Here is a photo I shot today of the turret/radome opening in '543.
The original plug that reduced the diameter to fit the radome still has the rubber seal on it. The cover was simply screwed onto the plug when the H2X equipment was removed. I'll post more photos of this area when I get the maintenance thread started.
I'm trying to keep my mind occupied right now so thought I'd post a couple photos. As most of you likely know, we lost our good friend Gary Austin on Monday.
Last Sunday I finally removed the radome cover fairing from Chuckie so I could start taking measurements.
First, the ball turret mounting intercostal--notice all the extra holes in one flange. I suspect at least some of them are related to the radome retract bracket:
These are a couple of different views of the aperature. The first one shows the reducer ring pretty well. That truss structure must have held some sampling or research equipment after the H2X was removed.
And here's one of the attaching brackets on the truss, five on each side of the hole:
Just a quick update on the PFF mods we're planning for Chuckie. With the help of a few wonderful researchers and warbird enthusiasts, I'm in the early stages of building the radome and radome support for '543. The plan is for me to build these components as "homework" in my shop and transport them down to Fort Worth for installation in the early spring. I'll be sure to post the progress when I get all the engineering done.
For those of you that have been following the Pathfinder saga, I've finally decided on how to build a mold for laying up a new radome. I mentioned a few posts ago that I'd thought styrofoam would be a logical (and relatively inexpensive) material to construct the male mold from. After pricing large blocks and balls of styrofoam I decided to find another way. That stuff is EXPENSIVE when you need a four foot by three foot block of it. After trading ideas with Cozmo I changed my plan a bit, to a material that is easy to work with and cheaper. An unairworthy four-by-twelve sheet of 2024T3 just happened to be available in our hangar, so aluminum it shall be.
Pretty simple after deciding what to use. I'll just cut a few circular pieces of plywood the correct diameter to act as former rings and wrap the sheet around them. Then, just rivet the seam together and secure the skin to the former rings. The domed part of the form hasn't been purchased yet, but I'll be sure to fill you in when I am sure my idea will work. After finishing the form I'll lay up the fiberglass that will be the actual radome. When the fiberglass cures the mold will be removed. I hope it works as easily as it sounds...........
Here's a photo of the body of the mandrel after I formed it into the correct diameter. The actual body of the radome will be about six inches less than the overall height shown here. Ellen and Mickey (our new puppy, and yes, she's named for Mickey ships) posed with it to give an idea of the size of the thing:
I'm gonna need a lot of fiberglass cloth and resin!
Just use lots of mold release. Follow the instructions and DONT be stingy. Make sure the temp and humidity is constant and relatively dry. Make sure that your cap form is made of something non-porous. AND be prepared to scrap your first attempt and do it again. Believe me the dumpster at work used to be full of botched forms. I wish I could help more but it has been a couple of years since I worked at Owens Corning making fiberglass forms and bucks.
Thanks for the tips, Joe. I've actually worked with fiberglass and various resins for a long time. We used to have a resin casting business (small scale compared to the radome) and I'll be laying this project up in the shop that used to house our mold-making/casting "factory". I can make as big a mess as I wish out there and you won't be able to tell!
While I'm here I'll post a photo of the right side of our radio room and a wartime photo (courtesy of researcher Paul Bellamy) that will show how ours will eventually look.
First our bare radar operator's position:
And the wartime photo, complete with all equipment:
It was very satisfying to be able to line up all the vacant holes drilled in our airplane to the equipment in this picture. In the WWII photo you'll see a yellow arrow pointing to the window buried under the H2X boxes. Also, the normal radio equipment is still located on the bomb bay bulkhead and the PFF fitment was just added behind it. I'd bet the Signal Section mechanics had some choice words for this setup.
lol, sorry Scott, I didn't realize you were a fellow glass slinger. I used to work at Owens research Center in Granville Ohio. I did a lot of work making molds as well as lots of other fun things. One thing though....I ended up with Gallons of resin, and my home modeling projects benifited! Kinda overkill when all you are trying to make are copies of a 1/48th scale .50, or R1820!
jmkendal wrote:lol, sorry Scott, I didn't realize you were a fellow glass slinger. I used to work at Owens research Center in Granville Ohio. I did a lot of work making molds as well as lots of other fun things. One thing though....I ended up with Gallons of resin, and my home modeling projects benifited! Kinda overkill when all you are trying to make are copies of a 1/48th scale .50, or R1820!
Joe
It seems we've swapped scales, Joe! I used to work in 1/48th and now find myself with a 1/1 scale project.......I used to work with a gallon or less of resin at a time, not a tanker load!!!
The shipper just dropped off our newest piece of kit for Chuckie's radar/radio room. I found this on an auction site that we all know and love? and just decided we had to have it.
A NOS K-24 camera still in the original packing can't be all that common sixty-six years after it was produced...... Here are a few shots of the first time I started to unpack the accessories after receipt.
And here is a wartime shot of the same type camera mounted on the radar room aft bulkhead:
I'll have to construct the long "stovepipe" (that's what it's called in the radar operator guidebook) lens extension and find the radar scope repeater later.
I'll take a few photos of the camera on Sunday when we completely unbox it for the first time. I wanted to let the co-owner (CrewDawg) take part in the unveiling ceremony.......
Here are a couple of photos of the K-24 camera after being unboxed today.
The next homework project I'm planning to start is the little instrument repeater panel at the radar operator's station. He had an airspeed indicator, altimeter, ammeter, and radio compass indicator to tend to, as well as an outside air temperature indicator that is mounted to the side of the fuselage. With a little snooping in the parts room I found these two, and I'd bet we have a spare ASI and altimeter also:
The original panel:
As we were leaving this evening Steve asked me if we were going to use Flight Following on the way home. I said I was, and he handed me this to drive the ATC radar crazy --it's a package of chaff, or "Window" that the RAF developed to mess up the German radars in WWII:
And, no, I did not chuck it out on the way home.........
It's been a while, so here's a little update on the Chuckie PFF Project.
I found the answer to my radome mold problem yesterday at a sporting goods store. I'd gotten a quote for a styrofoam ball to make the hemispherical end of the form but the price was astronomical. We picked up a workout ball yesterday for twelve dollars and I commenced to blow it up with the air compressor. After letting out a little bit of air it slips right into the cylinder.
All I need now is a few gallons of fiberglas resin and I can start laying up a radome.
--it's a package of chaff, or "Window" that the RAF developed to mess up the German radars in WWII:
