Victor XL164 restoration thread

Looks like a lot has happened. Great to see 🙂

A good outcome! 🙂

I was there today. XL164 is now perched on jacks, looks a bit more stable!. According to a staff member, she is now owned by the museum.

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I don’t have access to any photographs but I am aware that a couple of people were looking for a new home for it during last summer.

Was the nose cut off at the strutural break? (A picture from the rear would clarify by showing the position of the cabin bulkhead, if anyone can oblige).

Bump. Anything happening? Facebook page is also gone :/

After all the hard work done it would be a shame if it had all come to a halt.

A couple of pics of the rear crew desk. First one would seem to be a souvenir from the Gulf War the second is hand written underneath one of the desks lift up sections! Anyone have any idea who Bob D is or what XL164 was doing in California?

We have managed to free off the crew door latching/locking mechanism which had been very firmly seized for the last 15+ years – www.youtube.com/watch?v=N78TpMBgQls

’86, was that the hot and heavy trials for the L1011? If so I remember changing the PLASOV on one engine.

Bump. Anything happening? Facebook page is also gone :/

Any update?

Quite a piece of engineering there. Good to see you were able to get it freed up once more!

A couple of pics of the rear crew desk. First one would seem to be a souvenir from the Gulf War the second is hand written underneath one of the desks lift up sections! Anyone have any idea who Bob D is or what XL164 was doing in California?

We have managed to free off the crew door latching/locking mechanism which had been very firmly seized for the last 15+ years – www.youtube.com/watch?v=N78TpMBgQls

The condition of that panel certainly is very encouraging!

Before deciding what could be achieved with the cockpit interior I picked the most corroded panel that could be removed and decided to strip it back to see what sort of finish could be achieved. After several hours of paint stripping and gentle work with wet and dry we have this. So long story short, it’s all looking very good!

One other question. If any collectors out there have victor instrument panels that I could have copied could they please PM me? Discretion assured!

She looks much better for a polish! Not a job I envy you…!

Is the radar antenna still fitted?

Sadly not, the nose gear in the Victor is quite a long way back and she was cut at the front of the nose gear well.

WB556…
Does she have nose gear installed??

Thank you all. I am really pleased with her. The damage is all repairable. The internal structure is largely sound and the skin damage was caused at the time of scrapping at Brize Norton when she was chopped off of the fuselage and allowed to drop. She was then allowed to roll around a bit. We will repair minor damage to skins by surface dressing and filling, the larger creases and tears will be repaired by drilling out the rivets and replacing the whole skins. I am going to fabricate a cantilever stand that will support her from the rear in a way that will make her appear to be floating with no support forward of the cut point.

She’s looking really smart. I admire your enthusiasm for preserving a piece of true British aviation history. Alas I can’t offer help in the way of parts or lend a hand with your project, but will follow your work closely. I have a few questions though. Did the scrap man drop the cockpit when it was cut?, and how will you go about repairing the buckled skins?. Regards Scott.

Looks better already 🙂 How bad is the structural damage? I see lots of wrinkled skin. Is it repairable?