Victor K2 XL231

[Xplumberlives]

I was hoping for some jazzy camo scheme, not just a few zapps!

[Blue_2]

We very much like the camo scheme with zaps, as seen on the blog. The repaint will be occurring, the intended scheme has still not been decided on however...
Meanwhile, we had a busy day yesterday. It would appear that the clean bill of health I gave the jet last week was somewhat premature, as she spat her dummy out after I departed when ground power was put back on. So this week's main job was to re-insert said dummy.

This here switch box was to blame, the little bounder's hidden in the back of the plenum, right behind lots of other electrical gubbins.


We are lucky in that we have a few good used spares of such items of this (see the blog for the spares recoveries) so Andre and John got down to the task of swapping it out.
Meanwhile Rich and I got on with cleaning up the undercarriage and, seeing as the museum's seen fit to kindly respond to our request for a nitrogen bottle, we could check and inflate all Lindy's tyres. It only takes seconds to type it here, but it's a long job when you've 18 of the bl**dy things to check! Specially as we take all the mains up to 200psi (if she's off for a trundle we go up to 250). Rich is seen here cleaning out the maxaret tracks; a job the importance of which is nicely illustrated by the Vulcan mainwheel tyre the lads at Southend currently have up on ebay!

After lunch we were asked to help the museum's hangar team moving some aircraft about. Firstly the Harrier was to come out of it's winter roost in the Handley Page building

Then the Dutch Hunter had to come out of the main hangar. That was fun, avoiding the freshly painted Dakota and the hangar wall was an interesting exercise, but we got there. Even though the damn thing bit me and drew blood, for which it recieved a swift kick in the mainwheel...

After our game of hangar chess it was back to the Victor which had an attentive audience in the shape of a visiting ATC squadron. Andre and John got the switch box changed and, after changing a fuse (which, despite being a 5 amp where a 15amp was required, had survived since the RAF had installed it in or before 93!
I had to disappear at this point to stores, but I'm told ground power was put on and Lindy was back to behaving perfectly again. So all should be well for next week. As far as I know the Nimrod is running, and we'll be at least running the Artouste and dry and wet running the engines. Depending if anything's happening on the airfield, we hope to actually light the main engines too...
Sadly I may not be present next week, if I do get there it'll be mid afternoon at best, but I hope those who are going enjoy it!
Ps. there is a new tale on the blog for your amusement...

[MOD]

Thanks Blue_2. See you soon.

Ian

[Blue_2]

I couldn't be present on Sunday, but my colleague Rich sent me the following summary of the day:

The day dawned grey wet and horrible. Ollie didn't think he'd convince the boss to light the engines in the weather & he was sort of right. So over a brew Ollie decided it would be a good idea to change the engine starter on No1, the boss agreed so they trundled off to the store to get the new unit (this was reclaimed from XL164 'Saucy Sal' many years ago) . By the time they returned it was lunch o'clock so that was that. Both front & rear engine doors had to be dropped along with the small middle panel that sits in between. This involved undoing clamps around ducting and undoing a few pipes, we may have got a little wash in jet fuel from the collector box too!

The picture above shows the unit in situ. So after undoing various bit of pipe and with a little persuasion the old unit came off and the new unit offered up. It took a little lining up and using subtle engineering tools (mallet & brute force) it was pushed home eventually. At this point we retired for afternoon cake. It kept on raining but got colder and colder as the day wore on.
So after that it was a case of putting everything back together. (You know the asbestos heat shields that do up like boot laces with locking wire, poor Andre couldn't feel his fingers while trying to do that & in a tight awkward space too!!)

General view of the bay.
Anyway everything was put back together and even though it was gone 4 at this point it was decided to test it. So just the port side intake and No1 jet pipe blank were removed! Artouste fired up and fingers crossed. I'm told there was a little grey smoke as she span up but there were no probs, after that the flaps, air brakes etc were exercised then finally they span over No1 again this time starting cleanly. So the job was a success. Everything was wrapped up after this and home we went, very cold and rather damp.

The new starter, prior to fitting.

Glad I couldn't come to play by the sound of it!
Normal service resumed next week, cheers Rich for stepping in as Victor Scribe.

[Richw_82]

A good days work if the weather we had here was anything to go by.

I must find some of these minions you have that do the report writing in your absence.

[Xplumberlives]

Bravo Gentlemen!!!!!

[MOD]

Thanks for the update Graham (thanks also to Rich for the photos and report). I am almost glad I had babysitting duty now See you next time


Mod

[Blue_2]

Well what a difference a week makes! After the arctic conditions of last week yesterday's weather was glorious, blue cloudless skies and temperatures in the + side of the thermometer for once!

We had a slightly different mission for the day. The museum has purchased a stad, mainly for the use of the Buccaneer but it's also for general use. It was decided a good test for it would be to give Lindy's Conways a blow over, so we set about getting the Victor's air point useable again seeing as it'd not been used since Methuselah was a young liney! After a bit of persuading (me hanging off it!) it came free. A bit of attention and a good greasing up and it was as good as new. After a bit of attention the hose on the stad was also pronounced serviceable and fitted to a Victor, something most of us had never seen before.

Grant then struck it up, and showed Brian and I how to operate it. Here Brian has a play while one of our fire crew looks on.

It turned Lindy's engines with absolutely no fuss whatsoever, so it'll not struggle with the Speys on the Bucc. Or anything larger...
This acquisition means we can take some of the pressure off the jet's Artouste, no bad thing as it's not like we've a heap of spare Artoustes...
The only other jobs on the jet were minor, I changed some p-clips in the cockpit (kindly donated by Tony Agar!) and Andre swapped no.1 rpm gauge, which was thought to be under-reading slightly. It was nice to see the original HP inspector's stamp on the original unit, a nice piece of Lindy's history.
Other site news, the spring has brought the Buccaneer (and its team!) out of hibernation. After a year and a half of inactivity the ceremonial arrival of the new stad prodded them into action. To get it out of the hangar, most of the hangar's occupants were brought forth for their first look of the year at the outside which was nice to see



And the Bucc emergeth!

I believe its engines were given a quick blow over, some work is planned for this week then hopefully she'll be started next Sunday
Also hopefully making its running debut next weekend should be the Devon. This really is a credit to all the guys who've been involved in it. I know to most it's not as exciting as the idea of, say, a taxying Lightning, but it's a lovely little machine which has had a lot of hard work put into it to bring it up to running condition and I for one look forward to seeing it operate!
More from the Costa Del Elvington next week

[Sploosher]

Thanks for the update Blue_2........

I think its time for another visit............

[Blue_2]

*cof*SUNDAY*cof*!

I forgot to mention, the SE5 replica should be running its engine on Sunday too. Which I'll be pleased to see as yours truly sorted out the wiring snags on said beastie!

[Xplumberlives]

You have a BAD cough, hope it clears up soon!

[Sploosher]

*cof*SUNDAY*cof*!

I forgot to mention, the SE5 replica should be running its engine on Sunday too. Which I'll be pleased to see as yours truly sorted out the wiring snags on said beastie!

you never know,

[MOD]

Thanks a bundle Graham. Great pics.!!!

I really hope to see you soon.

Ian

[Blue_2]

Heads up people!
Thunder day this coming Sunday, 1st April. Expected participants Se5, Devon, Buccaneer, Nimrod, Victor.
Please note this is engine running only, not taxiing (except maybe the Bucc!). While its a shame not to see these macines at speed (or whatever the Se5 manages that passes for speed!) this does mean you'll be much, much closer to the action (and noise!) than you would be if we were out on the airfield.
Come say hello, and pray for sun!!!

[Sploosher]

Glad to finally meet you yesterday Graham............

Thanks for the tour on `Lusty Lindy`, it was greatly appreciated by Jakspeed and myself.........

will post some `indoor` pics when I get them on flickr..........

EDIT. just to let you all know, I have started a flickr group for "Lusty Lindy", please feel free to add any pictures that you may have.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1984858@N22/

[Blue_2]

Good to meet you too, glad you enjoyed the tour and the day! I was a busy chappie all day so i didn't get much in the way of photos, I've a couple to add though which I'll put up later. Brief update though, Lindy behaved perfectly, with only a couple of minor electrical snags and a slightly reluctant RAT scoop requiring attention.

Edit, Right, here's the Full Fat version of yesterday's doings:

Well yesterday's weather played ball, and we had a very pleasing turnout for the Thunder Day at YAM. The SE5 started proceedings, however I missed it as I was busy with Lindy. The Buccaneer was due to run next, however the stad went u/s so unfortunately it couldn't be started, a real shame. However the Nimrod stepped in to the gap with a quick APU run before lunch.
After the lunch break it was the Nimrod's turn to run properly, I'll let NM explain what went on however as we were busy prepping Lindy for her turn.
We tried something different this time; you'll see from previous photos on here that Lindy and the Nimrod are usually parked (and run) nose to nose. However this time we had Lindy angled with her nose pointed at the control tower, which most people said was a nice change and meant head on views are possible for the first time since the Nimrod arrived. Whether or not this becomes a permanent arrangement for engine running days remains to be seen; I certainly hope so.
The appointed hour came, and we crewed in. Andre and Ollie were up front, with Rick making a very welcome return to the AEO's seat and I perched on the 6th seat to watch proceedings, and carry on learning how to run the beastie.

The Artouste was used due to the stad going u/s, but it lit fine. All the engines were dry spun, then the hydraulics were exercised while the starters cooled. Here Ollie gives the PFCU's a workout

Then it was time to light the Conways. The starter change on no.1 a couple of weeks ago has really made a difference to it's starting, there's no more smoke and reluctance to wind up any more.
All 4 started really nicely

After a few minutes to settle, all 4 engines were run up to 60% together, then individually taken up to 65-70%. Another run of all 4 up to 60% then it was shutdown time sadly.
The run only revealed a couple of very minor electrical faults, however the Starboard RAT scoop problems have reared their ugly head again as the little b***er has taken to sticking again. So guess what I'll be doing next Sunday then...

After we'd run the recently restored Devon ran it's engines. Here, the Port engine makes a touch of smoke on start up.

This little machine really is a credit to both the YAM team who've worked so hard to reassemble her, and the guys at Redhill who saved her in the first place.
There was one other matter of importance to attend to yesterday too, marking the birthday of the Nimrod team's Phil. And there's only one way to celebrate such an event. It involves a friendly fire crew, and much H2O...

The aftermath

Then decided that those who had plotted this should share in the feeling of general dampness...

All in all a great day, and the long awaited return of morale to YAM.
If anyone who attended got busy with the camera yesterday please feel free to post the results up here!

[Xplumberlives]

Glad you all had a good day!

[Dan4th]

Last Photo:::::::::::::

HA! HA! HA!

Justice is SERVED!!!!!!!!

Danf.

[Sploosher]

Here is a pic my other half took before I got a tour of the office...........

[Blue_2]

Its a little known fact I actually live in the starboard intake. Only just got my bedding rearranged comfortably after being evicted on Sunday!
Edit: I may have to nick that for my Facebook profile pic!

[Sploosher]

Its a little known fact I actually live in the starboard intake. Only just got my bedding rearranged comfortably after being evicted on Sunday!
Edit: I may have to nick that for my Facebook profile pic!

By all means Graham............

Jan says,If you want the full size original, then send me your email address via pm.................

[Sploosher]

Here are 5 pics taken on the thunder day........

Lusty Lindy 1


Lusty Lindy 2


Lusty Lindy 3


Lusty Lindy 4


Lusty Lindy 5


Thanks again for the tour Graham...........

[Lucas1860]

Great place is YAM.

Nice shots.

Jim.

[Blue_2]

Lovely shots from the weekend Sploosher!

Got a bit done on Sunday, with several small issues raised during the engine runs to attend to. We'd found that the oil pressure warning light on no.3 engine wasn't working, there was a spurious overspeed warning on start up, and the Starboard RAT scoop was sticking when deploying. This last problem was the one which had me the most worried as we'd had endless problems with this 2 years ago. The scoop had not had its seal re-fitted when the RAF last removed it (probably seen as a pointless waste of time seeing as the useful life of the Victors was drawing to a close) so we decided to fit one to keep some of the water out of the back hatch area. However lining the scoop back up when re-fitting it proved to be an absolute nightmare, and took us ages before we were satisfied with it. The prospect of redoing this job really didn't fill me with glee.
We let John get on with the overspeed warning indication issue, while I attacked the RAT. I'd found some spilled paint which I felt could have been fouling the scoop's seal, so I got busy with the wire brush and despatched it. This improved matters a little, so I gave the seal itself and the seal inside the scoop a good dousing with spray lubricant. This I'm pleased to say did the trick, and the scoop now performs as advertised. Thankfully an easy fix, but I'll be keeping an eye on it for a while just in case...
The next issue was the oil pressure light. It should light up when there's no oil pressure, yet at the weekend it failed to. You can see it in my cockpit shots, the small set of red lights under the engine instruments? 1,2 and 4 are lit but 3 isn't in 2 shots. The bulb checked out ok, so the next obvious port of call was the pressure switch. As with everything on the jet it's really easy to get to and remove (anyone spot the irony?). After some swearing on Andre's part it was out and on the bench. A quick strip down and rebuild job later and it was sorted.
As to the overspeed warning light, well that requires a replacement black box.
Finally, living in the middle of nowhere means we've had to resort to alternative measures to ensure a good supply of real ale...

(outside the kitchen window Saturday afternoon!)

[Xplumberlives]

Another great update, good to see the problems are relatively easily sorted out!


Great to have your own supplier delivering to the back garden, how much Witches Brew can a hot air balloon carry?