NASAM Update as of the 8th May 2022
[joli-toc]
Chairman’s Update
New Manager for the Museum
The first big piece of news is that we have finally engaged a new museum manager. Gary Stebbing starts work with us at the end of the month.
Gary has a lifelong interest in aviation and joined the RAF as a Weapons Technician, or plumber to those in the service. He has worked on the mighty Nimrod, the Harrier jump jet and lastly the infamous Jaguar. Leaving after 22 years of service he decided to turn his hand to boatbuilding, and later went on to carry out refits to Tyne Class Lifeboats on behalf of the RNLI as Chargehand Marine Engineer. Lately, he then took up the challenge as the Workshop Supervisor for an Oil and Gas Sub-Sea Survey company based in Great Yarmouth.
We welcome Gary to the Museum.
And now for a couple of teasers
Percival Proctor
I almost gave an update on this in the last edition, but now we can reveal that the museum has been offered a partially restored Percival Proctor which we are in the process of arranging to view. From photographs, it will probably live in the restoration shop for quite a while. However, watch this space and future updates to see if we do get the aircraft.
Rolls Royce Heritage
Rolls Royce Heritage has lost the use of its premises and is looking to place several of its engines on display with other museums. We have expressed an interest in two engines, an Adour (or possibly RB199) and a Riedel. Again, keep an eye on this blog or our Social Media for future updates.
Steve
General Updates
Well, it has only been just over a week since the last Online Flier. Because of the various Event Days and other updates, I have decided to publish the “Flier” blog at irregular intervals for the next few months, as and when I get a few updates from the Volunteers at the Museum. These publications will not be two weeks apart as they have been over the winter months.
This edition just sees updates from the Chair, the Painters and a catchup edition from the Chippies.
Pete S
Chippies Update
Part 1 – 26th April
With a trolley load of missile stands almost ready for delivery to the main hangar, Michael F’s attention turned to how to protect the missiles. Initial thoughts ran to some rubber matting Dave D had on his shelves. This probably would have been OK but is quite thin. Ash suggested he had some hard foam mats in the bric-a-brac shed that they couldn’t get rid of which might suit. The mat he chose is a nice lavender colour, just right to offset the dark blue stands and the grey missiles. Who said we Chippies have no colour taste? Turns out it was a yoga mat – well we’re not fussy about what we use, as long as it does the job, (see Missile Stands 09).
Fixing became the next challenge – world-famous Gorilla Glue fell down at the first attempt, failing to grip at all. Dave H scorned this American upstart and went for bog-standard builders’ “gripper” adhesive – worked a treat! Once the adhesive had hardened, the trolley load went to the hangar where various helpers (Ivor, Tony, Ian S and various other volunteers hanging around) joined in to carefully manhandle the missiles onto their new rests (see Missile Stands 10 and 11).
Dave D wandered in first thing in the morning with “I could do with a bit of a hand and advice”. As the day was fine, he had decided to replace the tractor and mower shed roof. He had pulled down the old roofing the previous evening and was ready to start raising the roof. Dave H, Ash Tug and Michael all wandered over and variously offered opinions and advice (like “I wouldn’t do it like that” and “you really ought to do this”). Eventually, after Dave D got a set of roof panels resting on the beam timbers, assisted by all but Dave H whose climbing days are way behind him. With his plan of action settled, Dave H assisted by Tug started fixing the new roof in place. By going home time, the job was done, with one “small” matter to resolve. One end of the front beam had rotted and it requires replacing. A job for another sunny day (see Tractor Shed 01).
Dave H retreated early on to the workshop to continue working on the new Red Arrows push-along plane. Morris, meanwhile, contemplated the stack of forty-odd wooden chairs from the NAAFI and, with a sigh, got out his sandpaper and paintbrush. Two down, thirty-eight to go (see NAAFI Chairs 01).
28th April
Previously Dave H decided to add wing extensions to the push-along plane and have a steerable nose wheel. He now decided a suggestion to have a fixed main undercarriage and a steering rear wheel, but with a long fixed pushing arm on the tailplane, made sense. So he stripped back the modifications and started building out the rear fuselage to take the new steerable wheel, then started building up the rigid pushing arm (see Red Arrows Push Plane 02).
Ash and Michael F were in a destructive mood again, for good reasons. The door to the ROC Museum building was jamming and was even flexing the door frame when pulled too. So we started investigating where and why it was sticking. The building has been in place a good few years and, like all buildings, settled. Unfortunately, the concrete ramp has not so the bottom lip of the door was catching the, now higher, ramp. Cold chisels and a lump hammer were the order of the day as we removed a small amount of concrete from the top of the ramp (see ROC Doorway 01). Unfortunately, this didn’t prove entirely satisfactory, even though we got rid of our frustrations. So out came that most useful of power tools – a cordless multi-tool, fitted with a saw blade. Now we could trim off a bit of the bottom of the door, but far less than if we hadn’t trimmed the concrete as well (see ROC Doorway 02).
3rd May
Dave H began by assembling his new push-along plane to make sure that these newfangled ideas all worked (see Red Arrows Push Plane 03). To the surprise of nobody, except possibly Dave, they did. So he then took it all to pieces again and started the long process of making a robust toy for the younger visitors.
Steve B delivered a number of signs to the workshop, mostly for the Cold War Corridor though one is for a stand at the entrance to Merlin Corner. So Ash and Michael F worked on building it a stand using salvaged parts from around the back of the Restoration Workshop, some offcut ply and … a rolling pin! These we handed to Tug for the inevitable paint job.
Tony started work on what we hope will be our next money-making venture. A couple of weeks ago, John S asked, on behalf of the committee, if we could come up with ideas for things we could make to sell in the Shop. One idea was for window boxes and planters. So this week, Tony started building some prototypes to see how easy it would be and to try out in the shop (see Window Box 01 and 02). He has built two sizes: one about a metre long, the second half that. It all seemed pretty straightforward so we’ll have them on sale soon.
And guess what Morris was up to? Yes, he got a few more chairs painted. We’ll give him a hand soon, probably.
(Photos) Chippies Update 1
Part 2 – 5th May
Les was on painting brush duties today. First up was a job for Ian H – a wooden stand he is re-using to mount a Spitfire propeller boss and a small metal stand, both in what is becoming standard dark blue. While he had the blue out, Les thought he’d do a couple more NAAFI chairs in the same colour (see Spitfire Prop Boss 01). Ivor passing by suggested no one would mind if these blue chairs got used as display stands, would they?
Dave H was also at work with a paintbrush, giving his Red Arrows push-along plane a nice coat of Post Office Red (see Red Arrows Push Plane 04). Les, having finished two blue seats, snaffled Dave’s Red to do a couple more chairs.
Ian H also asked for a new purpose-built support to go under the tail of the complete Lightning in the Main Hangar. Ash and Michael started off by thinking of using another existing stand, a twin of the one just painted by Les. This they would extend upwards to place under the small tail skid. Ivor, who worked on Lightnings during his RAF career, pointed out this skid was only rubber. He suggested a design, similar to the missile stands just finished, supporting the fuselage which would be like the ones used in service. Digging around in the magic cavern, or woodshed, they found a large stand previously used on the T-28. With suitable legs and reshaping the cutout, this would do the job nicely – a job for next week (see Lightning Stand 01).
Les,, now bored with red, dug around in the paint tins stored at the back of the workshop. Having discarded a somewhat drab green and a very dark grey, he found a fetching shade of purple which he applied to two more chairs. With his quota at seven chairs painted (see NAAFI Chairs 02), he called it a day and went home.
Remember that rolling pin and salvaged metal? Now the paint was dry, Ash and Michael put the jigsaw together to complete the stand for Merlin Corner (see Merlin Sign 01 and 02) – spot the rolling pin. Ivor spent the afternoon on the finishing touches for the ejector seat (see Ejector Seat Display 01) and engine displays, preparing and hanging signs above the engines and the big new sign welcoming people to the Cold War Corridor (see Cold War Sign 01).
Michael F
(Photos) Chippies Update 2
Painters Update
3/5/22 – Wing Walkers!
Yes folks, they couldn’t put if off any longer! This week our intrepid pressure washers had to move onto the ‘beast’. Donning ‘full wets’ once again, Cliff, Gwen and Ian set about washing the Valetta. Being a ‘big old bird’ this took all day to complete. With plenty of aircraft surface to go around, the awesome threesome took up their own positions on the aircraft, with Cliff on the nose (see Valetta Washdown 01), Gwen on the outer wings (see Valetta Washdown 02) and Ian on the inner wings (see Valetta Washdown 03).
Elsewhere it was ‘same old same old’ for Mark and Barry, back on the Whirlybird. As reported last week, there was still one rotor blade to complete on the sanding back. With the Valetta dudes having commandeered one of the ‘scaff’ towers, progress on the Whirlybird was somewhat hampered, with Barry having to twist and contort to sand the final blade while hanging off a ladder. Similarly, Mark at one point had to slot the rear-facing rotor blade between the ‘scaff’ rungs and then stand on top of it to complete the sanding process. Fortunately, no Painters were harmed during the completion of this week’s blog.
Barry
(Photos) Painters Update
The Repeat Info
The repeat information is still here I’m afraid, and I make no apologies for keeping his section in our blog. We are a charitable organisation relying on monies from 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 both manned and 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
To keep up to date with further information, please keep an eye on our Social Media (see the Social Media buttons at the foot of this blog) or click on the button below to be notified by email of any upcoming changes by seeing the latest blog.
Go to the form forEMAIL NOTIFICATIONS
bloginfo
