Work Day 27 August

Just reporting further progress on repainting the cable ducts on the right hand side of the LCP cabin. All the plug and socket mounting panels have been repainted in grey Hammerite and a top coat applied to the cable ducts and surrounds. Additional priming of the cable duct covers was also carried out.

  

Repainting is showing results and is a major improvement on the original condition of the LCP.

The NATO Green saga: I opened a donated tin of NATO Green today after believing that the previous NATO Green was too brown. The new tin of NATO Green was also used to put two comparison blotches on the LCP’s original paintwork; it is more like a ‘green’ but I have also realised that the colour of primer/undercoat alters the green colour. I have yet to try the original tin of NATO Green again but the current tin is what I expect NATO Green to be.

The Instructor’s keyboard was playing up with some keys not registering in one row so back in the workshop:
– Remove all the key caps and cleaned
– A spot of switch cleaner/lubricator in each key
– Re solder suspected IC4 to sort any dry joint
– Re assemble and check every key

RUN key now OK as are others in the same row but on checking found that pressing the CRSR OFF key did absolutely nothing. Checked continuity on pressing the key, still nothing. Re soldered, still nothing. Removed the key ready for replacing and checked once removed and it ‘switched’. Re assembled and soldered back in and it works fine now. You tell me!!!!!! Anyway all keys now OK including the ALPHA LOCK (Caps Lock) key which I was previously aware of – it only worked intermittently.

Refitted the keyboard into the display console today and it is fine.  After successfully refurbishing the Instructor’s keyboard I have removed the Technical Suppervisor’s keyboard which will get the same treatment this week.

Had intended to measure up the LCP cabin roof lights in preparation for converting the current obsolete fluorescent tubes to a modern lighting system. Unfortunately I ran out of time so will carry out this task next week.

Work Day August 20

More of the same;  scraping and painting, but progress continues. The main panels on the  right hand side of the cabin have now been primed and the more ‘fiddly’ painting in the cable ducts carried out which seems to take ages for small areas.

Neil and Dave dutifully carried on paint scraping on the front of the cabin.

Repainting the panels holding the cable outlets is a challenge, original paint being grey Hammerite. Painting Hammerite on a flat surface is fine but not on a panel where you have brush strokes in different directions to get around screw heads and sockets etc.

 

 

The challenge remains – repaint the LCP before the cold weather sets in.

 

When I returned home Mike S had sent me an email on the subject of NATO Green paint as to us there appears to be two different NATO Green colours. One is as we Bloodhound guys remember which was definitely green while new tins of NATO Green can be more brownish than green.  RGB: 50, 66, 39 gives us the green version we expect and but RGB: 87; 86; 74 is a definite ‘brownish’ green but correct according the BS colour chart, colour 285. We have two spec’s for NATO Green but why? Does anyone know? This is what we would have expected: Expected NATO Green.

Work Days – August 6 and 13

More paint scraping on the LCP cabin with good progress being made on the front. Paint scraping is Neil’s permanent job at the moment! As paint is removed we uncover the original Bronze Green and the later IRR NATO Green, the LCP will be painted NATO Green as that was the colour of all MK2A LCP’s. While the old paint is coming off new paint is going on, mainly corrosion treatment and primer.

Current Status of Paintwork

A tin of NATO Green has been purchased for colour checking which has led to a surprise and a little concern as it’s not the same NATO Green as previously used on the LCP and T86. This photo shows a test area in one of the LCP’s cable ducts painted with ‘new’ NATO Green with the T86 in the background previously painted NATO Green and they are NOT the same colour and we painted the T86 in 2013 to make it more presentable.

We are now looking at why our new tin of NATO Green has a definite brown tint as compared to the original. We have used different paint suppliers but both paints have the same colour code – BS381C, Colour 285. See photo of a van painted NATO Green, it has a definite brown tinge compared to colour of the LCP and the T86 we painted previously. IRR NATO Green has the same colour code and BS number as ordinary NATO Green. A conversation with a paint supplier will be had when they return from holiday in a weeks’ time. In the meantime we have acquired a tin of IRR NATO Green as supplied to the MOD so we’ll test that next week.

When checking the RGB numbers for 285 it definitely gives a brownish colour. A colour mystery, have a view on our NATO Green problem?

…. and a big thank you to the scraping and painting team, Pete, Neil, Ian and Dave.

Disposition of our LCP 1990/91

Something caused the display positions to be changed as our Ferranti man confirms that after conversion the MK2A’s were shipped back to the RAF from Ferranti with the radar display second from the right as shown in the AP. The purpose of this discussion is to try and pin down the history of our LCP (1022) post conversion to a MK2A. 1022 would have arrived back at West Raynham in early 1990 and after the draw down from 25 after they disbanded there must have been a fair bit of kit around so it’s possible 1022 was used but not on an operational section, is that possible?

These two photos show the Bloodhound MEZ as drawn when still with the RAF and the digital input cards with their many chinagraph annotations (the labels were added for ID purposes by us). Anyone recognise these? We have been told by an E.C. that they did play at drawing MEZ’s on the E.C. school – did they?

We do know :
1. The LCP was definitely used after conversion to a MK2A from early 1990.
2. Our LCP came directly from West Raynham rather than through another user.
3. One of the original Digital Input cards had a burnt out track which means the simulator would have worked but the LCP would have been U/S on a section.

Were any MK2A LCP’s used for technical training at West Raynham circa 1990?
We are aware the school moved to North Coates from Newton but no idea if any LCP training was done at Raynham if or when, or after, North Coates closed. So were there a number of LCP’s on the E.C.’s school in 1990?

 

Open Day – 24th September 2016

We shall be having an Open Day for ex Bloodhound folk on 24th September 2016. There will be displays and of course the opportunity to experience the simulator as well as the chance to meet up with others who worked in the RAF or industry on the Bloodhound Missile System. This event will take place near Telford in Shropshire and I ask you to register your interest and obtain details by sending an email to Pete Harry at contact@bmpg.org.uk.

LCP Engagement Controller’s Display Arrangement

We understand that the MK2A LCP’s at West Raynham had the E.C.’s and radar/jamming displays swapped over from the arrangement of displays shown in the AP. The LCP MK2A display arrangement at West Raynham is also confirmed by a photo of an LCP MK2A there. Can anyone here confirm if all the operational MK2A LCP’s on sections at West Raynham had the E.C.’s display on the far right? If all the section MK2A LCP’s at Raynham had these two displays swapped over then our LCP (1022) was not on a West Raynham section. Our LCP has the original arrangement for the four displays as shown here which is as per the AP and more importantly that’s how they were when we first switched on.

We are keento find out more about the history of our LCP (1022) and the recent discovery of a 41 Sqn badge hidden under many coats of paint on the LCP door has helped with where it was in use prior to going to Germany with 25 Sqn. What we don’t know is where our LCP was in use after conversion to a MK2A in late 1989. It was definitely in use somewhere rather than stored as there are signs of RAF guys using the good old chinagraph pencil to ID boards on the I/O rack and I’m sure it wouldn’t have left Ferranti with those.