VARNISHING & FINISHING
Once carved, layers of varnish is applied. Some props also require brass-work, paint or fabric
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A Fokker DR1/D8 ready for varnishing
A Fokker DR1/D8 sitting in a jig ready for spraying (varnish)
A Fokker DR1/D8 sitting in a jig ready for spraying (varnish)
A Fokker DR1/D8 sitting in a jig ready for spraying (varnish), with some masters in the background
A Fokker DR1/D8 sitting in a jig ready for spraying (varnish)
A 10 foot (3 metre) RE8/ BE12 propeller
Clerget prop in foreground, RE8/BE12 4-blader in background
Jeff sanding between coats of varnish
Scraping blade prior to sanding
Clerget propeller getting sanded and size-checked
Packaging up a Tiger Moth prop
Paint finish on a Tiger Moth prop
Paint finish on a Tiger Moth prop (matte black and shiny black)
Paint finish on a Tiger Moth prop
Sanding in between varnish coats on the RE8/BE12 prop
Rough-sanding
Matte finish on RE8/BE12 prop. 1933 Morgan car in the background (another photo of this car in the "Bits & Pieces" gallery
Sanding BE2 prop, RE8 prop in background ready for dispatch
Close-up of the stampings on a BE2 hub
Close-up of a DH4 hub
(upside down) Prop description stamped on hub
(bad photo) but shows the varnish finish and the stampings on a Tiger Moth prop
Sopwith triplane hub
Finished Camel propeller
Finish on the varnished blades
Stampings on a Genet Moth prop
Stampings on the Morane Saulnier prop
Stampings on a Sopwith Camel prop
Brass leading edge and tips to a clear-finished Tiger Moth
Shiny finish on a CAMS Gnome rotary engine
Look at that beautiful colour and shine! Photo courtesy of CAMS
The mirror-shine of a Tiger Moth prop... Hub stampings show that this is a bona-fide Fox Prop, below is the diameter and pitch of the blades, and then the Fox Props NZ propeller number and year
The mirror-shine of a Tiger Moth prop post varnishing
The mirror-shine of a Tiger Moth prop - the work to add the brass edging begins. This piece of brass still needs to be cleaned up before it's fitted onto the tip properly
Two Tiger Moth props on the varnishing jigs. They are put here to be sprayed, then they're slowly rotated to ensure no drips, an even spread, and a nice drying process
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