Help, what is this made of?

Our Proctor V (ARP) has the resin impregnated type fitted but I also have pressed Aluminium ones (Unused) in stock. All the same pattern.

changing the subject ever so slightly but on the same idea. i think they made drop tanks (P51 P47) out of paper mache. this is just to say its stronger and more durable than you would think

Nosecone.

My understanding is that the earlier Proctors fairings were ali’, as on the Gulls. At some point they went over to the composite ones as a war-saving move. I’m guessing after the MkIII. I don’t think it was papier-mache as we used when kids. I think the ‘paper’ was impregnated with resin of some sort, but I don’t think it was a phenolic. If we are talking about an a/c built in the 1930’s, my best guess is ali’ too.

I have undercarriage fairings for Percival Proctors, some are made of alliminum, others from paper mache.

The two Proctors we had at Southend both had paper mache U/C fairings and I understood that this was standard for all Proctors. I suppose it is possible that wartime builds were paper mache because metal was scarce and if any were built post war they may have had aluminium because metal supply had become less of a problem. The paper mache ones didn’t seem particularly strong so the other possibility is that they got damaged and the metal ones you have are replacements made up by someone later in the aircraft’s life.
Can anyone confirm please?

The most logical material by:- quantity required, cost, weight, tooling amortization and at this date, would surely be aluminium.

Mark

surely the paper mache was not made as we did in primary school. There must be a different process?

I can say that the nosecone on Scion G-AEZF was made of Aluminium. Many young kids jumped up and down on it behind the Tradair hangar at Southend.

doesn’t look like alluminum to me, I go with the paper mache

I have undercarriage fairings for Percival Proctors, some are made of alliminum, others from paper mache.

cheers

I would say almost certainly made from aluminium, but I doubt formed by pressing.
If I were making it I would get a chippie to make a wooden buck, just formers and frames in the shape required, then work some soft aluminium sections, probably four, might get away with two, using a sand bag, mallet and a english wheel. Then weld these sections together, file the welds back and dress flat. Much like racing car bodies were built then and still are by classic car restorers.
A pressing would require an expensive tool for a relativly small production run.

Richard

Probably not in this case but the wingtips, nose and tail cones on the Hotspur glider were moulded in papier mache.

Aluminium pressing I would think.

John