NASAM Update as of the 7th Dec 2025

CLICK on heading to GO

In This Edition

Summary of Contents

With the Museum now being closed to the public to enable the Volunteers to get to grips with projects and maintenance, this again is a short blog.

From the “Teams At The Museum“, we have a double update from Barry and the continued work of the Paint Team. Also, another update from Malcolm as the Museum’s model maker in chief.

Not strictly an event, we do have details of the two days in December when the Museum will be open to the public under the “Events Information” section.

Pete S

Teams At The Museum

News from the Various Team

Paint Team Update

25/11/25 – Come on baby, light my Jag!

Yes folks, The Doors opened (geddit) this week to some new opportunities. Cross fertilisation took place between the Sparkies and Paint Team as the new collective answered the call to re-position some of the spotlights in the Main Hangar onto the Jag. Some scaff’ was soon rustled up and then your correspondent was sent up the tower to turn a couple of the spotlights that now face onto the Jag (see pic).

Elsewhere, Ian W. and Mark toddled off to the Valetta to put down a first coat of Matt Black on the recently primed new cockpit floor. Some jolly japes took place, with Ian becoming subject to a temporary ‘lock in’ in the cockpit (see pic). With decorum restored, the cockpit floor was the given a first coat of Matt Black by Ian (see pic). While Ian was painting, Mark pressure washed the ‘decking’ on the steps to the Valetta that were very mossy and consequently very slippery. The transformation was very clear to see (see pic). The next step will be to apply some anti-slip flooring down the centre of the cabin, subject to cost approval.

In between other jobs, a bit of time was spent continuing the ‘proof of concept’ clean and polish of selected parts of Lightning XG329. By close of play, Barry had finished the port stabilator (see pic). A few minutes were also taken to figure how best to get up the Lightning’s tailfin next week, to start the ‘top down’ clean and polish proper. A lashed ladder, with a ‘stand-off’ seeming to be the most likely solution.

(Photos) Paint Team 25/11/25

02/12/25 – Taking a shine to the Lightning (not!)

Yes folks, it was a very frustrating week this week, with little to show for half a day trying to bring a shine back to the Lightning’s tail on the starboard side.

Buoyed up by some decent results on the stabilators, the boys were ready to bring back the shine to the fin, using the same materials (Alusol) and equipment (foam pad polisher and buffing cloth).

The day kicked off with an assessment of how on earth we were going to be able to get up right to the top of the tail. The boys subsequently toddled off to fetch one of the scaff’ towers, which then got erected behind the tail. Barry then started to polish the top of tail above the rudder with his dual action polisher (see pic). Progress was slow, not helped by the access issues and the weight of the polisher! Results were disappointingly ‘patchy’ at best, for no obvious reason. The surface was very ‘matt’ and the polisher struggled to cut through some of the grime/corrosion with any consistency, especially along the rivet lines.

When the going got tough, the tough decided to stop for lunch and further cogitation.

Elsewhere, our Top Titivator (Gwen) returned to the fold and was dispatched to give the new Valetta cockpit floor a 2^nd coat of Matt Black. After that Gwen painted some of the shelves in the Shop for Marion.

In the arvo, Barry moved from the scaff’ tower onto the ladder to reach the parts of the top of the tail that he couldn’t reach from the scaff’ (see pic). With not much to show for their day so far, Mark then decided to leave Barry to it and go ‘off piste’ a bit, giving the port wing top a wash and wipe (see pic). In contrast, the results were nearly instantaneous. The bucket of virtually black water being testament to how dirty the wing top was! Mark also had just enough time to wash and wipe the starboard wing too (see pic).

Having packed up, the boys then stood back to reflect (kind of) on today’s efforts (see pic – for the avoidance of doubt, the section above the rudder has been polished!). Further conversations to be had on the best way forward from here.

Barry

(Photos) Paint Team 02/12/25

MMU Update

As of 26/11/25

The Meteor, which I mentioned in my last blog update, has now been completed and was delivered yesterday (25th Nov) to the museum development diorama. It has been completed as a 1/72 scale replica of our own WF643, see comparison photos. I did have trouble finding suitable red/white checkerboard decals for the fuselage, in the end, I used decals produced for a Lightning, which were slightly larger in scale but not so much to be that noticeable.

Most of my time spent on Tuesday, whilst we had power, was concentrated on clearing out a cabinet in the model store which contained a multitude of unbuilt model kits. Several boxes were filled and brought back to Bury to be sorted. The majority appear to be old Vacform kits, a type which, personally, I stay well clear of. These are typically subjects that most mainstream producers avoid because of being obscure types. These will never be used by the museum, so once I check through every kit for completeness, I will endeavour to find a way of selling them all. Anyone out there like the challenge of building Vacforms????

Malcolm

(Photos) MMU Update

Event information

What’s next at the Museum

Opening Days in December

Not strictly an event day(s), but worth noting is the fact that we will be open for two days in December. Monday, the 29th of December and Tuesday, the 30th of December 2025 will see the Museum open from 1000 through to 1500 on each day. There will be a number of Volunteers on hand to answer your questions and give a few guided tours of the workshops and other areas, including flight simulators and open cockpits. With the NAAFI Café open for hot and cold drinks, plus snacks, this is a great family day out.

Pete S

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

Keep up to date

To keep up to date with what is going on at the Museum, you can follow us on Social Media (see the Social Media buttons below) or alternatively, you can be emailed every time a new blog is published. To register for these email notifications, please click on the button below and complete the form. We will take care of the rest.