A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
And the hobbits. Don't forget the hobbits...
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
- TEXANTOMCAT
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Sat 09 Aug 2014, 5:40 pm
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
To be fair, Graham Orphan is a nice bloke and I let Cam Hawley and his lovely wife have a pair of tickets to the Sywell airshow after we'd sold out cos he was a nice bloke and owned two Beech Staggerwings!
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
They do seem to be nice people from NZ, at least the ones I have met!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
- TEXANTOMCAT
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Sat 09 Aug 2014, 5:40 pm
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Have you met 5054NZ? I hear tell he talks at the cinema during films and puts used After Eight wrappers back in the box. Just sayin’
TT
TT
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
I forget, when it's written is it libel or slander?TEXANTOMCAT wrote: ↑Fri 10 Dec 2021, 8:57 amHave you met 5054NZ? I hear tell he talks at the cinema during films and puts used After Eight wrappers back in the box. Just sayin’
TT
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
I bet he even shuts the jaffa cake box once its empty to pretend he hasn't emptied it!!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
- TEXANTOMCAT
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Sat 09 Aug 2014, 5:40 pm
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
What a cad and a bounder!
Bring it on ‘NZ I’m a solicitor
Happy Xmas everyone and thanks for an excellent series of updates this year Graham- if there is one thing the forum crash helped with its an easy comparison with this time last year and how much work’s been done!
ATB
TT
Bring it on ‘NZ I’m a solicitor
Happy Xmas everyone and thanks for an excellent series of updates this year Graham- if there is one thing the forum crash helped with its an easy comparison with this time last year and how much work’s been done!
ATB
TT
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
I'm not afraid, I worked in the courts! I know your type. I have friends who are your type!TEXANTOMCAT wrote: ↑Sat 11 Dec 2021, 2:47 pmWhat a cad and a bounder!
Bring it on ‘NZ I’m a solicitor
Hear hear! I'm so glad this project found a home on a forum (even though I'm a Facebooker too) and that you're continuing to share your good work, Graham.TEXANTOMCAT wrote: ↑Sat 11 Dec 2021, 2:47 pmHappy Xmas everyone and thanks for an excellent series of updates this year Graham- if there is one thing the forum crash helped with its an easy comparison with this time last year and how much work’s been done!
ATB
TT
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Cheers chaps!
Not much to report this week as I spent the weekend doing Shack stuff at Coventry (see the Warbird and Classic Jets section on the forum) and home stuff at... home. But I did get some goodies for 788, which are currently living in the boot of my car and will take up residence in the more appropriate surroundings of the hangar at the weekend
No, not an angry octopus with 2 suitcases, it is in fact all the Meteor ignition system we are ever likely to need! Thanks to Mike D for this.
More after this weekend's fun folks!
Not much to report this week as I spent the weekend doing Shack stuff at Coventry (see the Warbird and Classic Jets section on the forum) and home stuff at... home. But I did get some goodies for 788, which are currently living in the boot of my car and will take up residence in the more appropriate surroundings of the hangar at the weekend
No, not an angry octopus with 2 suitcases, it is in fact all the Meteor ignition system we are ever likely to need! Thanks to Mike D for this.
More after this weekend's fun folks!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
it's been our last working weekend before Christmas, because crawling around aeroplanes in a cold hangar is way more fun than Christmas shopping, right...? So here for your delectation is...
20/12/2021 Update
...And I for one shan't be sad to see the back of 2021! Saturday the weather was grey, cold, wet and dismal.
So we made full speed for the slightly less cold (I'll not say warmer, I know far better than to say such things!) hangar, to see how the guys had got on with reassembling the newly arrived Jet Provost during the week. Good to see that she's got her wings on, and is stood on her own wheels
Overall she's in very good order, and a testament to her previous keepers. After a nosey, we headed to our corner to crack on with Meteor business. Our first job to ease ourselves in was to make a start sorting the newly arrived NOS spares...
Always fun, and there's some real little snapshots of the bygone golden era of British aircraft manufacture in there.
With a much better idea of what spares we had 'logged in', we then unboxed the ignitor boxes we acquired from Mike D last weekend and, after consulting the Book of Lies, decided to get them to a place of safety, ie. bolted to the engine! Working out just what goes where...
This little lot took up our Saturday morning. In the afternoon, after finding our way back to the hangar from the crewroom in the thickening fog...
...we left Kane on removing the oil tank as it needed to come off to mount the left hand cracker box, while Scott and I swapped a radio rack from our stash into the new JP. It had been noticed her rack had been removed, not in the correct way where everything is undone correctly but in the rapid pilfery way, where all 4 earth straps are snipped through...
The intent is to have the radio in, probably my own ARC52 unit out of the other JP if it works, so the rack is kinda needed! The rack having gone missing did the JP a favour though, as it brought to light some corrosion issues in the structure supporting the radio racking.
At this point I was having nightmarish flashbacks to the ex-Linton gate guard JP! Fortunately she is nowhere near as bad as her sister though, so I rubbed back all the visible corrosion...
then etch primed and painted the whole assembly
The radio rack received some tlc, then was coated with ACF50 and fitted.
Nose surgery done, it was back to the Derwent engine. With all 3 of us on it, we had the igniter boxes fitted to this engine for the first time in decades by close of play
...and what a fun job that wasn't! Time to head home, if we can find our way back to the car park through the fog...
Sunday... was, it seemed, Groundhog Day...
Scott and I were in, and decided to give the oil tank a proper looking at and replace the perished rubber hoses serving it. While he was on with stripping the old pipes off and cleaning up the metal intermediate pipe for reuse, I pulled the filter and its housing off the bottom of the tank and got them in some degreaser to marinade and clean up...
after a first run over with an old toothbrush, actual mesh was revealed under the gunk on the filter!!
15 minutes later that pristine degreaser is looking a lot more like swamp water. Shows it's doing its job I guess
another look at the filter proves that theory!
Continue to enjoy your bath little filter... Scott had stripped the feed and return pipes off the engine
The intermediate pipe cleaned up, and the old rubber pipes awaiting their date with the bin
once we have stolen their vital statistics to make up these new ones, enjoying a bath in hot water top soften them up to make fitting easier
An old trick from my days messing with classic cars. While they were bathing I took a look in the bottom of the tank. Not the wasteland of gunk and unpleasantness I expected!
A quick flush will see that right. So, fingers scalded, new pipes on...
We reused the original Jubilee clips as well for 2 reasons. Firstly, they are perfectly good, and secondly, modern ones just aren't up to the job! I also oriented them so the screw heads are accessible this time, unlike the previous fitter...
The tank straps were then reattached, they were a pain to nip up, but we got there
As you can see, this pleased Scott a little...
See what I have to work with?!! The filter and housing continued to enjoy their bath, and intermittent tickles with a toothbrush (who doesn't?!)
This disgusting porridge was the crap out of the bottom of the tank after a clean, and the residue left in the old pipes we had swapped out
...mint sauce anyone?! On our way for a well earned tea break, I observed one of the unusual side effects of opting to work in fingerless gloves!
So after a brew, we returned to see what was next. Apart from the filter and housing, for which we are awaiting a gasket, that's the front of the engine built back up
We did remove this slight hint of her previous employment, during the "career break" between whizzing around the sky in a Meteor and sitting in our hangar gathering dust
Good news being, as her engine dataplate had been "liberated" many years ago, at least this gives us a traceable engine number for the unit. Wonder if I can get the history of the unit from the RAFM...? Nice to see the RR quality Inspection stamps on the engine too
Now we would have tried spinning the engine on the starter, but we are missing this quill drive it turns out
We did test spin the starter though, and Good News No.1 it appears to be a very healthy and happy example of a Rotax starter. Good News No.2, we have already sourced a quill drive and it's on it's way, so a Dry (spin) January is something to look forward to!
After a clean and sweep up, that was it for the weekend.
This is highly likely to have been my last work day on the jet before Christmas (unless I can swerve Christmas shopping duties!) so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas from myself, the team, and WS788 and friends. Your continued interest and support in these strange times and in what has been a rollercoaster of a year is hugely appreciated by us all, and certainly helps to motivate us to keep plugging away with the project! I may be back in between Christmas and the New Year, unless Boris makes us all sit at home, in which case I guess I'll be back next year some time...
Have a good one, and keep safe folks.
20/12/2021 Update
...And I for one shan't be sad to see the back of 2021! Saturday the weather was grey, cold, wet and dismal.
So we made full speed for the slightly less cold (I'll not say warmer, I know far better than to say such things!) hangar, to see how the guys had got on with reassembling the newly arrived Jet Provost during the week. Good to see that she's got her wings on, and is stood on her own wheels
Overall she's in very good order, and a testament to her previous keepers. After a nosey, we headed to our corner to crack on with Meteor business. Our first job to ease ourselves in was to make a start sorting the newly arrived NOS spares...
Always fun, and there's some real little snapshots of the bygone golden era of British aircraft manufacture in there.
With a much better idea of what spares we had 'logged in', we then unboxed the ignitor boxes we acquired from Mike D last weekend and, after consulting the Book of Lies, decided to get them to a place of safety, ie. bolted to the engine! Working out just what goes where...
This little lot took up our Saturday morning. In the afternoon, after finding our way back to the hangar from the crewroom in the thickening fog...
...we left Kane on removing the oil tank as it needed to come off to mount the left hand cracker box, while Scott and I swapped a radio rack from our stash into the new JP. It had been noticed her rack had been removed, not in the correct way where everything is undone correctly but in the rapid pilfery way, where all 4 earth straps are snipped through...
The intent is to have the radio in, probably my own ARC52 unit out of the other JP if it works, so the rack is kinda needed! The rack having gone missing did the JP a favour though, as it brought to light some corrosion issues in the structure supporting the radio racking.
At this point I was having nightmarish flashbacks to the ex-Linton gate guard JP! Fortunately she is nowhere near as bad as her sister though, so I rubbed back all the visible corrosion...
then etch primed and painted the whole assembly
The radio rack received some tlc, then was coated with ACF50 and fitted.
Nose surgery done, it was back to the Derwent engine. With all 3 of us on it, we had the igniter boxes fitted to this engine for the first time in decades by close of play
...and what a fun job that wasn't! Time to head home, if we can find our way back to the car park through the fog...
Sunday... was, it seemed, Groundhog Day...
Scott and I were in, and decided to give the oil tank a proper looking at and replace the perished rubber hoses serving it. While he was on with stripping the old pipes off and cleaning up the metal intermediate pipe for reuse, I pulled the filter and its housing off the bottom of the tank and got them in some degreaser to marinade and clean up...
after a first run over with an old toothbrush, actual mesh was revealed under the gunk on the filter!!
15 minutes later that pristine degreaser is looking a lot more like swamp water. Shows it's doing its job I guess
another look at the filter proves that theory!
Continue to enjoy your bath little filter... Scott had stripped the feed and return pipes off the engine
The intermediate pipe cleaned up, and the old rubber pipes awaiting their date with the bin
once we have stolen their vital statistics to make up these new ones, enjoying a bath in hot water top soften them up to make fitting easier
An old trick from my days messing with classic cars. While they were bathing I took a look in the bottom of the tank. Not the wasteland of gunk and unpleasantness I expected!
A quick flush will see that right. So, fingers scalded, new pipes on...
We reused the original Jubilee clips as well for 2 reasons. Firstly, they are perfectly good, and secondly, modern ones just aren't up to the job! I also oriented them so the screw heads are accessible this time, unlike the previous fitter...
The tank straps were then reattached, they were a pain to nip up, but we got there
As you can see, this pleased Scott a little...
See what I have to work with?!! The filter and housing continued to enjoy their bath, and intermittent tickles with a toothbrush (who doesn't?!)
This disgusting porridge was the crap out of the bottom of the tank after a clean, and the residue left in the old pipes we had swapped out
...mint sauce anyone?! On our way for a well earned tea break, I observed one of the unusual side effects of opting to work in fingerless gloves!
So after a brew, we returned to see what was next. Apart from the filter and housing, for which we are awaiting a gasket, that's the front of the engine built back up
We did remove this slight hint of her previous employment, during the "career break" between whizzing around the sky in a Meteor and sitting in our hangar gathering dust
Good news being, as her engine dataplate had been "liberated" many years ago, at least this gives us a traceable engine number for the unit. Wonder if I can get the history of the unit from the RAFM...? Nice to see the RR quality Inspection stamps on the engine too
Now we would have tried spinning the engine on the starter, but we are missing this quill drive it turns out
We did test spin the starter though, and Good News No.1 it appears to be a very healthy and happy example of a Rotax starter. Good News No.2, we have already sourced a quill drive and it's on it's way, so a Dry (spin) January is something to look forward to!
After a clean and sweep up, that was it for the weekend.
This is highly likely to have been my last work day on the jet before Christmas (unless I can swerve Christmas shopping duties!) so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas from myself, the team, and WS788 and friends. Your continued interest and support in these strange times and in what has been a rollercoaster of a year is hugely appreciated by us all, and certainly helps to motivate us to keep plugging away with the project! I may be back in between Christmas and the New Year, unless Boris makes us all sit at home, in which case I guess I'll be back next year some time...
Have a good one, and keep safe folks.
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
- TEXANTOMCAT
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Sat 09 Aug 2014, 5:40 pm
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Thanks again for all the updates chap - is the plan to get her running? Will you even install the engines again?
Have a great Xmas and all the best for 22
TT
Have a great Xmas and all the best for 22
TT
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Great update again, and good to see all those bits being put back in their places!
I noticed this in the news:
Have a great Christmas and all the best for a better 2022!
I noticed this in the news:
I hope this is not going to have too much of an impact on this wonderful project...Biscuit maker McVitie's says the prices of many of its best-selling brands are set to soar.
The firm, which is owned by Pladis Global, said brands such as Jaffa Cakes, Penguins and Hobnobs could go up in price by as much as 5%.
Have a great Christmas and all the best for a better 2022!
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Yup!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Sod Covid being on the rise, this is far more disturbing news!Archer wrote: ↑Mon 20 Dec 2021, 12:19 pmGreat update again, and good to see all those bits being put back in their places!
I noticed this in the news:I hope this is not going to have too much of an impact on this wonderful project...Biscuit maker McVitie's says the prices of many of its best-selling brands are set to soar.
The firm, which is owned by Pladis Global, said brands such as Jaffa Cakes, Penguins and Hobnobs could go up in price by as much as 5%.
Have a great Christmas and all the best for a better 2022!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
-
- UKAR Staff
- Posts: 2254
- Joined: Tue 02 Sep 2008, 6:57 pm
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Another top update!
Mis-aligned jubilee clips are the bain of my life when I work on my cars, fair play to sorting them!
Mis-aligned jubilee clips are the bain of my life when I work on my cars, fair play to sorting them!
Free straws available to clutch at - PM me. Inventor of the baguette scale
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Thanks for all the updates over what has been a difficult year. Let's hope the next will be better, although I have my doubts. Whatever, get vaccinated for everyone's benefit. All the best for the festive season. Laurence
- TEXANTOMCAT
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Sat 09 Aug 2014, 5:40 pm
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Crumbs -I didnt realise she would be a runner. Double Derwent based Jaffa Crumbs.
Also now is the time for a new campaign - 'just £1 a month can provide this team with orange spongy comestibles during this current crisis'!
TT
Also now is the time for a new campaign - 'just £1 a month can provide this team with orange spongy comestibles during this current crisis'!
TT
- hunterxf382
- Posts: 1700
- Joined: Sun 31 Aug 2008, 9:36 pm
- Location: West Midlands
- Contact:
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Well done to you and all your willing helpers Graham
The progress has been remarkable throughout 2021 (well really just the last few weeks if you believe the forum thread...lol). It's beginning to lot like - A Meteor!!!!
The sight of that 'special' plate brings back so many memories of AEC Bowsers fighting against errant "Engine Bashers" showing who had more grunt behind their respective engines...lol
Another fun fact for you - despite all the mandatory warnings during tech training, and ignoring most of what common sense a young enthusiastic airman could possess; I learnt the obvious way that you could in fact remain very VERY close to the intakes on Meteors when the engines were started and idling! Well to be fair you could actually sit in them to keep your rear warm should the fancy take you...lol
This was purely down to design - with the airflow in being severely restricted by having all those big lumps of metal bolted onto the front, and the air having to take the slow route around the outside perimeter.... who's daft idea was that eh...lol? But by lacking the suction of more modern jet engines, we could throw the rule book to one side on these, although I don't recommend anyone try it out these days
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of your team, and I hope Santa knows where to drop the Jaffa Cakes! ( Oh hang on - best check down the intakes on your return or you'll have one of those 'silica bags down the intake' moments)
The progress has been remarkable throughout 2021 (well really just the last few weeks if you believe the forum thread...lol). It's beginning to lot like - A Meteor!!!!
The sight of that 'special' plate brings back so many memories of AEC Bowsers fighting against errant "Engine Bashers" showing who had more grunt behind their respective engines...lol
Another fun fact for you - despite all the mandatory warnings during tech training, and ignoring most of what common sense a young enthusiastic airman could possess; I learnt the obvious way that you could in fact remain very VERY close to the intakes on Meteors when the engines were started and idling! Well to be fair you could actually sit in them to keep your rear warm should the fancy take you...lol
This was purely down to design - with the airflow in being severely restricted by having all those big lumps of metal bolted onto the front, and the air having to take the slow route around the outside perimeter.... who's daft idea was that eh...lol? But by lacking the suction of more modern jet engines, we could throw the rule book to one side on these, although I don't recommend anyone try it out these days
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of your team, and I hope Santa knows where to drop the Jaffa Cakes! ( Oh hang on - best check down the intakes on your return or you'll have one of those 'silica bags down the intake' moments)
- TonyC
- Posts: 370
- Joined: Sat 02 Nov 2019, 3:01 pm
- Location: Lost, if you find me, please let me know...
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Northerners and their delusions of grandeur, just be grateful for a malted milk biscuit!TEXANTOMCAT wrote: ↑Mon 20 Dec 2021, 3:15 pmCrumbs -I didnt realise she would be a runner. Double Derwent based Jaffa Crumbs.
Also now is the time for a new campaign - 'just £1 a month can provide this team with orange spongy comestibles during this current crisis'!
TT
To paraphrase Harry Enfield "Northerners, know your place!".
Said strictly with tongue firmly in cheek as I am the 'only' member of my family born south of Nottingham and have had northern rubbed into me (or was if Bovril?), from the age of 3 months!
Biscuits (or cakes in this case) aside, although its not been the greatest of time over the past 18 months and is likely to continue next year, I think that what has been achieved by Blue and his happy band of workers, during 2021 is amazing, hats of to all of you!
Sycophancy mode off, "Now get back to work".
...and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in Space cos there's bugger all down here on Earth!
- TEXANTOMCAT
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Sat 09 Aug 2014, 5:40 pm
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Now Graham is the time to put up a go fund me page
TT
TT
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
As always thanks for keeping us updated Graham, and to see another sign of life is so exciting!
I'm away from my forum-browsing PC for a few days so to all the WS788 team I wish a wonderful Christmas and thank you so much for sharing your project with us!
I'm away from my forum-browsing PC for a few days so to all the WS788 team I wish a wonderful Christmas and thank you so much for sharing your project with us!
Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG"
https://linktr.ee/zacyates
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Each to their own!!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Standard issue New Year greetings to you all. I guess after a weekend reacquainting myself with rolling around on a hangar floor, cursing stubborn bits of cold metal and getting liberally coated in AVTUR, it's time for this year's first post...
10/01/2022 Update!
And look, I even managed to put the correct year. That's a cracking start. It seems 788 was on Santa's Nice List, though I have no idea why as she can be a stubborn cantankerous old cow, because she got Christmas pressies. From Gary, our heritage manager, a pack of gasket paper (to me more exciting than it sounds!), and from our great friend St. Bruce of Norwich a NOS battery tray!
As you may recall, thanks to the Chinese Bat Plague the museum elected to close over the Christmas period, reopening on Saturday just gone, January 8th. Friday was a day spent getting the site ready for visitors; Mick from the Nimrod team and I had said we would go in to get a couple of jobs done on 582, the recently arrived Jet Provost still undergoing reassembly and returning to ground running order. We spent most of the day under the port wing root refitting the world's most awkward fuel pipe, but despite the aircraft's best efforts to thwart us and piddle fuel on us we were victorious in the end.
Of course, access is easier from above... no, no it isn't.
Before Mick went, we looked at a couple more jobs for me to do on the Jet Pig over the weekend before he heads back in this week to do more stuff. With much of my Saturday now booked up by the little pig (I mean the JP, not Mick) I then headed over to my corner
I had a very important job to do, taking down the team Christmas tree. Our topper doesn't look too happy at going back in the bag for the next 11 months or so, poor little feller...
So to Saturday. And what a miserable wet day it was
A great day to be indoors doing JP stuff. Incidentally, (public service broadcast time) you may notice in the above shot the watch office has scaffolding up around it as it is currently having some roofing work done. This is expected to take until the end of January, and means there is no visitor access to the building for now. So don't rock up expecting to see in there this month! Anyway back to JP stuff. One issue we had identified with 582 was the fact that, rather than the correct clevis pins, the rudder controls had been connected with what looked curously like hardware from Halfords. This sort of thing...
Now that ain't right. We intend to run this thing and trundle it around under it's own steam safely, so everything on it needs to be done right. Fortunately our ex-Linton gate guard JP still had the full set of correct pins fitted
Granted they haven't seen a drop of oil or any servicing for probably 4 decades, but they are the correct hardware and they are there
*at least they were!
So, armed with WD40 and various selected weaponry, I set to removing said rusty relics from the old JP. It was a slow, careful process as they really didn't seem willing to play and I didn't want to damage them, but progress occurred...
After all 4 pin sets were off, I took them to our workshop for a thorough cleaning up and de-rusting. They actually cleaned up really nicely, beyond my expectations, proving again that despite appearances aircraft standard fixtures and fittings can often be brought back to serviceable from some pretty poor states. I had the 2 port side pins greased, fitted to 582 and split pinned before lunch!
And by 2pm I'd got the other 2 pins installed, and had put the 2 smaller pins you see in the foreground the right way round (there's a long one and a short one. As per sod's law, they were in the wrong sides...), washer fitted and split pinned... job done and ready to be signed off!
Back under the jet for a job for Mick, an "exploratory op" on the port wing to work out what the chain set up is for the main undercarriage retraction. First job, open the port main door which had been locked in the up position with more Halfords hardware. Then take off the little hatch ahead of the main leg, which had me wondering how the manufacturers crammed so many screws into one small access panel...
I mean that's just a ridiculous amount of screws for that little panel! Even Gloster/A-W aren't that silly! But it revealed the secrets of the Pig's quaint but effective chain driven undercarriage retraction system.
Chain round this main sprocket at the leg...
...inboard through the 2 tubes...
...out through them on the left, connected to the cables you see coming in from the right, exchanging pleasantries with the sprockets for the u/c door you see in the middle as they pass.
As I say quaint... but it works. So now we know how it goes and what's missing at least. But that is now someone else's problem, as I had completed my JP jobs list. I just had time to start on with a job for 788 finally. A while ago we had been donated a good lump of the pneumatic system out of an unknown Vampire T.11. While it differs to the Meteor's system, all the constituent components are the same including most importantly the tank, but it takes up quite a bit of space on the shelf so I decided to get on with spares recovering it into more storage friendly chunks. It also meant that I could be a lazy sod and sit at my bench! Here it is as I had begun the stripping process, starting with pipework.
By close of play there was just the tank to free from the bracket
And a nice heap of spares by the bench!
The tank has it's original lettering on under a layer of grime and overspray.
I'm hoping this will clean back revealing the stencilling properly. Having 2 tanks in stock doubles our chances of having one that passes pressure testing I figure...! The valves, regulator and filter components were put in an old roller tray and doused in degreaser, to be left to think about things overnight
before shutting down and bidding the old girls good evening.
Sunday morning was cold and frosty. First job of the day was ice patrol, deploying grit around site before the day's visitors arrived. Poor old 168 looks a bit chilled!
I then took the air tank to the workshop where there is a selection of bigger spanners than I own, and after a hell of a lot of time spent in the noble art of "persuasion" I finally removed the tank from it's bracket.
If anyone out there has a particular need for a Vampire T.11 pneumatic system mounting bracket, let me know, as it's bugger all use to me! The afternoon was spent sat at the bench, cleaning, stripping, rebuilding and labelling the pneumatic system components harvested the previous day. This is where the update becomes a bit of an unexciting component-fest I'm afraid; sorry! At least it shows we're not all about clubbing things with big hammers though. I was very pleased how things cleaned up.
The filter came back nice; the filter element in it was like new!
The casing cleaned up nicely as well
The regulator valve was next.
these are always... fun...
But again the internals are immaculate!
Reassembled, looking like new and ready to go do its job again
The final valve was the grottiest...
Suffering a combination of corrosion and plain old filth
but again it came apart nicely, and again the innards came up squeaky clean!
I cleaned up the casings and reassembled the unit
I ran out of time to find some shiny new bolts, so it'll have to make do with the originals until it gets called upon to be used. Still looks much better though!
One afternoon at the bench later, I had a tub of components ready to be used in bringing 788's pneumatic system back to life!
I even had a couple of minutes to work on this pneumatic system T-piece we retrieved from the wreck of the Sennybridge Meteor.
Ready to reuse after sitting out on a Welsh hillside in all weathers for probably 50 years. It just goes to show this stuff lasts!
Well that's the first update for the year out of the way. All being well we shall be back on site next weekend for more. There's already jobs in the offing...
10/01/2022 Update!
And look, I even managed to put the correct year. That's a cracking start. It seems 788 was on Santa's Nice List, though I have no idea why as she can be a stubborn cantankerous old cow, because she got Christmas pressies. From Gary, our heritage manager, a pack of gasket paper (to me more exciting than it sounds!), and from our great friend St. Bruce of Norwich a NOS battery tray!
As you may recall, thanks to the Chinese Bat Plague the museum elected to close over the Christmas period, reopening on Saturday just gone, January 8th. Friday was a day spent getting the site ready for visitors; Mick from the Nimrod team and I had said we would go in to get a couple of jobs done on 582, the recently arrived Jet Provost still undergoing reassembly and returning to ground running order. We spent most of the day under the port wing root refitting the world's most awkward fuel pipe, but despite the aircraft's best efforts to thwart us and piddle fuel on us we were victorious in the end.
Of course, access is easier from above... no, no it isn't.
Before Mick went, we looked at a couple more jobs for me to do on the Jet Pig over the weekend before he heads back in this week to do more stuff. With much of my Saturday now booked up by the little pig (I mean the JP, not Mick) I then headed over to my corner
I had a very important job to do, taking down the team Christmas tree. Our topper doesn't look too happy at going back in the bag for the next 11 months or so, poor little feller...
So to Saturday. And what a miserable wet day it was
A great day to be indoors doing JP stuff. Incidentally, (public service broadcast time) you may notice in the above shot the watch office has scaffolding up around it as it is currently having some roofing work done. This is expected to take until the end of January, and means there is no visitor access to the building for now. So don't rock up expecting to see in there this month! Anyway back to JP stuff. One issue we had identified with 582 was the fact that, rather than the correct clevis pins, the rudder controls had been connected with what looked curously like hardware from Halfords. This sort of thing...
Now that ain't right. We intend to run this thing and trundle it around under it's own steam safely, so everything on it needs to be done right. Fortunately our ex-Linton gate guard JP still had the full set of correct pins fitted
Granted they haven't seen a drop of oil or any servicing for probably 4 decades, but they are the correct hardware and they are there
*at least they were!
So, armed with WD40 and various selected weaponry, I set to removing said rusty relics from the old JP. It was a slow, careful process as they really didn't seem willing to play and I didn't want to damage them, but progress occurred...
After all 4 pin sets were off, I took them to our workshop for a thorough cleaning up and de-rusting. They actually cleaned up really nicely, beyond my expectations, proving again that despite appearances aircraft standard fixtures and fittings can often be brought back to serviceable from some pretty poor states. I had the 2 port side pins greased, fitted to 582 and split pinned before lunch!
And by 2pm I'd got the other 2 pins installed, and had put the 2 smaller pins you see in the foreground the right way round (there's a long one and a short one. As per sod's law, they were in the wrong sides...), washer fitted and split pinned... job done and ready to be signed off!
Back under the jet for a job for Mick, an "exploratory op" on the port wing to work out what the chain set up is for the main undercarriage retraction. First job, open the port main door which had been locked in the up position with more Halfords hardware. Then take off the little hatch ahead of the main leg, which had me wondering how the manufacturers crammed so many screws into one small access panel...
I mean that's just a ridiculous amount of screws for that little panel! Even Gloster/A-W aren't that silly! But it revealed the secrets of the Pig's quaint but effective chain driven undercarriage retraction system.
Chain round this main sprocket at the leg...
...inboard through the 2 tubes...
...out through them on the left, connected to the cables you see coming in from the right, exchanging pleasantries with the sprockets for the u/c door you see in the middle as they pass.
As I say quaint... but it works. So now we know how it goes and what's missing at least. But that is now someone else's problem, as I had completed my JP jobs list. I just had time to start on with a job for 788 finally. A while ago we had been donated a good lump of the pneumatic system out of an unknown Vampire T.11. While it differs to the Meteor's system, all the constituent components are the same including most importantly the tank, but it takes up quite a bit of space on the shelf so I decided to get on with spares recovering it into more storage friendly chunks. It also meant that I could be a lazy sod and sit at my bench! Here it is as I had begun the stripping process, starting with pipework.
By close of play there was just the tank to free from the bracket
And a nice heap of spares by the bench!
The tank has it's original lettering on under a layer of grime and overspray.
I'm hoping this will clean back revealing the stencilling properly. Having 2 tanks in stock doubles our chances of having one that passes pressure testing I figure...! The valves, regulator and filter components were put in an old roller tray and doused in degreaser, to be left to think about things overnight
before shutting down and bidding the old girls good evening.
Sunday morning was cold and frosty. First job of the day was ice patrol, deploying grit around site before the day's visitors arrived. Poor old 168 looks a bit chilled!
I then took the air tank to the workshop where there is a selection of bigger spanners than I own, and after a hell of a lot of time spent in the noble art of "persuasion" I finally removed the tank from it's bracket.
If anyone out there has a particular need for a Vampire T.11 pneumatic system mounting bracket, let me know, as it's bugger all use to me! The afternoon was spent sat at the bench, cleaning, stripping, rebuilding and labelling the pneumatic system components harvested the previous day. This is where the update becomes a bit of an unexciting component-fest I'm afraid; sorry! At least it shows we're not all about clubbing things with big hammers though. I was very pleased how things cleaned up.
The filter came back nice; the filter element in it was like new!
The casing cleaned up nicely as well
The regulator valve was next.
these are always... fun...
But again the internals are immaculate!
Reassembled, looking like new and ready to go do its job again
The final valve was the grottiest...
Suffering a combination of corrosion and plain old filth
but again it came apart nicely, and again the innards came up squeaky clean!
I cleaned up the casings and reassembled the unit
I ran out of time to find some shiny new bolts, so it'll have to make do with the originals until it gets called upon to be used. Still looks much better though!
One afternoon at the bench later, I had a tub of components ready to be used in bringing 788's pneumatic system back to life!
I even had a couple of minutes to work on this pneumatic system T-piece we retrieved from the wreck of the Sennybridge Meteor.
Ready to reuse after sitting out on a Welsh hillside in all weathers for probably 50 years. It just goes to show this stuff lasts!
Well that's the first update for the year out of the way. All being well we shall be back on site next weekend for more. There's already jobs in the offing...
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!
- TEXANTOMCAT
- Posts: 358
- Joined: Sat 09 Aug 2014, 5:40 pm
Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project
Tip top - HNY - cant wait to see what happens this year fella
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