Fashion photogarphs from the shoot at our Caravelle in july

Lauantai 8.11.2025 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

A Caravelle blog published in the summer talked about a photo shoot on the Caravelle site at Turku airport when the fashion collection of Konsta Eskola, an Aalto University fashion design student, was being photographed.

The collection is a part of Konsta’s final project in his bachelor’s studies, where he has evaluated airline uniforms and the possibilities for their reuse. All materials of Konsta’s collection – except aluminium and recycled leather – are from parts of Finnair’s and Norra’s used uniforms. He has taken apart the uniform parts he received from the airlines, and from this material he created new outfits. Konsta’s final project collection includes six looks.

We got pictures which were taken on that day by photographer Simran Kaur and with Konsta’s permission we publish some of them on this website.

Photos: Simran Kaur

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen

Restoring the instrument panel in the cockpit

Maanantai 27.10.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri and Martti Saarinen

Suomeksi

When the former SAS Caravelle SE-DAF arrived in Finland in August 2022, its fuselage was tilted 45 degrees due to the limited height in the ferry’s vehicle deck. In the former Pansio shipyard hall, where the aircraft was brought for restoration, the fuselage remained in this position for the first five months. This allowed easier access to the upper section of the fuselage where the cleaning and grinding work started.

In the beginning of 2023 the fuselage was turned into an upright position, and we could enter the cabin and the cockpit for the first time. We were shocked – a mild expression for what we felt – to see saw how drastically the interior had been disassembled. The cabin seats, overhead shelves and surface materials had been removed, and there was not much left of the cockpit equipment either.

Cockpit interior on 27 March 2023 when the Turku team saw it for the first time

In the cockpit, about 30-35 instruments or display panels were missing from the instrument panel. The paint was peeling and the surfaces looked rundown after decades of neglect on the edge of Arlanda airport.

Martti Saarinen, a member of the Caravelle technical team, set to looking for the missing instruments and radio operating panels in co-operation with Antti Hyvärinen. Janne Salonen, for his part, contacted the aviation museums in Sweden to find missing instruments.

The cockpit on 25 October 2023, about seven months after the previous picture was taken.

Several of the missing instruments have been found, many have been donated by various organisations and private persons. Some instruments have not been available, so Martti Saarinen built copies (non-operational replicas) to replace them.

Painting work progressed in the cockpit, and the glare shield was unfastened to be restored. 
The side panels of the cockpit were painted by the Turku team. To maintain an authentic appearance, the original paintwork was retained on the instrument panels.
The glare shield above the instrument panel was restored at Vantaa by the Tuesday Club of Aviation Museum Society Finland.

The hunt for the missing instruments was still on and one by one items were found online. In autumn 2025 the instrument panel was quite complete. Other equipment in the cockpit was also restored, e.g. the throttle levers. In 2025 also the textiles of the pilots’ seats were cleaned, repaired and partly replaced.

The cockpit on 24 September.2025 when lighting had been installed

When the electrical work progressed, lighting was installed in the cockpit. The new led strip under the glare shield lights up the instrument panel quite nicely. There is still some painting work remaining and we are looking for the last missing parts and radio panels.

The autopilot control panel in September 2025

One of the latest additions on the instrument panel is the autopilot panel. Martti Saarinen had to build it because a real one couldn’t be found.

The radio panels in the pilots’ ceiling panel on 13 October 2025

The latest addition is the control panel of the ADF radio, which we were donated in early October 2025. It can be seen in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture.

We are still looking for some items and maybe one day we will find real instruments to replace the replicas we have now in the cockpit.

The control panel of the HF-radio and the fault indication panels for the navigation systems are missing. Although the HF-installation varied on the SAS aircraft. Initially, black cover plates were used on the aircraft when some equipment had not been installed.

Photos: Jouko Tarponen

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen

OH-XTM Super Chug fuselage ready for repairs

Lauantai 18.10.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

After the Super Chug fuselage had been moved to the Puusepäntie workhop, the preparations to restore the damaged fuselage began. The first task was to detach the engine from the fuselage, because handling the damaged fuselage with the heavy engine in place would be nearly impossible.

Photo: Matti Kainulainen

So we started to detach the Super Chug’s VW 1600 engine from the fuselage together with the engine mounting. In doing so we’ll avoid detaching the wires, tubes and engine equipment within the engine mounting frame.

Photo: Jouni Ripatti

The engine mounting was attached to the fuselage with five bolts. We tried to open the nuts of the bolts that penetrated the firewall. The bolts, however, turned simultaneously when the nuts were turned. Somehow, we had to gain access to the bolt heads behind the firewall. If the nose of the aircraft were intact, gaining access to the bolts would be almost impossible, because the bolts were situated behind the fuel tank between the cockpit and the firewall. Now, however, the nose of the aircraft was torn because of the crash, so we could reach the bolts and unscrew the nuts.

Photo: Ari Aho

Photo: Antti Hietala

At the same time all the wires and cables, connecting the engine through the firewall, were detached. Part of them could be easily detached, but others fought us all the way. When the engine oil had been drained, we were ready to detach the engine.

Photos: Antti Hietala

Photo: Ari Aho

The engine was tied with cargo straps to an engine hoist, and the engine was pulled gingerly out of the nose of the Super Chug, hanging from the straps with the engine mounting. The detached engine was lowered on straps to a solid worktop to wait for further action.

The fuselage without the engine was still resting attached to a support frame made of pieces of four by two. Now the fuselage could be detached from the frame. The straps and other devices were opened, and the fuselage was carefully lifted from the supporting frame on to the table. We were a little apprehensive to lift the fuselage, nearly broken in half, but it held on well.

Because the fuselage of the OH-XTM has been damaged in the lower part between the cockpit and the firewall, it would be the most convenient, if the fuselage were to be on its back. So it was decided to place the fuselage on its back on two trestles, to facilitate the restoration work. One trestle would be by the cockpit opening and the other would support the rear fuselage at the stem of the vertical stabilizer.

We pondered what the suitable working height would be to restore the fuselage. It was decided to be 120 cm from the floor level. We adjusted the legs of the trestle by the cockpit so that the Super Chug’s fuselage top line, or in this case the damaged bottom line, would be at the height of 120 cm. The rear fuselage trestle had to be built.

It was built from the dismantled four by two pieces of wood of the Super Chug’s supporting frame. It resembled a normal wing trestle, only it was narrower. The level of the trestle was adjusted with a piece of fire hose used as strap, so that the whole of the fuselage was level and 120 cm from the floor.

After finishing the rear fuselage support trestle, the fuselage of the Super Chug was lifted upside down on the trestles. Thus the fuselage of the OH-XTM is ready for the restoration work.

Photos: Lassi Karivalo, unless otherwise mentioned

Translation to English: Matti Liuskallio

Inventory and other work on an autumn friday, 19 september 2025

Perjantai 19.9.2025 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

The Caravelle volunteers in Turku have been busy all autumn with the interior work in the rear cabin, electrical installation and other finishing work as well as improving the outdoor area. This blog, however, concentrates on the activities of a day when the three Team Helsinki/Vantaa/Vihti members were on site. Another blog will be written later about the interior work.

Instruments have been installed into the instrument panel in the cockpit and finally the last item could be added. We don’t have an original autopilot operating panel, but a skilfully made copy was assembled – and it looks great.

Photo: Martti Saarinen

In the cabin new stoppers were tested on the curtain track. They prevent the curtain roller slides from slipping from their track if the curtains are moved. We have some original stoppers, but new ones are needed too. The prototypes of the new stoppers proved to work well, so some additional copies will be made.

We were donated an original Caravelle first class double seat and its refurbishment will be done next spring, before bringing it into the cabin. We have already started with some preparations and planning for the refurbishment. The seat will need mechanical repairs, and new padding and covers need to be made. Now we did some measurements and padding tests for drawing the patterns for new covers.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

You may remember that a container full of material came from Arlanda along with the aircraft. It has been parked in our storage area at Turku airport since early summer 2023. Another container, located beside the aircraft, has worked as a shed for tools and material needed in the restoration work. Quite a job was done as the contents of the two sea containers were now inventoried and organized. In the organizing work the visiting volunteers were accompanied with two Turku team members.

Photo: Jouni Halme

The container in the storage area still contains some items which were dismantled from the SE-DAF in the summer in 2022, but there is a lot of other material we got from Arlanda, packed in wooden boxes and some loose in the container. At Arlanda the material was inventoried, and the boxes were labelled with texts describing the contents. During the years parts and some cabin textiles have been collected from the boxes and installed in the aircraft. The boxes have also been rummaged through for other purposes.

Now all loose items in the container were checked, the boxes were opened, and an inventory was made of the material we have. The material was sorted into two categories: a) Caravelle parts which may be used in the aircraft or in the exhibition and b) material from other aircraft types which may be sold or placed on display. A real treasure were the six original and well-preserved unused windowpanes (plexiglass) which can be installed in the cabin. Cockpit items were found too, pilot headset and microphones, among others. There is plenty of interesting material for the exhibition, such as the “black box”, refuelling panel, radio equipment and different kinds of tools and small parts.

Photo: Jouni Halme

We also collected all kinds of waste and disposable material from the storage container. This included cargo pallets, timber used in the transportation of the aircraft parts, etc. and material which had corroded or crackled or become brittle during the decades. There were also some textile items which had been dirty, torn or damaged already when they had been packed.

There is plenty of material in the wooden boxes, waiting to be used in the future: e.g. seat covers, seat belts and tray tables which are not from a Caravelle. The boxes were re-labelled and packed into the container so that they are easily accessible.

It is easy to continue from here in the spring.

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen

Restoration of the Bristol Blenheim pilot's seat under way

Maanantai 8.9.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

Last year we finished the restoration of the co-pilot’s stool from a V-series (BL-106) Bristol Blenheim bomber. Our object was a short-nosed Blenheim, assembled after the war from surplus parts in the 1950’s, having dual controls for training purposes. Beside the pilot’s seat there was a stool-like seat for the copilot. The controls in front of the seat were connected with rods to the captain’s controls. Mind you, that this series V-Blenheim aircraft (BL-106), assembled after the war, has in fact nothing in common with the UK-built war horse (BL-106), which was destroyed in a crash landing on 8.6.1944.

After restoring the copilot’s stool we moved our sights on the pilot’s seat. Restoring is all about cleaning the seat frame, basically a steel tube construction, from dirt, grease and rust. For the part of the seat pan, it meant cleaning the surfaces and sanding before painting. Note that the seat had no back armour.

As the first task we detached the leather-covered padding of the seat armrest to be conserved. After that we started the cleaning of the pilot’s seat. Soon we realized that cleaning would be more efficient and easier, if we could separate the aluminium seat pan and the seat frame.

Separating the seat pan and the seat frame necessitated the removing of the steel cross tube, rather like a big split pin, joining them. The cross tube consists of two tubes, joined by a butt joint, and a sleeve around the seam. We finally managed to slide the rusted sleeve from the seam and thus separate the tubes. We stripped the seat frame of all the parts that we could and detached the numerous rusty clips and other fasteners from the frame to be cleaned.

Some of the parts of the pilot’s seat were merely dirty and grimy, so to clean them for instance Fairy Power Spray was used. It removed the grease and dirt reasonably well from the surface of the parts.

The badly rusted tubes of the seat frame were cleaned by using abrasive pads, sanding papers and a steel wire brush attached to a cordless drill. For small parts, like nuts, a steel wire brush attached to a Dremel was used. The small items we detached from the frame were cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner, which we had obtained.

When rust from the surface of the rusty tubes was removed, in places black paint was revealed. Based on that we concluded that the seat frame of steel tube structure had last been painted black. The cleaning of the tub-like aluminium part of the seat pan, made it apparent that the aluminium surface had been primed with grey primer and finished with greyish green surface coat of paint. The surface paint responds in shade to the greyish green Temalac ML 90 BS 283-shade we had already used in restoring the co-pilot’s seat. As primer we’re going to use Isotrol-lacquer and as surface paint Isoquard Panzer paint. The black paint will be the semigloss Isoquard Panzer paint.

We’ve more or less completed the cleaning the pilot’s seat from rust and grime, so the next phase will be the painting of the seat.

Photos: Lassi Karivalo

Translation to English: Matti Liuskallio

Tuesday Club's autumn season at full swing

Keskiviikko 3.9.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

The autumn season, which started halfway through August for the Tuesday Club, has got on a good start. There’s plenty of work to do. Naturally the Snoopy’s (OH-XEA “Ressu”) restoration will continue with the covering of the fuselage as the main object. The fabric is in place on the fuselage, and the tightening lacquer is being applied. The damaged Continental A 65 engine, which we received to be installed to the Snoopy, is being prepared to be cleaned by glass bead blasting.

With the restoration of the Bristol Blenheim bomber pilot’s seat, we’ll carry on from where we got before the summer break. The seat frame and seat pan surfaces are close to being ready for painting.

The Demo-Myrsky is under construction both at Puusepäntie and at the Finnish Aviation Museum. The Demo-Myrsky consists of the Myrsky MY-14 test wing, built during the restoration project of the MY-14, and the MY-5 fuselage frame. With the aid of the Demo -Myrsky, the inside structure of a mixed construction Finnish fighter will be demonstrated. That’s why, for instance, the fuselage frame won’t be fully covered. At the Puusepäntie workshop the repairs on the horizontal stabilizer, rudder and the damaged original elevator are under way. At the Museum the refurbishing and completion of the MY-5 fuselage frame are being worked on.

We’ve had our work cut out with the two sea containers, bought by Aviation Museum Society Finland, and brought at the yard of the Puusepäntie yard. One of the containers will become a working space for fire work and the other one will serve as a storage container. Both the containers have long since seen their heyday, so they will be refurbished on the outside. Holes in the containers will be patched, and the surfaces will be sanded. The outsides will be painted with the blue colour used by the Aviation Museum Society. One already is of a pretty blue colour.

Photo: Reijo Siirtola

We’ll start with the fuselage the restoration of the PIK 21 Super Chug (OH-XTM), which was donated to Aviation Museum Society. The fuselage was brought from a storage container at the yard of the Finnish Aviation Museum to Puusepäntie. The engine will be detached from the fuselage before we can commence the restoration of the lower part of the badly damaged and plywood-covered fuselage.

The job list for the autumn season also contains the refurbishment and repairs to the ailerons of the DC-3 “the Seagull” (OH-LCD) situated at the yard of the Finnish Aviation Museum. Both the ailerons’ coverings need renewing and the stem of the right-hand aileron is damaged. The Air Veteran lot will detach the ailerons for us to restore.

Photos: Lassi Karivalo, unless otherwise mentioned

Translation to English: Matti Liuskallio

Fashion photography at the Caravelle

Lauantai 16.8.2025 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

On Tuesday, 29 July 2025, there was unusual activity on the Caravelle site at Turku airport when the fashion collection of Konsta Eskola, an Aalto University fashion design student, was being photographed.

This collection is a part of Konsta’s final project in his bachelor’s studies, where he has evaluated airline uniforms and the possibilities for their reuse. Before his studies Konsta worked for several years at Norra as a member of the cabin crew, so he is familiar with the work environment, airline dress codes and wearing a uniform.

All materials of Konsta’s collection – except aluminium and recycled leather – are from parts of Finnair’s and Norra’s used uniforms. He has taken apart the uniform parts he received from the airlines, and from this material he created new clothes. The uniform parts had come to the end of their life cycle in their original use and would have ended up in textile recycling. Utilizing different second-hand materials has been trendy in the fashion business already for some time, but this is presumably the first time when airline uniforms are reused in this way.

Furthermore, Konsta says he likes to play with the impressions the outfits create and to challenge the traditional views of male and female roles as uniform users. Konsta’s final project collection includes six looks.

The photographing day started on the Caravelle site by defining photographing locations and outlines as the photographer evaluated camera angles and illumination. Locations were selected outside the aircraft, on the wing and in the cabin. The Caravelle team volunteers, who were on site to assist in the shoot, moved away tools, exhibition items and all kinds of clutter from the background of the photographing sectors.

Three models, a makeup artist and a hairstylist arrived soon after noon. The first pictures were taken towards the end of the afternoon. There were some heavy rain showers during the afternoon, causing some delay in the activity, but fortunately continuous rain was avoided. The photographing session ended before twilight.

Konsta praised the Caravelle team for the photographing day, everything went smoothly, and he was very pleased with the results. “Doing a fashion shoot like this has been my long-term dream and thanks to you it was possible to make this dream come true today.”

For the Caravelle volunteers the day offered an intriguing glimpse into a different world. None of us present had ever participated in anything like this before.

The photographs taken of the fashion shoot which are published with this blog are taken by the Caravelle team members. We will get some of the actual results of the day, i.e. photos taken by the photographer, and publish them here later.

Photos: Jouko Tarponen

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen

Airveteran DC-3 OH-LCH visits Caravelle on 12 July, 2025

Tiistai 5.8.2025 - Ismo Matinlauri & Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

This year the iconic DC-3 OH-LCH, owned by Airveteran and maintained and operated by the Finnish DC-3 Society, visited Turku on Saturday 12 July. Fortunately the visit was scheduled for a weekend and our Caravelle was open to visitors. We had invited the Turku Soldiers’ Home Association on site with their van to sell coffee, doughnuts and other refreshments – and there is no summer event in Finland without barbecue sausages! The visitors enjoyed the aviation history event and refreshments in the beautiful and warm but slightly sticky summer weather.

During the day the DC-3 flew three local flights for the public, about 45 minutes each, over the Turku archipelago. Several members of the Caravelle team had booked a flight and enjoyed the piston-engine flight. Unfortunately our Caravelle will never fly again, but a flight on the OH-LCH is always a great experience and the scenery in the Turku archipelago is very beautiful.

In terms of numbers of visitors, the day and the whole weekend were a success. We had almost two hundred visitors on board our Caravelle during the two days. The visitors were interested in the history of the 1960s airliner type and this specific aircraft. The volunteer guides from the Caravelle team were asked many questions during the weekend. Many visitors commented on the great appearance of the aircraft and were amazed to hear the amount of voluntary work done so far (about 7500 hours by May 2025).

In addition to the July weekend, the Caravelle was open to visitors also on Monday, 14 July, to honour Bastille Day. We have created a tradition to open the aircraft for visitors and raise the tricolour on the National Day of France, the country where our beautiful aircraft was manufactured.

DC-3 OH-LCH arriving in Turku. Photo Jouko Tarponen

Photo Jouko Tarponen

DC-3DC-3 pilots visiting Caravelle. Captain Petteri Tarma on the left. Photo Jouko Tarponen

Visitors outside the Caravelle and the Turku Soldiers’ Home Association van. Photo Jouko Tarponen

Flying on the DC-3 over Turku city centre. Photo Erja Reinikainen

The tricolour on Caravelle on Bastille Day. Photo Ismo Matinlauri

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen

The MY-14 wing has been painted

Torstai 3.7.2025 - Antti Lappalainen & Reino Myllymäki

Suomeksi

The MY-14 wing was transported from Vantaa and the Tuesday Club’s Myrsky group hands to Tikkakoski and Finnish Air Force Museum's restoration group for necessary modifications, painting and joining to the fuselage in September 2024.

The modifications on the wing took the winter period 2024-2025 and the spring 2025. When I visited the Air Force Museum on 12.6.2025 the transportation and painting trestle was being assembled to the wing and after a couple of days on 17.6.2034 the wing was transported to the premises of Haklog Ky for painting.

The painting was mainly done using a high-pressure spray gun. It yields thicker layers of paint, although the quality of the surface is - depending on the type of paint - worse than with a side air brush, which was used to paint the swastika, mid-wing and black areas. The incentive to use the high-pressure spray gun was the fairly large area of the wing where the alkyd paint in use was known to give a smooth surface.

Because of the modifications the wing, which had been primed at Vantaa, had to be puttied and sanded, so the wing was given a once over with the Future-3-primer to the shade of RAL 7005.

After the primer the wing undersides were painted light blue with Teknosynt Combi 50 paint, with a shade that was called DN-blue during the war, and is now called RAL Design 220 60 10.

After the underside, next in line was the upper side green part, painted twice. Between the layers of paint, the surface was sanded. The paint was still the Teknosynt Combi in the shade of Teknos TM-11263/20.

Following the upper wing green area, the black camouflage of the plywood surfaces was painted. According to the instructions of the State Aircraft Factory, only one layer was painted. The borders were painted with low pressure spray gun, in order to make the borders sharp. After that the central parts were painted over.

Next in turn was the painting of the Eastern Front decals to the wingtips for a length of about I/6 or 183 cm. The painting was done with fully glossy Futura 90 using the Teknos TM 11297/20 shade.

For the painting of the national emblem, a circle 1 metre in diameter, was cut from a thick cardboard and a template for the swastika. The emblems were positioned with the help of the templates and using a laser and marked with a pencil. The circles were taped, and the rest of the wing was covered with plastic. There wasn’t enough of anti-glare paint for the emblems, so more had to be mixed using the corresponding paint for the fuselage as reference. The circles were painted with high pressure air gun.

The swastika in the circles was painted with the same method using fully glossy Teknosynt 90-paint. The shade was Teknos TM 11264/20.

The last parts to be painted were the parts in the mid-wing, that are covered by the cockpit and the wing root fairings, with Temalac FD 80-paint in the shade of RAL 7005.

Notice and guide markings and the markings for the service hatches are yet to be painted. Modifications for the aileron push rods are still unfinished and there are still holes in their coverings. But because the national emblems are hard to get identical, if their parts are painted separately, the part of the national emblems was painted now on the ailerons. For their part the yellow and black areas will be painted together with the wing root fairings, elevators and the rest of the missing pieces of covering.

After the painting, the wing was transported by the Defence Forces from the premises of Haklog Ky to the Finnish Air Force Museum on Wednesday 2.7.2025. The wing, with its transportation and painting trestle, was placed in the main display, next to the fuselage of MY-14. There the aircraft will be admired by the visitors and wait for the end of the summer holiday and the beginning of the autumn operations.

Photos: Finnish Air Force Museum

Translation to English: Matti Liuskallio

The first Caravelle exhibition

Tiistai 24.6.2025 - Erja Reinikainen and Ismo Matinlauri

Suomeksi:

The ambitious goal in the Caravelle project for this summer was to finish the cabin interior work in the rear area so that the first exhibition could be assembled in the open area. The four seat rows in the front area were completed already in May.

The most critical work phase for the exhibition area was the carpet installation. The carpet was cut to measure and installed in late May. Now the rear cabin is almost ready, only the ceiling panelling is missing, and we are looking for suitable aluminium mesh, resembling the original material, to cover the air-conditioning terminal units and loudspeakers on the wall. Although the work was in progress in this area, the preparations for the exhibition could be started in early June.

The preparations of the Caravelle exhibition poster material began already in the winter. Fortunately Juha Klemettinen, one of the authors of the “Caravelle in Finland” book, helped us with the photographs and the Caravelle project’s technical team assisted with the texts. Kai Asplund prepared the material lay-out for printing. We needed help from the Aviation Museum Society’s Tuesday Club, too. Poster roll-up frames are normally about 220 cm tall, but we had to cut the frame height to fit the Caravelle’s cabin to about 180 cm. This was done by the Tuesday Club. We had a dressmaker’s dummy for displaying the stewardess’s uniform, but it didn’t have a head. Fortunately a member of the Caravelle Turku team offered to make a papier-mâché head for our stewardess - and it looks great. A warm thank you to all who helped us with the exhibition material!

When all the material was ready and had arrived in Turku, the exhibition was assembled on 12 June 2025. The exhibition was open to the public for the first time already on the following day.

The exhibition describes the early phase of Finnair’s jet age and Caravelle’s role in it. There is also material about the Aviation Museum Society’s Caravelle project and a slideshow presenting how this aircraft was brought to Finland and restored to its present condition. Also the structure and technical systems of a passenger jet are displayed. One of the unique features of the Caravelle III is the brake parachute.

The exhibition is meant for independent visits; there is no guided presentation. However, there is usually a Caravelle team member present to answer questions during the opening hours. The display items have posters with information in Finnish, presenting the item and its history. We will improve the exhibition by adding small items and posters in English. We welcome you to Turku airport to visit the Caravelle and the exhibition!

Photos: Jouko Tarponen

Translation to English: Erja Reinikainen

The Myrsky Wing transported to be painted

Torstai 19.6.2025 - Reino Myllymäki

Suomeksi

The MY-14 wing was transported from Vantaa to Tikkakoski in September 2024. Since then it has undergone modifications with the restoration group at the Finnish Air Force Museum till the spring of 2025. In the wing standard hardware store bolts and new production parts have been replaced with original parts. Original parts of the wing have been conserved, and some parts of the wing have been modified according to the blueprints, for instance by removing and adding service hatches.

Photo: Reino Myllymäki

As I visited Tikkakoski on Thursday 12.6. these modifications were nearly finished and a trestle, made according to the blueprints by the State Aircraft Factory of wooden 2x4 inch beams and bolts, was fastened to the wing. The trestle was attached to the same brackets as the fuselage. The trestle positioned the wing at a steep diving angle, with the leading edge pointing down. This allows the 11 metres long wing lower and upper surfaces to be painted without nearly any obstructions.

On Tuesday 17.6. the trestle and the wing were taken out and hoisted on a low-bed trailer to be transported for painting to the premises of Haklog Ky.

At the Haklog Ky the wing was brought into the same workshop where the MY-14 fuselage had been painted in the autumn 2024.  There was a shortage of the wing lower surface blue paint, but luckily Jorma Laakkonen happened to bring a 9 kg tin of paint from Vantaa. So the Air Force Museum had all the necessary paints at its disposal.

Without any delay, the upper and lower surfaces of the wing were primed grey.

Photos: Jorma Laakkonen

After the wing gets camouflaged on both sides and equipped with the landing gear and ailerons, the joining of the wing and fuselage can be planned. And then the completing of MY-14 will be close. 
Even now it’s worthwhile to visit the Air Force Museum to admire the fuselage, which is waiting for the next operations without some fuselage hatches.

Photos: The Finnish Air Force Museum, unless otherwise mentioned

Translation to English: Matti Liuskallio

Restoration of the Blenheim navigator?s seat

Keskiviikko 18.6.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

We received the Blenheim V-series or “short-nosed” Blenheim’s navigator and pilot seats for restoration at the Tuesday Club.

Both the seat’s steel tubes were badly rusted, but neither seat had suffered significant damages. The navigator’s seat, or rather stool, was significantly more straightforward to restore because of its simple structure and smaller size. It would greatly help restoring the pilot’s seat, if the seat pan could be separated from the seat frame. The aim of the seat restoration is to clean the rust from the surfaces of the supportive tubes and smaller parts, grinding the aluminium surfaces and finally painting them.

We began the restoration with the navigator’s stool. The padding was detached first and the seatbelt as well. The seatbelt was partly torn and needed to see a cobbler.  The seat cover of leather has worn out and lost its colour. It needs to be conserved. We will not do it.

We examined the round shaped seat plate, bent at the edges, for shades of paint found on the surface. Light green colour was visible, under which darker green could be seen. Thus the surface of the seat plate had lastly been painted with light greenish grey paint and under it there was an older darker green paint.

Paint residue could also be found from the surface of the steel tube stem of the seat. This process was helped when the rusty stems of the seat were treated with Industrial ECO Complex Blue-solution. The solution revealed a green shade of paint on the surfaces of the tubes. In addition, some old pigment or paint chaff was scraped from the surfaces of the rusted tubes of the stem. Some of it was placed under a 600 times magnifying microscope. It turned out that there were three different layers of paint on the tubes of the stem. The lowest was brown, then grey and greenish grey on the surface, in other words the same shade that was found on the surface of the seat plate. In consequence we decided to paint the seat with the similar shade of light greenish grey paint.

To start the restoration proper, we detached the aluminium seat plate from the stem. It was fastened to the stem both with bolts and rivets. The bolts were loosened first. After that the rivets attaching a bracket to the edge of the seat in the upper part of the stem were drilled out, after which the seat plate came off the stem.

Then we started to remove the rust from the stem steel tubes. The rust was removed from the tube surfaces, so that a layer of surface paint became visible. The tubes need not be ground to gleaming metal, because we use Isotrol lacquer and paint for the painting. The Isotrol will stop the rusting from spreading, even though rust would have stayed in the rust crevices of the steel tubes.

Rust was ground off first with a coarse sanding paper, wiping the dust off at times. We then moved to finer sanding papers, feeling at the same time with fingers whether the surface of the tube was clean and smooth enough. After the coarse surfaces had become smooth and the old paint became visible, the sanding of the steel tubes was complete.

We moved on to deal with the seat plate. It was an easier task. The aluminium surfaces of the seat plate were lightly sanded with fine sanding paper. We didn’t indulge in any grinding off of the old paint. The main thing was that loose paint was removed from the seat surface and the aluminium surface became smooth.

After both the steel tube stem and the aluminium seat plate had been ground, they were lacquered with clear Isotrol, which leaves a protecting film on the metal surface. For the surface paint it was necessary to define the shade of the seat colour. We ended up with the grey green Temalac ML 90 BS 283 shade for the seat. With this formula the seat’s Isotrol oil paint was shaded.

Two Comprehensive school students, doing their work experience learning period at the Finnish Aviation Museum, painted the stem and seat plate of the navigator’s seat. Well, at first the quality of the work left something to be desired. However, with careful guidance a good result was achieved. That’s just the purpose of this kind of work experience period, isn’t it?

After the painting it was time to reassemble the seat. The glass bead blasted original assembly bolts were fitted, and the seat stem was riveted to the edge of the seat plate. The rivets were finally painted grey green, to avoid eye sore. We had a cobbler repair the seat belt. The restoration of the navigator seat in the Blenheim bomber was ready.

Photos: Lassi Karivalo

Translation to English: Matti Liuskallio

Puusepäntie workshop got an illuminated sign

Keskiviikko 11.6.2025 - Tuesday Club member

Suomeksi

There was a wrecked illuminated sign of aluminium construction on the outside wall of the Puusepäntie workshop, rented by Aviation Museum Society, left there by a former tenant.
We decided to take it down to see if it could be repaired and transformed to an illuminated sign advertising the workshop of our society. So we took the sign down. The aluminium frame of the sign was, however, badly damaged and would have needed considerable repair work. However, our neck was “saved” when we got hold of an old illuminated aluminium sign of the OP cooperative bank’s real estate, 60 cm x 60 cm in size. It was also intact, so we decided to turn it into an outside advertisement for our Puusepäntie workshop.

We dislocated at first the plexiglass plate of the outer cover. the original sticker emblem could be removed from its surface in pieces with a sharp scraper. Finally, the plexiglass surface of the illuminated sign was wiped clean of the sticker glue with Sinol.

The aluminium surfaces of the frames of the illuminated sign had been oxidized and tarnished. We gently ground the surfaces clean using both an abrasive pad and very fine sanding paper. The old fluorescent lights were removed and after cleaning the inside of the sign the old lamps were replaced with LED-lights.

On the surface of the opaque plexiglass of the illuminated sign we designed a presentation of our workshop. The upper part of the illuminated sign will show a picture of the Focke-Wulf FW 44 Stieglitz (SZ-18), owned by Aviation Museum Society, with clouds in the background, and the lower part will hold the logo of the society and the text Aviation Museum Society Finland.
The abovementioned entity will be printed on the surface of the illuminated sign plex by a printing company. The printing required a vector representation to be made.

We fastened the frame of the outwardly cleaned illuminated sign, equipped with LED-lights, onto the wall of our Puusepäntie workshop, above the opening of the overhead door. We fixed a temporary cardboard plate as the outer cover of the sign to prevent the rain from getting inside.

When the front cover was received from the printing company, with its resplendent picture, the plexiglass was installed, replacing the cardboard one. So the splendid, illuminated sign advertising Aviation Museum Society’s Puusepäntie workhop was ready. The sign is yet be connected to the power supply with a pecu (photo electric control unit, “twilight switch”), so that with the darkening autumn nights it will switch on, advertising the Aviation Museum Society’s workshop.

Photos: Lassi Karivalo

Translation: Matti Liuskallio

The passenger seats are ready

Sunnuntai 18.5.2025 - Erja Reinikainen

Suomeksi

The interior and assembly work in the Caravelle’s cabin has progressed well during the spring. Finally the hard work is showing results - and about time, too! The passenger seats for the front section of the cabin have been under work for about 18 months, since early 2024.

One of the first tasks for the seats was the inventory of the existing seat covers. There were just enough original seat back covers for about twenty seats, which was the starting point for the cabin lay-out. The seat covers were washed and repaired last summer. The seat belts were cleaned and checked. New plastic foam padding was delivered for the seats during the summer too.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

In August 2024 the actual repair work began on the seat frames and their mechanisms. The seat frames which were in good condition were selected and the remaining seats were stripped of spare parts. The “seat repair team” managed to put together 19 seat frames which were in fair condition and suitable for further assembly. The pre-cut padding material was glued into form to fit the seat frames. When the weather got cold in November, and it wasn’t possible to work outside anymore, the painting work was moved into the office container in the Caravelle area.

Photo: Jouko Tarponen

During the winter months the seat frames were sanded and painted twice. First a base coat of paint and then the top-coat paint, which matched the original colour. Then the seat frames were stored for the winter in the DC-3 fuselage (DO-5) which is located beside our Caravelle.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

When spring 2025 arrived the seat assembly was continued, working outside with the seat fastened on a jig built on cargo pallets. The seat back covers probably had shrunk a little when washed or the new padding on the seat back is slightly thicker than the original, so putting them on caused a lot of huffing and puffing and some broken nails. The years of use and decades of storing have left their mark on the seat covers, and we had to pay attention that the covers with more damage were on the seats by the window. But the overall appearance is nice.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

The carpet had been installed in the front cabin section before the seats were brought in and the curtains had been put up, so the surrounding was ready for seat assembly. The seats were easily fastened on the original seat tracks on the floor. The seat assembly was completed by adding the headrest covers we got from the Finnish Aviation Museum.

Photo: Erja Reinikainen

Photo: Jouko Tarponen

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio

Finishing the MY-14 flaps

Maanantai 12.5.2025 - Reino Myllymäki

Suomeksi

The original flaps of the VL-Myrsky fighter were found in the spring of 2014 in the stores of the Finnish Air Force Museum (until the end of 2015, the Aviation Museum of Central Finland). Until then Aviation Museum Society’s Tuesday Club’s Myrsky team had only one flap at its disposal and the building of the other one was being prepared.

Photo: Reino Myllymäki

The Myrsky flaps are panel flaps, mainly made of duralumin, which can be opened to any position between the extreme positions. They are operated by the same electric motor as the landing gear.

The original green colour of the upper surface of the Myrsky flaps has remained and it was decided to preserve it. The lower surface, instead, will be painted along with the wing to the same paint scheme as the rest of the aircraft.

The flaps were returned to Tikkakoski in the same load with the wings in September 2024. When preparing to join the fuselage and the wing, various preliminary finishing touches have been done to the wing. This has included conservation of original parts, replacing parts bought from shops or refabricated with original parts, and preparing the wing to accordance with the blueprints.

The steel hinges of the duralumin flaps were rusty. They were sandblasted at Tikkakoski.

The drive shaft of the flaps is joined at both ends to bearings. For some reason the drive shaft was lacking the part linking the shaft to the bearing bracket. It had to be refabricated by lathing according to the blueprints.

The MY-14 is again a step nearer to completion.

Photos: Finnish Air Force Museum, unless otherwise mentioned.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

An update from Tikkakoski

Maanantai 28.4.2025 - Reino Myllymäki

Suomeksi

The restoration group from the Finnish Air Force Museum informed us today about the progress on the work with VL Myrsky MY-14. The wing was built at Aviation Museum Society’s Tuesday Club and was transported to Tikkakoski on 18-19 September 2025 for finishing and compatibility purposes. This process has recently been going on to advance the project.

The aim of this work is to eliminate the discrepancies between the wing and the blueprints, to secure the use of original parts, when available, instead of new parts, and also to ensure the conservation of original parts.

The brackets for aileron movement have been relocated according to the blueprints and some bearing brackets of the aileron mechanism have been replaced with original parts.

Some bearing brackets of the flaps and flap mechanisms have also been replaced with original parts. A component for the flap mechanism was missing, it has now been lathed and installed into place. Additionally, some operating rods have been changed to match the blueprints.

One service hatch has been made in the right wing, a limiting switch has been fitted, and missing ribs have been added.

The rib battens have been changed to match the blueprints at the wing root and around the wing tip lights and pitot tube.

A transportation rack for the wing has been made.

As is well known the Myrsky aircraft had four different wings, namely the wings A, B, BI and C. At the time of constructing the MY-14, it was decided that its wings were built like the B and C wings where applicable, in the belief that that a complete set of blueprints wouldn’t be found for any of the wing types. As the restoration project went on, the situation has changed. More blueprints have been found and at this moment there are practically complete sets of blueprints for all wing types. So now it’ll be possible to change the wing of the MY-14 externally similar to what it was actually like at the end of the Continuation War (a strengthened A-wing/early B-wing.) The external measurements of the wigs are identical, the differences are mainly inside the wing.

Photos: Finnish Air Force Museum.

Translation to English by Matti Liuskallio.

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.