Another two carriers roll off the production line

[Pedr]

G'day Martyn,

Welcome to the group, and congratulations on a fantastic job.

However, don't dismiss this as scratch built. These are remanufactured carriers, and deserve just as much respect as such. It's alright for some bloke who has a hull in a condition that can be "restored" by a quick trip to the blaster and a couple of coats of paint, then bolt her back together.

Sometimes this isn't the case and more major works must be undertaken to restore the carrier ( Like what you're doing ).

In the Warbird collective, they throw out 95% of the original aeroplane to rebuild it, but in their case the numbers and history are the most important part. They call this provenance.

Working on that premise, you probably have the original numbers for your two hulls, Thats what your new pair are. The rebuild parts come off a carrier somewhere, there's your ID numbers.

Like that ol' adage about " I have George Washington's axe, It's had 15 new handles and six new heads "

Pedr

[martyn]

Hi all as to where my two carriers came from,
They were sourced from a scrap yard in norfolk and i acuired them from a dealer in the same area the mk2 still had it T number in faint paint on the front and the Mk1 was painted white think it was poss used as a ambluance?
iam just about ready for rivetting the hull shouldnt be too long before there out and about thanks for all your coments its a big boost to keep me plodding on.
martyn

[cantankrs]

Originally Posted by martyn

iam just about ready for rivetting the hull

Hi Martyn,

Great work! I'm not familiar with the rivets on these Carriers but will you be bashing each one, or knocking up a hydraulic rivet squeezer to slide over the angles, and across the plates, to close the rivets?



Alex

[martyn]

Hi Alex
i have found a firm near me that builds steam engines and boilers they are going to have a look at what i want to do, the chap there said they use two air hammers and make a snap to fit the rivet profile iam keen to see it being done will try and get sum photos might be worth a few days off work to help out. living in a town that made the first ww1 tanks and ruston cranes you would think finding sumone who knows about rivetting would be easy took me 10wks and a lot of phone calls to find this chap mind you its a dying trade.
martyn

[martyn]

has anyone on here had any rivetting work done on a carrier if so how long did it take and what was done? as i have just taken one of my hulls away for rivetting so all i can do is sit and wait, its a nervous feeling as hope he gets it right ive marked the holes gave him photos and original parts with rivets still in,guess its out of my hands now just got to wait to hear from them will post sum photos soon as i have it back.
martyn

[aj.lec]

Hello Martyn
I have been doing some hot rivett work on some cmp chassis today
Farming that job out i will now say you have dodged a bullet
It is a pain in the rear
not using high impact air hammers or high compression dies this job tends to be quite tedious as the heat dissapates very quickly from the rivets soon after coming out of the forge
We found today that it was quicker and neater using an oxy set ,heating ,driving 2-3 times then reheating heads then repeating the process till a good head was formed
we had a solid dolly with rivett head pattern in the end to hold the rivett in place and a hardenned bar with the same pattern in the end struck with a large hammer for the forming
with the use of high impact hammers from either side (where possible ) the job would be a lot quicker i would think

[cantankrs]

I believe that apart from forming a tight head, the shank of the rivet should be swelled to fill the hole it passes through. Heating the whole rivet would be essential so bear that in mind if you're trying to use Oxy. The M3 Lee and Grant riveted hulls were squeeze riveted as far as I've been able to find out. And I can speak with personal experience that those rivets swelled.

While not particularly relevant in this thread on Carriers, I'll mention that the holes in the M3 Medium angles seem to be slightly larger than the holes in the plates, so pushing from plate side toward angle side is essential during removal.

Regards

Alex