Super Guppy Restoration

[Dan4th]

Well, I guess the only question to
remain is the history of the aircraft
upon which it is/was based!

In other words, I wonder what/which
C-97 was used to make your Guppy?

Oh, and I also meant to tell you that
P-3 Orions are in the process of being
phased-out and retired....

In other words, there might possibly
be some ground-runable ENGINES on
offer in the near future

For your purposes, it might be necessary
to beat the Scrap Man to those donks

Just so you know.......

Danf.

[Gaz]

This is a good read http://www.pilotmag.com/guppy

Margy Bloom, who wrote that, is a lovely lady.

[Gaz]

She has a halo

[Dan4th]

Nice Pic, Gaz!

Oh, and btw, what's the timetable for
Guppy to get her new spot? Anything
new on that score????????

Danf.

[Gaz]

DW wants to know that she can actually be moved before he starts construction. We've been working on the nose leg this month (See our own forum for a weekly update) and we've started to make some headway.

Then, like most things, it'll come down to money, I suppose

[Dan4th]

I think DW has a good point there.......

So, the towing collar is off and soaking
in diesel.....

What's left to do?

No need to go into huge detail

Do you think maybe springtime??????

That would be a GREAT LEAP, imo.....

Danf

[Gaz]

Well, the main part of the towing collar is off. We've left the actual collar itself on until we've jacked her up. Not too much else to disconnect once that's off. I reckon we'll take the wheels off too, just to make it lighter. The start to disassemble the strut itself. We've got the overhaul manual from NASA, so, it'll just be a case of taking our time, tagging EVERYTHING and taking photos of things before they come off.

Of course that MIGHT not be necessary. I've always thought that the oleo itself wasn't damaged and that it was just the collar that needed attention. I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one

[Dan4th]

Well, it's all good anyhow.....

Just hope you guys don't freeze your
Patooties off this winter

Of course you could always build a rough
temporary structure around that area of
the aircraft if you were so inclined.....

Danf.

[Gaz]

Well, it's all good anyhow.....

Just hope you guys don't freeze your
Patooties off this winter

Of course you could always build a rough
temporary structure around that area of
the aircraft if you were so inclined.....

Danf.

Well, once it's off we'll have it on a bench. Somewhere near the coffee pot, probably

[Bubbles]

There's a lot of gubbins inside the leg that I fear are knackered, there's been a lot of force put on that leg. It's going to have to be a big coffee pot.

[Dan4th]

Only one way to find out, then

At least it doesn't need to be
flight-worthy.....

Danf.

[Gaz]

There's a lot of gubbins inside the leg that I fear are knackered, there's been a lot of force put on that leg. It's going to have to be a big coffee pot.

I think we'll be surprised mate

[Gaz]

Here we go with the October update:

3rd. October

It should have been a straight forward day, but, somebody decided to put water in one of the tug's fuel tank! I gave them a bit of a hand and let them use my tools, but, alas, the guppy beckoned!

Yet another panel in the hold is now whiter than white.

Did a little bit of cleaning then filmed a small video to send to the discovery channel people.

Got back to the CWJ pan just in time to squirt easy start into the, now water free, tug. Funny thing is, it runs sweeter now than it has in ages!!


10th October

Didn't touch the aircraft today. I spent a fairly long time organising my tools. We actually have access to a secure unit now, so, my tools were moved from my ingenious hiding place on the airfield (Can't believe nobody ever found them!!) and put in the unit, then reorganised.

I did start prepping for the night time do in a couple of weeks. Identified a few bulbs that need replacing and did some prep on the pan.

Hoping to start the cherry picker repair soon. Just need a word with the landlord on where we can do it.

Hopefully something more interesting to report next week


17th October

Bit of a result today. Gregg, Ollie and myself managed to, finally, remove part of the towing collar from the nose leg. This has been stuck for quite some time but with WD-40, a sledge hammer, a copper punch and Ollie losing the use of his right hand (There goes the poor lamb's sex life!) the severely greasy arm was free:



Difficult to see because we'd bagged it before it went in my car, but, that's supposed to be white! It's now sitting in a bath of diesel, where it will remain for a few days, then I'll get scrubbing. At least all of that manky grease should have protected the aluminium underneath.

It might seem small, but, this was a big step in the right direction!


31st October

I was away with the family last week, but, that greasy old NLG part did well for the soak in diesel. Just need to clean out the fiddly bits with toothbrush, sand the flaky paint off, prime it, paint it and varnish it. Nice little indoor project now it's turning a bit winter at Bruntingthorpe.

The weather was lousy today, so, spent the afternoon pointing at bits of a 50 tonne jack that Ollie was stripping down to be shot blasted. It's fun to tell him where he's going wrong


We've also done a bit of planning re. the nose leg. We passed a few ideas around and, I think, the beginnings of a plan started to emerge. It'll be a herculean task though!

[MOD]

Just love these updates Gaz

Also thinking of you guys freezing your whatsits off just gives me such a warm glow all over...

Seriously, well done and I'll see you soon....

Ian

[Gaz]

Cheers Ian

[Jigsaw]

Got to agree with Ian. Love these updates and thanks again for the time taken to do so Gaz.

Good luck with it all.

PS. I don't think the hand will bother him too much, I saw your pic on FB

[Gaz]

Got to agree with Ian. Love these updates and thanks again for the time taken to do so Gaz.

Good luck with it all.

PS. I don't think the hand will bother him too much, I saw your pic on FB

Cheers Jigs!

It's good he's got Gregg to keep him warm!

[Xplumberlives]

I know who put the water in the tank!

[Ray C]

Have you considered having your xmas party in the old girl.....there must be lots of room....

[Gaz]

Thinking of screening the discovery channel thingy in there once it's ready

[Sploosher]

Thinking of screening the discovery channel thingy in there once it's ready

good idea......and perhaps charge a small entry fee to help with the renovations.........

[Dan4th]

Gaz:::::::::::

Did you get any pics of your
festivities yesterday???????

Danf.

[Gaz]

No, but a lot of information was exchanged.

I think they took some photos, I'll see if I can get hold of them

[Gaz]

Must be about time for an update:

7th November

Brrrrrrr!! It's getting a bit cold up there these days!!

Today was spent, trying, to avoid the icy gusts that were blowing about the place. I also helped Clive (CWJ) fit an interior door to the kitchen in our crew hut, all in the hope of keeping the heat up in the kitchen so the pipes don't freeze this year.

As far as the Guppy goes: We're hoping that the tyres from NASA are imminent, so, I've decided that it would be good to clean and repaint the MLG nacelles BEFORE the new tyres go in. I had a bit of a go at the port side hole today, but........







It's HORRIBLE in there! We're gonna need some MUCH stronger cleaner, probably brake cleaner, still, at least it keeps you out of that breeze!


10th November

We piggybacked on the LPG's day, today, and used it as an excuse to light up the night with our exterior lamps.

She looked good!:




It's the first time EVER we didn't receive a single donation, but, hey-ho, it wasn't our day and the LPG do charge quite a lot to get in. We're not doing too bad financially as it goes


18th November

Nipped up for a few hours this morning. Ash and Ollie have spent a while in the old 747 and have liberated a bunch of dials and switches, so, we spent a couple of hours this morning seeing if any of them fit the holes in our cockpit:







and they did!

Now, these ARE NOT the same as the ones that were stolen, but, it's nice to fill the holes nonetheless. We're debating whether to paint them black or not, they do stand out a bit.

We still have a few holes, mainly in the pilot/co-pilot panels so, if anyone has a spare artificial horizon or an 8" RADAR screen knocking around, let us know


21st November

An up and down day today. I finally finished setting up the computer in our unit. The Guppy manuals are already loaded onto it. We now have instant access to them.

BUT

Ash and I were doing a systems check before our visitors from #2 arrive on Sunday. Something went horribly wrong and we were plunged in to darkness. Hoping it's just a fuse or a relay, but, it was too dark to have a good look around today.

I've involved people that know WAY more about the guppy than we do. Hopefully we'll get it sorted soon!!


22nd November

Right, so we went up today to see if we could get the electrics sorted. We made some progress, the emergency lighting is working again and the emergency inverter spun in to life, BUT, the panels still didn't light up.

We've checked all of the breakers we can find and none of them have popped. Gonna wait for an answer from NASA, but, it's thanksgiving so nobody will be there until Monday.

Ash has his nose in the wiring manuals and Gregg and I are going through the service manuals.

We WILL sort it out!!


23rd November

FIXED!!

Ash is a legend!!

A blown fuse in the main DC junction and two in the panel behind the AEO's CB board. I wasn't there today but Ash was providing regular updates via text message and sent me these:





A massive relief.


25th November

It was our pleasure to welcome Pierre, from SGT-2 in Toulouse, and his fiancée Anne, to Bruntingthorpe today. Pierre helped us with things we didn't know about and gave us some pointers for things that have been troubling us.

We also exchanged manuals, I would say we both have a full set now!

It was nice to meet you both, nice to exchange knowledge and a pleasure to welcome you aboard #1


28th November

Well, after Pierre told us what to do, Gregg, Emma and myself set about locking the flying control cables. They have a quick release attachment that needs to be locked off in order to operate the mechanism. We managed to secure the locks in place, apply the gust locks and finally....



REMOVE THAT TATTY OLD ROPE!!!!!

It looks so much better in there now. THANK YOU, PIERRE!!

Also, we've had this bad boy donated to us:



Can you guess what it is yet...



Movie nights in the Guppy shouldn't be too far away now!!


A busy old month!

It's not getting any warmer up there either!!

[Lucas1860]

Great update.

Jim.