What a glorious weekend’s weather! Despite the temptation to relax and enjoy the sun Lindy still demanded work be done. I opened the cockpit up at 9.40 yesterday morning and even that early it was bl**dy warm in there! 😮
Sunday’s job was one which has been bugging me since I joined the Victor team, the cracked and frankly crap-looking port wingtip light housing.
It annoys me because it’s at eye level and on the side of the jet most visitors see, so I pestered Andre to dig out the spare one he acquired (off XL164 if I recall).
We stripped the old, cracked, sealant encrusted cover off, amazingly all the screws bar one came off perfectly. The stubborn one soon yielded to the drill!
Once in there the coloured lens and light housing were stripped off, and the innards of the wingtip were subjected to a good tickling with the copper wire brushes. We reckoned the gloss white paint in there must be original, and really wasn’t bad for 49 years old…
All the loose paint was soon shifted, despite the distraction of a passing C-17 Globemaster, and the exposed metalwork primed. Handily, this was just in time for lunch…!
After which the whole lot was given a good coating of glossy new white. Which, given the warm weather had very quickly dried enough for its second coat. We also had a gift of a complete new wingtip lamp from Tony Agar as the shroud and red glass on ours had seen better days. I say new, but the box was date stamped 1943! This was soon fitted and, with a new bulb installed, looked far better.
While we’d been at this the ‘new’ light cover had recieved a good dose of cleaning and was ready for fitting. We decided brass screws were the way ahead, as opposed to the original alloy ones which seemed to be made of cheese.
It was at this point that Lindy decided we were due a reminder of one of the quirks of working on a nearly 50 year old, hand built V-bomber. We offered the perspex fairing up, which had no doubt fitted nice and snug on the wing of 164 for many, many years… and it didn’t fit. Surely it can’t be different, after all a Victor wingtip is a Victor wingtip isn’t it? It would appear not. The one off 164 is 1/2in longer at the nose tip than Lindy’s, and the leading edge curve and droop seem different.:confused:
Cue a retreat to the NAAFI for a drink and a head scratching session, the result of which was the decision to re-fit the original after a good clean and removal of about 75 tonnes of excess sealant.
The result being that, although the tip looks a lot better, it’s still not great. Hey ho.
Other Victor news, John ‘2 pies’ Hawkridge kept himself busy insulting me, checking all the tyres, cleaning the maxaret tracks, and cleaning the points where, due to the recent improvement in temperature, Lindy had vented a little fuel off. Not the best thing for keeping the paintwork something like!
Andre is busy with the tail light LED conversion. He’s spirited the original light units away so I couldn’t get you a photo of them Peter, however I shall when they reappear.
Elvington Parish news, the museum’s engineering team seemed to be busy playing aircraft chess most of the day, moving aircraft around and about. They had a go late in the day at getting the Buccaneer’s whistling skip (the palouste starter trolley) to run, but I gather with little success.
We shall see how interesting next weekend turns out to be…
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