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Hi all

Back from hols so resumed workshop activities. Whilst I was off  Andy and the guys were busy working on the outer bomb frames  we’re not quite at the point of fitting them yet  but are getting close.

So yesterday saw Graham and I on site,  apart from welcoming some visitors, it was a case of working on the remaining ctr bomb frames. With 9 and 14 now in position it just leaves 6 and 7 to sort out next weekend. With a bomb beam to go between 7 and 8, the centre bomb bay should be looking pretty busy  structure wise.

Graham has also made a start on stripping down the bomb door torque tube assembly as this will need to be installed at some point in the not too distant future 

More next week

John

A third update this week

We’ve had people on site, pretty much every day this week, so a lot has been going on behind the scenes. Parts have been made, cleaned and assembled ready for incorporation into the main build

Following my extra update on Thursdays endeavours, yesterday saw more work on the bomb bay centre frames. Firstly, Fr13 was adjusted into position and then pilot drilled to secure it. Our original intention was to then move aft to do the same with Fr14, however this was dashed when we realised that it hasn’t been riveted up yet… .

So, we slaved it into position to get the general idea of where it will go. Change of plan then meant we went forwards to Fr11. You may recall that this was the first frame we fully assembled, which now seems like a very long time ago! Each frame now seems to get installed quicker now that we have a steady routine.

Once this was gripped into place, for giggles we installed the bomb beam reinforcing bracket to the front of fr12. This is an original item that won’t be used as it’s too badly affected by corrosion but has been used as a pattern. Installing this has 2 benefits, firstly it gives viewers an impression of the complexity of the bomb bay, and secondly it will help define the position of the bomb door mechanism transverse torque tube which is fitted in this area. It will have to clear this bracket assy, and as the position is not specifically known we can offer it up so that it clears it and drill to suit

More next week

John

Thanks Peter

It really does feel like we’re making progress now after so many false dawns. The extra fuselage really feels impressive

John

Yesterday was a very productive day though I say so myself. First off, we took delivery of a ropey looking but ultimately serviceable ISO container. We are looking to create a mezzanine floor in the workshop using this and one of our other ones as a support. This will benefit us in 2 ways

1. We can get a lot of the wreckage we’ve accumulated off the workshop floor, and

2. We can enclose the area underneath the mezzanine to provide an area where we can put our benches and give it better lighting and as importantly can heat it in Winter. None of us are getting any younger and some creature comforts are necessary lol

With a few extra bods on hand we were able to finally get the fuselage of LK142 laid out in it’s correct order. This really brings home to you the sheer size of the old girl.

Finally, yesterday saw a bit of a milestone. With the height of the bomb bay floor set correctly and the 2 sets of upper keel angles fully piloted, we was able to set the first of the bomb frames (fr12) into position. This was drilled in a few locations and it’s all square to itself. Considering, this has been mostly hand-built, the bomb bay is transversely level at 0° +/- 6′ which I’m over the moon about

We chose Fr12 as this is the forward frame of of one of the bomb cells, by setting this accurately we can use the original heavy bomb beam we have to set the distance aft towards fr13. This will give us a good datom fore and aft to set the rest of the frames. I hope next week will see at least fr13 drilled into position

Cheers

John

After sifting through umpteen zombie threads, here’s our update for this week.

With the excitement of recovering LK142 back to Blighty behind us, it was business as usual yesterday. With only myself and Cliff on site yesterday, it was a mix of tidying up and working on the bomb bay.

I’m sure you don’t want to hear about the former, so the latter it is . You may recall that a few weeks ago we bent the top keel extrusions to the required 4° slope from fr13 onwards. This week follows on from previous and involved marking out and drilling the top 163 rivet positions. The first angle was then removed and the holes transferred to its opposite partner so that the L angles now form a Tee. Another 163 holes later, and that’s the stbd angles drilled, these just need trimming to size now.

To save marking it all out again, one of the angles was then used to transfer the holes to its opposite partner for the port keel(another 163 holes, there’s a pattern forming here lol). I had to disappear a tad early so Cliff was left with the drudge of completing this. 

Next week should see, a few more of us on site and I hope to have the port keel angles sorted too. Not much longer now till we get to the point where the bare keel can be riveted up.

One thing that I missed recently  was Andy getting busy with the shrinker/stretcher to form the reinforcing angles which attach to the inner arches of some of the bomb frames. Never having used one before, I think he’s done a cracking job

It’s only now we can start to appreciate the sheer size of the old girl, we’re building 28′ of the fwd fuselage, there’s 30′ of LK142 and there’s 17 frames missing of the centre section and aft of fr45 to consider. To display all of this properly we’re going to have to build a mezzanine to get a lot of the wreckage off the floor. More on that in future updates

Cheers

John

Thanks Viscount

And funnily enough that’s where our new part of fuselage terminates

John