A aviation & planes forum. AviationBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » AviationBanter forum » rec.aviation newsgroups » Restoration
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Bristol radial engines......cowling colour



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old March 6th 05, 04:41 PM
Rod
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bristol radial engines......cowling colour

Most technical artists render the leading edge of wartime Bristol
radial engine cowlings a copper-bronze colour.

Several wartime colour photographs (of the Vickers Wellington etc)
show this same effect.

The 'Halifax' restoration/reproduction at the Yorkshire Air Museum has
it's Hercules engine cowlings painted a reddish-brown colour.

This seems to be characteristic of most Bristol radial engine
installations of the period.

Being involved in the restoration of a 1945 vintage 'Hercules' engined
aircraft I am greatly interested to know how this effect came about.

It is NOT RUST because the original cowlings are made of Aluminium.

Was it due to a special formulation/colour of the original protective
paint? If so can anyone refer me to the specification?

Or was it as a result of heat on standard night black camouflage paint.
The cowling is separated by an air gap from the Townsend exhaust
collector ring, but substantial heat would build up particularly during
idling/taxying. All the same the colour seems so uniform on photographs
that I doubt that a heat effect would create it.

Even if a heat effect is the case.....I assume that YAM have painted
theirs because their restored engines cannot be run to create a natural
effect.

Any directions gratefully acknowledged.

RC

  #2  
Old March 6th 05, 04:56 PM
Rod
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Sorry.

I think I mispoke in coupling the Townsend Ring and exhaust collector
in one phrase. I believe that the cowling itself serves the same
purpose as the Townsend Ring i.e. to provide a minimum resistance to
airflow around the cylinder heads.

  #3  
Old April 23rd 05, 07:48 AM
Hans-Günther Ploes
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hello RC,

most of the Bristol engines had the exhaust collector ring to the front of
the engine (e.g. Pegasus, Mercury, Hercules). The reddish-brown coloured
ring is the exhaust collector and it is actually not painted. The heat of
the exhaust gases would not allow paint to stay long on the collector ring.
So it is the natural colour of the metall. In many photos you can see that
the exhaust pipe is runing from the collector ring.
Another Bristol feature is, that unlike most inline engine manufacturers
Bristol delivered not only the engine but the whole powerplant. That means
that the engine nacelle with the collector ring and the distinguish cowling
gills was a Bristol design. This was only slightly varied during the war.

Hans


"Rod" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
ups.com...
Most technical artists render the leading edge of wartime Bristol
radial engine cowlings a copper-bronze colour.

Several wartime colour photographs (of the Vickers Wellington etc)
show this same effect.

The 'Halifax' restoration/reproduction at the Yorkshire Air Museum has
it's Hercules engine cowlings painted a reddish-brown colour.

This seems to be characteristic of most Bristol radial engine
installations of the period.

Being involved in the restoration of a 1945 vintage 'Hercules' engined
aircraft I am greatly interested to know how this effect came about.

It is NOT RUST because the original cowlings are made of Aluminium.

Was it due to a special formulation/colour of the original protective
paint? If so can anyone refer me to the specification?

Or was it as a result of heat on standard night black camouflage paint.
The cowling is separated by an air gap from the Townsend exhaust
collector ring, but substantial heat would build up particularly during
idling/taxying. All the same the colour seems so uniform on photographs
that I doubt that a heat effect would create it.

Even if a heat effect is the case.....I assume that YAM have painted
theirs because their restored engines cannot be run to create a natural
effect.

Any directions gratefully acknowledged.

RC



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Book Review: Converting Auto Engines for Experimental Aircraft , Finch Paul Home Built 0 October 18th 04 10:14 PM
P-3C Ditches with Four Engines Out, All Survive! Scet Military Aviation 6 September 27th 04 01:09 AM
World War Two Era U.S. Radial Engines (Curtiss and Pratt&Whitney) Lincoln Brown Military Aviation 10 February 13th 04 05:30 AM
What if the germans... Charles Gray Military Aviation 119 January 27th 04 12:20 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:51 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 AviationBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.