Super Guppy Restoration

[Giles]

Am loving the progress made on the Guppy, Daz, everytime I visit Brunty she looks better & better.
Would love to know the history of how she came to reside at Brunty & is there any video of your big girl's arrival?

[Gaz]

Am loving the progress made on the Guppy, Daz, everytime I visit Brunty she looks better & better.
Would love to know the history of how she came to reside at Brunty & is there any video of your big girl's arrival?

Who, me??

She arrived in '96, following some clever "negotiating" by the owner There's some photos around but I've never seen them.

August update:

7th August

Well, where do I begin? August has started just as July left off. Neil and Emma going hell for leather with the painting. To be fair, Oli has been up and done something, which is a nice, rare, surprise and I did a bit of orange, today.

Here's a few before pics:













And a few afters:










I can actually say, we ARE getting there!!




The rest of the month was spent prepping for and staging the open day......







....And admiring our handiwork

[MOD]

Looking at that last shot gaz I can only marvel at the courage of the first test pilot to fly such an un-aerodynamic looking aircraft.. Those wings just look far too small and the height of that fuselage...

Well done to all the guys and gals at Brunty .. she is beginning to look very well cared for, at last.

ibw

[Dan4th]

So, how many gallons of Alumin(i)um
Polish do you think she'll require

DON'T GET ME WRONG!!!!!!!

Ye Gupp looks better all the time

And thanks for the update....

Danf.

[Giles]

sorry for the name change I gave you Gaz, I was on my 2nd bottle of wine when typing!

[Gaz]

Looking at that last shot gaz I can only marvel at the courage of the first test pilot to fly such an un-aerodynamic looking aircraft.. Those wings just look far too small and the height of that fuselage...

Well done to all the guys and gals at Brunty .. she is beginning to look very well cared for, at last.

ibw

It wasn't EXACTLY without incident!!

http://airpigz.com/blog/2011/1/9/1965-s ... trike.html


Thanks for the nice comments, folks.

[Bovril]

hope not too much damage? wind moved her? crushed a car ? rudder looks a bit bent hope all easy fix and no one hurt?


http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiestyfox/12506302855/in/photostream/

[Spitfire]

The Guppy was blown round 90 degrees despite having large concrete blocks in place.

That big vertical fin did it's job then ... kept her into wind

Hope there's not too much damage though ... that rudder looks the worse for wear

[Gaz]

She's ridden it out quite well. A few small gashes where she destroyed the vulcan trailer (STILL laughing about that one!!) and the NLG door has a couple of dents where it ate an MG-F.

The rudder was already toast, but, we lost ANOTHER gust lock

[Aceyone]

I suppose it could have been a lot worse Gaz ?

[Gaz]

Yeah, much! Nobody was hurt and, I've been in touch with Dave Walton, this morning, and she hasn't moved overnight

[Gaz]

Well, we tried. For 6.5 hours, we tried. 30 odd years of non-movement has resulted in seized and/or disintegrating screws, nuts and bolts. We've got 4/5 of 3 jobs, done. Just need a blow torch and, probably, a reciprocating saw. All jobs that can wait until Wednesday. As for the trailer, it wasn't safe to be under the Guppy, today, she was bouncing quite a bit, also, as the trailer isn't moving and the situation isn't getting any worse, it's probably better to leave it where it is until we can move the aircraft. A small anti-clockwise movement on the nose will release the trailer without doing any more damage to it, or, the aircraft. All good fun though!!

[Mayfly]

Did you get much done this last week with the better weather?

[Ray C]

yeah ..What's the word Gaz.....?

[Spitfire]

Yeah - what's the latest - we need input

[Gaz]

She's come on quite a long way, recently!

Whilst standing around waiting for a Tristar to land, I managed to get some paint on.

Before and after:






Prep on this bit was a bit of a pig. Lots of surface corrosion. It took a lot of wire brushing, but, the metal underneath was in really good nick. I gave it a going over with the acid wash and, in all truth, it looked like new.

Getting there!




I took this next photo, purely, as something of a glimpse of the future. Ignoring the bit in the middle you've got finished livery with painted fuselage:




I'm loving it, to be fair!

Still waiting for the final bits of the NLG assembly, shouldn't be long now!!

[Ray C]

Good stuff Gaz.....

[Dougs]

is she still up for a move then once the NLG is sorted? any movement on the new hard standing?
looking very good BTW

[Spitfire]

What dedication Looking good

In the final analysis did you end up with much damage after that big wind moved her ??

[Aceyone]

Thanks for the update,looking good !

[Gaz]

NLG will be fixed within a couple of weeks. I think the most recent plan is, to leave her where she is but facing in to the wind AND clear the pan she's on, of everything else, so she has room to move.

Damage from the "move" was: One of the NLG doors needs completely re-skinning and there's a couple of holes, that need patching, where she crushed the vulcan trailer. That's about it.

[Gaz]

Slowly but surely

[Ray C]

Nice one Gaz....


Recently on my North Wales travels I saw a "spectacular sight" on the A55 between Buckley & Howarden, the Burluga flew over on landing approach....It all but stopped the traffic....

Are you saving to buy this aircraft when she retires......?

[Gaz]

Ahh, yes, Chester! They're very tight lipped when it comes to Beluga movements! We'd like to go down and see one land and how they go about unloading it, but, Airbus do not answer unsolicited emails! *grumble grumble*


I know DW is a fan of the type, so, who knows!!

[Ray C]

Sorry typical me... Beluga.....Not Berluga....!