NASAM Update as of the 15th May 2022

[joli-toc]

Chairman’s Update

CLICK on heading to GO

Cold War Corridor

The cold War corridor cabinets are starting to get populated by the volunteers today (Tuesday 10th of May 2022). The next process will be labelling up the models and airfields.

(Photos) Cold War Corridor

Steve

General Updates

Like last week, the updates this week come from the Chair, the Painters and the Chippies, who I am sure have seen enough of chair(s).

A number of people continue to ask a series of questions on Social Media about our charges for entry and for our opening days and times. These are the answers:

We are open Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays
The opening times are from 1000 until 1600
We are FREE to enter and there is FREE car parking on site even on the Special Event Dates

Pete S

Painters Update

10/5/22 – Wet n’ Dry?

This week Mr UK Weather served up some conditions that were rather at odds with the preceding forecast, which played havoc with the team’s plans for the day. In the morning, the team were met by rather drizzly conditions, although the forecast suggested that this would be relatively short-lived, with the rest of the day potentially being dry and bright (yeah right).

So, the team split into three. Upfront, Mark pressure washed the ‘Whirlybird’ (see Whirlwind Washdown 04) following last week’s sanding of the rotor blades and potentially prior to some topcoat activity next week. In the middle paddock, as it was wet, Gwen, Ian and Cliff decided that they probably couldn’t get much wetter and cracked on with the pressure washing of the exhibits in front of the Main Hangar. First up was the F27 (see F27 Washdown 01), followed by the Sea Prince (see Sea Prince Washdown 01) before lunch.

Meanwhile, down the back of the museum and in the dry, Barry disappeared off to continue with his ‘rainy day’ job of cleaning up the Bf109 starter/generator in the Metal Workshop. Most of the seriously ingrained greasy crud has now been removed, but another pass with engine degreaser and a clean rag will be required before it’s done.

After lunch, the ‘washy posse’ continued to move towards the Main Hangar, with Gwen cleaning up the mobile radar thingy (see Hunter Radar Washdown 01) and Ian and Cliff giving the Hunter the once over (see Hunter Washdown 01).

Over in the front paddock, with the weather improving (temporarily as it turned out) and with the ‘Whirlybird seemingly dry after its morning wash, Mark and Barry set about sanding back areas of the ‘Whirlybird’ where the grey primer had lifted over the winter. Mark then decided it would be an efficient use of time to re-prime those areas just sanded back so that we could potentially start top coating next week. Frustratingly, about half an hour later the heavens opened which caused the boys to ‘match abandoned’ with the job half done. So, we’ll be back on it next week!

Barry

(Photos) Painters Update

Chippies Update

10th May

Today Tug and Morris were back painting chairs for the NAAFI again. Their chosen colours from the diverse palette available in the workshop were primrose yellow (see NAAFI Chairs 03 and 04) and post office red. We seem to have had different weather around the Chippies Workshop to the where Painters were working because they managed to work outside. The sun must have been shining as they were able to top up their tans, well at least the parts not bespattered with paint. Or maybe it did rain, which accounts for Tug and Morris coming back inside a lot to sit and drink tea.

Dave H assembled the push-along Red Arrow and then, sneaking the red tin from under Morris’s nose, gave it its final topcoat (see Red Arrows Push Plane 05).

Ash decided that a better design for the Lightning tail stand would be to have crossed, or scissor, legs. So first he and Michael F, using the template made last week, cut out the revised yoke shape. To our total amazement, or his excellent measuring and cutting skills according to Ash, when holding it in place against the Lightning it fitted exactly. Suffering from shock, the whole Chippie Crew immediately took a tea break to calm their nerves.

In his state of bemusement, Michael had not written down the lengths of the legs and forgotten what they were. Having got the dimensions again, we set about joining the two legs. It was time to play hunt the bolt, as the whole – two legs and a spacer – was some six inches plus (150mm+). As we couldn’t find anything long enough, we reverted to plan B: a length of threaded rod (or stud) cut to size, with a locking nut on each end (see Lightning Stand 02).

Calling in Tony as reinforcement, we made our way back to the hangar to assemble the stand. This entailed Ash and Tony holding the yoke up to the tail then Michael pushing the legs into place. Then whoever was nearest grabbed the power drill/driver and screwed through the leg and into the yoke, then repeat for the second leg. While it sounds straightforward, it was in fact a game of three-dimensional Twister.

Tony having carried the somewhat heavy stand back to the workshop, where we added more screws and tightened the lock nuts to solidify the stand. Next, we sliced the corners off the legs to make them stand flat on the ground instead of the edge of the corner. But having stood it upright, Michael suggested it needed more stability in what would be the fore and aft direction. So Ash got the original feet from the yoke and screwed them on. Better but still a wobble. As it was going home time we decided to sleep on it (see Lightning Stand 03 and 04).

12th May

Ash started the day trimming bits off the legs of the Lightning tail stand, trying to cure the wobble. With Dave H and Michael F throwing in suggestions, like “start again” and “use a chisel”, Ash finally found the answer. The feet have cutouts in them that, coming from the original yoke, are wider than the legs. Jamming a spacer in each to fill the gap cured the wobble which was due to looseness, not flatness. Live and learn! Now they needed painting and who should be on hand with a paintbrush but Les, about to start painting chairs….

If you want painting done, Les is your man. During the course of the day, he gave the Lightning stand two coats of blue (see Lightning Stand 05), decided he didn’t like the primrose yellow so added a touch of red to make a salmon pink colour, painted five chairs in this then, as the tin got emptier, added more red to make a deeper pink (which isn’t on any paint chart) and did three more chairs (see NAAFI Chairs 05). All this and he ate a large box of sandwiches and several cups of tea … and went home before the rest of us.

Dave H took the opportunity to finish assembling his push-along Red Arrow – adding the undercarriage and the dashboard (see Red Arrows Push Plane 06) . Then he started thinking about the finishing touches. What should the white flash along the fuselage look like? Could he just have a white band as it was easier to paint? What does a real Red Arrow have? What about roundels?

Ash and Michael finished off a job from two weeks ago. If you remember we chipped away some concrete on the ramp to the ROC Museum door but it needed tidying up. Last week we found some “concrete” in the workshop but when we mixed it and left it to set, it just crumbled. So Dave got some “ready to use patching concrete” from the shop and, as the day was fine, we decided to finish the job. On reading the instructions, Ash found we needed to fill the area from the tub of concrete and sprinkle water on it to moisten, rather than mixing with water as we’d expected. Enquiring of John in the Ground Force, we found a watering can but no rose to form the spray. Ingenious as ever, Ash found a colander on the bric-a-brac which we used to “sprinkle ” after a fashion (see ROC Doorway 03).

Next up was a self-imposed job, at least Ash decided it needed doing for the bric-a-brac. A few years ago the Chippies made some shelf stands to display second-hand books for sale. We are getting more “coffee table ” books which tend to be quite large and don’t fit the existing shelf spacing. So the plan was, on one stand, to remove one shelf and spread out the others. As always, rebuilding is more difficult than building, especially with awkwardly shaped furniture. As Michael and Ash took more and more parts off, we wondered if it would have been easier to start from scratch. As always, brute force and ignorance persevered over good sense, but we achieved the conversion (see Bric-a-Brac 04). But somehow it looks like it needs a new coat of paint….

Michael F

(Photos) Chippies 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.