In the late 1980's or early 1990's my friend and I were approached by one of the Deans of the College of Aeronautics to restore a large scale fiberglass model of the Anglo/French Concorde. We readily accepted not realizing the time it would take to complete the project. In fact I had already graduated when I (alone) finished it up and delivered it, if not over budget (because there was none), definitely off schedule...by years...just like a real aircraft program! Looking back it was the closest that I ever came to being a real aircraft engineer!
ABOVE (right & left): The model was somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 feet long and filthy! First order of the day was a good wash down. If I had to guess, I would say that this model originally wore TWA colors and was a promotional item from the hopeful days when the order books where full. Note the missing part of the nose!
ABOVE: Note the damage to the starboard intake and the absence of the splitter vane (for both intakes, though you can't see the port one in this picture). The mounting holes for the stand as well as the engraved panel lines for the main gear doors would all be covered over in Bondo, they were looking for an advertising piece not a scale model!
ABOVE: The vertical tail was just a two piece fiberglass shell (right and left sides) that had split in half and the port side had cracked parallel to the fuselage, about halfway up the rudder. Fixing this part, due to the previously unknown thermodynamic properties of curing fiberglass, would create the most headaches. Note the lack of exhaust nozzles. Fortunately we had one or two good ones to use as a master to make replacements for the broken or missing nozzles. I used a DOW RTV 2 part silicone rubber for the mold and 2 part Alumilite resin for the actual pieces. Worked great!
ABOVE (right & left): The model was somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 feet long and filthy! First order of the day was a good wash down. If I had to guess, I would say that this model originally wore TWA colors and was a promotional item from the hopeful days when the order books where full. Note the missing part of the nose!
ABOVE: Note the damage to the starboard intake and the absence of the splitter vane (for both intakes, though you can't see the port one in this picture). The mounting holes for the stand as well as the engraved panel lines for the main gear doors would all be covered over in Bondo, they were looking for an advertising piece not a scale model!
ABOVE: The vertical tail was just a two piece fiberglass shell (right and left sides) that had split in half and the port side had cracked parallel to the fuselage, about halfway up the rudder. Fixing this part, due to the previously unknown thermodynamic properties of curing fiberglass, would create the most headaches. Note the lack of exhaust nozzles. Fortunately we had one or two good ones to use as a master to make replacements for the broken or missing nozzles. I used a DOW RTV 2 part silicone rubber for the mold and 2 part Alumilite resin for the actual pieces. Worked great!
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