Mark Nugent – Warbird Master Craftsman

Warbirds Online recently journeyed to the NSW country city of Dubbo to visit one of the most skilled metal workers we have ever seen. Mark Nugent is a highly trained coachbuilder with an excellent reputation for high quality work. Interestingly Mark works in the fields of Motor Vehicle restoration and Aircraft restoration. Although it is not unusual that some motor coachbuilders dabble in aviation projects from time to time, it is unusual that they develop their businesses to deal in both on a regular basis.

Mark served his apprenticeship with well-regarded Concours Sports Car Restorations in Sydney restoring Aston Martin and Jaguar bodies and then moved to the UK where he worked at the famous Crailville coachbuilders building bodies for Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Bugatti, Delahaye etc. During this time Mark built up a reputation for the highest quality work and learnt all the secrets of the coachbuilding trade, particularly the very difficult task of hand forming Aluminum alloy materials in complex multi contour, compound curves and shapes. A skill shared very closely between automotive coachbuilding and aviation restoration. Aluminum and associated alloys are notoriously difficult to shape and “work” given the nature of the metal and it requires years of experience and knowledge to work with them at this level.

When Mark returned to Australia in 2000 he decided that he should set up his own firm in Dubbo and commenced working on vehicles sent by collectors from across the globe including very rare collectable machines such as Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwings” and classic Ferrari, Porsche and Rolls Royce’s. More recent models have also graced “The Workshop” (as the business is referred to) including British AC’s and Shelby Cobra sports cars. We saw several cars under rebuild/construction on our visit and the quality of the alloy body forming is stunning. Mark also works on historic racing car restorations as well.

Of great interest to Warbirds Online was the other side of the business being the scratch building and restoration work on Warbird parts including Supermarine Spitfire, Curtiss P-40 and Lockheed p-38 Lightning. Most warbird restorers have their own sheet metal workers who, whilst very skilled in their own right and able to perform the more straightforward tasks, however the more complex and difficult work is more cost efficient when carried out by a specialist craftsman such as Mark. Over the years Mark has gained an enviable reputation for his ability to restore or replicate very difficult and complex components on some very famous warbirds. At present components are being manufactured for Supermarine Spitfires and Lockheed P-38 Lightning’s.

Mark’s work is incorporated into some very famous Warbirds flying today both in Australia and globally and into several future projects currently under way. Marks current work includes components for Ross Pay’s Vintage fighter Restorations (VFR) at Scone NSW and Robert Grienert’s Historic Aircraft Restorations Limited of Albion Park, NSW.

When a component arrives at Marks workshop, ideally the best approach is to rebuild it to airworthy condition and repair as necessary.  However given that these parts are required to meet the strict standards of an airworthy aircraft it is often the case that they may have to be completely remanufactured utilizing the original component and construction drawings as a guide. This is the particular facet of Mark’s skillset which is most valuable – his ability to replicate with high accuracy a part which is no longer serviceable in a cost effective and high quality manner. Mark is an expert in the use of traditional metal forming methods such as the English wheel and other body forming tools; however he is also able to work with modern technology to produce components using tools such as 3D scanning and printing. When examining the work being carried out on the vehicle bodies and aviation components the quality was clearly evident, especially the complex compound curves and seamless joints with smooth flowing panel work.

On the day of our visit Mark was working on a set of nose gun bay doors for a P-38, one of which will be repairable whilst the other will have to be constructed from new. The amount of research and planning that goes into the work on such a panel was amazing to see, even before the actual panel work commences.  Mark had completed one inner reinforcement panel and the meticulous attention to detail and accuracy was inspiring. Other components awaiting rebuild were a Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX oil tank and various complex ducting assemblies which will be dismantled and rebuilt using some of the original material and newly manufactured metal where necessary.

Warbirds Online can highly recommend Mark Nugent’s “The Workshop” as the place for Warbird component rebuilds and manufacture of the highest possible standard in a timely manner. Mark is happy to discuss your requirements and project work and can be contacted via his Business Facebook page. We will continue to visit Marks company and provide updates on the excellent Warbird restoration work.

We extend our thanks to Mark for allowing us to visit his workshop and for his assistance in preparing this article.

© John Parker 2019