Victor K2 XL231

[Dougs]

wow she looks good inside i love the cockpits esp. when they have had some love, they just look amazing.
I am suprised how rough they look form new though (50's-60's era) the vulcan was especially iffy in the switch department they sometimes look a bit like a throwtogether at a jumble sale. If you compare the "finish" of a Eurofighter for instance you can tell right away there has been alot of money spent on the switchgear.
BTW how secret is the secret project?

[Blue_2]

It's secret until I get on with it properly, and maybe start it's own thread. Don't get too excited though chaps...
It will have the oldest engine running at the museum though!

[Blue_2]

16/03/14 Update
Spring appears to have sprung indeed at Elvington, the sun was out, the birds were singing and aircraft were emerging blinking into the daylight yesterday!

As the electrical gremlins were still blighting Lindy, the Plenum chamber was opened to continue investigation of the problem. It would have been rude to not take a couple of the Buccs, and the (we are told) freshly washed Nimrod basking in the sunshine



Ian has been busy again; here he models another of his excellently refurbished caption panels for the cockpit switchgear

Seeing as I don't do electrics, I went to go make a start on my new project. On my way across site I decided to make use of a handily placed giraffe to get some unusual shots of some of the museum's aircraft





The museum has started a 'husbandry' scheme, where a volunteer takes responsibility for the upkeep of a particular aircraft, looking after such things as the paintwork, tyres and general presentability of that aircraft. This initiative was launched this week and has had a most enthusiastic uptake from the volunteers. Team Victor members have assumed responsibility for some of the aircraft too, so expect to see bits and pieces on these in due course.
Another aircraft to come out of hibernation on Sunday was the Dakota. After winter maintenance it sounded on good if slightly smoky form

I spent most of the day working on my other project, while John and Andre continued to fight the gremlins in Lindy's plenum chamber.

[Aceyone]

Thanks for the update,what exactly is a plenum chamber ?

[Mayfly]

I really must get up to Elvington again soon. They all look good in the sun.

[Blue_2]

Thanks for the update,what exactly is a plenum chamber ?

In the last picture in the update you should be able to see a large hatch open on the fuselage roof, just aft of the cockpit. it leads down into the plenum chamber, which is where a lot of Lindy's essential electrics live.

[Aceyone]

Thanks for the update,what exactly is a plenum chamber ?

In the last picture in the update you should be able to see a large hatch open on the fuselage roof, just aft of the cockpit. it leads down into the plenum chamber, which is where a lot of Lindy's essential electrics live.

Thanks !

[Spitfire]

This is weird ... my MG ZT-T estate (Rover 75) also has these things called Plenum Chambers

At the back right of the bonnet opening by the main bulkhead is a space that houses a plastic case in which is the main computer ECU... I suppose this is where the similarity of the name comes from ...



The thinner plastic case behind the ECU is the air conditioning pollen filter.

BUT ... this chamber also has plenum drainage channels that takes rainwater away to drains under the chassis. The drains at the top are just grommets (Red arrow in pic - the other arrows are just fixings you have to remove to get to the chamber) the drains at the bottom are fitted with rubber one way valves which are supposed to stop water ingress from underneath but let water out from the top - supposedly



Now designers being designers they don't have to use stuff - just design it - so these drain channels block with leaf debris and muck and then the water flows into the Plenum Chamber itself and, life being life, the one way rubber fittings at the bottom of these chambers get stuck up with fine grit and water mixed (= mud) which sets hard and then the Plenum Chamber itself fills with water

Now... this then immerses both the main ECU and Pollen Filter in a reservoir of about 3 litres of water and funnily enough the car dies because I'm told sensitive computer electrical components and water don't mix well

When this happened to me the AA man just pushed a huge screwdriver down the chamber and pushed out the bottom rubber thing and the water drained away and I was very lucky as he then dried the ECU on his van dashboard blowers and I was able to get going again but he said that 50% of them are bu**ered at £1200 a pop

As MG ZT owners we then retro fit after market plastic leaf filters over the plenum drains and leave out the bottom drain plug to stop the problem.

So - a per pro of nothing - that's Plenum Chambers on an MG ZT then - I feel privileged to have something a Victor has

[Bovril]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plenum_chamber

[Spitfire]

MMmmm that says a lot because I found this on an MG site ...

The plenum performs a specific job in the ventilation system.

The plenum is a chamber that collects fresh air to feed the interior vents/aircon system. It's located between the firewall at the rear of the engine and the wall which forms the front of the cab section. Air is supplied via the scuttle grills, which run across the body below the windscreen. It acts as a fresh air reservoir and pressure buffer. The air here is isolated from that in the engine bay.

Which makes sense because as I said it houses the pollen filter as well as the ECU ... so it is designed as a sort of pressure chamber - except that because of a design fault it fills with water

[Blue_2]

Lindy wil be doing a low power engine run on Sunday, seeing as it's Thunder Day! I believe other participants are hoped to include the Buccaneer, Nimrod and Dakota. But don't let the old MPA farting away in the corner put you off visiting though!

[Blue_2]

6/4/14 Update- Thunder Day!
Yesterday saw our first major event of the year, Thunder Day. This saw participation from all our currently serviceable aircraft, sadly the Devon is still u/s so couldn't join in the fun this time. We also had visitors from TBAG, who had agreed to come up and get the wings on our recently arrived Buccaneer folded. The weather forecast didn't look terrible, so we hoped for a good, busy day.
We were in good and early to get breakfasted, before beginning our preparations for the day. The day previously the Victor and the Dak had had a wash over, as well as some other odd jobs. I had been in Lincoln, and while there I had taken the opportunity to visit a certain aircraft parts emporium I'm sure one or two members of this forum will be familiar with! I came away with some new crew headsets, and a pair of Victor-specific station boxes. Here Andre is testing one of them;

This particular one had it's tags with it and last saw a Victor in 1990, when it was removed from K.2 XL158 during spares reclamation on the aircraft at RAF Marham. 24 years later it was plugged back in to a Victor, and works perfectly! As did the second box. So that's a couple of useful additions to our spares; if anyone happens to have Victor 'souvenirs' such as instruments, black boxes etc. gathering dust in the loft do bear us in mind as a home for them...
We started our prep; we have 2 tyres which leak so I decided to top their nitrogen up. I also went around the underside of the jet with the engine door key, checking engine and APU doors were all secure.
Our neighbours were in too, preparing the Nimrod. I think I caught Mick's best side in this shot!

We made for the Buccaneer, to see if we could help TBAG with their efforts folding the jet's wings. Ian's adoption of the Harrier has led to it looking better already after he and Ollie recharged the nose oleo

And for a brief moment the sun even snuck out!

The Bucc was being a little reluctant. While the airbrakes opened happily, and the port wing needed only a little persuasion to fold, the starboard one was not interested at all. Thus we had a saluting Buccaneer!

It was the first time I'd seen this Bucc's airbrakes open, and it was nice to see this RAF Abingdon zap still on the port airbrake!

The afternoon's activities began with the WW1 aircraft engine running. They had both run successfully between showers in the morning and came out for a second go. Here, either the morning showers had shrunk the Kitten, or Brian had enjoyed too hearty a lunch!

Again, both aircraft ran happily.

After the biplanes had been put away it was time for the Buccaneer's first run of the year

By now there was a sizeable crowd. Whether they were present to watch the Bucc or Brian's demonstration of table tennis for one I'm not sure...

The Bucc comes to the crowd and takes a bow...

Ollie gave the jet some exercise for the crowd, including the tailplane

Before turning nose on to her sister

The crowd seemed to appreciate it, and the jet behaved herself too.
After she was pushed back, it was the Dakota's turn to run her engines. I decided the Bucc would make a good perch to photograph the Dak's start-up from!

Here the YAM Morris Dancing Team, cleverly disguised as firemen, do their 'Pulling the props through' dance, while Andre supervises from his lofty perch!

A slightly smoky start on the port engine...

And the starboard engine followed suit



There was a handily placed puddle in front of the Dak; every time Andre put some power on the props hoovered a nice vortex of water up out of the puddle!

Apart from a slight hydraulic issue, and a fairly spectacular flame from the starboard engine's exhaust on shutdown which I failed to get a pic of, the Dak run went without incident.
Next on was the Nimrod, running 2 of her 4 Speys.

Again all went well, I'm told there is a minor rigging issue to sort but other than that she ran nicely, and everything worked as advertised.
Finally it was our go. The APU lit with a good flame, and she soon had all 4 Conways running.

Give me the sound of 4 Conways over 4 Olympus any day!


http://youtu.be/wuQjgcuAzIQ

Lindy lights up the afternoon gloom with her landing lights

After shutdown and the usual ritual of drainin the fuel from the collector boxes, we retired for a brew before putting the jet to bed. All in all a very successful day, many thanks to all who came to watch and support us!

[Sploosher]

nice write up Graham...............................

Jan has a picture of you taking a picture of the Dak start up.................................

[Spitfire]

Nice pics ....That's one hell of a big boys playground

[Blue_2]

After all last weekend's excitement some of the team decided to take a well earned weekend off, so only Rich, Sam and I were in. We gave the jet a check over to make sure nothing untoward had occurred over the week, all was well so off we went to the HP building as we had a Flea to fettle (see it's own thread, shortly) En route we had a go at sorting the outrigger tyres on the Harrier, but I think the Starboard one will have to come off for attention. We also put the rear blanks back in one of the Tonkas.
John came in later in the day, and gave Lindy's main undercarriage a clean. Before leaving we checked all the blanks, bungs etc. were secure as the wind was starting to get up, certainly enough to have a Victor bouncing on her oleos!
Given the wind we decided repeating last weekend's attempts to fold the Bucc's wings by doing a clog dance on them was unwise...

[Blue_2]

22/04/14 Update
I have little news from the Victor this week, apart from she's still there!

I was busy with the Flea as you may have seen in her own thread; I have been set a goal of having her ready by the end of May, so she has to be my priority for now rather than Lindy.
The rest of the team were off on other business too; Andre has been busy this week with the repaint of the Mirage, here is his work at the beginning of play on Sunday



Andre Ian and Sam decided to do a bit more on the French slice of Fromage, namely the glare panels for the rear mounted camera

the radome

and the landing light housings.

During the afternoon ground power was applied to the jet and the PFCU's were given a workout. Also the annual battle of nesting birds Vs. Victor team seems to have begun...

[Blue_2]

28/04/14 Update

Several members of the team were away yesterday, so as there was little pressing to do with the jet we just opened her up to let some fresh air into the cockpit. Now he's learned how young Sam seems to love opening the door!

After the ritual birdnest check (all clear!) we dispersed to pay some attention to our own individual projects, in my case the Flea, but first we paid a visit to the hangar to check up on Andre's progress on the Mirage repaint.



The fuselage green is on

And he's made a start with the grey too! The nose markings and canopy are masked too, waiting for their turn under the grey roller

Ian managed to make the rear blanks on the Tornado more or less secure.

In addition we had a visit from a 2CV club. They asked for a photo opportunity in front of some of our aircraft, however as they lined up we decided to give them a special treat and added our 2CV powered Eastchurch Kitten taxyable replica to the line!




I imagine there will be more Lindy news next week, as we will need to prepare her to move out onto the airfield to make space for the museum's annual Battlegroup North event.

[Blue_2]

05/05/14 Update
It seems to have been the weekend for YAM aircraft to be on their travels! The Hurricane replica was on display in York over the weekend, I caught it there basking in the sun on Saturday

Another fairly busy but sadly grey Sunday, although again mostly not involving the Victor herself. I got in nice and early to get a couple of little jobs looked at on the Flea, however after bacon o'clock we were mostly involved in assisting playing aircraft chess in readiness for the museum's Battlegroup North event next weekend. In readiness for this the active end of the hangar has to be more or less emptied, hence the Gannet etc. were outside. The Mirage was outdoors too; while it was nice to see Andre's work on the repaint in daylight it's not really ideal for a part prepped, part painted jet to be out in the rain so after securing the canopy and all the underside panels on the Hunter T7 it came outdoors and the Mirage went back in



The T7's canopy cover seems to have gone for a walk, so Ian, Rich Steve and Brian had to make the best of it with a Harrier cover. Then Rich and I refitted the intake blanks we'd painted up for the jet a while ago

Think they look quite smart!
The only aircraft down to run on Sunday was the Nimrod, here flattening the grass with engines 3&4

I used the Bucc as a photo vantage point again, to get a different angle on the Gannet

And of course our Lindy

She will have to move off site for the weekend, so Ian and John did the usual tyre inflation checks under Rick's supervision!

I suspect there will be little to report next week as Lindy will be off site...

[Ray C]

Great work by you all...The aircraft are looking Excellent....

[Sploosher]

Great work by you all...The aircraft are looking Excellent....

Indeed...............

[Blue_2]

The jet was out on the airfield over the weekend, to make room for Battlegroup North. I popped down on Saturday and caught her about to cop for a downpour...

[Blue_2]

03/06/14 Update
Back off my holidays! Sunday was Thunder Day! Due to unserviceability the Nimrod would not be joining in the fun, however the Buccaneer would as would the recently repaired Devon.

Also out to play was the Dak. Where else can you see a line up like this, knowing all the aircraft in it will be making noise during the day?!

Andre decided to give the Dak a quick run during the morning, just to make sure all was well. She did indeed behave well, and sounded good

She even gave us an exhaust flame on shutdown!

Ollie gave the Bucc a quick spin over too.

He'd put in some hard graft on this jet, and it paid off as the Bucc's airbrakes work once more! As was ably demonstrated after lunch during his full run of the Bucc

He put all the jets systems through their paces, made the Speys sing, and taxied and turned the aircraft so the gathered spectators could see several different angles of Blackburn's finest



After he'd shut down the Dak ran again

and we had a visit from the BBMF's 'baby' Spitfire. I had my camera on all the wrong settings...



The Devon and SE5 also ran successfully. It was particularly pleasing to see the Devon start, as her team have had to do some pretty deep maintenance work on her starboard engine over the last few weeks. Nice work guys!
Then it was over to us to please the crowd.

The APU lit happily...

Before flaming out. We diagnosed air in the fuel system, bled it out (during which Ollie managed to coat himself and several of us with fuel!) and got the APU to light up again and gave the main engines a quick dry spin. While it ran, there is still some attention to be paid to one of the valves but Andre is confident of his diagnosis. She'll be back to full health soon, as will the Nimrod hopefully!
NOTE; There will be no Thunder Day on the first Sunday of July.

[Ray C]

Great to see the Devon is OK....

[Blue_2]

15/06/13 Update

We had a very productive (and wet!) day washing the jet on Sunday. Soap, water, and banter a-plenty were flying around for most of the day! I didn't dare risk my camera with the power washer out, so all my pics are off the phone grabbed as and when I had a spare dry paw. We cracked on with the wash once we'd got all the gear and the water in place. Brian had kindly filled the water container for us and even taken time out from practicing for his technical support role on the Tour de France to bring it over to the jet! ev2:
We got the nose done quite quickly, before moving on to the intakes and leading edges. Here Ian and Rich soap the port tank up, and Andre has conveniently found an elsewhere to be so I had taken over the power washer!

While the nose drip dries

A little later, the Soap Opera has moved round to the rear fuselage of the jet

Both sides and the fin were soon scrubbed and rinsed clean of Lindy's old enemy, bird muck.

After cake time the guys got on with the wings, while I did what is becoming known as 'doing an Andre' and sloped off to do something else, in this case a little job on the Flea. When I came back, handily they were nearly done!

And Andre had reappeared. Now I'm not saying he likes to blow his own trumpet, but....!

Rich decided it'd be better modelled as a hat though (yes, it was that sort of a silly day... )

I ascended to the heady heights of Lindy's fuel probe to fit the new tip cover, and very smart it looks too!

While I was up there I noted an unidentified life form apparently attempting to burrow its way out of the cockpit!

Here's hoping next weekend is as productive and the banter and morale levels are maintained!

[Sploosher]

thanks for the update Graham, would have been good to come this weekend for the runs etc, but we are heading north for a week