Work Day 26th November 2016

Two jobs completed – paint removal from the LCP roof and the replacement of all corroded rivets on roof panels.

All original paint has now been removed from the LCP, an essential task due to the poor condition of the paintwork. Rubbing down the cabin and just doing a repaint was not an option due to its condition and the facilities available meant removing all the paint by hand, a job that has taken many Saturdays  during this year. We can now continue with the repaint but as we are now in the winter months attention has to be paid to the air temperature as there is no heating! The majority of paint scraping has been carried out by Neil.

At least half of the rivets securing the roof panels to the roof sections have been replaced, the heads had simply corroded off the original aluminium rivets due to water ingress through cracks in the paint. Pete M arrived yesterday suitably armed with an industrial grade riveter. Further rivet replacement are required on the joins of the three roof sections as the majority of the countersunk rivets for the plates to secure the roof canvas (removed) that covers the roof joins are badly corroded.

Photos from yesterday to illustrate the progress being made.

LCP Roof – New Rivets

LCP Canvas Securing Plates

LCP Roof Pete and Neil at work

LCP Roof Stripped of Paint

Missile 3369 Recovery from RAF West Raynham.

See Missile 3369 and launcher recovery by the Brooklands Recovery Engineering and Salvage Team (BREAST) from RAF West Raynham in 1991 for display as the National Standard at Aerospace Bristol. The video link is on our Links Page http://bmpg.org.uk/BMPG_links.html

Bloodhound 1 in Norwich 1963

An unextected find – Bloodhound 1 on display in Norwich Cattle Market in 1963.

Through glass: Norwich 1963 – The Phoenix slides part 1.

Work Day 19th November 2016

Not a lot of detail to report this week as it was a day progressing with removing more paint from the LCP roof. To make the roof access easier we borrowed a gantry, a bit big (understatement) but it allowed us access at roof level.

One more working session should see the paint removal completed. Next job will be to replace all the corroded aluminium pop rivets on the LCP roof of which there are many.

Work Day 12th November 2016

Work on the LCP cabin continues as it was agreed that, rather than digress onto interesting jobs needed on the T86 radar, we would remain focused on the LCP and get it finished first.

Neil continued restoring the LCP’s base ring and lifting eyes, removing paint and corrosion. This photo of a lifting eye after Neil’s attention clearly shows the attention to detail and the corrosion pitting which will be treated before replacing.

Work has started on removing paint from the LCP roof; thankfully it has few coats of paint  compared to the cabin walls.

The problem exposed when removing paint on the cabin roof was the number of rivet heads that have corroded through and broken off. Once the paint has been comlpetely removed there will be a program of rivet replacement. Another area  where rivets have corroded are the securing plates for the canvas that covers the roof joins.

 

Work Day 5th November 2016

On site the work continued on the LCP cabin and work also recommenced on the T86.

On the LCP, progress was made on refurbishing the steel base ring/support. During the LCP’s period ‘in store’ it was not supported off the ground with the usual wooden baulks, it rested on soft earth and over time the steel base ring sunk into the ground which being steel corroded. The process of restoring the steel base ring involves removing paint and corrosion, treating the corrosion, filling to give a smooth surface  and repainting.

A start has been made on replacing the fluorescent tubes with LED tubes in the LCP. Two lights have now been updated to LED following some testing with various options over the past few weeks. The LED’s are identical to the original tube in luminosity and colour of light.

The task undertaken on the T86 was making a start on removing the wiring to the running lights on the cabin, the braided sheath is badly corroded with three of the four running lights on the top corners of the cabin damaged and badly corroded.

The Simulator in the LCP was run up and remains serviceable.

A busy day finished off with a pub lunch and a couple of pints in the afternoon, a good day.