NASAM Update as of the 17th Dec 2021

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Chairman’s Update

Christmas Meal

On Saturday 11th December, 46 of the team (and some partners) travelled to The Buck Inn. It’s the first Christmas meal we’ve had there for many years, and we were not disappointed with the return.

Despite only having reopened for a couple of months, the service was good, the atmosphere friendly and warm, and the food excellent. One of our older members declared it the best Christmas Meal in his many years at the museum.

Our thanks to Mark, the pub manager, and his team for a great lunch.

(Photos) Christmas Meal

Merlin Display

As part of the development of our Merlin Display, we would like to include some short video clips. This is an appeal, therefore for anyone who may have some personal video clips (preferably .mp4, but we can convert from several formats) that the museum can borrow and turn into a repeating display?

Steve

General Updates

This edition of the blog contains the latest set of updates from our Volunteers covering the previous two weeks. Above is the update from Steve with his Chairman’s contributions; below you will find updates from Barry in the Paint Team, Malcolm from the Modellers. We also have the first update from Peter, who is working on the Modellers Den (just behind the shop area). Finally, an update from John in Engineering, who, as the Zenair moves into the Engineering Workshops, takes over from Steve reporting on the conversion of the remains of the aircraft into a flight simulator.

Museum Special Open Days – December

Whilst the Museum remains closed to the general public so that we may carry out maintenance and a shuffle of exhibits, it is planned to open on two days in late December. The dates chosen are, Wednesday and Thursday the 29th and 30th December. On both of these days, we will be open from 1000 until 1400.

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Painters Update

Update 7/12/21 – Baby it’s cold(er) inside!

Regular readers of the Paint blog (are there any? – Ed.) may have noticed my obsession with the weather. This is because a) I’m British and b) because the weather very much dictates what the Paint Team can and can’t do on a weekly basis. This week we arrived at El Museo with the car thermometer reading just 2.5 degrees Celsius. That immediately put pay to any outside activity, so the team looked for inside jobs to do. Entering the main hangar it was noticeably colder than outside. Against these challenging conditions, Barry set about painting the remaining Spitfire Oleo (aka undercarriage leg) next to the crash recovered Supercharger and other Oleo down in the ‘Merlin’ area (see Oleo 01). Nearby, Mal was repainting a bit of Mosquito with the paint taking on a treacle like quality in the near sub-zero temperatures!

In the morning, Cliff and Gwen set about cleaning the Bomber Command Museum while Mark and Ian continued with Operation P6; cleaning dirt and mould off of the top side of the upper wing section. Working from the scaffold tower (see Boulton & Paul P6 02), the boys were able to lean over the wing and slowly work in the Anti-Mould agent using a toothbrush before rubbing off with a cloth. The difference was remarkable (see Boulton & Paul P6 03). The fabric came up so well that it is probably not going to be necessary to repaint the upper wing.

In the afternoon, the team rounded up various ladders and other bits of equipment from down near the Whirlwind and put them back into the Paint Store for the winter.

Update 14/12/21 – Cleaning Up

It was a case of platos combinados at El Museo this week with mixed bag of activities going on. A mild morning enabled Barry to bob down to the Whirlwind to effect some unfinished repairs to the (leaky) cockpit roof. A heady mixture of ‘Big Boy’ filler and Roofer’s Sealant was applied to the holes in and around the skylight on the port side of the cockpit; hopefully making it watertight ahead of the winter.

Down in the Main Hangar, Mark and Ian cleaned all the grime off of the upper surfaces of the Piston Provost, before moving on to complete Operation P6 in the B&P Hangar. Remaining mould spots were removed from the undersides of the wings and the surrounding aircraft models were given a wipe clean.

Over in Bomber Command, senior members of the Paint Team (names withheld so as not to reveal any quiz answers) were engaged in cleaning exhibits, sweeping out before setting about painting the back half of the hut’s floor.

Also over in BC, Barry cleaned up the Wellington control stick with degreaser, before wiping over a ********* (name withheld so as not to reveal a quiz answer) pilot’s seat and then clearing off all the grime and cobwebs from the Thingy (see quiz).

After lunch and distribution of 2022 calendars the whole team re-assembled back in BC to continue with hoovering, dusting and general cobweb removal, while the floor paint went off on the other side of the hut.

(Photos) Painters Update

Also from the Painters

Christmas Painty Quiz

Name those painters, aircraft, aircraft seat and thingy!

This week’s varied Paint Team activity facilitated the taking of some slightly crafty pictures (see Paint Team Quiz 01 thru 06), which I have formulated into a short quiz for you regular readers to enjoy/gloss over. There are 6 questions and you may award yourself one point for each correct answer, with two extra points available on question 4 for the anoraks amongst you.

Question 1 – Name the Painter in the green coverall and hat? (Clue – This is a rare photo of the Paint Team Leader actually doing some painting; of the Bomber Command floor)

Question 2 – Name the Painter in the camo? (Clue – Should a person of this vintage really be asked to kneel on a cold concrete floor and squeeze themselves behind bits of random Wellington?)

Question 3 – Name the Plane? (Clue – Bottas finished here at Abu Dhabi)

Question 4 – Name the (Model) Plane in the centre of the picture? (Clue – This local mail plane was faster than the contemporary RAF fighters of the day, allegedly)

Question 4 bonus points – Can you name the two other planes that appear (in part) in this picture?

Question 5 – Name the Plane to which this seat belongs? (Clue – Richard Todd might have sat on one of these in a certain film)

Question 6 – Name the Thingy? (Clue – 8910_QK)

So that’s it folks, one can have too much fun. Anyone who has stuck with it so far, the quiz answers can be found further down the blog.

Barry

Click the button to take you to the answers (and bring you back)

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(Photos) Christmas Painty Quiz

Model Maintenance Unit

7/12/21 Nimrod R1:

As of the 7th Dec, the painting of the Nimrod is progressing well with the main colours (white and light grey) being complete after application of at least 5 coats each (Nimrod Build 06). So it’s full steam ahead for all the extras and fiddly bits. All being well I hope to have it completed by the end of January

Malcolm

(Photos) MMU

Modeller’s Den

The photo below (Modeller’s Den 01) shows progress on boxing up and indexing all of the Modellers Den contents before we can start new lighting and decoration, intended to reduce the multiple reflections that distract the viewer.

Over the years, the original late 50’s/60’s Den design has been overlaid with a huge number of newer items. There are now over 800 individual artefacts in total, all of which have been logged. These have confused the story being presented to the visitor. The attached photos of bays as they did look (Modeller’s Den 02 thru 04) best sums up the extent of clutter, and has reflections to make the point about the lighting.

To address this, and to give the Den a well deserved freshen up, we are reallocating the exhibits across the viewing bays into four time periods, plotting our modeller’s personal progression as well as the advances in hobby products and materials.

Bay 1 – post war to 1959. Our young modeller has some ‘hand me down’ prewar toys still in use, building simple wooden models for play as well as early plastic kits.

Bay 2 – 1960s/early 70s. Our teenage modeller is learning how to build kits more carefully ‘out of the box’, with some specialist paints and accessories, as well as flying simple radio control models and Jetex free flight.

Bay 3 – 1970s/80s. Our experienced adult modeller is now building to a high standard and using accessories and vacforms, and flying multi channel radio control models and collecting diecasts.

Bay 4 – Post the 80s. With kits and flying models getting ever more sophisticated, our modeller takes up R/C electric helicopters and relies more on high quality diecasts to add to his collection, building just a few, more expensive models.

We have original “Den” items that cover all four periods, but will showcase some of our modelling team’s good works as well as significant recent donations in bays 3 and 4.

Peter

(Photo) Modeller’s Den

Engineering Update

9/12/21 Glider Down:

The EoN Primary Glider (EoN Primary Glider 01) has been supported on a frame for many years and (today) it was taken down with David D arranging all the lifting gear and loads of us guiding it down. It will be dismantled and temporarily stored in our new ISO container.

The area will now give a clearer volume to the newly painted and rearranged area for the Merlin display.

9/12/21 Flight Simulator in the Making:

Also, we’ve acquired the fuselage of crashed Zenair CH601 Zodiac G-CDFL microlight that we sourced from a firm near Wisbech (Zenair-CH601-13 and 13a). Steve’s idea is for Roger and me to trim off the bad bits and make it presentable and turn it into a simulator with a real plane feel (see a previous blog entitled “What on Earth”). This means swapping bits over from an existing ANT-18 Link Trainer into the Zenair fuselage. It is going to be quite a job to cut out the damaged bits and make it presentable. As you can see, the front floor area looks really challenging (Zenair-CH601-14).

So progress has started, the engine mounts and nose wheel leg have been removed as have the badly damaged rear of the wing (Zenair-CH601-15). The rear of the fuselage has gone as well. The firewall has been removed as it is too badly bent to be straightened. It will be replaced by a wooden frame.

14/12/21 Flight Simulator Progress

Roger and I have made some good, but difficult, progress removing damaged areas (Zenair-CH601-16 thru 21). The floor between the main spar and the damaged firewall had to be removed and we’ve started to build up the floor with new aluminium alloy sheet.

As you can see from the pictures, the starboard wing stub has been trimmed back and tidied up and the port wing stub will need trimming even further back because it has to go up against a wall.

We will have to figure out how to reinforce the canopy after cutting out the middle section. The idea that the the whole canopy assembly being hinged up and back every time it is used is not really practicable. The solution currently thought through is that there will be a short front screen and a small rear screen, both attached to the frame which will be bolted in a closed position. More on the canopy in a future update.

John

(Photos) Engineering Update

Once again I am indebted to the contributors for their input.

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Christmas Painty Quiz Answers

These are the Painty Quiz Answers:

Question 1: Cliff,
Question 2: Gwen,
Question 3: Boulton & Paul P6,
Question 4: Boulton & Paul P64,
Question 4 bonus points: Under wing of P6 and top wing of Tiger Moth model,
Question 5: Lancaster pilot’s seat,
Question 6: It’s an aircraft jack, possibly for a Vickers Wellington.

If you got them all right then award yourself eight points and a glass of something seasonal!

Barry

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The Repeat Info

I make no apologies for keeping his section in our blog, as we are a charitable organisation relying on the public to keep us going. Any help we receive is gratefully accepted and enables the museum to continue in our mission “To conserve, preserve and promote the history of aviation in East Anglia, whilst providing a fun, family-friendly and interactive museum, promoting education and remembrance of the events of the past“.

Are you thinking of helping ??

We obtain most of our finances by donations and by membership fees. We save money by having a dedicated group of volunteers that keep the museum and the exhibits maintained. We hope therefore a few people may consider helping in the ways below.

There are three easy ways to help: Help by becoming a Museum Member, also by Volunteering to help at the museum, or by Donating to assist in our running costs. Please click on the appropriate button below to access the appropriate information:

Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM MEMBER Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM VOLUNTEER Click to make aDONATION

Keep Up To Date

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