Real quick update for you....
When making posts on this thread, I've always tried to pass along the different moods at the time, whether it be good, bad, stressed, tired, excited, etc., in order to give everyone who keeps up with this reconfiguration to get an accurate idea of what goes on while a project like this takes place. Often times, however, I don't know what's "too much information." So, if this is one of those times, please forgive me.
As you know by now, the upcoming deadline and my inability to be productive enough to finish this project in time has been a major point of stress for me and my crew. Well, there are other things that have been eating at me as well. Shorty is leaving on Tuesday morning and Andy will be going back home to help his family with their farming at the end of next week. I do have a few volunteers scheduled to come in for a couple of days, but other than that, it's looking like I'm going to be working solo again (more or less) to finish this thing up. Not normally a big deal, as I'm used to working alone, but I've got about 5 weeks to squeeze 3 months of work into. Not good.
Another strain on me has been a personal issue with an ex-fiance'. I don't feel there's a need to get into the details on that one, but for everyone out there who's had to deal with those type of issues, you'll understand how painful and emotionally draining that can be.
So, anyway, the reason I bring all of that up is not to sound as if I'm whining or to get any sympothy, but its because I think it's pertinent to this series of updates I've been doing. Although there are still some days of excellent progress, there are getting to be more and more days where there's simply not much getting done (at least by me). Today is a great example. I got here at my normal time (3 a.m.) and spent hours pretty much just staring at my tailgunner's door project. I've got a few little details that I'm trying to work out, but I've hit a hurdle and can't seem to get past it. I WILL get this figured out, but just not today. Too many distractions on my mind, I reckon.
As Shorty and Andy made their way into the hangar this morning, I wanted to try to seem as if I were at least doing
something, so I started painting the "U.S. Army" on the bottom of the wings. Well...I've actually only done the "U.S." part for now, but I'll get to the rest later. After reading the opinions of my fellow WIXers, I decided to go ahead and brush paint the letters on, as they would have originally. However, I did cheat. Bill Coombes (Old Shep) was kind enough to have some vinyl stencils made for me to help speed up the time it would take to lay the letters out. So, once I applied the stencil to the bottom of the wing (in the exact location called out by T.O. 07-1-1 of the U.S. Army Air Corps). Then I scuffed the area to be painted, wiped it down, and then started brushing......
After two coats, I removed the stenciling. There is a fair amount of touch up to do since the stencil material doesn't lay down well over the rivets, but that's no biggie. Once the paint dries completely, I'll take care of that. But here's what it looks like for now.......
Carl Scholl will be here in about an hour or two, and is delivering the nose section for the airplane. He and his crew replaced all of the plexiglas in it, along with making mulitple sheet metal repairs, among other things. I will likely have photos of that when it arrives, but have every intention of getting the heck out of here once we get it off loaded.
Until the next time, y'all take care.
Gary
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Sooooooo,........ Ok, I'll have to wait until next year for that! Squadron application should be hitting Bill Godwin's door step any day..... Alan
