Another very progressive week for us here at the Parnall Aircraft Company. We have seen work on both the flying and static projects and old skills re-learnt.
First off, for a change, the flying aircraft, BL688. David and Lawrence have been using formers to fabricate frames 13 and 14, finally giving us a full compliment of frames in the jig.
Meanwhile, over on the static fuselage, Laurent has continued to position, drill and prepare the frames and intercostals aft of frame 11. Once these are fully prepped, they will be removed from the jig and taken to the Vintage Aircraft Factory in Newquay where Tim will paint them silver ready to be returned, re-assembled and riveted together. Frame 11 has just returned from such treatment and David has started to rivet it together before it goes to paint again to have the bare rivet heads touched in.
You may notice in the flesh that frame 11 and most structure forward of it is painted in ‘cockpit green’ whereas everything aft of 11 will be silver. This is just one example of the attention to detail that we are lavishing on the static aircraft because this is how they were mostly finished from the factory. So even though not many people will see the interior structure once the aircraft is completed, we know everything is how it should be and we are very proud of that.
You may remember a few weeks back that we introduced our ‘new’ classic Myford lathe. Well this week it has been put into action by Paul for the first time, machining a set of spacer bushes to sit within the top-hat channel section on frame 5 of the static air frame. This was a bit of a blast from the past for Paul, who last touched a lathe over 20 years ago when he was an apprentice! Like riding a bike though, you never forget the basics and it all came flooding back.
Paul has also been continuing with the disassembly of the engine cradle assembly which is destined for the static aircraft. It’s been a bit of a trial with some very corroded bolts which needed drilling out, crumbling internal parts which will need to be replaced and repairs that need to be planned and carried out. The serviceable components will go to Newquay for media blasting and those too corroded for use will be replaced in-house.
Over in the wing shed, Chris has been bolting the nose ribs in place and test fitting the many brackets and castings that need to be attached to the forward spar and web assemblies. A couple of the larger castings, which will mount the undercarriage pintles have incorrectly drilled holes in relation to the holes already in the spars. To overcome this, Murphy with the mentoring of David is machining some tapered plugs to fill these holes, essentially allowing us to re-drill them in the correct positions.
