Member postings for Geoff Sheppard

And how many who came out to look when they heard the Merlin said "It's alright, it's One of Ours"?

Bill Pudney's tale of the wing spar mill is of particular interest because last week I was able to spend some time on the Isle of Wight looking at places of interest. We visited the rocket testing site above the Needles, had a good poke about and took some photos.

At dinner that evening, one of the other guests at the hotel (a nonagenarian professor who still gives the occasional lecture!) talked about the construction of the site. Apparently, a large concrete raft had to be laid to a high degree of level and flatness. When cured, it was checked and found to be well out of specification. The contractor re-worked the job, but with exactly the same result. It was after about the third attempt that it was found that the island was always on the move with the tide and that a consistent result was impossible. The wonders of nature!

Geoff

No, Neil, they didn't take it quite that far. I guess that they are concious that they have something rather special on their hands, and don't want to risk damaging it.

Geoff

Back to the topic of Avro Vulcans.

For many years now, my local model engineering society has organised a late summer holiday (usually a week-long coach trip) and we have ventured all over the UK and Europe. Last year we were based near York and did all the local attractions, particularly the North York Moors Railway and the National Railway Museum. We also went to the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington.

As our coach driver checked in, the volunteers on the gate said that we may be in for a special treat as the preserved Vulcan was due to over-fly, en route to Scotland. Sure enough, at about mid-day, she appeared and gave us a quarter-hour aerobatic (for a Vulcan!) display. Magnificent.

At least four of us in the party had worked at Patchway, so there were lumps in throats. Even my wife, who has never been a raving aircraft enthusiast, admitted that she could now understand our fascination. Quite a day.

Can thoroughly recommend a visit to Elvington.

Geoff

As a previous Editor of Model Engineers’ Workshop, may I be permitted to add my two-pennyworth to this discussion?

I sympathise with David over the content of drawings he is able to present because of the time pressures he is under. I took on the job at six issues a year, but was soon ‘nudged’ up to eight. When it became obvious that the next target was twelve, I decided that enough was enough and moved on. My decision was influenced by the fact that, with the resources available to me, I was not going to be able to produce a publication to the standard I had set.

Much of the problem was due to the time required to bring drawings to an acceptable standard. I always recognised that I was going to receive contributions containing both text and drawings which would need considerable adjustment, this being the inevitable consequence of relying on ‘non-professional contributors (not ‘un-professional’, I hasten to add). It would never be possible to bring all drawings in line with the British Standard, but I always bore in mind the words of a former editor of ‘M.E.’, who said “will the intentions of the designer be clear to someone trying to work from the drawing?”. By the way, why are they so often referred to, incorrectly, as ‘plans’?

Much of my time was spent dealing with drawings to the notorious ‘two-and-a-half’ angle projection. Where on earth did this originate?