A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

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

Post by Brenden S »

Another cracker of an update, thanks mate.

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

Post by K5054NZ »

Another superb, chock-a-block update Graham! Lots to take in and enjoy.
Blue_2 wrote:
Tue 21 Jun 2022, 9:06 pm
Monty [...] it seems marking his territiory!
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This makes me happy. :rofl:
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 »

Just wait until you get an update from this weekend...!
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 »

Its the middle of the week. That must mean it's fashionably late enough to share with you all the doings from the weekend...
25-26/06/2022 Update; Meteor WS788 team on tour!
It was the famous Newark Cockpitfest and Aerojumble this weekend just gone. After Colin at Newark has pestered me for about the last 2 years solid, I finally bowed to his wishes and brought a WS788 exhibit, plus a little side project of my own I've been working on, to show for the weekend. After an annoyingly late finish from work on Friday night we got the car loaded, ready for a most un-Saturday-like time for departure
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After an uneventful trip back down the same A1 I had only travelled back up far too few hours previously the night before on my way back from Kent, we arrived at the buzzing hive of activity that was a pre-show Newark. Colin saw us in, and we snaffled an unloading bay and a barrow, got tipped (sorry, day job lingo sneaking in there!), and then... simply assemble.
I said a little side project; well, I may have been fibbing with the "little" bit. Mostly kept under wraps for the last couple of years, off the radar, I've been restoring the pilot's panel of an Avro heavy bomber. Then, I decided to assemble a fuselage chunk to display it in context. After that, I decided it needed a windscreen... and that's as far as it's growing! Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm genuinely proud to present...
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My Avro Lincoln panel display. Appropriately displayed with a A-W Meteor NF stick top and electrical panel (and jaffa cakes!) as, while I have no ID for the original airframe, it is one of the 200-odd A-W built Lincolns. Breaking it down into car-friendly chunks was fun... Anyway, set up, we went for a wander to catch up with many good friends in this game, admire their builds, and have a general wander round the show. Newark's own Meteors of course drew our attention... T.7...
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F.8 test jet...
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Unique (and lovely) NF.12...
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And NF.14
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Also, part of the Meteor U.15/16 drone story, a Jindivik
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Gifts of jaffa cakes and aircraft bits arrived with us too; our Chippy WK640's well-travelled firewall arrived back in our hands!
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A top day of banter, catching up, trading, and looking at some great cockpit projects and displays. Our Snoopy was quite taken with Max Blood's Piston Provost project, and rightly so!
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Sunday morning we turned in to find he "had defected of his own free will" apparently to try out a Lightning belonging to our mate Mr. Swinn...
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I had persuaded Rich Woods to bring his WiP B-29 project in and put it on show with our stuff.
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One to watch for next year for sure... More trading saw the missing u/c switch and missing mag switch cage fitted, and a part-ex with the top blokes at Avitech saw the panel now sporting 4 matching RPM gauges, instead of no.1 playing odd one out
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Then... I was summoned. It seemed that, after paying our humble display a visit on the Saturday and chatting with us for a while, Ken Ellis had decided to bestow one of his much coveted Spirit of Cockpitfest awards on us for our Lincoln/ Meatbox display!
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A huge honour. I certainly didn't see that coming, given the quality of exhibits we were among. Very proud day for us.
Sunday afternoon saw the reverse of Saturday morning, simply disassemble! Only a few more goodies had to be crammed into the car. These goodies found their way to YAM on Monday after I had had a lie in.
On arrival, it was nice to see "Friday" still out from the YAM weekend event
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First 640 got her firewall back
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AND IT'S STAYING NOW!!!! Then I unloaded more bits for 788. Our friend Nigel donated a shroud for the Rebecca scope...
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After a strip and clean I fitted the backplate to the scope
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And then the shroud itself
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The view down it through the refitted magnifying lens I painstakingly(ish) cleaned
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We had been supplied with a radio controller for 640 by Carolyn, one of our friends down at SYAM. I mentioned to one of our super helpful archives chaps that we needed 5 more of these (2 for 788, 2 for 168, 1 more for 640)... and he returned half an hour later with a pair for 788 which I promptly chucked in!
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As I went to leave a freshly passed rain shower left me a couple of photo opportunities begging to be taken...
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Rude not to! Today I've just scanned 2 photos from the weekend for the archive. The first, again spotted by Carolyn, is a lovely big print of 2 F.8's off hunting
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The full version of that will be getting a frame. The second is a bit more exotic, an F.8 on gate guard duties in Rio, Brazil, in 1969!
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So that's the weekend that was. Thanks to the team at Newark for such a fantastic, well run event, to everyone who brought us bits, banter, encouragement, jaffa cakes, and support, or just stopped by to chat. Special thanks to my better half Tricia for letting her car be used as a freighter, helping with the build and strip down of the display, and enduring a weekend of aircraft, aircraft, and more aircraft!
Might be doing it again next year. Might be bringing more things. Might even be an official YAM presence to support our friends at NAM in this fantastic event. Watch this space...

More next time folks!
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. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :clap: :clap: :clap:

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

Post by TonyC »

Loving the Lincoln display, close enough to the Lancaster, which is my favourite aircraft, to pass muster :thumbsup: and great that it's been recognised with an award!

Haven't been to Cockpitfest for several years now, as it seems to coinside with Goodwood's Festival of Speed but looks like a good time was had by all!
...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 NAM Updater »

As ever a great update GB & it is nice to see a good selection of photos to highlight what I missed out on at Cockpit-Fest 22 - I await next year's offer with great interest!
Howard Heeley - Newark Air Museum Trustee
Every museum visit counts!
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K5054NZ
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by K5054NZ »

Congratulations on the award Graham! CockpitFest has been on my To Do list since I first read a FlyPast as a teen - cockpiting hasn't really taken off (hush) here and so I always enjoy seeing the amazing projects on display.

How wonderful to see the Meteor and Chipmunk looking even more complete.
Zac in NZ
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hunterxf382
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by hunterxf382 »

Another commendable update Graham, and one worthy of heaps of praise too for the award at Cockpit-Fest!

I assume you won't need to change the thread title on here as you had done on the facebook page - as the initials A-W could equally mean "Award Winning" as much as they do "Armstrong-Whitworth" :)

Congratulations to you and the team... and Snoopy, who guards 788 with his life I'm sure!

PS: Good to see a Chippie update sneaking in there too ;)
Pete Buckingham
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Brenden S
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Brenden S »

Congrats on the award mate

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

Post by Blue_2 »

Thankyou all! Newark really was a great weekend, and a pure tonic after the couple of years we have had. Nice to feel like the old aeroplane scene in the UK is getting back on its feet.

Pete, if you liked a sneaky Chippy update you'll enjoy this week's offering as it's waaay more Chippy-ish than usual. Read on...

06/07/2022 Update
Firstly, during the week my own Meteor NF.14 instrument panel won it's E2 compass back so is once again complete ('fest next year...? Maybe...)
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The compass had been away in deepest darkest Norfolk for use in a production being made there involving a certain Mr. Travolta and some aircraft of a DH flavour. Will it be a star of stage and screen? I guess we'll see at Christmas when said production is unleashed on the unsuspecting public! Good to have the panel back complete though.
I again snuck a sneaky bit of Friday time at YAM last week, using my afternoon wisely. Firstly I decided to get the other side of 788's brand new flaps into paint. First coat of silver on...
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After a suitable 'refreshment break' the first coat had dried, so I applied the second, top coat.
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As I had some paint spare in the tray I gave the canopy shuttle the second coat it has been waiting for since the far side of forever too.
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And to think, some "experts" on site said you can't roll silver paint on...!
With this done, my attention turned to some good old fashioned tin bashing for a change. I had decided that it was about time our little Chipmunk project got a look-in again, and decided over the weekend we should fetch her indoors and start stripping her down to a bare shell ready for getting the airframe de-skinned and back something like straight. First though, I had a smaller but essential mangled piece of Chippy metal to attend to.
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In among all that twisted mess lies an unbroken Chipmunk upper wing spar. It was formerly (an integral) part of Chipmunk 22 CS-DAD, ex G-CHPM and before that Portuguese Air Force FAP 1369, which had a non-fatal crash (there's a theme developing here...) and was scrapped in the mid-2000's. All I need to do is simply (!) extract the spar from the remaining Chippy wreckage attached to it during what appears to have been an angle grinder based removal from its old home. So, I began by undoing the spar bolts
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So far so good! Then the drill had to come out for some rivet removal fun. Drilling the rivets, peeling the skin. Both mine and the Chippy's, lots of sharp bits on this
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Some time later... the spar carry through was free!
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Wouldn't be us if we didn't find makers' marks on it would it?!
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It looked a lot better with all the rivets removed
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It was now wanting cleaning up and priming, but not before some corrosion around the wing attachment points was dealt with
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That is the worst example. I started on the easier end! I also got a box of salvageable hardware off the spar strip, always handy.
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...and made a lot of less salvageable swarf. Where's that sweeping brush gone...?!
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Now as I asked on the FB page; does the spar need to learn English, or does 640 need to learn Portugese?!
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As I mentioned, I made a start dressing out the rot on the spar ends
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While doing this I found more maker's marks!
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I guess this is Portuguese for "Hello, I'm a licence built Chipmunk Mk.22 wing main spar upper carry-through". Very welcome and very useful you shall be too!
On to Saturday (yes, all that previous stuff was done Friday afternoon on my tod. Think I deserve a pay rise, or at least jaffa cakes...) when Scott was in. We decided it would be a great idea to fetch 640 in out of the rain, and get on with the task of stripping all the remaining fixtures and fittings out of her. Partly as when we make the airframe repairs it'll all need to be out anyway so we may as well do it while we feel like it, and partly so we could do a full stocktake and see what items are still outstanding on the shopping list, and see if we need to add anything to the list if once recovered from the airframe we deem it unsalvageable. Preparing for battle, Scott getting some 'before' shots
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He elected to start at the rear of 640, while I started in the front cockpit footwell. Once he had got himself into a position to start removing bits of aeroplane from the close confines of the rear cockpit section, well you can see he wasn't impressed!
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We made slow but steady progress, as you can see from the beginnings of a pile of components and the nearly-extracted wiring looms...
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I got the front rudder bar out, a nice serviceable piece apart from the actual foot pedals are missing. As you can see everything got cleaned up and labelled on removal
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Cleaning everything was essential as it seems when the aircraft crashed, an oil line ruptured thus coating everything in the bottom of the cockpit with oil. This combined with the jagged metal makes for a fun working environment, with lots of working slowly and carefully in the hope of keeping at least some skin! We decided to roll the aircraft onto her side to aid us in extracting the elevator rods. Fortunately the accident meant there was a ready made access hole for us!
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I do love the NACA duct in the belly. This structure, being slightly beefier, seems to have helped spare the lower rear cockpit from too much damage
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The elevator return rod extracted. This might just need a straighten...!
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The rest of Saturday was taken up with removing more control bits and, after righting her, I started removing the front cockpit floorboards. Here are laid out the stock of replacements we have, plus at the front the 2 small ones freshly extracted from 640 and cleaned
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One floorboard stubbornly refused to exit. It was happy folded into the form and location it had apparently enjoyed since 2009
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The one from the starboard floor. It's more kinked than the camera shows
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But look how empty the rear cockpit looks now!
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As does the front, compared to what we started Saturday with. You can see clearly in this shot that upper spar we need to replace too.
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As Saturday closed, this is how we left things.
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A pile of plunder, 2 knackered, battered, torn but happy aircraft restorers (at that point well in need of beers!), and a nearly stripped out cockpit shell.
We were back in on the Sunday. Passing 640's big sister the Devon I noticed she's in the middle of having her props repainted
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I assume that's so she looks her best for this Sunday's Vintage Props day (subtle plug...). We carried on getting the last few stubborn items out of 640. Even the poor map pocket didn't escape the crash unscathed...
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Nothing we can't fix though. Nice to find dated maker's markings on the back of the pocket too
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Finally got the last front cockpit floorboard out, albeit not in one piece
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Think it's safe to say that'll not be getting reused. See what I mean about everything ending up coated in oil and muck? prime example there. Unpleasant. We then rolled 640 on her back, partly to access a few last bits and partly to shake out all the loose bits which had accumulated in the bottom of the cockpit both over time and after our pillaging
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The damage is bad. But nothing we can't fix to a standard compatible with our plan to make 788 into a disabled access cockpit; she certainly ain't going flying again!
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It won't look anywhere near as horrific once we get the ripped and bent skins drilled off. We rolled 640 back over into a more dignified pose, then put her back out in her spot by the bowser
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So... parts. What have we got, what have we salvaged, and what have we on the shopping list? Here's the weekend's work laid out for inspection
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As you can see we have saved a lot of kit! We are missing all the rudder pedals from both rudder bars, both throttles, and a flap lever and some other small bits and pieces, but other than that for what we are doing it's almost all there. I'm sure we'll discover more bits missing as we reassemble it though. As you can see there's some bits such as the mixture levers and the floorboards require straightening; Scott got on with these and they are all now good. The forward section of the main interlink between the control columns has a good bend in it; being steel we'll need to send this somewhere they can get some heat on it and straighten it properly for us. The rudder interlink tie rod had suffered too, being broken into 3 pieces. So, I had a cunning plan involving one of the spare Meteor control rods...
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The Meteor rod, plus a section of the Chippy rod spliced, and the correct ends fitted. Win!
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640 then had her firewall and wrapping put back on, awaiting the call from our pet airframe bloke to come in to surgery
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Might be a nice indoors project for winter. I even had time to get most of the corrosion off the new spar. This last bad bit still need some more attention, but it's getting there
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A job I'll finish next time, before priming the spar. Speaking of upcoming jobs... We have been donated a full set of Meteor rudder and elevators for our F.8. These have come from our friends at Bentwaters (thanks Julien and gang!) who had them spare after sourcing NOS items for their U.16 roll back to F.8 restoration project, WH453.
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The rudder at least will be going on our F.8 as hers is going crusty on the leading edge the same way 788's did, so we decided it's easiest to refurb and paint this new set off the jet, then simply (!) throw them on 168 rather than having her sat rudderless for however long it takes to restore her tail feathers. Busy times in the Naughty Corner!

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

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

Post by TonyC »

Yet another brilliant update and nice to see the Chippie making an appearance, it will be see her at Cockpitfest, one finished!
...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 »

Another terrific update, thank you so much for sharing Graham!
Blue_2 wrote:
Wed 06 Jul 2022, 7:45 am
well you can see he wasn't impressed!
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He doesn't know how good he has it - I'd much rather be cursing the DHC designers while working to disassemble WK640 than beavering away at my model bench!
Zac in NZ
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Viscount
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Viscount »

As `Blue 2' has set a precedent in the past week by posting a photo of a Meteor F.8 preserved as a gate guard in Brazil, feel I can post two images of a Meteor NF.11 preserved in France. Photos taken on 1st July 2022 at the Musée Européen de l'Aviation de Chasse at Áerodrome d'Ancône, near Montélimar - a location half way between Lyon and the Mediterranean coast.

Clearly in the strong sunlight they have considerable problems with perspex clouding. Also, it seems that they too have problems with the canopy guide rails judging by the gap below the canopy - a detail I would know nothing about if not for this exceptional thread! The aircraft has clearly received attention and a repaint in recent years.

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If I'm permitted to link, a full list of the exhibits with images are on a forum: https://derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/ ... me-dancone
Last edited by Viscount on Thu 07 Jul 2022, 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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

Post by hunterxf382 »

Well I don't quite know how you do it Graham, but the addition of the sneaky Chipmunk update is as riveting and interesting as 788's usual stuff! That poor Chippie certainly took a beating when making it's rather unfortunate final 'landing' judging by the state of the twisted metal. But it certainly goes to show what a robust design they are considering how relatively fragile they appear from the outside!

It takes a special team to look at what amounts to a crumpled heap of red, white, and black metal and consider anything can be done with it - and almost makes 788's ongoing work look a breeze by comparison in some ways? Hats off to you all... for wanting to save the wreckage and repurpose it in the way you are.

Double Jaffa's all round chaps :)
Pete Buckingham
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Blue_2
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

Cheers all! A weekend on the Chippy made a nice change, I have to admit. It'll be nice when it's done, as hopefully being able to sit in it will inspire future able and less able bodied people alike into aviation.
Which in use on AEF's and flying schools was one of the Chippy's original roles. 640 may be battered but she's not finished her old task yet!
Viscount, thanks for posting the pics of the French NF. Being an NF.11 it has the earlier heavily framed canopy, which hinges to the side rather than sliding back as ours does. Much less elegant, but way simpler to maintain and restore!
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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

Post by Blue_2 »

What are we on now? 18th? Oh Gawd, this is going to take a lot of writing up then... First though, the Lincoln is now back home safe and assembled after its road trip to Newark
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And I have finally completed the set, our 3 aircraft in 1/48! 788, 168, and 640
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Anyway, you didn't come here for the contents of my front room shelves, did you...?

09-17/07/2022 Update
As you can guess by the title, we're covering a lot of ground here, so best get comfy chaps... I make no apologies for this epic, as it has been a very busy and productive few days.
Waay back on the 9th, I had an afternoon visit to the hangar. Our new (to us) set of tail feathers had arrived from the kind chaps at Bentwaters, surplus from their project to restore a Meteor U.16 back to its F.8 guise.
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So I got on with deciding what we would do with them. My priority for 788 was to recover the main bearing mount and bearing off the rudder, to mate up to the new master bearing frame we are having made for 788. So out with the penetrating oil and weapons of mass persuasion!
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The housing for the bearing was soon off, and on the bench while the bearing was given a WD40 bath to help it to shift off the rudder post
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The housing is an item legendary for its ability to turn to cheese. Fortunately the one off the new rudder is pretty damn good!
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After a lot of corrosion removal it was happy and ready for a priming
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While this was drying, and the bearing was considering its life choices, I test assembled the new rudder
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The lower half is very obviously ex-U.16 drone given the colour scheme, but the upper appears to be a brand new item! What would a clean reveal...? Literally half clean, it looks to be in alochrom and that's it
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Totally cleaned, the unit is indeed NOS, and in great condition apart from some very minor surface corrosion
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The lower half got a good clean too. I loved the patina on this piece...
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I even seriously considered going through the rigmarole of removing this skin and preserving it as a piece of wall art, and reskinning the rudder!
As you will have seen, there's a pair of elevators too. I did wonder if the way ahead was to restoe these then swap them onto 788, so after going for a walk and borrowing some suitable steps I decided to take another look at our tail surfaces for the first time in a while
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I saw nothing wrong with 788's elevators that couldn't be easily rectified on the jet, so the "new" elevators have gone into storage for now. Meanwhile the rudder bearing housing was ready for its topcoat
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Happy with that! Next I started on work to free off the starboard engine mounts. We'll soon need the trolley the Derwent we have already on site, Derwent no.1, for collecting the second engine for 788. Gary mentioned we'd need to make a trestle to sit Derwent no.1 in while its trolley was being used for gathering Derwent no.2 in, until I suggested we simply pop Derwent no.1 in the jet for now, using it as a ready made trestle! In theory it's a simple mount, 2 pins slip into eyeball sockets, these then slip down and are bolted to the sides of the bay, while another 2 bolts hold the diamond shaped steadying frame at the rear of the bay. It's sobering how little holds a jet engine in actually (any nervous flyers among our readers jetting off on holiday soon...?) and fortunately after pulling her engines back in 1966 the RAF put the mounts back in the engine bays. I freed off both eyeball sockets, then got the (inboard side) studs...
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And (outboard side) nuts off
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I'll carry on getting the mounts free and out next time. As one last thing, I decided to temporary fit the lower half of the rudder to 788 after making an new lower mounting bolt for it
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It makes a hell of a difference to 788's appearance! In other good news the bearing we'll need for it off the other rudder started to move...
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I left it filled with old oil to think about things for the weekend
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Before, as I was done a tad later than normal, knocking the hangar lights off to get a decent shot of 788's cockpit lighting in the half-dark
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I'm so proud of all the work that has gone in to getting the jet just this far, and this alive! It's one thing keeping an aircraft alive, but quite another to restore it to life after 50+ years dormancy.
Moving on now, to a week ago today, the 11th. First job was to get that rudder bearing off its long term home on the new rudder, as I had plans for both the rudder and the bearing! The bearing off and headed for a clean up
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Followed by an oil soak to ease its dry old bearings
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Before starting prep on the new upper rudder
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Prep which revealed it to be a brand new Armstrong Whitworth built unit!
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I will admit swapping it for the one we removed from and restored for WS788 did cross my mind, but as we have restored and painted that unit there's little point. So, I got on with priming it for its new application, as well as priming and painting the Chipmunk main spar carry-through
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Outside it was all getting a little bit hot and desert-y...
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...but this helped the primer to dry in record time. Soon both sides of the rudder were done, but not quickly enough we couldn't sneak in an ice-cream break!
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By close of play I had the first of the upper rudder's top coat on, leaving it to dry overnight. The next morning dawned with the surprise of some rain occurring...
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...not at all unwelcome either! My first job was a Gary "can you just", another bit off the Harrier seat
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While this was drying I continued the rudder painting game. This pic should make it pretty obvious where the new rudder is destined for!
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Yep, our F.8, WL168. She has a bit of a rot problem with her rudder, which given the length of time repairing it would take, is repaired quickest and easiest by simply prepping and painting the new rudder and swapping them. The old rudder will be restored at a later date, probably as a training exercise for some of our younger team members. The lower rudder was next, rubbed back, it's steel leading edge treated to prevent it also rotting, and all bare metal primed...
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It seemed almost criminal to cover that lovely stencil detail!
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But I think these 2 pictures show why 168 needs us to swap her rudder
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Blown through both sides, so I expect to find little or no structure left inside. Back to the new rudder, and fun with green paint...
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One set of tail feathers ready to go!
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I also finished the little Harrier seat job...
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Then bit the bullet and started undoing bits off the F.8 to start gaining access to the rudder system. I remembered from 788 this tended to be not fun, but 168 surprised me by cooperating. All 7 screws holding the cruciform access panels on undid without a murmur...
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Giving me free access to blather the 4 nuts holding the rear cruciform on in WD40. I also popped off the access panels, revealing unlike on 788 a very solid, healthy looking lower rudder mount
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But this, here, is why we needed to get this job done
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At close of play I took the now dry new rudder over to 168.
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That little billy cart, ex-BAe Brough I believe, is worth its weight in gold to us. It's grafted for us this last week!
Wednesday, I had other business to attend to, and kept my hands clean for once. On Wednesday afternoon the news broke that the former RAF Finningley, Doncaster Robin Hood airport, was facing closure which made it more than a little poignant when I turned in on Thursday morning for another day working on 168, given she came to us at YAM after serving her last role for the RAF as the last gate guard of RAF Finningley.
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Anyway on with the show, and after the Thursday hangar team got me an access platform out to the aircraft (thanks chaps!) I could begin proper the job of removing the cruciform fairing. It's held on with 4 tapered bolts (usually bent) and steel locator pins into aluminium airframe, always a recipe for success.
Starting to give...
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Fighting me...
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Definite progress...
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WIN!
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The internals of 168's tail blinking in the daylight for the first time in decades. And it doesn't look at all bad in there
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It has helped massively that all the steel torque tubes have been coated with red oxide primer. The cruciform on the ground for probably the first time since the jet was dismantled to move to us in the mid-90's
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Apart from the bird muck, and damage from previous "unsympathetic" fitting and removal, it doesn't look bad either! Attention now turned to the rudder itself. As you may have noticed in the previos pics, gold star for you if you have, 168 is like 788 also missing the central rudder mount, which is good news for the purposes of this rudder swap as we now only need to remove the top bolt and the bottom bolt. Ah yes, the bottom bolt... After removing the 2 little fairings covering it from either side (riveted back on rather than correctly screwed on. Lovely) this was the sight that greeted me.
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Not exactly encouraging. All I could do was to hit it with the WD40 and hope leaving it to think would help. I hauled the cruciform back to the Naughty Corner to await some tlc
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Leaving the jet in the sun thinking about things
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Friday again dawned wet, again to our surprise
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As you can see the old rudder hadn't miraculously fallen off overnight
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After things dried out I was able to get on. The rudder really did not want to come off and fought me every tiny step of the way. Eventually I made inroads, getting the trim tab and its control rod off
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And finally, late in the afternoon after a LOT of drilling of that stubborn lower bolt, swearing, sweat, hammer work and a little assistance from Simon one of our guides...
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The bl**dy thing was off! Here, the old is seen with the new...
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I scrubbed back, primed and painted all the innards of the fin/rudder area
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This should protect it for years to come. I then did another job to see her right for the future. As you may hav eseen, 168 has metal blanks fitted in her intakes. I dislike these, partly as they look bobbins and partly as they prevent airflow through the nacelles, encouraging damp and corrosion. So I removed them.
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To me that looks much better
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Last job for the day, take the scrap back to our corner, resisiting temptation to shout "rag and bone" as I went!
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The week had been getting hotter day on day. Saturday was no exception
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I had a cockpit job to do, and elected to sort it before the day got too hot (love the look of the jet with those newly opened up intakes!)
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Our wonderful Archives team had found me another pair of VHF controllers so, like 788, 168's 'office' could be equipped correctly
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That's 168's cockpit just another step closer to completion! Then, while Monty worked on some of 788's electrics (more accurately napped I think) in the hangar...
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... spent the morning drilling out the stubborn remains of the bolt from the lower rudder mount, before rubbing back and painting the mount, greasing everything in sight... and beginning the new rudder fit! Bottom half on
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New bolt in, after I had fitted new captive nuts to the cover plates for this so they can be correctly screwed on this time...
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...then upwards to the awkward job of lowering and joggling the upper rudder into position
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Yes, it was as warm as it looks too! The new paint looks mismatched with the scruffy old paint on the fin, and it was noticeable from the ground where our visitors would see it from, but that would have to keep.Top bolt in
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...and that's looking pretty good!
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Think I'm allowed to be quite proud of myself for that one. I headed back to the hangar for some shade, but not before taking in another unusual angle on the YAM inmates
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Back in the cooler hangar, Monty had genuinely been busy refurbing electrical components for 788, not just cleaning and painting the casings but having them apart for a health check.
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With his chosen victim for Sunday providing a "before" comparison, he's done a top job!
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My job for Sunday was this little lot...
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It would all want some tlc and repainting before refitting. Knowing I had the assistance of Scott on Sunday, I was determined this job would be finished by close of play Sunday as it had taken long enough already! I got the 2 lower access plates sorted and repainted
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Before heading home for a cold shower and even colder beers, happy with the day's work
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Sunday promised from the get go to be hot. It certainly kept that promise. We started with me rubbing back and priming all the remaining tail metalwork
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while Scott made an ally bracket to hold the tail light instead of the previous RAF bodgery, a block of wood shoved in the back of the fairing to screw it to.
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As the primer dried incredibly quickly I soon was able to start applying top coat to the cruciform. Silver spray for the undersides, and a look of concentration...
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Very soon after which we were able to mask off and apply the grey part of the upper side paint...
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Waiting for that to dry, we visited Monty. He was claiming to have not broken a relay box he was working on, not sure I believed him...
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but the insides looked good after a bit of attention
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Original, now serviceable, part! While the grey paint was wet on the roller we scurried up the back of 168, masked off the RAF tail markings, and refreshed the very tired grey paint on the upper fin and the forward section of the cruciform fairing
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Don't let the grey sky fool you, it was hot and getting hotter! Soon both sides were done and, from where our visitors wwould view the jet from, looked much better.
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As you'll see the tailplanes themselves want a repaint, indeed the jet could do with a re-lacquering, but that's another mission for another time. Right now we got green paint to apply! And so, we did just that...
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Again, it took approximately one ice cream for this to dry, before we commenced refitting it. See how excited Scott looks at the prospect...
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We greased every bit of the jet where this might maybe come into contact with it and, after 3 failed attempts during which the cruciform bound itself up on something or other...
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We hit the sweet spot where it was home enough that there was enough thread showing on the bolts to drag it the rest of the way back into position
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...so we did just that!
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While we were up top, we refitted the cruciform upper access panels
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It seems I, ahem, misremembered the colour of the starboard one!
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Still, it's got a protective coat of paint and that's what's important I guess. The lower access plates went on straight after
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Leaving just the issue of a trim tab really. We headed back to the hangar to assess the 2 we had. There, we found Monty had now definitely not broken my cordless drill too...
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As he put it, "just one of those days where everything he touches turns to sh*t"! Poor Monty. We decided the original tab of 168 was a better prospect than the other one, 788's original which Laurence had made a start on restoring in the week, so I prepped and primed it. By now the primer was literally drying as it was applied it was that hot, so it wasn't long before we could take the tab to the jet and fit it. Given we knew we had some green paint to touch up on the jet, the yellow where the old locking plates had been fitted for example, we chose to paint the tab on the jet. So, with the tab on and the last bits of paintwork done... that's it!
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A lot of hard work, but 168 looks far better for it. Did I mention how much better she looks for the intake plate removal...?!
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Look no big gaping rusty hole!
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I still need to fit the trim tab control rod, and apply the stencilling, but after a hard week with a little help from my friends the job is done. It's net been a bad week to be at YAM either, with our usual Tiger Moth providing overwatch most days...
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And a slightly more exotic Jungmann put in an appearance from Breighton on Saturday!
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Not sure about the UFO in the shot mind...

More next time folks. And it can be a bit cooler weather if it likes!
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 »

Another fascinating update with loads to enjoy, thank you as always Graham!
Zac in NZ
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TonyC
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by TonyC »

Bloody hell, you're allowed to keep practically a whole cockpit in your front room, I can just imagine all the fun being had, you lucky man! :smile:
...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 Blue_2 »

Thanks chaps!

Tony, I assumed the Lincoln would be off to live in the mancave, but my better half has other ideas. She's measured up with a view to it living on the sideboard...
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by TonyC »

Blue_2 wrote:
Tue 19 Jul 2022, 9:43 pm
She's measured up with a view to it living on the sideboard...
You'll have to be careful with that, there's you trying to watch Eastdale Farmenders, Strictly Come Prancing and Corriander Street, whilst She will be pretending to be on a bombing mission against the Mau-Mau, along with all the associated voices and noises!

It'll be a nightnare... :grin:
...and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in Space cos there's bugger all down here on Earth!

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

Post by Blue_2 »

"Left, left, steady...... bombs away!"

:joy:
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
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Re: A-W Meteor NF.14 WS788 Restoration Project

Post by Blue_2 »

24/07/2022 Update

For once I'm early writing this! Only because I should be at YAM now working. However, the office staff have a number of bodies down due to illness or holiday, so YAM has had to not open today giving me a free day, and time to scribble this nonsense. I know the big, exciting YAM news this week is the announcement regarding a large Avro that's very close to my heart (yes, I do actually have one...), but first what have we been up to with the Meteors? Read on...
I got a few hours in at YAM on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. Wednesday, I decided to get the rudder on the F.8 finished. All it needed was the trim tab control rod painting and fitting, and the stencilling applying on the starboard side. First, the rod was rubbed back and painted
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While it was dangling off 788 drying, I got the stencils out on 168's rudder. It's a slow job, when you have only one of each letter or number in this size and you need multiples...
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one line at a time...
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The RAF had omitted a letter when stencilling her up originally....
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So I put that right!
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Admitedly my alignment could have been better. Oh well... After a while the lower half of the rudder was done
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The sharp eyed among you will notice it's not got the real identity of the airframe stencilled on, nor the assumed identity she wears, but WH453. This is because the chaps at Bentwaters who are restoring 453 acquired a brand new rudder, then donated this one, 453's original, to us for use on 168. I thought it only right the rudder wears its original serial as a little nod to and acknowledgement of BCWM's kindness in helping us out. It was nice to see on their Facebook feed this week that they had indeed spotted and appreciated the gesture.
I then began stencilling the upper part of the rudder.
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It is very time consuming, but the finished article looks just so much more 'right' than vinyls that it's worth it
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After a while the upper rudder too was finished
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This time, as the upper rudder is a brand new item without any "previous", I decided to apply the jet's real serial, WL168
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All done, happy with that! Last job was fitting the trim tab rod, which took seconds
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From ground level, it looks a bit good!
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I closed the lid, moved the platform back over to the hangar (big heavy thing by yourself!), and stood back and admired the handiwork we've put into this jet over the last few days

Before heading back to the hangar to turn my attention back to 788. First, I gave the engine mounts in the starboard bay another good going at with WD40
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Before turning my attention to finishing the flaps off. I had roller finished their outer faces a few weeks back, but roller isn't ideal for structures and brushes don't always give the best finish, so I decided to experiment with a spray can I saw in Boyes. For those who don't know, Boyes (or Boyeses as it's generally known in Yorkshire speak) is a Yorkshire based chain of shops (but we let the Midlands, Lincolnshire, the North East and even for some reason bl**dy Lancashire have some) where you can and will buy all sorts of useful stuff you're after, and loads of useful stuff you didn't know you needed. Think Arkwright's but on a grander scale. Not too grand mind, because Yorkshire values and all... Anyway, I popped in there for some household stuff which meant of course my first stop was the DIY area. They usually offer a good range of spray paints, and I spied a wheel paint
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I've used their stuff before, so i know it's good. This is obviously intended to be used with a lacquer coat on top, so I thought it might give that matt and ever so slightly rough finish you tend to get on silver painted internals on British aircraft. I took a punt on a tin, and it turns out I was very, very correct!
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That finish is exactly right for the insides of the flaps, undercarriage doors and bays on 788
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And yes, I did then have to make a return trip to Boyes for the stuff that I had originally gone in there for on the first trip, and forgotten all about. Hey ho.
After this, back to big hammer type engineering. Only, the big hammer wasn't needed, as the engine mounts came out of 788 as nice as you like!
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They were free and happy, with only surface muck and rust
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I also freed off all the mounting points on our currently trolley mounted Derwent
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As you may remember, we need the trolley to go collect our second engine, so this engine is going in 788 for now. We are effectively using the aircraft as an engine stand, it's certainly not ready for final powerplant install, but it seemed daft to go to the bother of making an engine stand when a little maintenance work means 788 would be more than capable of holding a Derwent for us. On the Thursday afternoon I got on with that maintenance. A strip down, bit of attention from the wire wheel, thorough greasing and reassembly saw the engine mounts ready for further service
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It's a good thing the RAF refitted these to 788 after pulling her engines out, back in 1966! Their upper saddles were cleaned up, again greased and remounted
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And the lower saddles on the airframe were cleaned up too.
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No point greasing these now, these will be greased before we drop the engine in though
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Next part of the fun was removing the middle cowl ring, and removing the clearance plates which have to be removed to allow the engine to drop in. I took these off in one lump, leaving the engine bay looking like a gaping chasm!
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...which I bet a Derwent will make look suddenly very, very full. The cowling ring and clearance plates, removed and on the ground for the first time since 1966
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Nothing to stop an engine going in that bay now! I was distracted by BBMF Spitfire P7350 transitting over...
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Seeing on the ADSB screen that Hurricane PZ865 was following it, I waited... and was rewarded with a second dose of cruising Merlin goodness!

I then went back to undoing the billion nuts and bolts holding the shock cone on the rear of 788's engine to be. This has to come off as 788's are still fitted, and 2 shock cones into one engine bay is not good maths. Eventually, it was off and clear
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Matt, one of the Vampire T.11 fettlers, was soon eyeing it up as he fancied a new BBQ/chiminea!
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He's not bl**dy having it, I can tell you... Friday was a long day of not doing much that translates into facebook/forum posts very well. I did get an atmospheric shot of our F.8 though
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Reminded me of the sort of shot a spotter in the 1950's would have got with his little camera, having cycled out to his local aerodrome with a picnic, flask and a notebook to enjoy the day's flying activity. He may well have recorded in his notebook our only noteworthy airborne visitor of the day, the by now familiar sight of a Tiger Moth overhead
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In the hangar. I got the cowling ring disassembled from the clearance plates...
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after raiding stores for captive nuts to replace the knackered ones I drilled out in the clearance plates while taking the engine doors off, I put a lot of work into rubbing back and de-corroding one of the plates. I then drilled out the knackered captives. Unfortunately the attachment hole spacing on the replacement nuts differs from that of the originals, so I have had to mount them diagonally with new attachment holes to rivet them through. The old attachment holes I filled with rivets. End result from the day, one clearance plate restored, primed, inner faces painted
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The bit still in white primer is the outer skin, and will want painting next time I've the silver paint out.
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I would have looked to have had the second clearance plate, and maybe even the mounting ring, done and dusted today but it wasn't to be. Next time...
Now, to movement of certain propeller driven legendary aircraft. I'm lucky enough to be able to get to do stuff with a number of aircraft, and am or have been involved with various aircraft in different locations, even helping on stuff as far afield as Malta. This is a move much closer to home though...
...and no I don't mean the Shackleton! Gotcha!
It popped up on a friend's news feed that this week in 2017 was when we moved Tony Agar's Mosquito NF.II HJ711 from its long term home at YAM to its current home at East Kirkby.
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A busy and stressful few days' work it was a huge privilege to not only be involved in at the dismantling/loading onto trucks end of things, but to cover, write up and photograph for Flypast magazine at the time too. Now, as you all probably know, the aircraft is reassembled...
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...and frequently prowls the grass of East Kirkby
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Proud to have been involved with this wonderful aircraft, and to have helped make Tony's vision for her preservation a reality.
There was one other thing...
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My other favourite, Shackleton WR963, is indeed coming to live at YAM. After a lot of hard work and negotiation, we (I can say we having a foot in both camps!) will be able to make the former RAF Elvington echo to the sound of a 4 engined 'heavy' once again. Now if this sight doesn't stir a few of the airfield ghosts...
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...I don't know what will! This means that, as the effort to dismantle 63 to move then reassemble her at YAM goes from plans to reality, 788 will probably have to temporarily take a back burner while that task is carried out and completed. But that'll be next year. We've a whole lot of time to get 788's restoration advanced before then!

More next time folks.

Ps. "Doughnut", thank you for the interestingly addressed present!
Last edited by Blue_2 on Sun 24 Jul 2022, 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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

Post by TonyC »

These updates just get better and better and despite your time being split between airframes, it really does seem that movement towards to finishing line, is being made, probably slower than it appears but still getting closer to the end and you make it look easy, which no doubt, it isn't :grinning: !

As for the news regarding the Shackleton, this is excellent news and hope that everything goes smoothly with the disassembly and reassembly and that all four engines will be running once again! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
...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 Blue_2 »

Cheers Tony! I'm managing to keep the fingers/pies ratio on the right side, and I'll freely admit 63 moving to Elvington will only make that easier...
Meteor WS788/ Chippy WK640 Restoration Project, YAM
Shack WR963, Coventry
Other types meddled with by request!

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