I saw something entirely new in the shop this morning. The Memphis Belle is missing a couple light fixtures, one in the radio compartment and one at the navigator's station. The originals were made of bakelite and we have been looking for some originals for the last few years without success.
A visitor from the CAF noted our problem and loaned us an original that we can copy. Rather than bakelite, however, the part is being reproduced from a resin. The original part was disassembled and used to make the molds you see below, one mold for each half of the light fixture. A two-part resin was then mixed and poured into the mold.
After partially curing, the mold is split and you can see the two halves below. Once the parts harden they can be removed from the molds, the risers trimmed away, holes drilled, and the parts fastened together. The reproductions are perfect right down to the imperfections that were found in the original parts.
The wide range of skill sets in the restoration shop never cease to amaze me. We really have some very talented technicians.
