Some parts of the restortation have resorted to guesswork

Update by Denys Jones

The pile of pressurisation and heating ducting that had been stripped out of ZK-BRF. Armed with the parts book and space on the hangar floor we laid it all out to figure out what went where and what was missing.

We found that as NAC (New Zealand National Airways Corporation) had modified systems they had updated the tabular pages of the parts book but not the illustrations. This has resulted in some educated guesswork that isn't made any easier by the fact that some of the items have just vanished!

We then proceeded to work in the bowels of ZK-BRF and the photo above shows the view looking aft from the rear underbelly access hatch. Of note is the variety of colours present, as it appears NAC did some repainting with several different shades of green.

The under-floor area was exceptionally dirty with the dirt combining with a greasy material that has set quite hard. We're not sure what the greasy material is, but as it is widespread we are wondering if it is some sort of preservative applied by NAC. To remove this grease/dirt mixture we are having to spray it with a commercial degreaser, wash it down with scotchbrite pads and a warm water solution containing a domestic floor cleaner, then sponge it out with clean cold water.

The z-section stringers were very dirty and contained amongst other material nuts, bolts, and bits of locking wire. The photo above shows un-cleaned bays to the left of clean ones. Due to the lack of space only one person can work here at a time, so a good afternoon's work would be to clean the two dirty bays shown. Another intriguing item is the brown material along some (but not all) rivet lines. It is a semi-pliable material like a silicone of some sort and we assume it is where NAC have done some re-riveting.

One very interesting item found tucked up in a corner of the under-floor was half of the front page from the Rotorua Daily Post dated 3 July 1963. The headline story is about the crash of the NAC Douglas DC-3 ZK-AYZ in the Kaimai Range with the loss of all 23 on board. We will naturally be preserving this little gem.

In the photo above you can see the refitted intercooler with two pyramidical fittings and the first stages of the lengthwise ducts running away from it. The intercooler is mounted over the central fixture shown in the top photo.

Lastly this photo shows the trim cable tensioner featured in our last report, and other restored items like the pulley brackets, that have been re-attached to the tailspar in the aft fuselage bay.

For more information on this project visit the Ferrymead web site and watch the news pages here at the Vickers Viscount Network.

Ferrymead Heritage Park, Ferrymead Park Drive, Heathcote, Christchurch, New Zealand. Phone +64 3 3841970