Super Sytky OH-XTM to be restored at Tuesday Club

Maanantai 14.4.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

Aviation Museum Society has received PIK-21 OH-XTM Super Sytky (in English unofficially “Super Chug”), a damaged experimental aircraft, as a donation. The OH-XTM was designed, built and owned by M.Sc.Eng. Kai Mellén. The aircraft was completed in 1982 and is a single seat Formula-V-racer of wooden construction, with a VW-1600 powerplant.

Last summer the aircraft was involved in an air accident, serious enough to damage the fuselage beyond repairing to airworthy condition. In consequence the owner of the Super Chug decided - as an alternative to wrecking it - to donate the entire aeroplane to Aviation Museum Society to be restored at the Tuesday Club. The wings of the Super Chug remained relatively undamaged.

The aircraft will not be restored to airworthy status at the Tuesday Club. It will be restored to be a whole, operable display artefact. It’s important that the prototype of the PIK-21 OH-XTM Super Chug, designed and built by Kai Mellén, will remain a display artefact and at the same time an example of the magnificent series of PIK-designed aeroplanes.

On Saturday, 12 April 2025 the delivery of OH-XTM arrived at the yard of the Finnish Aviation Museum. The Super Chug, which had been carefully tied on a trailer, was unloaded. After that the fuselage, supported by a wooden framework, was carried into a sea container for shelter. The wings and other components of the aircraft were also stored in the container.

At the Tuesday Club the restoration of the OH-XTM Super Chug won’t start immediately. We are still in the middle of restoring the OH-XEA Snoopy experimental aircraft at the Puusepäntie workshop. The restoration of OH-XTM Super Chug will commence at some point during this year.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Restoration of the Snoopy's fuselage continues

Torstai 10.4.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The fuselage of the OH-XEA “Snoopy” has been stored at the Finnish Aviation Museum since its restoration was put to hold in December. Now the fuselage has been transferred to the premises rented by the Aviation Museum Society at Puusepäntie in Tuusula, and it is possible to carry on with the restoration work. Although we couldn’t yet fully concentrate on the restoration projects, because the Tuesday Club’s workshop had yet to be fully refurbished. However, we were able to start the restoration work along with finishing the refurbishing of the workshop.

We carried on with restoring the Snoopy with attaching instruments in its empty instrument panel. The lacking instruments have now been installed. The missing instruments could be seen in a photograph of the Snoopy’s instrument panel from 1969. We are grateful to the people at Turku Flying Club, who rustled up most of the instruments in the panel. We also thank the Finnish Aviation Museum for providing us with the rest of the missing instruments.

Kuva: Esko Keskinen

In completing the instrument panel, the one instrument giving us the biggest problems was the Russian air speed indicator, because it lacked the mounting ring fastened on the instrument. Well, we managed to install the instrument with a clamp around it. We were able to fasten the instrument with four angle irons under the clamp.

Because we didn’t want to leave empty the opening at the centre of the lower part of the instrument panel, we stuck temporarily a digital thermometer there. That’s to say, we don’t know which instrument there was originally, because that instrument is lacking from the photo at our disposal. Furthermore we put two switches we bought from Motonet into the two empty holes in the instrument panel. They don’t resemble the earlier ones with longer stems in the Snoopy’s instrument panel, but we’ll let them stay there for the time being. Of course, we’ll be trying to find switches like the original ones to be installed into the instrument panel.

Kuva: Jouni Ripatti

The Snoopy’s metal fuselage frame was completed for covering at the end of 2024. So, we have started covering the fuselage frame with the vertical stabilizer, which is an integral part of the fuselage frame. We made at first a cardboard template of the stabilizer. Cotton fabric was spread over the template and a piece of fabric, a bit larger than the edges of the cardboard template, was cut off.

The fabric was cut to oversize with intention, to leave adjustment allowance, when cutting the fabric to a tight fit.
The cut fabric was laid tentatively on the vertical stabilizer so that the lapels were left outside the trailing edge. We spread NC-Speed nitrocellulose lacquer to the stabilizer’s leading edge and pressed the fabric tightly against it. This way we managed to glue the fabric to the stabilizer’s leading edge, allowing the lapels to be glued with lacquer to the trailing edge of the stabilizer.

All the more, we wanted to check the tightening properties of the fabric we were using. So we attached a piece of fabric with a stapler to a wooden framework and started tightening the fabric with nitrocellulose lacquer. After two layers of 25% lacquer, we spread a layer of 50% nitro lacquer. After applying these layers of lacquer, the fabric began to tighten in a way we’d hoped, i.e. shrink to resemble a drum top. The final tightness will be found out when we’ll get to using the 100% NC Speed nitrocellulose lacquer.

The Snoopy’s fuselage frame came to us without the cockpit plexiglass panes and the windscreen. The new plexiglass panes of the left-hand side of the cockpit and the right-hand side door pane were acquired and cut to form already towards the end of last year. They were made of 3 mm thick polycarbonate plexiglass. A cardboard template was made of the missing cockpit windscreen, and a plexiglass blank will be cut according to the template. The plexiglass sheet will be bent to the right shape by heating, so that both sides of the windscreen nestle tightly to the front sides of the cockpit. So far we haven’t tried this kind of plexiglass shaping by heating, but we are confident of making it a success.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if otherwise mentioned.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Repairing the flight deck seat covers

Tiistai 1.4.2025 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

There are four seats on the Caravelle’s flight deck: the captain’s and co-pilot’s seats in front, the third crew member’s / observer’s seat at the back on the right-hand side and on the left-hand side an auxiliary seat, without a seatback, located on top of the box containing the manual library. Last autumn all seat textiles and safety belts were dismantled in the cockpit for repair and maintenance. The seat frames and most of the padding material were in surprisingly good condition.

The captain’s seat’s armrest mechanism as well as all the seat position adjustment mechanisms were checked and fixed before the winter break. The padding for the pilots’ seat was all right, but new padding had to be made for the observer’s seat and for the rectangular auxiliary seat. There was plenty of plastic foam sheet, left over from cutting the padding for the passenger seats, to be used for this purpose.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

The seat covers on the flight deck, however, were in poor condition. Especially the pilots’ seat cushion covers had worn thin and almost transparent, and the seatback covers had actual holes in their upper part. We discussed the possibilities for repairing the covers, but came to the conclusion that for the seat cushion covers the only alternative was to replace the cover fabric.

Photo: Annya Crowther

New fabric resembling the original seat cover wool-mix fabric in the right colour is quite impossible to find, so we decided to make the new sections from completely different material. The colour of the heavy cotton fabric resembles the faded greenish grey colour of the original seat covers (originally the fabric has obviously been dark grey).

On the pilots’ seats the covers for the seat cushion and the seatback are fastened on the seat frame with snap fasteners. There are 44 snap fasteners per seat. We found out that similar snap fasteners are not easily available, and the top parts of new snaps don’t fit on the original bottom parts, fastened on the seat frame. Therefore we decided to keep the sections of the seat covers, which held the top parts of the snap fasteners. The worn mid-sections of the cushion covers were unstitched from the snap fastener sections and replaced. The new fabric was cut into shape, using the unstitched section as a template, and sewn on to the original snap fastener sections.

Photos: Annya Crowther

The holes on the upper edge of the pilots’ seatback covers were patched with the original fabric, using the better sections from the unstitched seat cushion parts. The patches were sewn on the holes and worn areas.

Only the top side fabric was replaced on the rectangular pillowcase-like cover of the auxiliary seat. The observer’s seat cover was in such good condition that it needed only minor mending.

Last summer we managed to repair the passenger seat covers with an ordinary household sewing machine and very basic sewing skills. This time we got help with the flight deck seat covers from an experienced soft furnishings sewer, who is using a heavy-duty professional sewing machine. A good sewing machine was needed when sewing the seams of old and new fabric.

The back sides of the pilots’ seatbacks have seat pockets and the elastic band at the top had lost its stretch and the pockets were sagging. New elastic bands were put in and the seat pockets got a refreshed look in an industrial pressing machine.

Photo: Annya Crowther

The seat belts from the flight deck were cleaned with a pressure washer and spread to dry. When the belts were dry their leather parts were wiped with colourless shoe polish. No other maintenance was needed for the seat belts. When the photo was taken the belts in the middle had been washed and the ones on the sides were waiting their turn.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

The flight deck seat cover repairs were completed just before the work season in 2025 began in Turku. “Caravelle Team Helsinki” travelled to Turku on 25 March to check the counterbalancing mechanism of the passenger door before the door was taken into use and brought also the repaired and refurbished flight deck textiles. The padding material had spent the winter in the storage container and felt slightly damp, so it was put up to dry in the sun against the office container wall for a moment before installation.

Assembling the flight deck seat padding, seat covers, and seat belts required some effort: there isn’t too much space on the flight deck and the covers had slightly shrunk when washed, so fastening all the original snap fasteners wasn’t easy. A good hour later, and after some foul vocabulary, broken nails and scratched fingers, the two pilots’ seats and the observer’s seat were ready. And they looked great. The fastening of the auxiliary seat cover still needs some adjustment.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

When the last missing flight instruments had been installed in the instrument panel, the flight deck was ready for the summer season and visitors.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

Snoopy's fuselage and engine to Puusepäntie

Torstai 27.3.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

Equipping the Aviation Museum Society’s rented premises at Puusepäntie in Tuusula into the workshop for the Tuesday Club has advanced so well that we decided to move the fuselage and engine of the experimental aircraft Snoopy, stored at the Finnish Aviation Museum, to the new workspace.

This means that restoring the Snoopy will continue from the point where we left it at the end of last year. Bringing the Snoopy to Puusepäntie is a kind of milestone in taking the rented workspace into its proper use. Well, the equipping of the Puusepäntie workspace is still not quite finished, but we’ll get there while working on the Snoopy and other restoration projects.

Let it be reminded that restoration work at the Finnish Aviation Museum’s restoration workshop came to a close at the end of last year, because the restoration workshop was changed into a space supporting the oncoming move of the Finnish Aviation Museum. The Tuesday Club will participate these Museum operations and continue restoring museum worthy aircraft at the Aviation Museum Society’s rented workshop at Puusepäntie.

Kuva: Jouni Ripatti.

Kuvat: Reijo Siirtola.

On Tuesday, 25 March 2025 we gathered at the Museum to transport the Snoopy’s fuselage and engine to our new workshop. The Snoopy’s fuselage and engine, situated in a storage container, were pulled out of the container to the Museum yard. The fuselage was hoisted on to a trailer, where it was carefully fastened with cargo straps. A light tarpaulin was spread on the fuselage to protect it during the trip. The Snoopy’s engine, fastened in its mount could be loaded in a minivan.

Kuva: Jouni Ripatti.

Kuva: Reijo Siirtola.

When the loading was ready, we drove the ten or so km from the Museum to the Puusepäntie workshop. There the fuselage and engine were unloaded and pushed into their new home.

Kuva: Reijo Siirtola.

Kuva: Reino Myllymäki.

The Snoopy’s restoration will commence at the beginning of April, simultaneously with giving the workshop the finishing touches.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Equipping Tuesday Club's premises at full swing

Maanantai 10.3.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

Aviation Museum Society Finland rented premises at Puusepäntie (Carpenter Road) in Tuusula to secure the continuity of the Tuesday Club’s work. The Club’s restoration operations drew to a close at the Finnish Aviation Museum’s workshop at the end of 2024, because the restoration space was turned into a workshop serving the Museum’s move.

The premises at Puusepäntie were rented for three years, or for the period of time during which the new Museum building would be completed. Well, if that wouldn’t realize, we could continue at Puusepäntie, until restoration work could be continued in the workshop in the new Museum.

Photos by Jukka Köresaari

Equipment and work machines brought along from the Finnish Aviation Museum have been hauled for the last couple of weeks to the empty hall at Puusepäntie. We obtained a laudable amount of work machines and equipment from there, thanks to the Finnish Aviation Museum. The items include band saws, face grinders, circular grinders, a column drilling machine, a compressor and an industrial vacuum cleaner.

Photo by Jukka Köresaari

Smaller articles have been transported from the Finnish Aviation Museum to Puusepäntie in cars and trailers. To transport big and heavy objects like tables and work machines we luckily had at our disposal a lorry equipped with a rear platform lift. Many of the work machines were manually pushed out of the workshop and on to the lift, but we were assisted in the loading by the Museum’s fork lift.

Simultaneously we have been able to obtain, from a long list of needs, furniture and other equipment to furnish the premises. Fortunately these have been available at a low price or even with no cost. We do still need furniture, such as lockers and shelves, and equipment, e.g. a coffee maker and a medicine cabinet.

The premises rented by the Aviation Museum Society isn’t merely the Tuesday Club’s workshop. It will be at the same time a storage for publications by the Aviation Museum Society and Ketterät Kirjat Oy (a publishing company). A space will be therefore reserved separately for these two storages.

When various pieces of equipment have been brought in through the Puusepäntie door, shelves and lockers are being assembled on the walls for restoration material and tools. So far everything looks quite confusing, but day by day the chaos will turn into organization, and beginning restoration activities will be possible.

It will certainly take some time yet to furnish the Puusepäntie workshop. However, we aim to be able to continue restoration work in the new facility of the Tuesday Club at the beginning of April. Then the members will continue work both on the Myrsky Demo Wing and on the restoration of the Snoopy (OH-XEA). Along with these projects also smaller restorations will be done, such as the refurbishing the pilot’s seat of a Bristol Blenheim bomber.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if otherwise mentioned.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

New premises for the Tuesday Club for continuation of restoration work

Maanantai 17.2.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

As was told in the previous blog, restoring aircraft at the Finnish Aviation Museum took a break. Restoration work at the Museum will continue after the new Museum will be completed in approximately three years’ time. For that purpose all the ongoing projects of the Tuesday Club were halted, i.e. stored in sea containers at the Finnish Aviation Museum’s yard.

The Aviation Museum Society has every intention to secure the continuation of the restoration work without interruption till the new Museum is ready. That’s why the Aviation Museum Society has been looking for a temporary facility in the Helsinki metropolitan area where the restoration work of museum worthy aircraft by the Tuesday Club could be continued. There are plenty of empty storage space for rent, but for instance around Ring road III, or south of it, the rents are too high for the Museum Society’s economic situation.

In looking for temporary premises we aimed at a solution, in which the facility wouldn’t be too far from the Finnish Aviation Museum, because co-operation with the Museum would continue close knit. A few months hard work brought a result at last. The Society decided to rent an empty premise, suitable for our purposes, in Tuusula, not far from the Museum. There’s an open 140 m2 space, suitable to be a workshop. There are two consecutive rooms in addition for storage and social purposes.

The rental contract comes into effect at the beginning of March. Before that the owner will do some maintenance and modifications to enhance the suitability of the space from our point of view. Because the rented property is an empty hall, it must be furnished as a workshop. The last weeks have therefore been spent gathering various equipment and other necessities, to be able to start the restoration work. We have luckily succeeded in obtaining what we need from various sources without cost. We even have succeeded in getting along from the Finnish Aviation Museum necessary equipment, work machines and tools.

After the new Tuesday Club workshop has been furnished and adapted to serve the restoration work, the parts of the Snoopy(OH-XEA) and the Demo Myrsky, currently stored in sea containers at  the yard of the Finnish Aviation Museum, can be brought to the Tuusula workshop. This way the restoration can be continued. It’s possible that later this year the refurbishing of the PIK-21 Super Sytky (OH-XTM) will start. It’s been damaged in a forced landing.

Although the Tuesday Club’s restoration activities will move from the Aviation Museum to the Tuusula workshop, the intense co-operation with the Finnish Aviation Museum will continue. First of all, we’ll continue weekly preparation work for the Museum’s move, under the Museum’s guidance. Secondly, we can nip over to the Museum to use for restoration purposes the fire work container, painting tent or to use machines, like the lathe, which remained in the Museum’s workshop. In this sense it’s excellent that the Tuusula workshop is situated only a ten-minute drive from the Museum.

Photo by Reino Myllymäki.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Caravelle's flight deck door

Torstai 13.2.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

The Caravelle’s flight deck door came from Arlanda dismounted from its hinges and the wall panels around it were mainly missing, so it took us a while to figure out how the door had been installed and what its surroundings looked like. We were surprised to find out that the door opens both ways, which explained the unusual fasteners on the door frame and the double-sided hinges.

The restoration work of the flight deck door followed the same steps which we used earlier when working on both toilet doors. First the edging strips were removed, and the door handle was dismantled, together with other possible elements. The flight deck door has a ventilation grille at the bottom which could be closed from the flight deck side using a small panel.

Then the surfaces were sanded and spackled. A new surfacing material was installed on both sides: on the flight deck side a vinyl wallpaper and on the cabin side a wallpaper which resembles the original surface material.

The following step was to install the edging strips and other elements back into place. The photo below shows how the closing panel on the ventilation grille was installed.

Then the door was mounted into place, to test how it worked. After some adjustments the door was in place in its correct position. As the door has been designed to open both ways, the brackets on the door frame had to be adjusted before the door functioned properly.

Finally the wall panel above the door had to be built because the original had not been preserved. In the photo below the wall panel is preliminarily in place but it requires some adjustment. The edging strips on the door frame are also missing.

In the photo on the left you can see the new electrical board and the lighting switches above it. On the right you see a photo of the original flight deck door on the wall. We used this photo to figure out how the door is installed. A new lighting fixture has already been installed in the ceiling. The ceiling panel on the left side still needs to be resurfaced.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen and Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation to English by Erja Reinikainen.

Restoration work took a break at the Finnish Aviation Museum

Torstai 30.1.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

Restoration operations at the Finnish Aviation Museum were discontinued at the end of 2024. The break will last until the work can be restarted in the new Aviation Museum, which is rising near the present Aviation Museum. It may happen approximately at the end of 2027. The reader can wonder, why the break already now?

Moving the Finnish Aviation Museum to new premises is a herculean effort. In principle every artefact in the Museum will be dealt with, assessing whether it will need possible maintenance, repairing, conservation, or restoration measures. If beforementioned measures will be needed, they will be taken and after that it will be decided if the artefact will be placed in the new Museum, or will it be stored in the collection centre?

From the beginning of 2025 onwards the Museum’s restoration workshop will primarily become the maintenance, repair, and restoration space for the aircraft and their equipment from the Museum’s exhibition halls. First to be taken under scrutiny will be minor artefacts in the exhibition halls, for example the aero engines. Maintenance work could then advance from primary gliders and advanced sailplanes to small aircraft. They will be disassembled and brought part by part to the restoration workshop for the necessary repairs or restoration operations. For instance, the primary gliders and advanced sailplanes have been hanging from the ceiling for decades, so at least they should need maintenance.

But before the previously mentioned check-ups and maintenance work can be started, the restoration workshop must be organized and cleaned and the restoration projects, which have continued till the end of last year, have to be stored somewhere else. So the projects, such as the Valmet Tuuli III, OH-XEA Snoopy and Caudron C.50 restorations and building of the so-called Demo-Myrsky, must be packed with all parts and equipment and stored to wait for better times.

We have our work cut out for us in cleaning and organizing the restoration workshop for the new task. Restoration work of aircraft and other museal tasks have really been going on there from the end of the 1980s.

Straight after Epiphany members of the Tuesday Club started, with guidance from the Museum, to clean and organize the restoration workshop and packing restoration projects to be moved to storage. The work has progressed at a good pace. Unnecessary and unusable material for the future projects, such as all kinds of wood and metal debris, have been recycled in large amounts. Part of it has also been disposed of as non-recyclable waste. The premises have also been cleaned and tools and other articles put to their places.

The Tuuli III, Snoopy, Caudron and Demo-Myrsky parts that were in the restoration workshop, have now been wrapped in bubble plastic to be stored. Smaller parts were put in storage boxes. The Tuuli parts were put in a big spacious plywood box.
The Snoopy parts were stored in the container owned by the Museum at the Museum yard and the Demo-Myrsky parts in a container owned by the Aviation Museum Society.

Before storing the Tuuli III fuselage was protected with Tyvek polyethene fabric, which is breathing in such a way that it lets moisture out, but not inside. The fuselages of the Tuuli III and the Snoopy, Snoopy’s engine and the restored Walter Gemma radial engine in the workshop, used by the Finnish Film industry to create wind, were moved from the restoration workshop to the 45 feet long sea container at the Museum yard, owned by the Finnish Aviation Museum. The transportation went on deftly either by a forklift or in a car tow.

Perhaps we’re already getting the upper hand in organizing the restoration workshop. Still there is cleaning and organizing to be done before we can bring the first aero engines from the exhibition halls to the restoration workshop for inspection and maintenance.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Caravelle's bulkhead restoration - Part 3 of 3

Tiistai 28.1.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

The segments of the cabin’s back wall panelling were found among the separate parts which came from Arlanda with the aircraft. The panels have some maintenance and inspection hatches for various equipment. The cabin crew seat which moves sideways on tracks fastened on the back wall was also found among the panels.

When the restoration and coating of the side wall interior had progressed to the rear part of the cabin, the restoration of the back wall panels could be started. In the photo the coating work has reached the rear wall, the following phase was to test-fit the wall elements into place and check their condition.

After some digging in the rear galley and the sea containers all wall panel segments were found. The last item to be found was the segment between the tracks for the cabin crew sliding seat, it is still missing in this picture. A small section of this panel, by the cabin wall, was not found and it had to be made. Some small parts of the left-hand side panelling remained missing, too.

The rear part of the overhead storage shelves was moved to the right-hand side, so a new part had to be made for covering the shelf end hole in the rear wall.

The missing parts were made of flexible building board, purchased earlier. It was protected from humidity by painting it with a suitable undercoat paint, then a suitable piece was cut into shape.

Finally the new panelling pieces were covered with vinyl coated wallpaper, resembling the original coating. Then each piece was fitted into place and fastened.

The assembly of the rear wall panelling went well. We took into account that the panelling may have to be disassembled in the spring when the ceiling coating is assembled in the middle of the aisle area.

The cabin crew seat was assembled into place and its bearings and wheels were oiled to make sure it moves smoothly. The seat frame was removed, it will be sanded and painted before final assembly in the spring.

The seat padding and cover had already been disassembled and taken to the Caravelle Helsinki Team “textile manager” to be cleaned and repaired.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen and Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation to English by Erja Reinikainen.

The Snoopy got its horizontal stabilizer struts

Maanantai 27.1.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The Snoopy horizontal stabilizer has on both sides a metal strut attached to the fuselage. The struts haven’t survived, so they had to be made. We scrutinized photos of the Snoopy. They showed that the struts have been of round metal tube. We found at the metal store of the Finnish Aviation Museum some 10 mm thick aluminium tube, suitable for making the struts.

Photo by Esko Keskinen.

For making the struts their lengths had to be determined. Therefore the Snoopy’s horizontal stabilizer was fastened to the fuselage. It is fastened to the fuselage with three 8 mm thick bolts. They haven’t survived either. So we bought such ones with nuts and washers. Before fastening the stabilizer, the holes for fastening the stabilizer on the fuselage were cleaned with a round file, after which the stabilizer was fastened to place.

Now the strut length from the bracket in the fuselage to the fastening bolt in the stabilizer could be measured. It turned out to be 60 cm.

Two 60,5 cm long pieces were cut off the aluminium tube. The ends of both the tubes were squeezed flat for drilling holes for the fastening bolts. At first the holes for the fastening bolts were drilled to one end of the strut, after which the struts were fastened to the brackets on the fuselage. The flat top end of the strut was placed in line with the fastening bolts in the stabilizer. We saw that the top end of the strut fitted exactly to the bolt.

We marked the place for the fastening bolt to the flat top ends of the struts with a felt pen and holes were drilled accordingly. After that both struts were fastened in place on the stabilizer. It was noticed that the stabilizer was horizontal and steady at its place. So the horizontal stabilizer had received its new struts.

The struts made of aluminium tube were unfastened to be painted. The struts were painted with blue grey Isotrol oil paint. At the same time the elevator operating rod, made of aluminium tube, was painted. After the paint had dried, the struts were once more put to place, after which the stabilizer was unfastened, waiting for the fuselage restoration to be ready.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if otherwise mentioned.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Refurbishment of the Hansa and Moth models

Perjantai 24.1.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The Karelian Aviation Museum in Lappeenranta, has in its collection wooden models of the I.V.L A. 22 “Hansa” 4F35 (later IL-35) and de Havilland D.H.60 (MO-97) aircraft.

Both types of aircraft were licence built at the Aircraft Factory of The Aviation Force (Later the Air Force) in Suomenlinna. The I.V.L. A.22 aircraft were built on the licence from Hansa Brandenburg W.33 aircraft. Many modifications were made in the aircraft built in Suomenlinna so that the aircraft didn’t fully match the original anymore. However, it has always been simply the Hansa in common language, as in this blog, too. The Hansas served as maritime reconnaissance aircraft in the Finnish Air Force, and the Moth as a trainer and a liaison aircraft. The Hansas were struck off charge in mid 1930s and the Moths after the Continuation War.

Because the wooden models of both the aircraft were in poor condition, the Karelian Aviation Museum queried of the Tuesday Club, whether they could repair and refurbish the models. We were pleased to meet the challenge, because we had earlier on restored for them the tail boom stabilizers of the Mil Mi-8T helicopter and the wings of the Link Trainer. On top of that we have, in our Club, an excellent model builder, who took on the job. 

In refurbishing both the models we adhered to the principle of fixing or completing what’s broken but otherwise followed the principles of preservative conservation. The aim is to preserve originality, where the models wouldn’t be repainted, but the original paint surfaces will be maintained with preservation. We will respect the original modellers and earlier restorers by leaving as much of the original patina visible as possible, however, avoiding the models looking ragged.

First we took on the Hansa. The Hansa’s swastika emblems drew our attention. They were of paper and had been glued to the wings and fuselage. We decided to remove the ragged paper emblems. They were soaked with water and removed with a painter’s spatula, and under them painted emblems emerged. This left us thinking, why new emblems made of paper had been glued on. Perhaps the previous restorer had thought that the old ones were worn out and glued new ones out of paper on them.

The painted emblems, discovered under layers of paper, were in surprisingly good condition. They were patch-painted only to an extent that they wouldn’t jump out as too fine, compared to the patinated appearance of the rest of the aircraft.

A quaint detail was that one of the fuselage swastika emblems was a mirror image. We decided to preserve it as it was. It’s common knowledge that so called reversed swastikas had in fact appeared in the surfaces of Finnish Air Force aircraft. Might this have been the case in the 4F35 individual, the example aircraft to this model?

The Hansa model’s engine cowling was rusted. It was meticulously sanded clean. Then the cowling was bordered with narrow masking tape and painted with silver enamel paint. The radiator cells at the front end of the engine were painted dark and the exhaust tubes penetrating the cowling were painted black. The stepping boards at the junction of the wings and fuselage were loose. They were properly fastened and painted silver.

The paint on the wooden surfaces, especially on the upper surfaces, was scaling off. The scaling paint was removed with the masking tape/sticker method, where the loose scales remain on the tape, but the solid paint surface stays untouched. After the tape treatment the surfaces were lightly sanded with fine sanding paper. Finally the surfaces were lacquered with matt acrylic lacquer. It suits this purpose well, because the lacquer won’t change the appearance of the original patinated paint surface but gives it good protection.

Both the pilot’s and observer’s “offices” were tidied by painting them with brown acrylic paint. The painting was brought to the upper rims to emulate the leather paddings.

The model’s propeller was made to resemble a laminated wooden propeller. It was sanded and lacquered with semi matt lacquer. Brass reinforcements were painted to the leading edges of the propellers. Finally, the swastikas that were used in the State Aircraft propellers, were transferred as decals on the propeller blades. The refurbishment of the Hansa was now completed, and it was time for the Moth.

The wooden Moth MO-97 model was refurbished like the Hansa complying the principles of repairing conservation. The Moth had suffered worse than the Hansa with the passing of time. The coupling of the fuselage and the upper and lower wings had failed. The threads emulating the wing stiffeners, or lamellas, were broken off. The Moth’s paper swastika emblems had dried up all crumpled and were unusable.

First, the Moth was dismantled, and the refurbishing was started with the swastika emblems. The wings’ paper emblems were removed by soaking and the swastikas that were painted on the wooden surface, were cleaned with a magic sponge. After that the swastikas that appeared from under them, were carefully completed with blue and white paint. The wing emblems were restored to reasonably good condition in this way. The fuselage emblems were in such sorry state that they were replaced with decal swastikas. Otherwise the fuselage and wing surfaces had kept well, so they were just cleaned and given a protective layer of matt acryl lacquer.

Rigging the Moth was started by joining the lower wings and the fuselage. The coupling of the lower wings and the fuselage were made sturdy by installing metal reinforcements. The struts joining the lower and upper wings were fastened on the lower wings. The middle section of the upper wing, where the fuel tank was situated, was mounted on the fuselage. The upper wings could be joined to the middle wing using their original brackets.

The stiffening threads emulating the struts and lamellas in the Moth model wings had to be replaced with new threads. As thread, twined cotton thread of thickness two was used. The darker, thinner thread was used as wing stiffeners and thicker light thread to reinforce the struts. Attaching the threads was started by drilling holes for them into both the upper and lower wings with a Dremel Mini extremely thin bit. The threads were squeezed through the drilled holes with a needle threader used by dressmakers.

When the end of the thread was passed into its hole, a drop of superglue was applied. When the glue had dried, the other end was passed into the opposite hole (e.g. from the stem of the lower wing to the upper end of the strut). The thread was tightened suitably in its hole and superglue was applied into the hole, keeping the thread tight at the same time. The criterion for the suitable tightness is that when you look from the front, the lower and upper wings stay at the right angle compared to the fuselage.

After the glue had dried, we made certain that the thread stayed tight, and we moved on to the next reinforcement thread. Working like this, all the four pairs of reinforcement threads were glued into place. In fitting the reinforcement threads we had to be careful that the reinforcement threads were at the same tightness on both sides of the fuselage. Otherwise, the lower and upper wings won’t set at the right angle, or one individual tread is left too loose. When the reinforcement treads between the lower and upper wings were in place, grids of reinforcement tread were attached to the struts between the lower and upper wings. They were made of the thicker twined cotton thread.

The missing long exhaust tube on the left-hand side of the fuselage was built to the completed model Moth. The exhaust tube was made to look original. It was made from plastic 1:48 aircraft black model sprue, from which a piece as long as the exhaust tube was cut. The piece was heated, and the softened plastic was bent to form. At the end of the exhaust tube an aperture was drilled. The front end of the exhaust tube was glued with superglue to the existing hole in the cylinder block. The middle part was fastened with a metal clip. The tube was painted with black acryl colour so that the front end shows a silver hue due to engine heating.

When the Moth’s wooden propeller had been lacquered, small swastika decals were attached to the propeller blades. Now the MO-95 wooden model repair and conservation was ready.

Both the wooden models of the 1930s aircraft, the Hansa and the Moth, are owned by the Karelian Aviation Museum. The repaired models were now ready to be delivered to Lappeenranta to be put on display.

Photos by Matti Kainulainen.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Caravelle's bulkhead restoration - Part 2 of 3

Keskiviikko 15.1.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

A passenger seating area, consisting of four seat rows, will be built in the front part of the cabin. Seats for three passengers will be assembled on the right-hand side and double seats on the left-hand side. The overhead storage shelves and wall surfacing material on the right side were dismantled by the Swedes while the aircraft was still in Arlanda. With the four seat rows the cabin would look rather odd without the overhead shelves, so we moved some shelves from the rear of the cabin on left-hand side to the front on the right side.

The passenger seating area is separated from the open cabin area at the back with a new bulkhead. This kind of original bulkhead (or parts of it) did not exist in the aircraft, so it had to be made.

Building the new bulkhead

We had plenty of 10 mm plywood left from an earlier work phase, so we decided to use this material to make the new bulkhead. This saved a good amount of money; it will be needed for other purposes before the interior is ready. The outcome looks good and resembles an original bulkhead, which meets our requirements.

We used the bulkhead halves of the cabin front as a template to define the shape of the bulkhead parts. The outline of the bulkhead was drawn on a plywood board. It should be noticed that the line of overhead storage shelves on the left-hand side continues further back in the cabin and therefore we had to shape an opening in the bulkhead for the shelf. A rough sketch for the size and location of the opening can be seen on the plywood board in the photograph.

After the bulkhead halves had been cut to shape, they were test-assembled several times and the curvature on the cabin wall side had to be modified before the final shape was reached.

The plywood parts were sanded, and the largest holes and dents were spackled before the elements were surfaced.

Surface treatment

Both sides of the new bulkhead halves were surfaced using the same vinyl coated wallpaper which was used on the front bulkhead in the cabin. Vertical plastic strips were fastened on the aisle side of the bulkhead edges to protect the plywood material and to give the wallpapered sides a finishing touch.

Outcome

The surfaced bulkhead halves were assembled into place and fastened at the top and bottom with small corner brackets. At the bottom they will be covered when the carpet is installed and at the top they were hidden inside the overhead storage shelves.

There is a narrow gap between the cabin wall and the bulkhead, it will be filled with a strip of foamed plastic in the finalising phase next spring. The asymmetry of the bulkhead halves can be seen in the picture. The reason for the asymmetry is that the seat arrangement will be 3+2 seats, and the aisle is not in the middle of the fuselage but slightly on the left-hand side. (The picture was taken from the front of the aircraft towards the rear.)

Photos by Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation to English by Erja Reinikainen.

Caravelle's bulkhead restoration - Part 1 of 3

Torstai 2.1.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi

During the summer and autumn the interior work in the Caravelle’s cabin progressed surprisingly well. There were no major surprises on the way and the work progressed as planned. There are three bulkheads in the cabin and individual blogs will be written about each one.

This first part concentrates on the restoration work of the bulkhead in the front part of the cabin. It separates the front galley from the actual passenger cabin. As we don’t have a galley in our Caravelle, the front section could be called the entrance area.

The following blogs will describe the construction of the bulkhead which separates the seating area from the open rear area, and the restoration of the rear bulkhead which is between the toilets and the open area.

Test assembly

The cabin front bulkheads are original, they came with the aircraft from Arlanda, where the Caravelle waited for its fate from 1974 until 2022. On the entrance side the bulkhead had a grey plastic coating, which had broken and crackled in large areas during the decades. The remaining parts of coating were scraped off and then the old brown glue under it, covering the whole wall, was ground smooth.

In the picture both halves of the bulkhead have been test assembled into place for defining suitable fastenings.

Notice how the lower part of the bulkhead elements protrudes forward, towards the entrance area. This gave the passengers on the other side of the wall, on the first seat row, a little more legroom.

Dismantling and cleaning

The following step was to dismantle all decorative elements and add-ons, such as ashtrays, newspaper pockets, loudspeakers, etc. Furthermore, the fabric covering, on the lower part of the bulkhead on the passenger cabin side, was also removed as it was in poor condition.

The add-on elements were cleaned so that they were ready to be re-assembled on the restored bulkheads as the finishing touch.

Restoring the surfaces

A vinyl coated wallpaper, designed for humid spaces, was installed on the entrance side of the cabin bulkhead. Its pattern and colour corresponded with the original style quite well. The wallpaper was glued on the bulkhead surface using glue which is suitable for outdoor use and is water-soluble, which made it easier to get all the tools clean.

All the other bulkheads in the cabin were covered with the same vinyl coated wallpaper to create a uniform style inside the passenger cabin. On the passenger seating area side the original brown fabric on the lower part of the bulkhead was changed to the new carpet material. Finnair had donated a roll of aircraft carpet earlier in the year. Suitable pieces were cut from the carpet roll for the legroom part of the wall and glued on the bulkhead. The wallpaper on the upper part of the bulkhead was still in good condition, it only needed to be cleaned. This required a magic eraser, some cleaning liquid and a fair amount of proper scrubbing.

The outcome

When the restoration and cleaning work was ready, the add-on elements and decorations were fastened back on the walls and the bulkhead halves were installed into place in the cabin. Only the curtain is missing and the vertical strips from the sides of the bulkhead doorway. These will be installed during the spring 2025.

Photos by Jouko Tarponen and Ismo Matinlauri.

Translation to English by Erja Reinokainen.

Installing the control wires in the Snoopy's tail

Torstai 2.1.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The experimental aircraft Snoopy, under restoration at The Tuesday Club, retains the wires from the rudder pedals to the rudder and tail wheel. Instead, the elevator wires had disappeared.

We examined the Snoopy’s fuselage to find out how the elevator wires had run. It transpired that the upper wire is attached to the top end of a rocking lever in the tail. Accordingly, the lower wire is attached to the lower end of the rocking lever. So, how to move the elevator? From the photos taken of the Snoopy we noticed a bar from the tail to the underside of the elevator. The other end of this metal bar has been attached to the lower end of the rocking lever, where there are holders both for the wire and the bar. As the wires tilt the rocking lever from side to side, the metal bar moves back and forth, making the elevator move up and down.

At the lower end of the control column the lower elevator wire runs through a pulley in the fuselage and on through a tube in the control column lower end winding around a pulley to the lower end of the control column. Accordingly, the elevator upper wire runs from the rocking lever through a pulley in the fuselage, straight to the lower end of the control column. This way the wire forms a connected wire loop that can be operated from the control column.

Before we started to install the elevator wires, we had to lathe the two missing pulleys in the fuselage that guide the movement of the wires. The bolt holes in the pulley holders were drilled clean, after which the pulleys were installed. Now we could start threading the wires to place.

The wires were tentatively fastened with loops with wire locks to the lower end of the control column and the rocking lever. After it was defined how tight the wires should be, the wire ends were equipped with metal rings or thimbles. The wire was tightened around the thimble and the end of the wire was locked at the stem of the thimble with two pressable wire locks made of aluminium. The thimble headed wires were finally threaded to the holder at the lower part of the control column and the locking loops attached to the rocker lever.

After the elevator wires had been fitted, we constructed the metal rod out of 20 mm metal tube, to move the elevator, and fastened it to lower end of the rocker lever. We further checked the working of the rod by attaching the horizontal stabilizer and elevator to the fuselage of the Snoopy. When we fastened the other end of the rod to the bracket on the lower surface of the elevator, it moved as planned, when pulling and pushing the control column.

A wire connects the rudder pedals both to the rudder and the tail wheel. The wire running towards the tail, forks halfway of the fuselage to wires going to the rudder and the tailwheel. The tailwheel turns simultaneously, when the rudder is turned by the pedals.

We fastened first the right- and left-hand side wire ends to the pedals. After that we attached the ends of the rudder wires, which forked halfway of the fuselage, to the brackets on the lower left-hand and right hand-side corners of the rudder. At the same time we noticed that in front of the rudder, there had been pulleys guiding the wires in the fuselage. All that was left was the holder for the pulleys.

The missing pulleys were lathed and attached in place. Thus the rudder wires had been installed.

It was time to install the tailwheel wires. The left-hand side wire had been linked to the tailwheel by a coiled spring. The right-hand side original wire lacked the coiled spring. When we thought about the problem, we found out that both the wires should have the coiled spring for the rudder to function properly.

We studied photos of the Snoopy. It transpired from them that both the rudder wires did have a coiled spring. Why it lacked from the right-hand wire, will remain a mystery.

We carried on pondering. If the tailwheel wires have coiled springs, they must have counter springs in the pedals. This way the wires between the pedals and the rudder could remain tight and the rudder movements transit to the rudder and tailwheel. Small metal rings were found in the fuselage and rudder pedals. So we bought suitable coiled springs and installed them to the rudder pedals.

We also bought coiled springs for both the tailwheel wires.  So we decided to renew the left-hand side tailwheel coiled spring, in order for both springs to be identical. Before installing the tailwheel wires, we had cleaned the pulleys for the tailwheel wires to be fastened to the tailwheel coiled spring.

At first the coiled springs on both sides were fastened to the brackets in the tailwheel. After this both the wires were attached to the coiled spring with a ring made to the end of the wire. The ring was locked with two wire locks that were pressed around the wire. We still installed, as had been in the original, a backup wire between the brackets and the ends of the wires. The backup wire was threaded through the coil spring. The wire ensures the function of the tailwheel if the coiled spring breaks loose or breaks. We added a turnbuckle to the left-hand side wire of the tailwheel to adjust the tightness.

Thus we had installed to working order all the Snoopy’s control wires in the tail section.
A different story will be the fitting of the aileron wires in the wings.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Painting the propeller of the Snoopy by its painting scheme

Perjantai 20.12.2024 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The damaged Hoffmann Rosenheim propeller, received as a donation, was primed after its repair with bluish-grey Isotrol oil paint. This paint suits for both priming and surface painting. After the priming, putty was still re-applied to some uneven spots, after which the propeller surfaces were thoroughly ground smooth with sandpaper. The grinding dust was wiped off with a rag moistened with Sinol / water solution (50% / 50%).

Now we proceeded to painting the propeller by the original painting scheme as in the Snoopy, documented in photographs of it. The tips of the blades were red, with a narrow white stripe in the bottom edge of the red. The front side of the blades was painted with the same bluish-grey paint as the whole aircraft. The back side of the blades had been painted matt black between the red tip of the blade and the propeller hub, to prevent glare.

Painting the propeller as in the Snoopy painting scheme was started, after grinding the primer, by covering it fully with bluish-grey Isotrol paint. The front side of the blades simultaneously received its final bluish-grey coat of paint. The paint job was done with a brush. Spray painting was considered, but Isotrol gives an extremely even, smooth, plastic-like surface even when applied with a brush.

Next were painted the red propeller tips. Red spray paint was bought, and used for it. The length of the red tip was estimated based on photos of the Snoopy. It was about 1/3 of the distance between the propeller hub and the tip. The tip part was separated with tape, and the rest of the propeller was protected with cardboard for the time of painting. At first, the front sides of the propeller blades were sprayed red. After the paint had dried, the back sides of the propeller blades were sprayed equally.

Because spray paint dries quickly, the back sides of the propeller blades could be painted matt black on the same day. That was also done by spraying it. Again, the length of the matt black area was defined by photos of the Snoopy. The matt black area reaches from the red tip to the edge of the propeller hub, where tape was applied for separating it. Now, both the tips of the propeller blades and the hub area were protected, and the back side surface of the blades was sprayed matt black.

What is still missing is the white stripe separating the bottom of the red areas from the bluish-grey and matt black areas of the blades. The paint job did not make it in time before the Christmas pause of the Tuesday Club, so the painting will be delayed until the spring of 2025.

The donated German Hoffmann Rosenheim propeller had thus acquired the external appearance of the propeller used in the Snoopy, except for the white stripe.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation to English by Hannu Mononen.

New plexiglass windows for the Snoopy's cockpit

Tiistai 17.12.2024 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The experimental aircraft Snoopy (OH-XEA), under restoration in the Tuesday Club, has plexiglass windows on the doors of the left- and right-hand sides of the cockpit. They have been preserved, but turned dim, yellow, and scratched. Therefore, they will be replaced. The original ones are of polycarbonate plexiglass, to be used also in the new ones.

Photo by Esko Keskinen.

We decided to test assembling the original dim glasses in place, to find out how they were fastened, thinking about buying and assembling new plexiglasses. For attaching the glasses, there are threaded brackets in the fuselage frame of the cockpit, into which the plexiglasses are fastened with screws.

When the original plexiglasses were fitted in place it was noticed that the holes for attachment screws no longer matched everywhere with the holes in the brackets of the fuselage framework. The plexiglasses had somewhat changed their form and shrunk over time. Thus, in many places, new holes had to be drilled or existing holes had to be enlarged to match the plexiglass holes with those in the brackets of the fuselage framework.

When attaching the plexiglasses with screws into the brackets had started, it was observed that the threads in the brackets no more worked in all of them. Therefore, into all of the bracket holes for the plexiglass on the sides of the cockpit and the doors, new threads were made with a tap for 4 mm screws. These screws were purchased and then the old plexiglasses could be mounted into place. Now, the test-fitted old plexiglasses were detached, and marks matching with their attachment brackets were made onto them with a felt-tip pen, for drilling holes into the new plexiglasses. 

New plexiglasses were bought from an Etra shop, where they were cut ready into the shape of the old ones. The old plexiglasses had the thickness of a good millimeter only, and were thus rather flimsy. Therefore, we decided to buy a little bit stronger material and ended up with the thickness of 2 mm. The sawed edges of the new plexiglasses were ground smooth.

Holes were made into the new plexiglasses for attachment screws, according to the original ones. The old plexiglass was placed on top of the new one, and the spots for holes were marked with felt tip pen onto the new one. With a column drill, 4 mm holes were drilled. When screwing the plexiglasses in place was started, it was noticed that the 4 mm holes were slightly tight, and the plexiglass could not be pressed smoothly against the fuselage framework. The holes were widened, and thereafter the plexiglasses of the cockpit door and the left-hand side wall could well be pressed against the fuselage framework. The new plexiglass windows had been assembled. For the time being, the protective films on the plexiglass surfaces will be left in place.

The cockpit windscreen has also been plexiglass, but is has not been preserved. Thus, it must be made. It is a single pane, the same sheet of plexiglass in the front as well as the parts bent to the sides. The bent plexiglass has been attached to its brackets in the fuselage framework through the screw holes by its edge.

To make a new windscreen, we plan to proceed by first making a cardboard model of it. Accordingly, we will get a sheet of plexiglass that will be bent in shape for attachment. It will also be made of 2 mm polycarbonate, bent into the angular shape of the Snoopy’s windscreen by heating.

A large sheet of cardboard was cut and started to be formed into the place of the windscreen, cutting it smaller piece by piece, until it corresponded with the shape and size of the original windscreen visible in photos of the Snoopy. It was checked that the edges of the cardboard will settle in line with the windscreen attachment brackets of the fuselage. There are still adjustments to be made until, based on the spread-out cardboard template, a sheet of polycarbonate plexiglass of its shape will be purchased and bent into its final shape.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo except if otherwise mentioned.

Translation to English by Hannu Mononen.

Painting the Snoopy's rudder decals and taping them

Perjantai 13.12.2024 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

Unlike the other control surfaces, Snoopy’s rudder is covered with fabric. The other surfaces are covered with plywood. The paint on the rudder fabric was badly crackled and also tatty. That’s why we had to cover the rudder again. The new covering and the tightening with lacquer have been dealt with in the blog of May 6.

After the tightening with lacquer (shrinking dope) the fabric surface of the rudder was painted with the blue greyish Isotrol -oil paint the same shade as the original. The painting was done with a hand brush, because the Isotrol paint leaves a very smooth surface when painted with a hand brush.

Before painting the paint was filtered through a funnel to eliminate any lumps. The surfaces were painted twice over, after which the surface of the covering fabric was even and semi glossy. It was time to paint the speed lines and symbols the rudder once had.

On each side of the rudder there are red speed lines cutting diagonally across the surface. In addition, on the left-hand side of the upper part of the rudder there was number 2, and on the right-hand side a profile of a bird with spread wings. Did Esko and Ari Hietanen have a raven in mind?

Both the bird profile and the number 2 were copied on transparent paper from the old fabric that was detached from the rudder. From the paper they were transferred on to black contact plastic and cut off with scissors. Originally the symbols had been of black contact plastic, i.e. they weren’t painted on the rudder fabric.

First the red speed lines were made on the recently painted rudder. They were made exactly according to the originals, or copied from the covering fabric detached from the rudder. The shape of the speed line was bordered on the surface of the rudder with masking tape. The bordered area was painted with red Isotrol- paint. It’s of the same shade as the original. When the speed line on the left-hand side had dried, a similar line was painted on the right-hand side of the rudder.

Now the previously copied symbols, the bird figure and the number 2 could be fastened into place, number 2 on the left hand-side of the rudder and the bird figure on the right-hand side. The rudder restoration was ready.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

Santa Claus visited Caravelle

Tiistai 10.12.2024 - Ismo Matinlauri

SuomeksiThis year Santa dropped by at Turku airport on 7-8 December and visited our Caravelle a week earlier than last year. This year Santa was accompanied by his wife and one of his helper elves. These two served the visitors glogg and gingerbread.

Santa sat down on the captain’s seat, fastened his favourite soft toy (a Santa Claus, naturally) on the instrument panel and everything was ready for the Christmas journey.

This year we had 49 visitors during the weekend, about 20 of them children. There were several Christmas markets and bazaars in the Turku area during this weekend, and this probably affected the number of visitors at the airport.

The Christmas crew served glogg, juice, gingerbread and chocolate. Old Feeniks aviation history journals were available for free, as souvenirs from the Caravelle visit.

Before Santa’s visit the office container and the Caravelle’s passenger cabin were cleaned after the busy autumn’s work. The tools were gathered, the floors were vacuumed, and all loose items were arranged neatly along the walls. This meant that the actual working period of this autumn has come to an end. Winter is coming and the lower temperatures restricts work in the aircraft and outside. We will come back to work in March when the winter is almost over.

The sales table in the office was slightly less impressive than in the summer, but quite adequate for Santa’s visit.

Several members of the Caravelle Turku team were present. Jari was there on both days and on Sunday also our chairman Janne arrived although we had a table in the Christmas bazaar at the Turku Fair Center during the weekend. This meant that the Aviation Museum Society Finland volunteers were busy in these two places. Janne, Mikko and Tanja were behind the sales table at the Turku Fair Centre.

We were pleased to have a good number of visitors in both places. Next year we will try to improve our programme in the Caravelle and hopefully get more visitors.

Translation by Erja Reinikainen.

Painting of the repairs in the plywood cover of the Snoopy

Tiistai 10.12.2024 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

After we had patched the holes in the plywood-covered wings, ailerons, horizontal stabilizer, and elevator, those patched spots were ready for painting.

We do not intend to paint all through the patched parts of the Snoopy, but the patches only. This is because in restoration we strive to preserve the original paint surface whenever it is possible. The painted surfaces of the Snoopy’s wings and tailplane still remain in excellent condition. That became evident when prior to fixing the damaged spots we cleaned the plywood surfaces from the dust and dirt that had accumulated during decades. The washed surfaces, most likely painted with Miranol-paint at the time, looked like newly painted.

The painted and repaired areas were re-painted with Isotrol oil paint that produces a paint surface similar to Miranol. It only required first defining the original blue-grey hue for toning the Isotrol paint. This created us a little problem.

Even though all the plywood-covered parts of the Snoopy had been painted simultaneously with the same blue-grey paint, those paint surfaces had become covered with patina or faded at a different pace during the decades. There were distinct differences of hue between painted parts of the Snoopy. Thus, the hue in the colour chart that matched for example the colour of the left wing, did not match with the elevator. We had to settle for a compromise in defining the hue, by choosing one that in average corresponded with the Snoopy’s patina-covered painted plywood surfaces. The formula for this hue became +CT101 3,2GR/0,5 l KAAVA, and the Isotrol paint was toned accordingly.

The paint job was done with a brush, Isotrol paint being brush friendly. The paint covers extremely well already at the first time, and it smoothens also extremely well when applied with a brush, forming an even, semi-glossy surface. After the paint has dried, the covered surfaces can still be polished with mineral spirits.

The paint job was done inside a painting tent or a tent-like cover beside the restoration workshop of the Finnish Aviation Museum. It can be warmed and has effective ventilation. Thus the patchwork of plywood surfaces on both wings, ailerons, horizontal stabilizer, and elevator received a beautiful blue-gray Isotrol coating in the painting tent.

After the painting, there was still some work to be done on the Snoopy’s left wing, because patching the plywood cover of the wing had destroyed some of the letters in the registration marking OH-XEA. The letters O and H had to be complemented. As the marking had been made on the wing using black contact plastic, we decided to do the same.

Black contact plastic was purchased. The lines were marked with sticky tape on the wing to define the location and size of the missing parts. Thereafter, the missing parts of the letters O and H were drawn on transparent rice paper to make a template for them. Placing the rice paper template on top of the black contact plastic, a carpet knife was used to cut through the rice paper the missing part of each letter. These letter parts were then precisely placed to complete the damaged O and H, which succeeded perfectly. Even by a close scrutiny, the seam between the original letter and its complementary part cannot be detected.

The restoration work of the plywood-covered wings, ailerons, horizontal stabilizer, and elevator has thus been completed.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation to English by Hannu Mononen.

Constructing the Demo-Myrsky

Maanantai 2.12.2024 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

When the VL Myrsky ll (MY-14) restoration project had come to an end, at the beginning of autumn, as far as the Tuesday Club Members freed from the restoration were concerned, they chose not to stay put twiddling their thumbs. So the idea of building a Demo-Myrsky was dug out.

Our purpose is to build an entity from the Myrsky test wing, currently on show at the Finnish Aviation Museum exhibition, and the Myrsky MY-5 fuselage frame, to demonstrate coherently the structure and equipment of the mixed construction Myrsky-fighter, designed and built by State Aircraft Factory. The inner construction and technique of the MY-14 fighter that we had restored, are hidden inside the plywood covered fuselage and wings. In the Demo-Myrsky they would be exposed.

The test wing, on display in the Finnish Aviation Museum, was built at the beginning of the Myrsky restoration project. By building the test wing it was found out how the Myrsky wing, particularly the root with all its equipment, was constructed at its time. Our ambiguity was mainly caused by the fact that the blueprints at our disposal were partly contradictory. The main reason for the controversy was the ongoing development during the serial production, causing changes to structural solutions. By building the test wing we managed to get our ambiguity to dissolve.

After the test wing was finished, the building of the actual Myrsky wing began. Already at that stage the idea was born to utilize the test wing later to demonstrate the wing structure and the equipment fitted in it. Therefore the test wing was covered with transparent plexiglass instead of plywood and was placed on display in number l Hall in the Finnish Aviation Museum.

After the Myrsky wing was completed, we utilized the MY-5 fuselage frame in testing how to join the wing to the fuselage, including the assembly of the wing root fairings. This led to the idea of utilizing the MY-5 fuselage frame, together with the test wing, for demonstrating the mixed structure of the Myrsky by joining the test wing and the uncovered fuselage frame.

In this task the rear part of the MY-5 fuselage frame is under work, because the rear section of the fuselage frame needs repairing and refurbishing. The rear fuselage will also get a rudder and elevators of wooden construction.

The rear fuselage has been repaired by welding and the tail wheel mounting, made of steel tubes according to blueprints, has been fastened to it. The Myrsky wooden vertical stabilizer has been under construction in a specially made jig. The vertical stabilizer frame is about to be ready. The left and right-hand horizontal stabilizer ribs and the blanks of the wing spars are ready to be assembled. The vertical and horizontal stabilizers will remain uncovered, at least on one side.

How far the Demo-Myrsky MY-5 fuselage frame will be completed, is still an open question. It could be advanced, even if it were on display for the public. Well, a place to show the Demo-Myrsky won’t be available in the near future, at least not in the Finnish Aviation Museum, which is preparing to move to new premises. That’s why the construction of the Demo-Myrsky at the Finnish Aviation Museum will come to an end by the end of this year, even though it won’t be ready. From the beginning of 2025, the restoration workshop at the Finnish Aviation Museum will be reserved for servicing the museum artefacts before moving them to the new Aviation Museum in a couple of years. The Aviation Museum Society is presently looking for temporary premises where the restoration work could be continued next year.

Photos by Lassi Karivalo.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.