engine build - slowly but surely

[Dick Eastman]

At the RENO Air Races this year there was 2 De Havilland DH9 Vampire planes in the jet class.
The fastest of the 2 had a problem and bellied in short of the emergency landing strip. BIRD?
No one was hurt but as you can imagine there was damage to the plane. ...............lm

There are not too many left - hope the damage wasn't too bad. These aircraft were known for great flight chariteristics, the model being the same.

[Dick Eastman]

I never have liked the stock chain adjusters, and the 3 pairs on hand need a lot of work to look nice. I made some new ones that are 3 pc, and bolt/dowel together; I also added more "meat" to the 6mm thread block. The sides are made from tool steel, the axle holes are bored. I still need to plate them. The sides were stacked together and machined as one part.

[Muddy]

Beautiful bit of work!

[Dick Eastman]

Beautiful bit of work!

Thanks, Muddy.
I plated them this morning, changed the machining dowels out for some S/S pins I turned up

[Ted Riley]

what paint are you using?

[Dick Eastman]

what paint are you using?

I've used several - which part in particular are you referring to?

[Dick Eastman]

I was assembling the brake backing plates today, and ran into a little snag: the bores in the shoes for the brake anchor pins were not bored square, i.e., when the shoes were mounted to the anchor pin, the steel-faced cam end of the shoe did not line up with the cam. To line the cam pin and the mating shoe end, the cam pin had to be lifted about 3/32". I set the shoe on the mill, checked the cam end and shoe lining for squareness, clamped down, and the anchor pin bore was out of square about .010". These are shoes from my 2400 mile parts bike, had little wear, and look factory new. I had to over-bore, and make bronze bushings for two of the four shoes; I gave them a .050" wall, and pressed in. The problem is corrected, but I have never seen this before.