The Link Trainer wings ready to be delivered to the Karelian Aviation Museum

Suomeksi

The Karelian Aviation Museum, situated in Lappeenranta, asked the Tuesday Club to restore the wings of a Link Trainer (LT) in their collection. Partly broken and wing covering torn the wings were brought to the Finnish Aviation Museum at the end of 2023 and the work could be started. The progress of the wing restoration has been followed in earlier Tuesday Club blogs.

Our aim was to complete the restoration work at the end of May, before closing the Tuesday Club’s spring season 2024 but the top coating of the wings was left unfinished. So the painting continued in August after the Club’s autumn season had started. Presently the wing paintings are concluded.

Left hand side photo: Kimmo Marttinen.

The wing covering fabric, which we had tightened to drum top tightness with NC-Speed nitro cellulose lacquer, was painted with Isotrol oil paint. The paint was tinted similar to the original beige tone (tint TVT Q609). The painting was executed with a paint brush and the Isotrol-paint had an excellent coverage from the first layer on. Furthermore, the paint formed an even and smooth surface, so a second application of paint was unnecessary. Someone at the Tuesday Club cut in saying: ”My word. It’s like factory work!”

When both wings had been painted, the earlier restored ailerons were assembled in them. It’s a bit peculiar that this Link Trainer has ailerons in the wings, but no mechanism to transact the joystick’s movements to the ailerons. There are Link Trainers with moving ailerons. There are also Link Trainers with only a piece of board instead of a canvas covered wing.

The aileron is fastened to the wing with two traditional hinges. During the restoration the screw holes had remained under the covering. The places of the hinges could be defined by photos, which were taken before restoration to define the status of the wings. The places of the hinges were marked on both wings with masking tape.

The ailerons were attached one by one to their own wings. Each hinge was placed on the marking tape on the aileron and the middle screw hole was marked on the tape. Traditional groove head screws were used. A screw hole was bored on the mark with a thin bit and the screw was screwed on. After this the marking tapes could be removed.

With both hinges had been fastened in the aileron with its middle screw, the aileron was placed in place beside the wing so that the other halves of the hinges were now resting against the wing. The place of the middle screw was marked on the wing, after which the middle screws were screwed on. The aileron was now fastened in the wing.

The next step was to check that the aileron was fastened in the right position. When that was verified, all the hinge screws were screwed to place. Installing the ailerons was now completed. The last phase in the restoration was to paint the brackets in the wing beige. These brackets are needed to fasten the wing to the Link Trainer fuselage.

The restoration of the wings was now completed and they were ready to be delivered to the Karelian Aviation Museum in Lappeenranta. The tail boom stabilizers of the Karelian Aviation Museum’s Mil Mi-8 (HS-4), which we had finished in the spring, will go with the same delivery with the Link Trainer’s wings.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if otherwise mentioned.

Translation by Matti Liuskallio.