Old Cambrian Paint Schemes?

Jon/J-Club,

It’s good to see you fellas repairing the Rapide replica and doing the re-paint.

Keep up the good work. You’ve got the Prince to do next!

We are steadily getting there with the repaint! (Best snap I could manage at the time given where the sun was!)

Jon

Rapide Replica

Thanks for your kind comments Roger and Planemike.

It’s the first one we built – and probably the last.
The hotel wanted three replica aircraft originally but the money ran out after the first, and only, one was built. Twas great fun anyway.

Here’s a pic (if I’ve done it right) of it with myself (right) and friend and helper Simon Pulford on the left. This was taken about two weeks after roll out (a story in itself).
Roy Coates (Forum member WV838 and Jetstream Club Chairman) has a large box of about 500+ photographs taken during the replica’s construction. He’s been threatening to put them on the J-Club Website for some time now but he’s a busy man and not got round to it yet.
As you can see the replica was painted in Railway Air Services colours with the serial G-AEAJ representing the aircraft that carried out the first scheduled service from Liverpool (Speke) airport in 1933.
The Neptune logo was not quite correct but was added at the request of the company of that name who paid for the replica to be built.

Thanks for the info Anon.
Looks to be a great representation from the photos I’ve seen – hope to see it close-up one day.
Have you built any other replicas – or plan to do so?

Roger Smith.

Anon…………You have done a good job, looks very realistic.

Planemike

What is interesting is that once the tyres went flat, allowing the aircraft to drop a few inches and thus introducing some slack in the hawser that holds her in place – she has obviously ‘flown’ and is now several inches from where she started.

Despite the damage inflicted by both vandals and those with curious fingers, she should be good for many years yet.

Rapide replica construction

Briefly:
The Rapide replica has an internal steel framework which, for the wings supports plywood main wing lower surfaces with wing ribs attached on top. Expanded polystyrene infill slightly scalloped and covered with plasticised fabric finished with acrylic (originally silver) paint.
Fuselage 30mm sq steel frame 22mm plywood covered and with 6mm polycarbonate cabin and cockpit windows.
Tail surfaces have 30mm sq steel spars (doubled up) sandwiching 13mm ply profiles with half-section ribs either side and exp polystyrene infill and fabric covered (fin ply covered as per original).
Engine nacelles shaped blocks of polystyrene around plywood profile and formers.
Wing struts 50 x 25 steel.
Build time – 9 months
Weight – 3 tonnes
Despite a care & Maintenance handbook being prepared and issued to the hotel they have done virtually nothing to maintain it in the last 7 years. The Jetstream Club have done what they can free of charge to help preserve the replica.
The replica was constructed by the North West Aviation Heritage Museum Group (NAHM)( now disbanded) based at Hooton Park. If anyone has any specific questions regarding the Rapide replica, I’d be glad to answer them.
I was “Chief Engineer” on the replica being responsible for designing and overseeing the building (approximately 90% myself) of it in 2001.
It was great fun and a great privilege to be able to create something so many aviation enthusiasts enjoy seeing. It’s a pity, as Jon has said, that the non-aviation numpties and vandals have to try and spoil it.
It’s covered in fist and boot marks as well as holes where water has got in and allowed some of the structure to break away. It’s a credit to the JSC that they keep it looking like somebody owns and cares for it.
There are no internal fittings as these were deemed unnecessary by the hotel when the replica was built.

Anon.

Thanks Jon,

I’ve sometimes wondered how long a fabric covereing on an aircraft could last outside, given a high level of care and maintenence, before needing a re-cover. I guess one of the biggest dangers is water geting inside at the timber in the structure. Some internal pictures would be good.

Roger Smith.

Colours sorted and repaint begun….

Jon

As a matter of interest can you tell us (me) more about the Rapide replica – or is it a FSM?
What’s it made of? has it fabric covering or fibreglass? who made it? how old it it now? how has it stood up to the UK weather? etc., etc.

Roger Smith.

It is somewhere between a replica and FSM. A mixture of modern concessions and original construction – a steel frame taking the weight with the rest of the structure made out of wood covered in Fabric. Was ordered by the developers when converting the terminal into a hotel as an added feature and built locally at Hooton Park. So that makes it something like 5-8 years old (sorry not 100% sure!). Weather has obviously had an effect but now that we are trying to carry out regular maintenance on it (still owned by the hotel not us) it will be around for a good while yet. Now just to curtail the ongoing vandalism it endures….. From both the local youth and hotel guests I should add! Hopefully the fence we will be erecting around in very shortly will help with that.

Any more questions?

Jon

p.s. If I get chance I will take some pictures from in and around it this weekend.

The colour pic on the Cambrian site could be misleading

It may not be a colour pic as a lot of monochrome were hand painted in those days

There were special paints made and my Mother had a set and used to paint folks wedding photos to make some cash

Also colour reproduction was not good then so postcards were not the right colours.

I wonder though if you wrote to that webmaster if he could actually give you the info you need…..one of the ex Cambrian guys may well specialise in their liveries.

As a matter of interest can you tell us (me) more about the Rapide replica – or is it a FSM?
What’s it made of? has it fabric covering or fibreglass? who made it? how old it it now? how has it stood up to the UK weather? etc., etc.

Roger Smith.

Yup, that’s the one !

I spotted this during my seemingly endless google search.

The Cambrian site has one colour photo, fairly poor quality. I guess we’ll trawl the standard BS381 colour set and pick the nearest from that. Best we can do I suppose.

Thanks.

Anything like these photos?:)

http://classicbritishfiles.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=28&func=fileinfo&id=803

You may already know about this

But in case you don’t

http://cambrianairways.co.uk/website/

The site has problems and is best viewed in Firefox .

Garry J Hilliard is the owner and his contact is there.

*BUMP* *CRASH* *BANG* Nobody ?