Woodland seat find

Hello Ian, I stripped it to nuts and bolts, but i had the AP for the seat for re assembly. I only had the seat pan, headbox and rails blasted. Everything else was either refinished by myself or replaced with boxed time expired stuff off evilbay at a time when it was plentiful.The main gun was in good nick, so i left it as is. I sold the seat a couple of years ago in my wisdom, but i’ll find my photos and post them.

Thanks Scott, good to hear of another tried and tested method. Sounds quite reasonable on the blasting too. Was your seat stripped down or did they take it as a whole? The back panel would need to be heavily masked as the serial id needs to stay. Would love to see some pics of your seat in progress and finished result. The gun black sound ideal for the barostat and, well, drogue gun!

During the restoration of my MK4 BSC Lightning seat, i used a paint brand called HYCOTE satin black. I swear by this stuff as it goes on a dream and dries fast. I’ve never used a aerosol paint that’s as good as this. As a little secret, i then give it a polish with Autosol which gives it depth without too much sheen and makes the paint look like it’s always been there. I’ve used this technique on some of my ww2 German bayonet scabbards as well as guns and aircraft parts. Previous to applying the black i, i used a high build yellow primer (also by HYCOTE) to mask any pitting in the ally. Blasting is a must though. I paid £50 to have all my seat parts blasted.

How about Birchwood Casey Aluminium Black. It’s a treatment similar to gun blue that’s for aluminium. Might be good for the smaller parts. I’ve used it on some of my guns with good results. This is the U.S website, but the product is freely available over here in the UK.

www.birchwoodcasey.com/Refinishing/Metal-Finishing/Aluminum-Black-Touch-Up.aspx

Thanks for the advice Tony, Peter and Bruce. Blasting, with whatever medium, is something I’d love to try out. Probably a little exotic for this project but it might be just the ticket for corroded wreckage.

Soda isn’t the best on rust IMHO – it will take the surface off, but not anything deeply ingrained. I would use garnet or large glass bead for that.

Ian,
what about having the rusty bits soda blasted?

Yes, definately a lot of work

A lovely idea Elliott but anodising would mean stripping every rusted nut and bolt. Spraying is the way forward! There is also plenty of corrosion as Bruce pointed out.

Well, I didn’t say it would be easy 🙂

Anodising doesn’t always take well a second time, especially if the metal has any corrosion in the surface.

You could always get it re-anodised Ian

Ian
LAS do spray zinc chromate in aerosols – great stuff (Light Aero Spares)

No cushion..it was empty inside…think I sold it at North Weald aero jumble…..1990?

Nice seat, did it have the pneumatic ‘push you up’ cushion? Seemed a poor substitute for an ejector seat.

Good score on the ex-Whirlwind seat! Always enjoy hearing about the rescue of a vintage relic like that.

Here’s a different (and somewhat newer) M-B bang seat, a prized “exhibit” in my loft since I moved here in 1995 (seat acquired in 1987)…this was the first officer’s seat in HP Victor K.2 XL191 that crash-landed at Mt.Hope in June 1986.

S.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]228140[/ATTACH] nice find Ian….in the nick of time…I had a seat from XL191 once..

Thanks for the Frosts link Bill, they’ve got an impressive range! The lean forward bars are quite far gone but I think they will have stay. The harness loops are rusted so firmly that they are going to break before they free up. I’ve had a good long crow bar in them and the top edge of the seat was bending. the split pinned nuts on the end of the bar will also probably die trying to defeat me so will be left as they are. After several frustrating deep searches of the loft, behind and under things I found the ‘safe place’ where I put my spare seat bucket handle. It was in the PSP box I’m sitting on. That’s one small addition at least. Cheers, Ian.

Valiant Mk 3 Seat.

Hi Ian,
Love to see these things come back from the dead. Great efforts m8. Found these, they are new OS, looks like yours are shot. They’ll need a re-chrome or at least some silver paint. Trying to achieve that Black ,anodic finish look, on these seats isn’t easy, you’ll find Frosts Classic car Restorers equipment very helpful too, they have etch primers and all sorts of exotic finishes, expensive, but good quality.

Bill T.

I thought the same thing, Mike. Being a chemical rather than a paint process. I’d also just seen photo this which made me think: A Stuka site in Lapland. Stukas were resolutely yellow anodised throughout but there’s not a trace in this photo, all faded away.
It will be a while before the masking and painting, can anyone recommend a spray etch primer for the panels where corrosion set in?

It suprises me, with these old seats, that the anodising on the ally has faded. I had some idea that this process was permanent and unaffected by sunlight.

Anyway, a couple of coats of Halfords matt black will soon make it look tidy. It’s great stuff, their paint. Sticks like the proverbial to an army blanket.

Anon.