Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great stuff , and I can just imagine someone visiting your garage and asking "What's that engine?"
"Oh, it's just a Merlin from a Hurricane ...".
"Oh, it's just a Merlin from a Hurricane ...".
Calgary's Hurricane on the Move
- Thread starter Crimea_River
- Start date
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Great shots Andy! Thanks for the update.
Great stuff Andy!
- Thread starter
- #44
Crimea_River
Marshal
A small update as work continues.
After cleaning 4 pistons by hand, I was told that we had a glass bead blaster in the back of the shop. That made things a lot easier and all pistons were done within an hour.
Yesterday, two of us managed to lap all 48 valves. I used a lapping tool that consisted of a hand cranked gadget shown below along with a valve and lapping compound.
My partner used a more rudimentary tool - a suction cup on the end of a stick. As you can see, the heads have been meticulously cleaned with lots of Scotchbrite pads and Citrosol cleaner.
With that done, reassembly of the cylinder head is in the offing which should prove interesting.
After cleaning 4 pistons by hand, I was told that we had a glass bead blaster in the back of the shop. That made things a lot easier and all pistons were done within an hour.
Yesterday, two of us managed to lap all 48 valves. I used a lapping tool that consisted of a hand cranked gadget shown below along with a valve and lapping compound.
My partner used a more rudimentary tool - a suction cup on the end of a stick. As you can see, the heads have been meticulously cleaned with lots of Scotchbrite pads and Citrosol cleaner.
With that done, reassembly of the cylinder head is in the offing which should prove interesting.
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Looks great so far Andy!
Jeff Hunt
1st Lieutenant
Excellent report...more as you get it please.
Jeff
Jeff
- Thread starter
- #47
Crimea_River
Marshal
Sure. A lot of boring cleaning at the moment but I suspect we'll start reassembly of the valves and camshafts soon. But first, all of the retainer springs (made up of seven parts each, 4 per cylinder, times 12 cylinders) still need to be cleaned.
I'm with you Wojtek...
Njaco
The Pop-Tart Whisperer
This thread captures the heart of this forum! Cool report and can't wait until the Hurri is done.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great stuff Andy.
- Thread starter
- #52
Crimea_River
Marshal
Cheers guys. The airframe restoration is going well, I hear. I wish it wasn't so far away but hopefully I'll take one or two trips up there this summer. Figure about a year from now till it all comes together with the engine and I plan to be there when we fire it up.
- Thread starter
- #53
Crimea_River
Marshal
Happily, I'm able to post here pictures and excerpts from our quarterly report to the City of Calgary on the progress made between January and the end of March this year. The engine work was, as reported above, done at the Bomber Command Museum shop in Nanton Alberta but the rest of the aircraft is being restored by Historic Aviation Services Inc. in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, which is about 300km to the north of Nanton.
The major visible progress has been in the restoration of the fuselage framework including on site-fabricated replacement members that have either gone missing or have been damaged over the years. The fuselage frame has also now been mated to the wing center section.
Here's the control column, rudder pedals, and "floor" disassembled prior to restoration
The floor boards were straightened, primed, the sprayed with the silver colour butyrate dope then reinstalled. The cockpit area was restored and various control were rebuilt and attached to the framing.
Landing gear selector:
New trim wheel and the rest of the pit:
We managed to acquire an original bullet proof windscreen from a collector in England. Ironically, the windscreen was built here in Canada.
The Dowty tail wheel was completely disassembled and rebuilt before installing into the fuselage.
The below series of pics begins with the fuselage and wing center section positioned just prior to be mated together and then shows various angles of the completed assembly.
The restoration report is fairly detailed and if anyone has specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
The major visible progress has been in the restoration of the fuselage framework including on site-fabricated replacement members that have either gone missing or have been damaged over the years. The fuselage frame has also now been mated to the wing center section.
Here's the control column, rudder pedals, and "floor" disassembled prior to restoration
The floor boards were straightened, primed, the sprayed with the silver colour butyrate dope then reinstalled. The cockpit area was restored and various control were rebuilt and attached to the framing.
Landing gear selector:
New trim wheel and the rest of the pit:
We managed to acquire an original bullet proof windscreen from a collector in England. Ironically, the windscreen was built here in Canada.
The Dowty tail wheel was completely disassembled and rebuilt before installing into the fuselage.
The below series of pics begins with the fuselage and wing center section positioned just prior to be mated together and then shows various angles of the completed assembly.
The restoration report is fairly detailed and if anyone has specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Beautiful work by all concerned, and great pics Andy. It's good to see the progression of the restoration process, and the guys must be quite pleased with the work to date, and deserve a big pat on the back.
Thanks for the up-date.
Thanks for the up-date.
lancasterman
Airman
Stunning workmanship guy's! That is how I remember it in the 90's a bare frame sitting on its gear looking all sad.. She really is going to be a Diamond in the collection when completed!
Ooh Shiny !
Great work you guys
Great work you guys
damn...that's looking good!
Great stuff Andy!
- Thread starter
- #59
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks guys. I should clarify that the pictures aren't mine so I can't take any credit for them. I hope to make it up to the shop around the end of May and. if so, will take some shots of my own with new developments and will post them here.
T Bolt
Colonel
Fantastic Andy. I had not realized the structure of the Hurricane was so primitive
