NASAM Update as of the 26th Oct 2025
In This Edition
Summary of Contents
In this edition of the Blogs “Museum News“, we have a few photos sent in by Joe of visiting motorcyclists on Sunday, the 12th Oct 2025.
From the “Teams At The Museum“, we have updates from Barry in the Paint Team, and a short update from John in Engineering on the solution to a Skeeter tyre problem.
Under the “Events Information“, we have the open days for the remainder of 2025, and the opening date in February, when we will revert to our normal weekly days and hours.
Pete S
Museum News
General News from or about the Museum
Visiting Motorcycles
Sunday, the 12th of October, saw a few visiting motorcycles arrive at the Museum; these then parked up around the Hunter. Unfortunately, we did not get the club name, but the bikes included a few classic examples, as you can see from the photos below.
(Photos) Visiting Motorcycles
Teams At The Museum
News from the Various Team
Paint Team Update
14/10/2025 Blade Runners!
With Mr UK Weather serving up a diet of rather ‘dreich’ conditions, the boys went on the hunt for inside jobs this week.
They were soon directed towards the Skeeter in the Restoration Workshop after John S’s impromptu Charades-like interpretation of the film Blade Runner in the Shop, which basically involved jogging on the spot while wielding a (tail) rotor blade. A sight to behold!
After much guffawing, the boys took possession of the tail rotor blades and set about giving them a coat of primer (see pic).
Another Skeeter related job that had been on the stocks for some time was the fitting the new decals to the cleaned up tail boom. Barry therefore toddled off to the Paper Store to retrieve the already cut decals and then got to work ‘weeding’ out the excess black vinyl. Having weeded the decals, Barry then applied the Application Tape using the good offices of Gary’s office meeting table.
By mid-morning, the first decals were ready to fit (see pic).
After lunch, Mark and Ian W. then applied a first coat of White Gloss to the tail rotor blades, pausing momentarily to admire their own work (see pic).
With the paint going off, Mark and Ian then turned their attention to the main rotor blades. It soon became apparent that the blades were going to need some repairs before they could be painted. The rest of the afternoon was then spent repairing the blades using some ‘Big Boy’ body filler (see pic).
By tiffin time, a first ‘rough’ fill was complete, and Barry had also finished the black decals on the tail boom (see pic).
Next week, we will continue with the repairs to the main rotor blades.
(Photos) Paint Team 14/10/25
21/10/2025 – Bits and Pieces!
Yes, 60s pop pickers, it was a “Bits and Pieces” kind of day today.
With Gwen now permanently transferred to the Navy Larks and Mark in Cumbria, it wasn’t really the Dave Clark Five, more the Dave Clark (Paint Team) Two and a Half!
The day kicked off with Ian W. giving the Skeeter tail rotor blades another coat of white gloss, followed later in the day by another coat of er… white gloss (see pic). In between coats, Ian got on with prepping the Skeeter’s starboard cockpit door for paint (see pic).
Following some mid-week conversations with Ian H., one potential job for the winter is to clean and then try and polish the Lightning (XG329). This is looking particularly dirty. It is also dull and tarnished. The question is, what is the right product and right process to restore the lustre to 60-year-old polished aluminium? Answers on a postcard please!
Meanwhile, the initial proposal was to try applying Wadpol, as used by the RAF. A rather antiquated tin of Wadpol (impregnated wadding) was recovered from Container No.1 (see pic) and then Barry set about trying to buff up a discrete area on the Lightning. Initial results were disappointing. While the aged Wadpol did bring up a bit of a shine, it wasn’t able to tackle the oxidation/surface corrosion (aka black marks) on the tested surfaces. Back to the drawing board…
After luncheon, the Skipper (Cliff) joined Barry and Ian W. over by Nosey (Canberra WG789). With relatively warm and dry conditions, the opportunity was taken to finish Nosey off by applying a quick coat of Dacrylate Clear Lacquer in order to protect the silver finish (see pic).
Half an hour later it was back to the Restoration Workshop. While Ian W. flipped the Skeeter door over to paint the other side, Barry started on repairs to the Skeeter’s main rotor blades. After consultation with John S., it was agreed that the rotor blades would be made solid through a combination of (some very whiffy) Big Boy Isopon body filler and Duct Tape (see pic). Once the filler has been smoothed off next week, John will then recover the blades using fabric and dope. Finally, the blades will be finished off with a fresh coat of paint.
Barry
(Photos) Paint Team 21/10/25
Engineering – Skeeter Update
We’ve been having some trouble with the Skeeter tyres recently, but Roger has managed to ‘inflate’ them without too much trouble.
John S
Event information
What’s next at the Museum
Open Days October 2025 through February 2026
These are the days that we will be open for the rest of the year, and the reopening date in February 2026.
The Repeat Information
Funding
We are a charitable organisation, relying now on admission charges, grants and donations from the people that visit. Any and all help is greatly appreciated 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”.
Would you like to help??
One of the ways we save money is by having a dedicated group of volunteers who keep the Museum and its exhibits both manned and maintained. We hope, that a few people would consider helping in any the three ways below:
Help by becoming a Museum Member, volunteering to help at the Museum, or by making a Donation to help with our running costs. To learn more about these three methods of assistance, please click the corresponding button below to access the relevant information.
Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM MEMBER Click to see how to becomeMUSEUM VOLUNTEER 
Click to make aDONATION
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Pete S
