Tuesday Club ready for summer break

Tuesday Club's spring season was a busy one as a whole. Work was carried out on restoring and conserving several museum aircraft: Valmet Vihuri II, VL Myrsky II, Focke-Wulff Stieglitz, Valmet Tuuli III and VL K.1 Kurki. Most hours were spent on Myrsky II and Kurki. For Tuesday Club's work balance, it was positive that Kurki’s conservation could be started. This blog explains in summary the activities of Tuesday Club’s spring season 2016.

Although our spring season ended at the end of May and starts again in mid-August,
Finnish Aviation Museum’s restoration shop will not quiet down totally. Myrsky project progresses during summer months and it is possible to work also on other projects.

Valmet Vihuri II (VH-25): Building of cockpit module went on with making a floor which separates cockpit from the wheeled transport chassis on which the cockpit sits. Oxygen system’s piping is now installed into both front and rear cockpit. Seat belts for rear seat are ready. Luggage container, made of fabric and situated behind the rear seat, is advancing and also a chute for signal pistol is in the makes.

VL Myrsky II (MY-14): All wing ribs are ready. Same goes for frames which will be attached around the steel tube skeleton of fuselage. Work on aileron ribs is in progress. Wing spars are half done. The brakes in Myrsky’s original wheels have been renovated. Also done is the mould for engines’s cauldron plate which is out-sourced. We are building a test wing which will be used to try the strength of wing structure and also the installation of various equipment and mechanisms. Wing spars for test wing are ready and we have tested matching of ribs and installation of steel support structure of landing gear.

Focke-Wulf Stieglitz (SZ-25): Restoration of fuselage is finished. Work done during spring season  was a new cowling around the engine mount and equipping the engine ready to be installed. Wednesday Club was responsible for renovating the engine and they also installed it. The engine was left incomplete as some equipment is missing. We are still waiting for exhaust manifold and exhaust pipe to be installed as the outsourced exhaust pipe is not ready. Also propeller is waiting for installation as propeller’s locking hex bolt with its cap have not yet been turned. SZ-25’s fuselage and wings, which we have already renovated, will be transported to Kauhava where this aircraft assembled this autumn as a memorial in a showcase.

Valmet Tuuli III (TL-1): The first part of Tuuli III’s restoration was started late 2015 and finished by the end of May. We prepared its fuselage ready to be painted at Hämeenlinna Vocational Collage Tavastia. Within reason, all parts and equipment from the fuselage, including cockpit, were stripped off. Then the fuselage was transported to Hämeenlinna, where similarly stripped wings have been waiting since February. The re-painted wings and fuselage will return back to Tuesday Club only at the end of this year. Then we start re-equipping and assembling the aircraft to be exhibited. Alongside our work, Aviation Museum’s Wednesday Club has been renovating Tuuli III:s Continental engine.

VL K.1 Kurki: As a new project we started repairing and restoring Kurki. It is an aircraft prototype which was built at State Aircraft Factory in 1927 and never progressed further. A suitable slot for Kurki emerged after Tuuli III’s fuselage left to Tavastia. Its fuselage was transported from Tavastia-Häme Aviation Museum in April. Also wings will be restored at Tuesday Club after we have finished the fuselage and it is returned back to its museum at Vesivehmaa. So far we have done patching of more than 30 holes and damages in Kurki’s fabric skin. Also we have repaired its horizontal stabilizer and elevator.

Tuesday Club’s smaller deeds remain many times without mentioning. One of those is making of trivets for Aviation Museum Society. They sell them with their logo and are a wanted item.These trivets are made of plywood which is bended into the shape of Polikarpov I-16 fighter’s plan view.