Restoration of Caravelle in progress

Suomeksi

In October the restoration of the Caravelle started in earnest when about 15 active and enthusiastic volunteers from Turku and its surrounding started getting together every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Usually there are 6 to10 active members simultaneously at work in the rented port hall, so the work is progressing well and efficiently. Furthermore, a couple of times we have been there also on Sundays, wrapping up the week’s work.

The target for this autumn – before the cold winter season is here – is to get the aircraft’s fuselage turned upright, now it is still in the transportation position and tilted 45 degrees. Turning it is necessary to get the cabin door open and have a quick look inside.

Before straightening, we aim to benefit from the current fuselage position and restore the bottom of the fuselage where there are areas of old paint. They have now been washed and sanded, and our aim to paint them first with a primer and then test two different kinds of topcoat paints, grey and aluminium in colour. They are meant to simulate the original aluminium surfaces of the aircraft. We shall then choose the more suitable one to paint the parts of the wings, which won’t be polished.

The scratching, grinding, and painting of the base of the tail fin, reinforced with glass fibre, is also easier when the fuselage is in its current position. Here we will test the white topcoat paint, which will be used on the upper part of the fuselage as defined in Finnair’s original painting scheme.

Teknos two-component paints and colour codes to be used are the following:

• TEKNODUR PRIMER 5 grey – primer
• TEKNODUR 0050 RAL 9006 aluminium – test paint to wings
• TEKNODUR 0190 RAL 7040 grey – test paint to wings
• TEKNODUR 1090 DUP-508 white –painted parts of the fuselage
• TEKNODUR 1090 DUP-3430 blue – blue areas and logos in painting scheme

The painting work requires minimum +5...+10°C outdoor temperature. This means that now we are approaching the limit where the unheated port hall is too cold for painting. The next step in the restoration work is the polishing of the unpainted parts of the fuselage and the leading edges of the wings, but more about that in the next blog.

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri

Translation by Ismo Matinlauri & Erja Reinikainen