Caravelle polishing work party

Suomeksi

It was necessary to arrange a work party to get the Caravelle polishing work under way. The work party took place on the weekend April 22nd – 23rd, 2023.

On Saturday the work was started on the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer and elevators. All the surfaces don’t need polishing because some of them will be painted. The first round of polishing was done using Nushine 9 polishing agent and the second round with Nushine 7.

In some areas on the aluminium surfaces there was still some black dirt left after two rounds of polishing. First we tried to remove it using paint thinner – without results. Finally the solution was the cleaning spray for brakes, with which the black dirt could be removed. After this the surface was polished once more, using Nushine 2 and working with a cloth. The polishing agent contains wax which protects the aluminium surface.

Photo by Reino Myllymäki.

On Saturday morning we had a positive problem: there were more volunteers than we had polishing machines. A couple of new machines were bought during the day and in the afternoon more people were able to participate in the actual polishing.

Photo by Reino Myllymäki.

Until then part of the volunteers were involved in other tasks: tearing old sheets into polishing rags, painting and repairing a hole in the cabin floor with a piece of plywood. There were probably also other jobs, which the writer doesn’t remember, sorry about that!

A challenging task: the writer trying to decide what to have for lunch. In some mysterious way some of the black dirt on the aluminium surface ended up on the polisher’s face…

Photo by Reino Myllymäki

In the afternoon one side of the horizontal stabilizer had been polished and it should have been turned around for more polishing, so the work party moved to the inner flaps. One of the flaps was completed on the upper surface and the other one was otherwise ready on Saturday, but the Nushine 2 was missing. The polishing of the other flap was finished on Sunday.

Photo by Reino Myllymäki.

Polishing was done also on top of the Caravelle’s fuselage because there is a narrow, polished surface on the dorsal fin. The fin polisher was secured on the crane hook by his harness.

On Saturday the polishing of the lower part of the Caravelle’s fuselage was started. This turned out to be very heavy work because the polishing machine must be supported upwards and pressed on the surface which is being polished.

Photo by Janne Salonen.

On Sunday the polishing work on the lower fuselage was continued.

On Sunday the polishing of the wings was also started, concentrating mainly on the wing fences.

Photo by Janne Salonen.

On Saturday there were 15 volunteers at work, on Sunday 11. The total amount of working hours during the weekend was 150. If you feel badly about not participating, don’t worry! There will be another work party on the first weekend in May (May 6th – 7th).

Photos by Jouko Tarponen.

Above there are some pictures which were taken on Monday, after the work party. The results look good, and you can look at your reflection on the aluminium surface!

The Caravelle restoration work continues in the Pansio port hall until the end of May, when the aircraft parts and the assembly and restoration work move to Turku airport.

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri unless mentioned otherwise.