depends if you like mine old chap!!

I do faces for most instruments and bezels…..btw I am not a business or touting for trade….I just recognised a problem in my collection and solutionised!!!!:D

I did a full study of my collection several years back. The German WW2 were generally very clean, WW1 German are apparently the worst. UK varied. Russian can have exposed radium on throttle levers etc. My crash instruments (with no radium paint left) were generally fine. Way back when this first became a problem, I managed to create two sets of fighter instruments that were radium free one for the Hurri, one for the Spit. Surplus instruments were disposed of through a recognised scheme. One only has to look back 10years to see that landfill was the main way of ‘correct’ disposal then. Probably still is but is and must be regulated.

It is possible to find non radium WW2 instruments. Often the face has a * to denote luminous. I have found green faced instruments to often be fine. Every time blank unpainted faces came up, I bought them.

More recently, I bought a set of them that had been engraved onto plastic (faithfully) and have made resin faces from them. This was to allow me to fit instruments to the Seafire, Typhoon panel and also the Whirlwind cockpit project.

A few years back, a survey of my two Hunter cockpits by the authorities resulted in them removing the GM4 and E2 compass from my F1….they were most miffed that the same instruments in my F6 were fine!!! I have since found suitable replacements. They also removed the ASI from my Pucara cockpit…..
The JP has a ‘dodgy’ switch. Some Avons have thorium in the casing (so must not be cut), some lenses from microscopes, cameras etc have thorium coating…

Ingestion is the main problem for instrument/radium dust, the body is good at ridding itself of 80% apparently.

As others said, clocks were lobbyed and exempt.

I am no expert, but the golden rules I use (for obvious reasons, I present them here only as what I do, not what you should or should not do):-
I steer clear of instruments with flakey paint, no glasses etc….basically anything that means I am not protected by glass means that the particles are free to ‘roam’. I do not dismantle an instrument, suck on the back etc. If I goto a jumble and find a glassless instrument etc I warn the seller and have been told to ‘go away’.

As someone said before, any of us who blew bare instrument faces, lived in a bedroom with 2 panels as bedroom lights and generally messed about with instruments could …..

Just be careful and sensible…..The main thing is that instruments cannot just be thrown away….

I filled my UCCA form in to do Chemical Engineering, and was about to send it off. Our Chemistry teacher took us to visit Fawley Chemical Refinery near Southampton. When there, i saw this character like Homer Simpson sat in front of a bank of TVs/computers with a coffee, paper and donut. He looked so bored. I asked him what his job was and if went to university….’Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering degree’….I ripped up my form and reapplied to do Aero Eng!! Whilst I could have earned more as a Chem Eng, what other career would allow me to spend 23+ years as a flight test engineer, fly in almost all the UK services aircraft with glasses and work in many countries?

We have an excellent apprentice scheme and also great opportunities for graduates!

used lots and lots of foam…pity….she is a lovely aircraft…not flying yet….pilot a credit

That man is a real hero. Geedee and I were lucky to meet him in at GOML in 2007. Another veteran remarked that Lee Archer was probably the only one to still fit in his WW2 flight suit….

Thankyou sir, now you have slipped the surly bonds I hope you are soaring skyward behind a Merlin at full battle song….We salute you.