Hello Banana Splits:

In post 791 you state in part:

In your posting though, you don’t complete the description of what needs to be done. What I’m wondering is, once you have applied the twine and pushed in some body putty, what do you then cover it all with? Or do you just paint? I agree electrical tape wouldn’t do; the adhesive is inadequate for almost anything.
JDH1976, the same question goes to you.
Thank you both.

When I did mine I had the bare metal grip in slightly worse condition than the one you have. I fettled it to a state that I was happy with, remove corrosion etc. I rubbed it all down and spraye the metal grip black. Then did the twining and body putty. Whenn the whole lot has set. I masked off the gun button I sprayed the grip again with the same black spray paint. I handle it from time to time but not excessively and so far it has stood up very well.

JDH

The best way to replicate the plastic covering is by using three core twine and removing one of the cores, then once bound on the grip apply a liberal coating of car body filler to fill in the gaps and even it out a bit. The photo below shows a Typhoon grip I did this with on the right of the photo. In my opinion the string applied is usually much too thick and electrical tape doesn`t look anything like it`s supposed to.

I was about to suggest the same thing! You are not the chap I sent some hemp twine to a few years ago to cover a grip?

JDH

were Oerlikon Cannon ever mounted in British aircraft? I thought we used the hispano suiza 20mm as an aircraft mounted weapon, which had a slightly different shaped cartridge case to the oerlikon.

Thank you Ian, from what I can see is that the spade grip in the illustration does not seem to be fitted with a brake lever, the one I hopefully have has all the holes etc for one, has anybody got any photos of the actual grip to give me some more clearer information.
I am trying to find someone who could shot blast the handle up help me find a AH number, however I still have no idea what to offer for it as I don’t want to insult the seller and lose the chance.

Jason

From the photo it looks as the the guide for the brake cable has been ground off. This was done with a lot og Canadian “Hurricane” grips for use on the Harvard. If this is so the AH number will be 2040. AH2040 grips of course were not just used on Hurricanes they also fitted other types such as Battle, Lysander, Swordfish, Whirlwind etc. I have a Canadian Carr Foundry made grip and can send you photos of it if you like?

So is it really a museum? The following is taken from the museum association website. The governing body that sets standards to aspire to for museums in the UK:

“The Museums Association (MA) agreed a definition in 1998. It says: ‘Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artefacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.’ This definition includes art galleries with collections of works of art, as well as museums with historical collections of objects.”

So by the above it is not a museum. I would suggest that it is a collection that the public is allowed to look at. An excellent collection granted but not a museum in my mind. All museums sadly are subject to theft, it is the world we live in. Very few after suffering a loss take such draconian actions but then if they are proper museums that are there to encourge learning they would not. However as Hawkinge is not a museum they can do as they please.

I really must go again as it is worth a visit even if you cannot tkae photos.