RBR...Red Baron Rebuild

[Steve 13-60]

42 minutes ago, Hamish said:

You’ll be busier than when you were at work. 

Too damn right, work at Lilium was sooo slow I was only at 30% capacity at most times.

Not surprised they went bust.

An example ... For securing cable harnesses us designers would position Clickbond cable tie bases in the model....expecting the operator to use common sense and fit in roughly the right position..No, some bright spark decided to bring in a company to 3D scan the entire interior of the aircraft and use a laser marker system to pin point where to fit the bases!

How much did that cost!!!

But the writing was on the wall earlier....They used Toyota Gazoo Racing in Germany to do all the wind tunnel tests. So TGR had lots of data on the aircraft.....and promptly spent 500 million investing in a competitor.

 

[Steve 13-60]

Didn't Fred Flintstone have one of these?

[Steve 13-60]

Wheel arch on one side welded up, hardest part was getting the repair panels to fit nicely. Started the other side today but ran out of ar/co2 gas, so swapped to pure argon....nowhere near as good as the mixed gas.....strange. so play stopped til new gas bottle arrives.

[Steve 13-60]

But I did get to sue my old DDR pistol drill with sheet metal cutter attachment. Fine bit of east German kit... It was in the workshop when I bought the place in Berlin.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Awsome bit of kit

[Nick Jones]

A “nibbler”?

Yep, MIG likes a bit of CO2 in the mix. Don’t really understand why. 
 

Good luck on the panel fit.

[Steve 13-60]

Still waiting for more gas to be delivered, so I installed a 8kw Chinese diesel heater in the garage. Hopefully it will take the chill off so can work in there over winter.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

3 hours ago, Steve 13-60 said:

Still waiting for more gas to be delivered, so I installed a 8kw Chinese diesel heater in the garage. Hopefully it will take the chill off so can work in there over winter.

Excellent. Mine has been earning its keep these last few days

[Steve 13-60]

Rear tub all done underneath. New inner and outer wheel arches welded in. None of the panels fitted very well, took some forming to get the inners to mate with the outers. But welded in OK but gonna need a fair bit of filler to make right. Applied a brush coat of grey primer followed by a sprayed coat of stone chip then a top brush coat of rustoleum red. Hopefully there's enough paint on there so that if the tin work rusts away the paint will hold it altogether!

Enough of body work for a while, going to make a new dashboard for a break. Got some 12mm ply and some nice veneer.

[Nick Jones]

Nasty job, came out well by the looks- well done!

[Steve 13-60]

Going to need to buy the paint soon, does anyone have any idea how much is needed to respray a Herald...just doing the outside and possibly the inside of the bonnet.

I'm going to use good old cellulose, none of this namby pamby water based stuff!

[Nick Jones]

While I am (or was) also a fan of cellulose…. Be aware that the cellulose of today is not what it was in terms of quality. It’s also fairly hard to get hold of - in this neck of the woods at least. Likewise the selection of thinners available isn’t what it was.

IIRC (and it was a VERY long time ago), I bought 3L to do the Vitesse and did also blow over the inside surfaces too as well as the floor pan. I was getting bit short towards the end though, which is why it’s worn through in a few places now. Luckily the underlying primer is a fair match…..

[Steve 13-60]

Cheers Nich, 3L it is then.

I've found a few places on the tinterweb that sells cellulose but you have to prove it's for a classic car!

[zetecspit]

Try Jawel Paints on ebay. No t any celly, but their 2k paint is good. Or at least I think it is, certainly compared to a couple of others I have tried. 

[Steve 13-60]

Jawel paints it is.....and they do cellulose.

Been filling the passenger wheel arch today and whilst waiting for the filler to harden I started cleaning the rear of the chassis....more welded on bits....this Herald is the automotive equivalent to Triggers Broom!

[Steve 13-60]

Last few days have been spent filling the wheel arches. The outer arches had already been replaced in the past, so there was weld on weld and consequently the arch profile wasn't good anymore. Made a little profile plate to spread the filler which worked a treat. It'll still need finishing but good enough for now. The full respray will be next spring when it's warm.

[Steve 13-60]

Jawel also sell mixed cellulose in a rattle can so ordered 2 of those to help get the arches finished better......you can see all the imperfections til there's a gloss coat on. I can also recommend UPOL primer rattle cans, they have really nice spray pattern unlike normal tins.

[Steve 13-60]

So, now the rear tub is 'done', I can move onto rebuilding the rear suspension and cleaning painting the rear half of the chassis. I ordered a rear trunnion kit off eBay, bit more expensive but the ad stated they were good quality.....nah, they are the same old Chinese crap as most seem to supply these days....where the rubber O rings don't fit and the steel bushes either don't fit or are so poorly machined they'd wear the bushes in no time.

So, can anyone recommend a decent supplier for trunnion bush kits?

[Mark]

I would usually go to Canley Classics for that sort of thing but not bought any for years, give them a call, iam sure Dave will know if there are any issues.

[Steve 13-60]

Hi Mark, eeer no.... The front set I bought from Canleys and they were the same blue bush crap.....also.....not a fan of Canleys after buying a reground MK3 cam from them which turned out to be made from chocolate, the lobes wore off in less than 150 miles. I got the money back for the cam....but it still cost me to have the crank reground, new bearings, new gaskets and new oil etc. So a bit pee'd off with Canleys.

[Nick Jones]

I’ve just bought a set of Superflex poly bush trunnions for the Spit. This for the front, but I think they do rear also. Have stainless steel crush tubes and no need for the seals and shutter washers.

Not especially cheap but it’s been years since I saw a conventional set worth fitting.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

10 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

I’ve just bought a set of Superflex poly bush trunnions for the Spit. This for the front, but I think they do rear also. Have stainless steel crush tubes and no need for the seals and shutter washers.

Not especially cheap but it’s been years since I saw a conventional set worth fitting.

Seen those when I was looking for new trunnion bushes for the Scimitar. DIdn't go for them as I wasn't sure about the potential for extra compliance.

But be very interested in how you get on with them

[Steve 13-60]

Started the strip of the rear suspension today. Some time ago I purchased what appears to be a genuine Churchill hub puller. One side came off easy peasy. The other side dusnae wanna know, bugger. The drive flange has bowed with the force applied, so seeing as that is buggered I'll attack it tomorrow with the angle grinder and cutting disc.

The side that came off isn't that pretty either, looks like someone had fun taking that off. There's a bloke selling new ones on fleabay for 50 notes apiece, or a pair of second hand ones for £62.... tempted to go for the new ones, but are they machined correctly?

Whereas, the second hand ones should be original and thus OK......hmmmmmm.... decisions, decisions.....

[Steve 13-60]

I've ordered the new ones, if they don't fit they can have em back!

[Steve 13-60]

Ya bloody, f********* will come off ya barsteward!!!!!