Classic Wings Article:

The following article was published in the Classic Wings magazine, issue 48:

John Rummery started making cartridge radiator cores  in New Zealand for vintage cars upon his return from England in 1976.  Whilst there he had spent three years working full time for Marston Radiators as foremen of their Restoration Unit in Coventry, a division that specialized solely  in restoring radiators for pre-WW2 cars.  It there that he learned to make this type of core, adding these skills taught to him, by George Mihaljevich of Vermont Radiators (Auckland) while working part-time with George to pay his way through university during the 1960's.  George and John established Vermont Vintage Radiators together in 1976 and over the next thirteen years they earned a reputation for quality radiator cores.  John's full time work as a teacher moved him to Whangarei in 1989, and at that point he bought out his partner and established 'Replicore'.

In the early 1910's Ray Mulqueen approached John to make the cores for the P40 that he was rebuilding at Wanaka, and in due course a product was made that met Ray's requirements.  This move into warbird aircraft radiator and oil cooler cored came at a time when a move was required to keep the interest levels high in what was, and still mostly is, a part time hobby for John.  At much the same time Replicore formed an association with Nick and Donna Jarman of Tamaterau Engineering, a toolmaking business in Whangarei with an outstanding reputation for innovation and quality.  Replicore has gone on in recent years to become a wholly owned division of Tamaterau Engineering, with John fulfilling the sales and consultancy role, and Tamaterau Engineering responsible for the manufacture of cores.  Over the last twelve years, Replicore have established a name within the warbird restoration industry for being able to manufacture quality one-off radiator and oil cooler cores for a range of aircraft.  The standards set are simple - Replicore will only make core to original specification, or better.  These can be taken from a drawing or sample, and great lengths are taken to ensure accuracy.  In a few cases changes have been made where John's accumulated experience suggests they should be, but such decisions are always made in consultation with the customer.  Their greatest compliment comes from a P40 owner who has suggested that Replicore's cores in his case are actually performing above specification - and that he sometimes has trouble getting the cooling system up to temperature!

Replicore now, they believe, have the largest range of cooling available anywhere for manufacturing a wide range of copper cartridge warbird radiator and oil cooler cores.  They include:  Mk2 Hurricane radiator and oil cooler, Se5a radiator, Fokker D7 radiators, Yak radiator and oil cooler, P40 radiator and oil cooler, P51 oil cooler, FW190 oil cooler, any American drum type oil cooler such as DC3, Havard, Corsair, DH Beaver, and their current project is to make the 400mm long x 10mm aft tube for the Hawker Hind.  Many of these types involve making and forming hexagonal tube, some individual tubes requiring as many as seven physical operations, all by hand, to make.  Several of the tube types in the products listed above were common to other aircraft types.  As an example the P40 tube is common to the P51A Mustang and the P38 Lightening radiators, so it may well be that they have tube tooling available for an even wider range of aircraft types than they are presently aware of.

Once in a while even a radiator eludes to a past history; a case in point being the radiator that John worked on for the Hurricane belonging to the Malta Aircraft Museum.  The radiator came from a crash site in Russia, and on inspection had been internally repaired with two damaged core segments replaced.  Logic suggests that this repair must have been done in England during the war, most likely during the Battle of Britain.  The radiator was then mounted on a rebuilt Hurricane and sent to Russia.  Within the tank work it is possible to  bullet damage that most likely brought the aircraft down, while there is evidence of an intense, but localized fire, around the oil cooler.  Since recovery it had been patched with motor vehicle 'bog', received a bit of brazing here and there and given a coat of silver paint to make it presentable.  Replicore's tank repair entailed making a whole new top half, one inlet pipe and four new mounting brackets.  Whilst it could not be rebuilt into a flyable example, once new cores were fitted, the standard is such that will allow it to cool well during ground runs for a lengthy period.  The photo to the left is titled:  "Attention to detail:  a Hurricane radiator".

Replicore's present development project is to tool up to manufacture the Morris Motors Radiator division core, the type that was used in many British aircraft such as Spitfire, Firefly, Mosquito etc.  The plan is to have a prototype core available at the 2005 Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka, Blenheim.  The photo to the right is titled:  "SE5 radiator mounted on the replica aircraft owned by the French Memorial Flight, based at La Ferte Alais".

Replicore are especially interested in the unusual, they will haply entertain your 'out of the ordinary' one-off radiator project provided it is made of copper and brass.  Replicore are also able to offer a full rebuilding service if you have a restorable radiator, or a ' make from new' if you have plans or a sample to go by.