Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7

With it’s links to historic aviation- Gnat engine/fin/systems etc- may I just make one of my cheeky periodic plugs for The Bluebird Project, just in case there’s anyone here who’s not familiar with us, or who hasn’t seen the progress made lately.

Bluebird is coming on very well indeed, and is currently looking like this-

-that’s new skins over what is otherwise almost entirely original structure. Not looking bad, is she? Bill and the boys up there in Geordieland are doing some serious ‘tin bashing’ on her now, and she’s coming on leaps and bounds. For myself, at some considerable distance away, I’m their faithful Ebay-hound and I’m also building the new seat for her cockpit, which is about to be upholstered in some lovely dark blue vinyl. So, if this is all news to you, perhaps you’d like to check the project out, via my link below? The ‘Diary’ section there is usually updated weekly or so, and has shown every last bit of Bluebird being taken apart, and now going back together again.

Just a reminder too that we’re still after the exact right kind of jet pipe temperature gauge for her- thanks to our own Mark G and Ebay we’ve got a couple of good options for a panel filler, but we’d obviously still really like the real deal, which would look exactly like this mocked-up image-

We assume that the original came from donor Gnat XM691, which I’m told would have varied somewhat internally from later standard Gnats due to it’s prototype status. How much harder that makes finding the right kind, heaven knows! But if anyone can help, please drop me a PM. Donation would be lovely, but we’re happy to pay too.

I shall now return you to your normal programming, cheers! 🙂