Mosquito RS700 Restoration

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

Great job Andy. Did you know Daniel (109 Roaming) is part of the Ferrymead restoration group?

No Evan, I did not. Small world. I've only been dealing with two guys there and our correspondence is not frequent. I don't think Daniel has posted here in years and hope he is well.

 

[A4K]

Haven't been in contact with him much myself for a while, must drop him a line. He left the forum when we had some shitstirrers about.

 

[Snautzer01]

Haven't been in contact with him much myself for a while, must drop him a line. He left the forum when we had some shitstirrers about.

You do that. Bet he will be suprised about the vibe now.

 

[Gnomey]

Great stuff Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Over the last couple of days, I completed the 1st stage of fabrication of some missing mild steel brackets that we need that are critical for supporting the instrument panels. A diagram that I made to track these items is shown below.

Seen in the pic below are the single bracket B98700 at top left in the daigram above, the three BB98699's at the bottom of the engine instrument panel and the blue part B98738 at far right.

These parts will now be sent out to a MIG welder to run a fine bead down the corners of the brackets and to weld the two pieces temporarily taped together. I really ought to learn how to do this myself. Once I get them back, I will then drill the necessary holes to bolt these to the panels and for securing the Lord vibration mounts. The pic below is an excerpt of the drawing for part B98700 and shows what I had to work with. The large 1inch diameter hole is for the Lord mount. It is very fortunate that we have the drawings for these pieces.

 

[Micdrow]

You guys are doing an awesome job

 

[Crimea_River]

The brackets have been dropped off at the welding shop and I should get them before the week is out. In the meantime, I have this to share:

One elusive missing part of our cockpit has been "Junction Box A" which is a small panel in front of the Navigator's position that featured various switches, gauges, and the propeller feathering buttons. We know from period photos that this unit was heavily modified by Spartan and we had resigned ourselves to having to build it from scratch based on outdated drawings and dark, grainy photos - until now.

During a search for parts to build our Hurricane Merlin test stand at the Hangar Flight Museum we came upon a box containing the object of our desires - an almost complete Spartan Junction Box A!

A new mystery now emerges. There is a label for a wiper switch on the face of the panel and, as far as we know, no Spartan Mosquitos carried windshield wipers (maybe for the camera lens?). So, with this welcome "barn find" come yet more questions.....

 

[Airframes]

Great find, which will no doubt make things easier.

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Airframes]

Just a thought Andy - maybe the wiper was on the flat central panel on the nose glazing ?

 

[GrauGeist]

Didn't some of the PRU and "F" variants have a wiper mounted in the center of the windscreen?

 

[Airframes]

Yes, but the F and FB variants had a "flat" windscreen, whereas the bomber and PR variants had a two-piece "pointed" screen, and didn't have a wiper.
Andy stated that there was no record of the aircraft under restoration having a screen wiper, and this wold be normal for that type.

 

[GrauGeist]

Thanks Terry - I knew there was a flat windscreen on the "F" variant, but wasn't sure what variant the PRUs were based on.

I am not all that well versed on the various Mossie types and appreciate threads like this.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for the interest guys. Looked through all the Spartan Mossie pictures I have and none show a wiper. Weird.

Just a thought Andy - maybe the wiper was on the flat central panel on the nose glazing ?

Good thought, except that Spartan chucked out the standard bomber nose and blew new ones without the flat panel.

 

[Crimea_River]

The last session saw Junction Box A dismantled after documenting the wiring terminals and carefully removing the old labels. Here are the guts:

Dismantled and bead-blasted, ready for paint:

Here are Junction Boxes A and B test fitted in place. The holes for A lined up perfectly with the available ferrule locations.

We continue to move ahead, slowly.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Excellent stuff Andy!

 

[A4K]

What Hugh said

 

[Ralph Haus]

The last session saw Junction Box A dismantled after documenting the wiring terminals and carefully removing the old labels. Here are the guts:

View attachment 723192

Dismantled and bead-blasted, ready for paint:

View attachment 723194

Here are Junction Boxes A and B test fitted in place. The holes for A lined up perfectly with the available ferrule locations.

View attachment 723193

We continue to move ahead, slowly.

Andy, just curious. Those round details scattered around? For mounting? Reinforcement disks for exterior components? Seem really random and I see a grab bar attached to a pair.

 

[Crimea_River]

Andy, just curious. Those round details scattered around? For mounting? Reinforcement disks for exterior components? Seem really random and I see a grab bar attached to a pair.

They are called ferrules and, yes, they are for fixing things to the wooden shell. The fuselage is only about 9/16 inches thick and mostly balsa so there's a need for a more solid base where attachments need to be made. A 3/4 inch hole is drilled thru the inner plywood skin and balsa, stopping at the inside of the outer skin. The ferrule, which consists of a 3/4 inch diameter bakelite cylinder with a threaded brass insert all glued to a thin birch ply disc, is then glued into the hole. The back of the disc receives glue as well and is then nailed to the inner fuselage skin with 1/2 inch long brass nails. The threaded brass inserts are designed to receive British 2BA or 4BA bolts.