Windsor (CH2A) Lancaster Restoration

peter · **Posted:** Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:03 pm

Hello Michael. There is a few pages online of survivng lancasters now.

And yes FM212 did recieve lots of love and care including a complete repaint new canopy glass(lexan) new blister, new nav table and hours spent on the engines.
A typical work day consisted of getting on site by 9 am, installing the hand jack and budgie perch forward of the tailwheel strut to take the weight and stress off the centre section when gaining access to the interior via the crew door. Then it was a case of climbing up to the cockpit and navigating the concrete and steel beams in the centresection to finally arrive in the cockpit and opening the windows, control lockes were disengaged and the elevators were allowed to droop to allow water to drain.
Both landing gear doors were opened up to allow water to drain from inside all the doors. Engines were unbuttoned and the silica plugs removed and inhibiting oil pumped through as the engines were turned over by hand several blades. This was done on all four engines. Then it was a case of reverse order and engines buttoned up all windows and hatches closed up and site clearing until next time. Eventually inspections were carried out on the wing attachment points as well. She did make for a strange site seeing her on w post like a fly on a pin with flaps down and gear doors open!

I have loads of pics from my time working on her but if you havent already, please take a look at some of them here:

The used to be official website.
http://www.lancasterfm212.freeservers.com
Due to financial reasons this site will be coming down this year.

Michel Lemieux · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:16 pm

Sad to hear you closing you site Peter.

Must have been fun times for sure taking good care of her......including all the hard work :wink:

Mike Berry · **Posted:** Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:54 pm

Nice shots Ryan

It looks like they're off to a good start with the amount of intact components in the cockpit.

the330thbg · **Joined:** Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:06 pm **Posts:** 2713

great going!!!!

Rhino-9-3 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:58 pm

Thanks guys!

James put up the propeller update, my engine #3 update should be up this weekend.

http://lancfm212.netfirms.com/discussion/

Rhino-9-3 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:38 pm

Ok here's the first set of pictures from today. The engine #3 update will be up on the website soon.

Here's the wonderful cutting job done by Windsor Parks and Recreation so it could be put on the stand in Jackson Park.

Rhino-9-3 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:15 pm

The plane is being painted up in honor of "the Bad Penny" (the first Lancaster that dropped food and supplies to Dutch civilians in WW2) and Bob Upcott who was the pilot of the mission (he's from Windsor).

Here's the wall memorial for "the Bad Penny", along with the Mosquito fuselage in front of it. (I'll post a Mosquito update in another thread)

Rhino-9-3 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:39 pm

Here's the wing tip that is being worked on right now and the one that hasn't been started yet. Most of the stringers (I think thats what they're called) have been replaced because of really bad corrosion.

Here is the top turret that is also being worked on right now. I don't now much about what's being done on this right now though.

Also here is the media booth that is being constructed. Engine #3 is in the background still being worked on before it is put on display in the Windsor Airport Terminal building soon.

Rhino-9-3 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Here's the last update for tonight.

These pictures here show where the stand was located on the plane. The section is filled with a wood floor and steel support beams to support the fuselage and wings.

Here's the right tail, most of the paint has been stirpped off of it but the top right corner can't be because the covering is to thin. (it's starting to wrinkle as well)

Here's a shot of the wings, not much has been done on them that I know of.

And finally here's a shot of the inside of the plane looking towards the rear gunners position.

More pictures can been seen here.

http://s458.photobucket.com/albums/qq30 ... n/?start=0

peter · **Posted:** Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:20 am

Excellent pictures and update Ryan! Do you know if the floor repair is just a temporary thing? Also do you know what they are using to strip the paint? The metal is thin in areas from the sandblasting donw when she was on the post. First they used soda blasting which was expensive and time consuming so the parks switched to a more coarser product which ended up causing heat related wrinkling of the skin. You can see clear evidence of this on the underside of the wings and cockpit fuselage side skins.

Rhino-9-3 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:01 am

peter wrote:

Excellent pictures and update Ryan! Do you know if the floor repair is just a temporary thing? Also do you know what they are using to strip the paint? The metal is thin in areas from the sandblasting donw when she was on the post. First they used soda blasting which was expensive and time consuming so the parks switched to a more coarser product which ended up causing heat related wrinkling of the skin. You can see clear evidence of this on the underside of the wings and cockpit fuselage side skins.

Thanks Peter!

The floor that they have put in is temporary. It was only put in so people are able to walk through the entire plane. I'm not exactly sure what they're using for paint stripping but I think they're just using an aircraft paint thinner and then scraping the paint off with plastic scrapers (I guess thats what they're called). This is what they were doing on a few parts last week while I was there. Also in a few spots they have used powerwashing to strip the paint (bomb bay doors). If you want I can find out for sure from Michael what they're using on most of the plane, but I'm pretty sure it's the aircraft paint thinner.

peter · **Posted:** Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:27 am

Thanks Ryan, you don't have to ask Mike. I would think it would be something like talstrip or something similiar.

daveymac82c · **Posted:** Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:38 am

Great stuff Ryan,

Thank you for all the great pictures and keeping us all up-to-date with this restoration, which I think is the most exciting restoration out there right now.

Cheers,

David (The Lancaster-ly Jealous here in British Columbia!!! :evil:

)

k5083 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:39 am

Rhino-9-3 wrote:

The plane is being painted up in honor of "the Bad Penny" (the first Lancaster that dropped food and supplies to Dutch civilians in WW2) and Bob Upcott who was the pilot of the mission (he's from Windsor).

Really? So not an RCAF Mk.X paint scheme? I'm all for honoring a local, but that's unfortunate.

I see they have a Martin turret. Looks to be coming along nicely too.

August

Rhino-9-3 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:28 pm

Here's a quick update from today...

The prop that was sent up to Toronto is corroded in a few spots so much that it can't used on the plane, the guys figure the other 3 props are also like this. So now they're in search of new props. Since the one in Toronto can't be used it's going to be shipped back and they are going to re-paint it and mount it on engine #3 so it can be put on display in the airport terminal building.

Today some of the guys were also working on oil/paint removal of engine #3's firewall (I think it's #3). Some work was also being done on the engines themselve's, along with more work on the media booth.

They had planned on having one of the engines running in time for the Windsor International Airshow in August but they're thinking it isn't going to happen now. It's going to take longer then they had figured it would.

Engine #2 which is still on the plane was having some work done on it as well, some work was also being done on the prop which is still mounted on the engine.

Time for pictures...

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Windsor (CH2A) Lancaster Restoration

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