Mosquito RS700 Restoration

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Ralph Haus said:
Thank you. Just wish more would take an interest in preserving our past. But curious? How long did it take to build one from scratch?
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Do you mean on the production line Ralph? Or making one today?

We actually get asked that alot and I don't have a good answer for that. Part of the difficulty is that the aircraft was built in multiple plants (at least in Canada) where the wings were built in one plant and sent by truck over to the main assembly plant. So you have a store of wings awaiting a fuselage to be mated with or vice versa. As to how long an aircaft stayed on the production line once everyting was ready to go, I don't have a definite figure. However, as a very rough guide, using Canadian production figures (single assembly plant) and grade 2 math, 1134 Mosquitos were built in the three years of 1942 to 45 so that averages about 1 a day. However, this doesn't account for production ramp-ups and wind downs so the peak number is likely more.
 
When you received parts (like that junction box) do you guys create new drawings? You mentioned that you didn't have drawings so fabricating a new one would be difficult.
 
Crimea_River said:
Do you mean on the production line Ralph? Or making one today?

We actually get asked that alot and I don't have a good answer for that. Part of the difficulty is that the aircraft was built in multiple plants (at least in Canada) where the wings were built in one plant and sent by truck over to the main assembly plant. So you have a store of wings awaiting a fuselage to be mated with or vice versa. As to how long an aircaft stayed on the production line once everyting was ready to go, I don't have a definite figure. However, as a very rough guide, using Canadian production figures (single assembly plant) and grade 2 math, 1134 Mosquitos were built in the three years of 1942 to 45 so that averages about 1 a day. However, this doesn't account for production ramp-ups and wind downs so the peak number is likely more.
Click to expand...
Asked somewhat in jest. A poke at the restoration start, 2013. Just a bit of fun....
 
It's all volunteer work and only on Saturdays. Plus building a new one from scratch is very different than restoring an existing one where one needs to UNDO a lot of what's been done before in order to REDO it to the way it's supposed to be.
 
The Brake Differential Unit mentioned in post 179 was put on a test board and successfully cycled through its motions. Finding British AGS fittings to marry up the tubing to the threaded connecitons remains a challenge but we had enough on hand to make do.

20230421_141309.jpg


The differential unit is at center. The line entering at bottom center is the pneumatic feed line. The one to the left goes, eventually, to the left brake drum but is now represented by a pressure gauge. Same for the right hand gauge. The cable at center is temporary but will eventually connect to the hand lever on the control yoke. Pulling the cable (i.e. squeezing the hand lever) allows air to enter the unit on a variable basis depending on applied pressure, throttling the valve inside the unit. Moving the lever on top of the differential will be done via the rudder pedals and will channel the air to the left or right brake, depending on which rudder pedal is pushed. Leaving the pedals neutral and adding brake pressure pushes air to both brakes.

The set-up was run on our shop air system (120 psi) but is designed to work at 200. It did work at 120 and we cycled through all applied pressures and left/right combinations and so we are satisfied that the thing will work. With that done, I took the unit off the board and installed it, hopefully permanently, in our airplane.

The next task is to find some proper aluminum tubing to make the permanent connections, and hopefully more AGS fittings.
 
Crimea_River said:
The Brake Differential Unit mentioned in post 179 was put on a test board and successfully cycled through its motions. Finding British AGS fittings to marry up the tubing to the threaded connecitons remains a challenge but we had enough on hand to make do.

View attachment 719149

The differential unit is at center. The line entering at bottom center is the pneumatic feed line. The one to the left goes, eventually, to the left brake drum but is now represented by a pressure gauge. Same for the right hand gauge. The cable at center is temporary but will eventually connect to the hand lever on the control yoke. Pulling the cable (i.e. squeezing the hand lever) allows air to enter the unit on a variable basis depending on applied pressure, throttling the valve inside the unit. Moving the lever on top of the differential will be done via the rudder pedals and will channel the air to the left or right brake, depending on which rudder pedal is pushed. Leaving the pedals neutral and adding brake pressure pushes air to both brakes.

The set-up was run on our shop air system (120 psi) but is designed to work at 200. It did work at 120 and we cycled through all applied pressures and left/right combinations and so we are satisfied that the thing will work. With that done, I took the unit off the board and installed it, hopefully permanently, in our airplane.

The next task is to find some proper aluminum tubing to make the permanent connections, and hopefully more AGS fittings.
Click to expand...

Who's the lucky fellow that will verify that it actually works, landing and stopping the bird? Some have all the luck, or need for it!
 
Today I installed the main post that will support the insrument panels and the right side of the rudder pedals. In the below pic, This is the black object at center which was obtained in a trade with the HR339 Restoration Group in Ferrymead New Zealand. I had some holes welded over and then I redrilled them in the right location to line up with the bolt holes on our rudder pedal box and then painted the thing with black wrinkle paint.

20230505_150638.jpg


The aileron trim wheel is original to our aircraft and was screwed into place. In the above pic, you can also see the brake differential unit at center left all sealed up with cellophane and tape.

Below is the other side of the same post. At the bottom you can see the pulleys for the aileron trim cables. The cables have been pulled through and now need to be connected to the chain drive but for this I need to find some properly sized pins.

20230505_150721.jpg


Looking up a bit, we can see the part connecting the post to the cockpit roof. This is the part that I fabricated as described in post #179 but is now finish painted with black wrinkle paint. It is only fastened to the post with one bolt right now. The rest will need to trap a support bracket for the hydraulic gear/flap/bomb door selector valve which is awaiting paint.

20230505_150728.jpg


Thanks for looking in and for your interest.
 
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