium for the aerojumble at Newark, and came up to see us after. We spent a very pleasant afternoon catching up, having not met since before COVID, and it was nice to get to show him around the YAM collection. Including the Meteors of course!
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A look around the Halifax was a must, as the night bomber war is Wim's speciality, and gave me a different view of 788 in the Naughty Corner!
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So that was Saturday done with. Sunday we were off doing normal life stuff, then back in at YAM on Monday. I was busy until mid afternoon with 2 gentlemen who have a Meteor to road move in the very near future, sharing info from our manuals, discussing how to dismantle a Meteor, and waving tape measures and cameras at various bits of the 2 Meteor airframes we have. After that my OCD regarding those bl**dy throttles on the F.8 kicked in again, so I removed the bit I had made on the Saturday, and set to devising a faceplate for it. I even drilled it for, found, and fitted, a suitably representative PTT button! The whole assembly then got primed and painted.
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Just as I was looking forward to sitting in the cockpit to fit it with the lid open and the sun shining on me, the weather took a turn for the worse...
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While we haven't seen rain for a while, it sure picks its moments!
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Despite this, I decided to press on. Unlike 788, 168's got a lid I can shut...
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...and shut it I did as the heavens opened!
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So, body of the throttle knob refitted (and you can just see the PTT button wiring, while not connected, correctly pushed through)
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Then I riveted the faceplate on... job done!
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Finally, the OCD, or is it just doing the right thing, was settled
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And that, apart from a last check round and clean out on Saturday, is about all the prep I can do for Sunday's event. I hope YAM appreciate how much work we've put into getting this one little jet show ready over the last few weeks.
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My better half was on site yesterday, and she sent me a picture showing that 168 has now taken a little walk up the taxiway and turned round, parked where I assume she'll be staying for the weekend's events
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At least that nosewheel stayed on. The tow team best not have damaged our shiny new paint on the nose leg!

More after this weekend's fun...
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 »

Top update mate well done!
I just think we need to crowdfund you a new set of overalls - I ran this through Yorkshire google translate and it came back as 'scruffy apeth' whatever that means :D

Sorry we missed you at the aeroboot - it was a good one!

TT

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

Post by Blue_2 »

You can bugger right off! I've just got that set nicely worn in. I do have a new set standing by, but seeing too many clean sets of coveralls round the place can give the impression none of the engineers ever do anything, so I prefer to stay fashionably scruffy...!
Also for once, I'm not tardy on updates! I was at YAM for a couple of hours today attending to some business. While I was there I did a couple of jobs on the F.8, dug some bits out to display with her over the weekend, and got to watch the aircraft movements team at work. As I headed over to do some work, the Dak was being shifted
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168 was basking in the sun in her position for the weekend's events
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That silver speed tape on the join between the canopy and the windscreen would have to come off today for starters. Also, she looks kinda boring just sat there... I had asked if I could put some items on display around her for the "we'll meet again" event on Saturday, just to give the look of a Meteor at dispersal in the late 40's/early 50's, and had been given the nod. First, our trolley acc...
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One item I considered, but decided against (mainly because I wasn't dragging it across site!), was this cable reel from RAF Linton On Ouse. Dated 21/6/56 this would be from the time when Meteors were present at Linton. A nice, if unusual piece of local RAF history.
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After lunch, the big move of the day commenced, rolling the Halifax out of the hangar

She always looks a much bigger aircraft after escaping the confines of the hangar...
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It's nice to see her out there again, ready for a YAM event. It's been far too long...
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Back over to the Meteor for a bit, and as Steve Hills was passing after giving the blue Hunter a dose of Wadpol, I collared him to put a bit of shine on 168's nose where the canopy cover had dulled her off a bit over winter. He did a good job, while I scraped the speed tape off the canopy/windcreen join. I went to get some solvent to clean the sticky off from where the tape had been, and returned to find him polishing up a test patch on the wing leading edge too!
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Top work, and I think we'll be setting aside a polishing day soon to try give 168's paintwork another year of life before it needs refreshing.
She almost looks ready to go!
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and that puddle behind her was always going to be too much of a photographic gift to waste, wasn't it!
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Speaking of photographic gifts, I couldn't miss out on the ME109 replica getting a bit of fresh air either, out with the old enemy...
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A whole flock of wartime types!
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But this one is the aircraft that YAM is all about. Come and enjoy her while she's in the open air.
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I don't know when she's going back indoors, but don't wait as she's not usually outdoors for more than a couple of weeks...

But Meteors matter too!
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Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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

Post by hunterxf382 »

Scruffy or not, your updates continue to educate and humour us all Graham. And you're not bad with a camera either - those Meteor shots with the Trolley Acc plugged in are spot on! As you say - looks ready for another sortie!
Anyway, the Halifax looks amazing outside for sure. I can't wait to see 788 getting a tan now - she's going to look awesome and you know it!

Now get back to the tinkering before you get carried away with this photo snapping malarkey ;)
Pete Buckingham
Volunteer in Aviation
Former RAF Engineer
http://hunterxf382.weebly.com/

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

Post by K5054NZ »

Blue_2 wrote:
Thu 05 May 2022, 6:49 am
Graham, thanks for taking the time to post, I do wonder if I'm talking to myself sometimes so it's nice to read confirmation to the contrary.
If only there was a Like button - you'd know I read and appreciate each and every update, Graham! Even if it's a minor piece of work I always enjoy seeing a new post from you!
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

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

Post by TEXANTOMCAT »

All in good jest dear boy! :)

Aircraft look great outside and the Halibag always benefits from a bit of a wash - very high up to dust up there!

Having spent ages scraping off gaffa tape and speed tape residue from the 'Stream - try WD40 - it works!

BTW you'll have seen the ATC NF has now been moved by DT!

TT

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