Windsor (CH2A) Lancaster Restoration

[StangStung]

^^ Pics or it didn't happen.

[peter]

I didnt take many but there are loads here...

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/75034966975/photos/

[Rhino-9-3]

My Dad and I went to see Lanc FM212 today for the first time since she was removed from the park and placed into the "shoebox" before coming to the airport. We were very impressed by the workmanship going into her repair and restoration. Roger showed us the repairs and some before and afters of the wingtips and they are really coming along. If you ever get the chance to see the project in person you will be suitably impressed!

Glad you guys enjoyed the trip down, wish I could have made it over to meet you guys but I was busy with work. Next time!

Some updates/photos coming soon. By tomorrow night we should have a one of the inboard fuel cell access doors removed. We will also be recieveing our newly restored horizontal stabilizers back from Kitchener shortly.

[peter]

Sorry we missed you Ryan, it was a great day but dang it was hot in that building!! Looking forward to the pics and update!

[Rhino-9-3]

Finally managed to remove the port side cover this evening. We were happy to find that everything that was covered by it is in excellent condition!

[Travisd80elcam]

Any News out of the cold North on this Lanc?

[Rhino-9-3]

Any News out of the cold North on this Lanc?

Sorry for the lack of updates lately everyone I'm up in North Bay for school right now. I'll be back home in another week, I'll be doing an update for you all then.

Don't have any pictures at the moment, but the crew has started to rivet the skins onto the port wingtip and has been working hard to complete the inner undercarriage door valances that were removed to open the fuel cell access panels. Once those are done work will begin on the doors themselves. As well, the #4 engine mount came back repaired and fully certified recently. That's all I can think of off the top of my head right now, but there will be more to come soon.

[Rhino-9-3]

Hey guys, was back home this past week and finally got around to working on the project once again. Everything is going well and progressing nicely. The riveting has halted on the port wingtip as the guys try to find a replacement part for the trailing edge of the wingtip. Work has begun on the starboard one however with the making of the new skins, all of the originals have to be replaced. As well the guys have been working hard on the inboard landing gear door valances (basically the section that attaches the gear door to the bottom of the wing). The starboard valance is nearly completed with one more skin and anhor nuts to be installed. The port is coming along great, the last skin was made this past week and riveting will most likely begin this coming week.

Will Pigeon making a new wingtip skin using the old one as a template.


Port wingtip


Starboard wingtip


Port valance


Starboard valance


I'll be posting some engine news later this evening along with some photos of the one we currently have torn apart.

[peter]

Just cuious what are the plans are for the original skin pieces that have been replaced...? You could cut some of them into key ring sizes and sell them for fundraising..

Last edited by peter on Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

[groundpounder]

Hopefully an update soon ??

[k5083]

Just cuious what the plans are for the original skin pieces that have been replaced... You could cut some of them into key ring sizes and sell them for fundraising..

+1. Too many restorers miss this source of easy money.

August

[Rhino-9-3]

Hey guys, this has been brought up many times throughout the crew, not sure what the plan is but it would definetly be a good fundraising tool. Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens...

As for an update, now that I'm back in town for the summer I'll write one up tomorrow and get some photos posted. Things are really starting to look good!

[Rhino-9-3]

Alright, I'm going to go through and list out the current projects and try to give you guys an idea on what's going on:

Landing Gear Door Valances: both of the inner valances are nearly completed, we're currently waiting on an order of new anchor nuts so they can be installed. Once installed the valance will be inspected, signed off, then the bottom skins will be pop riveted (cherry lock rivet) on.



Landing Gear Doors: both of the inner landing gear doors have had all skins removed and new ones made. We're currently waiting on construction of a new larger media blast booth so we can blast the actual structure of the doors. Once that's completed we can then rivet the top skins on and again have the work inspected, then pop rivet(cherry lock) the bottom skins on.





Wing Tips: both wingtips are currently on hold. Port, because of a bracket we need to have made/replaced. Starboard, because of some major corrosion issues on the rear ribs/stringers. We'll have to find a way to make these new larger ribs and stringers.



Engines: A few months ago we had Paul Draper from Roush Racing come in to have a look at our 4 Merlins. After seeing the condition of all engines he said they would be able to do them for us at a cost of about $150,000 per engine (this would be to full airworthy certification). So for now we're going to crate up the engine we currently have torn apart and inhibit the other three until we are ready to take the major step of getting one of them overhauled.

New Blast Booth: As I mentioned above we're currently waiting on the construction of a new media blast booth. This one is going to be quite a bit larger giving us the abilitly to complete some larger components on the aircraft. (Vertical stabs, rudders, fuel cell doors, etc.)

Current Plans for the next two years: - Removal of #2 prop and engine off of aircraft
- Complete paint stripping of aircraft
- Mount the aircraft properly onto jacks
- Remove outer undercarriage door and valances and complete restoration of them
- Remove undercarriage completely
- Build the required jigs for the different sections of the aircraft and lower the aicraft onto them
- Remove tail section of aircraft and bring into hangar workshop for complete restoration
(by the end of 2013)

If there's anything I missed off the list I'll add it on Thursday when I read through it again. Things are slowly progressing as funds come through and volunteers learn new skills. Hopefully we can secure some more substatial funding in the near furture but for now we have to rely on the donations from the public which we greatly appreciate!

Cheers

[peter]

Excellent update Ryan!! Considering how much water those gear doors held and frequently had to be open and drained (yeah I had to do that a few times as well as the elevators) they are in overall surprisingly good consition in your pics. Sorry to hear abotu the pause on the wingtip resto.
Re engine restoration, are you guys still in touch with Nanton engineers as I am sure this could be something you guys could do like Nanton have done with rebuilding their engines in house.

[Rhino-9-3]

Yeah it's quite surprising how good of the shape the structure of the doors is in, guess all the oil and grease that got in there prevented a lot of corrosion.

As for the engines, it's been decided that none of the work will be done in house in order to make sure they can be returned to airworthy condition. We're gonna let the guys who know these engines inside and out take care of everything that way they can actually be certified for flight. Because of the way Nanton did their engines there is no way they could be certified without a complete overhaul/inspection by a certified company.