The ‘test piece’ statement is true and correct – but it was the elevator.
We were genuinely unsure as to whether our processes would work on the thin material (24 & 26 swg Alclad in many cases), whether we could weld it, make it workable, what types of corrosion we faced and whether we could get around those issues so the test piece was agreed and successfully accomplished.
There is absolutely no facility to replicate our work at FAAM and we currently have everything from Frame-12 (just forward of the TAG’s cockpit) all the way to the back of the plane. It’s hardly a test piece, is it.

There’s no need to kidnap the project.

They asked us to mend an iconic object and we accepted. Or, put the other way, we offered to mend it and they accepted.
They get the world’s one and only Barracuda resurrected from only original material (and the only new material in the whole build thus far is rivets and those nuts and bolts we were unable to salvage) and we get both a follow-on project to Bluebird plus the kudos of another unique build.
There always was the intention to enter into a contract, it just seemed something to do tomorrow for so long and when it finally rose to the top of the pile it needed some careful thought whereupon panic set in but the intention was always there.

Where I’m going with this is that we don’t have to kidnap the project because we own it already.

Look at it from the other side of the table. Suppose the museum had geared up a huge marketing effort based on the ground-breaking conservation project they’d initiated and it featured in bids for this or that and in their package of showing off what they had going on… It should already, but it doesn’t. And then, disaster, we decided we just weren’t bothered any more and would they please come and get their scrap out of our workshop. They could have so much riding on this that our failure would hurt them badly, which is why a system has grown up to keep such things fair and, whether they like it or not, whether it’s written down or not, we do in fact have a contract.

The tail is a perfect test case – both parties delivered on what was promised and the fuselage is even more interesting. This time they had to break up assembled parts purely on our promise that we would mend them and we made that promise based on a belief gained from building the tail.

The bottom line is that they are not in a position to simply pull the plug without considering their contractual partners. They can ask to be released, or we can choose to release them of our own volition, but they can’t just throw a hissy-fit and take their ball home so we’ll see what happens this coming week.

May I also take the opportunity to point out that I am working hard behind the scenes to find a resolution to all of this and it is being done privately. I hope that everyone understands that sometimes more can be achieved without every point being publicly dissected and each misstep being examined under the lens and I hope that in the not too distant future we will be in a position to announce something a little more uplifting.

We’re always short of 2BA anchor nuts and 1/4BSF anchor nuts for Bluebird. We can even pay for them nowadays.

I will also be asking the Bluebird project to substantiate their claims made here as well.

Please, ask away…

Indeed it is shameful, but at least Mr Mottram removed his own sting in fine style today, which is a shame because I’ve met him on many occasions and always found him to be a proper gentleman. However, since his credibility disappeared around the U-bend, hope springs eternal because there remain people at the museum who do know how to negotiate in the proper sense… I’ll not name names except perhaps for Dave Morris who treads the interface of common sense and weapons-grade bell-endery with consummate skill. So, tomorrow, I will look for an olive branch long enough to extend from the Tyne all the way to Somerset and see if anyone cares to grasp the other end. You never know – there’s still an exciting amount of part-built Barra’ in the shop next door and that only needs the lights and heating turned on and the ceaseless nattering of the Barra Babes. I always was an optimist.

Had an interesting little interview on BBC radio this morning in the course of which the FAAM once again attempted to deny our status as volunteers, claimed we’d been ‘reluctant’ to sign a contract for two years that they only really asked for in October after their AGM where all was wonderful and said they might consider speaking with us again following a suitable cooling off period… of a couple of years!
I reiterated that we are more than happy to sign an appropriate contract, our only stipulations being that we are recognised as volunteers and we don’t pay their insurance. That we are more than happy to come to the negotiating table even now and, following that, to continue the work. But when put in a corner the museum simply said they wouldn’t come to the table – but don’t worry, work will continue at Yeovilton, apparently, and within five to six years we’ll see a complete Barracuda. Mike is going to capture a copy of the interview and post a link to it later.

I fear that the AGM minutes are very telling.

The Barracuda Project is progressing well, with the tail section nearing completion. This can be viewed on the website. The project is expected to take four to five years to reach completion.

Progressing well, of course it was and the fuselage was crated and ready to come North and not a word about troublesome contractual negotiations. The four to five years thing doesn’t mean anything, by the way, it was an arbitrary value decided on at the outset that just hasn’t been revised. But look at what it says immediately below.

NMRN Reorganisation
The functional organisation for the National Museums of the Royal Navy (NMRN) is now in place, although some relationship problems remain to be solved. Unfortunately, this re-organisation has led to some redundancies in the FAAM.

I rather suspect that deep amongst that outwardly innocuous sentence lies our smoking gun…