This is our last blog .. only for 2021! The most hardy of the team is in much need of a break.
Pete Harry was to be found crawling around under the radar yesterday morning working on the chassis cleaning. It was a cold grey day so not conducive to long hours in the hangar but he is still pushing to get the job done This was as he on the way in!
The afternoon was well spent in a cleaner and warmer environment in the LCP lamp cleaning.
I will close out the year by wishing all our followers spread across the globe a very happy and healthy Christmas and eyes down for a good new year.
I would very much like to know who the artist was who created this rather beautiful illustration of a Bloodhound MkII Missile standing sentinel on some desolate airfield. I spotted it in the 80s on someone’s office wall, he didn’t know it’s origin, a mystery for someone to solve.
All the best from me and the team members of the Bloodhound Missile Preservation Group. See you the other side in 2022.
T86 Work is now underway on the chassis to remove lose paint and wire brushing everything; a dusty and dirty job. See the two accompanying photos below.
Note that the two chillers in one of the photos have been disconnected. It is assumed this was done when the radar was ‘out of use’ at West Raynham. Quite a few paint colours on display, the pale green is believed to be an original primer, bronze green (original top coat) and red lead used for touching up over the years, finally the odd splash of a later green from a spray gun at some time.
LCP With the cold and damp weather this time of year it’s a good excuse to carry out a warm task. A job started a while back was to rejuvenate the plastic knobs and lamp covers. This involves cleaning all the lamp covers and knobs and, when dry, treating them with Polytrol. See the before and after photos of some of the lamps. Note the handles and catches, all re chromed.
Here you see one of the clamps for the waveguide desiccators received a final top coat.
These clamps, of which there are many, have been cleaned, corrosion treated, primed and top coated.
Next phase of refurbishing the RAM on the base of the pedestal has been carried out. The surface cracks and deteriorated areas on the rubber surface of the RAM have been skimmed using Sika 221 sealant, a sealant that can be sanded and painted.
Note the RAM panel on the left has its surface completely skimmed due to the number of cracks. Next task is to lightly rub down the skimmed areas before painting with rubberised paint.
More work on restoring the chassis was carried out.
The main chassis structure and components are being painted black after the anti-corrosion primer has been applied. The top coat is a specialist vehicle chassis paint.
LCP
It was the intention to remove the Argus 700 cards yesterday for storing over winter. Good plan until it was discovered all the storage boxes had been used. A job now postponed.
The LCP always gets a good warm through (anti damp) during a work day using a fan heater.
At the end of the day the simulator was switched on and remains serviceable.
Away from Cosford
FT81 Monitor: Our monitor has taken a few minutes for the Horizontal Hold to steady down and the trimmer resistor is at the end of its adjustment range. See accompanying photo of the Deflection PCB with components removed.
Two potential problems with the Deflection PCB on the FT81, the electrolytic capacitors and the trimmer potentiometers, both deteriorating with age. Previous experience on other equipment has shown that all electrolytics and trimmers should be removed and tested. The results so far is that one electrolytic and one trimmer are U/S. The trimmer concerned is the Horizontal Hold which is not 100K but 71K, so that makes sense. Spares are on order.
Pedestal Motor: New bearings have arrived. Luckily imperial sized bearings are still readily available.
The replacements are shielded as the original bearing had separate shielding plates. The original bearing in the photo has been cleaned but remains locked solid!
BMPG 