WWII fighter planes

Discussion in 'General foundry chat' started by Peedee, Aug 14, 2020.

  1. rocco

    rocco Silver

    I know the sound. I work at same airport where the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is located, I think a few of their aircraft have Merlins, most notably an airworthy Lancaster, one of only two left, when those four beasts rev up, it's something to behold!
     
  2. DavidF

    DavidF Administrator Staff Member Banner Member

    Just don't pee yourself in the cockpit. Lol

    Yea, I'm a bit jealous :p
     
  3. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    I think I may have wee'd a little bit, my damn phone died so didn't get a video but then again I was enjoying myself too much anyway.

    I should get a flight with the test pilot soon, why use sand bags as ballast when you have maniac human prepared to step in? Hell if we crash on the test what a way to go :)
     
  4. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    I think my next job will be an arthritic librairian. Trust me to be the only non-fat Bstd on the team that fit his arms through rediculous holes in a wing and finger tip hold a rivet block in place! Two hours and two 'impossible rivets' blocked and the cheese heads look better than the ones that were easy :) now to fit a 30 gallon fuel tank in the wing..........
     
  5. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

  6. GTS225

    GTS225 Silver

    Hmmmm. Sounds a little like job security.
     
  7. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    Having spent most of the morning retrieving nuts and tools with a magnet on a piece of wire I'm not sure I want to play anymore :(
     
  8. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    18 years of volunteer restoration work in the soup last weekend. This would be hard to take!



    Denis
     
  9. ddmckee54

    ddmckee54 Silver

    It doesn't have Merlins...

    But if you want to spend a couple of hours drooling over restoration photos, check out the Mid Atlantic Air Museum's P-61 restoration. http://www.maam.org/p61.html They recovered it off the side of a mountain about 30 years ago and are restoring it to flying condition. It's still very much a work in progress, but they are getting closer to wheels up time.

    Don
     
  10. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    I'll look at the links after work, thanks.

    I've vocally slagged off 'however' it was that used a drift to knock out the old rivets on the leading edge (bent brackets) and looking back 4 months I'm not so sure it wasn't me! Oops. I'll hold my hands up today and see if anyone can remember ;)

    EDIT: looked back through my notes and it wasn't me! :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2021
  11. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    Well the program aired and it was actually quite a good production, whilst I make brief appearances in the back ground (I hid for most of it, who knows how many dates from the 1980's will claim their child is mine, well not that many but better to be safe;)
     
    Tobho Mott likes this.
  12. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    Such fun, my hands are big but long so they fit through holes in ribs but my arms are too short to do anything other than a balancing act with a block. More drill-outs.

    I'm enquiring about a bit of shop space next door... not sure what I'll do with it but hey, nothing ventured...
     
  13. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    Well, the two-seater departs from us next week to it's normal home flying old farts with bundles of cash on white knuckle 'pleasure' flights. I'm hoping to be a substitute for the sand bags on the test flights (What better way to go than thinking about that last split pin you put in ;) )

    On to finishing the MK1, I'm going to request he crashes that stbd this time, if I ever see the port wing naked again I may have a breakdown. :)
     
  14. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    If you've never stood a hundred yards from a Hurricane taking off you haven't lived. I swear the damn thing was off the ground before he let off the brakes! ;)

    Now the MK1 is going to give us hell, poxy paint (eco warrior, change paint formula etc etc) lots of banging and swearing trying to perfectly match the paint finish. I'm all for the future good of the planet but.....
     
  15. I was under the impression that most of the USA chemical factories just moved their dangerous plant to China and kept making the stuff. Aren't all serious plane paint jobs done in urethane, like passenger jets where the paint gets very cold and very hot on a regular cycle. I'd been researching a cross-linker additive for PUNB casting sand that boosts the hardness, heat resistance and speeds the cure time, called Bostik Desmodur RFE. It's toxic, has a short shelf life as water and light break it down to water and CO2 over time. It also seems to be the secret sauce for joining grinding belts that withstand heat, strong joins on wetsuits and boosts the hardness and heat resistance of almost every paint chemistry. I think two pack paint has such a short shelf life because of this stuff.
     
  16. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    This is UK based company but they have changed the formula, it's a two part like the rest but the ratios, spray bake times are causing hell. (I'm not the paint guy, the chap that is doing it is pulling his hair out)

    The finish is coming up too matt and the mixing has lead to spotting. So many variables. Try rubbing down a half tonne wing without knocking off the tops of rivets......... next week should be fun!
     
  17. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    All good things must come to an end, with the MK2 out and operating, the MK1 will be in the air again in a few weeks and my services will no longer be required.

    No regrets, it's been a lot of laughs and I've learnt and experienced things over the last year some people dream of. (or have nightmares about!)

    I'll try to get the test flights on video.

    Next stop, offices and electronics, possibly (Anyone here know anything about large scale industrial control systems..... I'm winging it again.... there's a really poor joke there!)
     
    Jason and Mark's castings like this.
  18. Jason

    Jason Gold

    Hell if you need work, hope our friggen border like the rest of the world is doing and come to San Antonio. My mechanic has more work than you can shake a stick at! He's buying a 145cert right now and then will be doing complete refurbs on govt airplanes. I'm talking all new stuff; avionics, paint, engines and interior. The one thing he doesn't have is man power. It's impossible these days to find guys willing to work and harder to find guys that know wtf they are doing! Just plan on seeing me come sept/oct for maintenance! Best part, NO SHEET METAL WORK! Okay, how are you at fixing fuel leaks?:p
     
  19. Peedee

    Peedee Silver

    I've a few hours of meetings tomorrow for another position, but I may be knocking on your door Jason!! San Antonio has a quite a good sound to it.

    AV gas Fuel leaks are easy, light a match and it always find it's way back to the source... ;) (I'm not selling my skills here am I)
     
  20. Jason

    Jason Gold

    If you are the kind of guy that likes scrapping miles of b-1/2 sealant, you can make a million bucks in San Antonio. The fuel tank repair guys charge a fortune! Most of the time, I'm all too happy to pay it. With the plane refueled and 1-2psi applied to the tank, Its soapy bubble time. That reminds me, I still need to build one of these for my guys.

    IMG_9366.jpg
     

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