B-29 restoration in New Mexico

[Pat Carry]

The Natl Museum of Nuclear Science and History wants to do some restoration to their B-29 www.nuclearmuseum.org click onto the photo of their B-29 for information about this project.

[APG85]

Glad its getting some attention but that's a lot of money to paint an airplane that's supposed to be Natural Metal Finish...

[J. Thompson]

If everyone who has complained about KeeBird in the last 2 decades, only donated a small percentage of their annual income; Something like this could be brought flight-worthy...yes?

- Joseph

[APG85]

It takes an enormous effort to restore and then operate a B-29. Look at what the people working on DOC are going through. With enough money and people, anything is possible. Some planes are better left as static displays...

[tinbender2]

If everyone who has complained about KeeBird in the last 2 decades, only donated a small percentage of their annual income; Something like this could be brought flight-worthy...yes?

- Joseph

i doubt this bird would be an acceptable candidate.

When I last looked it over a few years ago, it had been stripped bare. Even many of the outer wing bolts were missing. It had such horrible shadetree sheet metal repairs, they made my skin crawl. The MLG torque links had been crudely welded together, and someone had literally poured gallons of gray paint on it, instead of even using a brush or roller.

Darn shame. One of my favorite aircraft, butchered beyond belief.

[Spectre_I]

Glad its getting some attention but that's a lot of money to paint an airplane that's supposed to be Natural Metal Finish...

Just a guess: The write up on the plane says it was heavily involved in the post-war testing of nuclear weapons. That being the case, it would make sense if it were painted white.

It takes an enormous effort to restore and then operate a B-29. Look at what the people working on DOC are going through. With enough money and people, anything is possible. Some planes are better left as static displays...

Yup. This is the most common question I get. Of course, with enough money anything is possible. Given enough money we could just tool up a plant a build a new one of (fill in your favorite aircraft here).

Forgetting the enormous cost of restoration for a moment, operation is off the charts. Thousands of dollars an hour. If some mega benefactor wanted to spend that kind of money, I know a few museums who could really use hangars, tools, lawnmowers, mops...

[tinbender2]

I'll bet the reason it is getting painted is to keep all the skin corrosion and bondo hidden.

[Chris Brame]

Glad its getting some attention but that's a lot of money to paint an airplane that's supposed to be Natural Metal Finish...

I wonder if they would be dollars ahead to strip this plane down and polish it as opposed to doing a scuff-and-spray every few years? They're in pretty dry, hot country. Of course this plane spent a few decades on outside display at Chanute AFB, so who knows what shape the skin is or how many coats of paint it has already.

[sandiego89]

From photos on the web, she looks like she has many layers of paint over the years- can hardly see some of the panel lines on the fuselage. Imagine a strip down would be very time consuming, and if there is no plan to get her inside, not much sense to do a total strip and polish- and as others have said not sure what you would have underneath. Paint may be the only thing holding parts of her together & presentable.

Paint can be an OK option for NMF aircraft outdoors, and likely best for a "shell" aircraft that has paint currently.

The thing that got me- $460 a gallon! Guess they are not running to the Home Depot for this batch....

I wish them luck with the project.

[APG85]

I saw this plane about 12 years ago. It was painted grey...the entire plane...everything. I won't say the plane was neglected but it looked...odd.
Anything they do will be an improvement...

[tinbender2]

I saw this plane about 12 years ago. It was painted grey...the entire plane...everything. I won't say the plane was neglected but it looked...odd.
Anything they do will be an improvement...

If they are letting the local tech school students do the structural repairs, I really doubt that will be an improvement. Maybe the new nose art should include a pic of Frankenstein's monster with wings.

Based on price, it appears they are buying polyurethane paints, which really are going to be wasted if they just apply it over the existing garbage paint. I didn't read anything about a complete paint stripping job, which would cost megabucks due to EPA and govt regulations. Of course, since this is a govt operation, they just might be paying $460 and $300 per gallon of house paint. And it wouldn't be the first warbird in a big museum to wear it.




Sorry.


Maybe I'm a bit too sarcastic about this museum.

It is a truly fantastic museum, with the exception of the outside aircraft, which were terribly neglected.

I once offered to do some structural repairs for free, but got nothing more than blank stares.

They hired a car repair shop to repaint their F-105 years ago. He was using a D-A air sander with 40 grit sandpaper to remove the old paint, and was removing more aluminum than paint. The ground underneath the aircraft was covered with aluminum dust. I pointed out his mistake, but he ignored me, as did the museum employees.

I suppose I'll make another effort to help. I only have 20+ years of tinbending, every sheet metal tool imaginable, about 200,000 aircraft fasteners to donate, and plenty of free time. My guess is they hand me a broom.


BTW,

They are looking for help on the history of this aircraft, B-29 s/n 45-21748, specifically photographs, in case some of the aviation wizards on this site would enjoy a challenge...

[APG85]

The video posted on Warbird News shows the entire restoration effort will be completed by this Summer. I'm assuming they are not going to strip off all of the old paint and undertake a "true" restoration" on the aircraft which is long overdue. Looks like it is getting some minor repairs and another coat of paint.

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/aviation-mu ... -b-29.html

[Jeremy S]

They would be better off spending that donated money to put a roof over this plane and others.