Lancaster FM159 update

Hello Guys.
Good to be back after a 3 week tour… :p

Well the old girl keeps getting better every year! I worked on a few different areas this trip….

No work to be done on the number 4 engine which is now inside the shop and under teardown. I managed to repaint the radiator,oil cooler and headertank as they had been sent out for inspection and repair.

I replaced the window aft of the bombaimers blister due to damage from a glue spill. The newly installed window is much more authentic not that my prev attempt, what with the correct fasterners and installation this time round.

The Lanc was rolled out for a special evening run up and I was able to man the upper escape hatch for the run! What sight and sounds! We managed a runup of 1800 rpm and she wanted to go for a stroll so bad!! thank god for wheel chocks and a towbar attached to the tractor! 😮

A realy dirty job to do was to strip all the paint from the port elevator attachment brackets and skin areas so that crack inspections can be made. After chem stripping through 10 layers of paint, the metal was in very good condition! Once the elevator mounts and attachment areas are inspected, the elevators will be reattached for the first time since she was brought inside!

Another interesting and very patience trying job was the careful dismantling,cleaning and reassembly of the elevator mounting nolts and bearings. The old grease was like hardened clay and some of the moveable bearings would hardly move at all. Once they were repaired, you can move them with one finger!

One of the last jobs to do on the lanc while I was there was the repair of the sliding windows. Apparently one of the windows was catching on the canopy bolts and these weretemporarily removed until a better installation can be figured out. The sliding channels were all cleaned out and lubricated and the pilots window is now capable of being closed and latched. There are still some issues to be done with the flt engineers side window as it will not cooperate and refuses to close more than 3/4s of the way.

Just a little update for you all and hope to post pics in the next little while. 🙂