I have never struck a miserable museum staff member in NZ, so it must just be because they’re English? It seems to be a prominent trait in many. Especially on this forum.

ha ha, i wont mention which bit tickled me. sometimes its down to the approach of yourself towards a member of staff.

if you hit them with a bit of polite conversation first with abit of joviality in your voice, perhaps asking what his or her involvement in aviation is and then get gradualy get around to what your real intention of this conversation is for then it opens all kinds of doors.. ive been in some of the most sensitive area`s in the RAF when i was in the mob just by being interested but not “nerdy”.. the same goes for some museums here and abroad. obviously during a major event like an airshow etc those kinds of doors cant be opened because every man n his dog will follow and end up being a H/S nightmare

when doing research for my aviation archaeology ive won favour from from some of the most hard nosed farmers you could imagine.

in the main though ive found just about every staff member approachable who have help out as much as their authority will allow in a given situation. perhaps the forum members who have difficulty in these situations should look more at themselves more carefully and see what the member of staff might see or hear approaching them when you appear on the scene.. were all human after all

any nice campsites around there??. not to big n noisy. just a field n toilet block will do me lol

Depends on the type of paint, and the what the shell of the helmet is made from as the two may react. There are still lots of companies that will respray a bike helmet to a specific design, so it is possible as long as you know what you’re doing.

Simon

its the cheaper and also plastic helmets your not meant to paint. im part way painting a modern composite bike helmet for a lady customer, its “TIGER” the Tiger

wont be able to get there for the opening but its on my “must do” list. i will be at one of the later events though.

hope the day goes well

could it have been to another use when life expired etc for flying. may have been used by an aviation enthusiast type motorcyclist or even some type of motorsport?. i was a painter in the RAF (in case ive not mentioned it loads a times already) and we used to paint life expired helmets for private use now n then.

very interesting. you can even see the cockpit canopy breaking through the floor of the upside down Mossi.

i think near the end of the text that comes with the video where the Sea Otter is mentioned for the last time is abit confused, unless i am of course! in my old age!!