Warbird Information Exchange

My heart skips a beat every time I see my future wife in the black.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Md, you'd better watch that your current wife doesn't whack you in the head with a skillet!

Beachgirl, wouldn't that be considered abuse of a good skillet ?

It may very well be!!!!

Now, I don't know about you all, but either Gary's VERY sidetracked with his new helpers OR they're very inefficient workers, as we're all still waiting for updates on what's going on with "Ol' 927" -- Gary?

GARY, IF YOU KEEP GETTING HELP LIKE THAT, YOU'LL HAVE A MESS OF FOLK'S COMING TO MIDLAND TO HELP!! SEE YA FRIDAY. I'LL BRING SOME OF THE "LIL" DISC'S " SO YOU CAN SIGN THEM.
DAVE

Sorry for the delayed update, y'all. Just been busy and have also had a few personal issues come about, so I haven't necessarily been in the mood to post anything that wasn't acidic. I'll do my best to put a happy face on the following......

Got a call from the prop shop yesterday and they told me that one of our prop blades failed the inspection. It seems that when a previous prop shop had removed the lead weight from one of the blade shanks, they drilled into the shank, scrapping the blade. Nice to know since we've only been flying with it that way for five years now.

We do have a complete, overhauled, spare prop assembly here though. Mark is helping me get it shipped out right away to the prop shop, since it also has to have the inspection done on it. All of this just equals more time and money. We will also be looking for one blade to put back with the old prop assembly, so please help us keep a look out for one.

I don't really have anything spectacular to show y'all this time. There are a ton of little projects that we're trying to knock out while some of the bigger projects are getting done as well. I've been painting the airplane in sections, since we're still not done with the prep work, nor are we done with the sheet metal work on the fuselage. My paint work couldn't be any worse. There was actually a time that I could put a decent coat of paint on an airplane, but I reckon with the impending deadline, I'm just not taking the time I need to do it right. I'm not making excuses, just trying to explain the situation. Either way, the paint is pitiful.

So, while Andy was trying to sand off a multitude of flaws, I decided to work on the tail skid arrangement. My idea of putting an original type skid has fallen to the wayside since the one I found in California never materialized and I'm just out of time. I have modified the old pogo assembly (which I'll post pictures of later), and decided to shorten the old permanent skid on the airplane so that it's not quite so gaudy. It will still protrude enough to do it's job, in case of an over-rotation, but it just won't be quite so ugly (in theory).

The first thing I did was to cut the top part of the old skid assembly off......






Surprise! .....




Yep, that's rust. About an inch deep. After breaking the chunks out and bead blasting it, the part looked like it was recovered from an old shipwreck or something.......




Well, since I'm getting daily "reminders" that the deadline is nearing, I couldn't take the time to fabricate a new tail skid assembly, so I'm just going to have to just press on with this one. We will no longer need the bushing that's going through the tail skid, since the modified pogo replaces the old tail stand that used to connect to this part. So I cut the ends off and pressed it out........












The next step for me was to make some plugs to fill the holes with. The idea here is to make it appear as if this piece never had anything going through it to begin with. I cut out some pieces of steel (two were for spares, in case I screwed up.....was having a bad day and anticipated it).....




Then I just marked the circle on the new piece of metal......




And then used my Beverly Shear to get the piece reasonbly close to a circle shape......






The next step was to drill a hole close to the center of the circle and then place a screw through the hole and put a nut on it........






Then I just placed that little assembly in my drill and carried it over to the sander to refine the circle down to the size I needed to fill the hole....




By operating the drill and spinning the circle perpendicular to the sanding disc, I was able to get the size needed to fit in the hole snugly. I'd just go back and forth from the sander to the skid to check on the size. You don't want to go too far with this, or you'll have to start over. This picture shows that I was close, but still needed a bit more.......




This is more like it......






Then I just did the same for the other side and welded them in place. After they were welded, I just sanded them smooth.......






I filled the inside of the skid with PRC, which is an epoxy type fuel tank sealant. Andy had some left over from when he was sealing up some windows, so I used it to seal up any remaining rusty areas in the tail skid. The tail skid will eventually be closed up completely, when I weld it to it's new base next...........




So that's all I have for now. We're trying hard to get as much done as we can before the deadline, but if it's not ready, it's not going to fly...period.

I'll try to get y'all a better update later.

Gary

Thanks for the update, Gary -- Sorry things don't seem to be going your way lately!

No biggie. Everything will all work out. Thanks though.

Gary

The best I can do for ya old buddy is kick my Craftsman tool box and set it on fire for good measure! Did the scolarship funds run out for your helpers?

Awsome work. I have to hide my posts Beach girl. Ha Ha just kidding.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Gary when you paint do you use air or a HVLP system? The HVLP system sure makes a painters life a lot easier if you have never tried it. Lots of people cuss them, but there is no reason to use ancient technology when there is a better way.

I have an air powered, HVLP (high volume, low pressure) gun I'm using. It keeps the fumes and overspray to a minimum in the hangar. I also spray small sections at a time to avoid the fume and overspray issue. And before anyone asks, I either pull airplanes out of the hangar, or cover the closest ones up, or both, before painting. I don't need anyone claiming I got overspray all over their stuff.

We're just working with what we have here. It's kind of difficult to turn out a decent paint product with a facility that isn't designed for it, but we're doing as best as we can without the money to get the job done right.

Oh, and I do wear a good respirator as well.

Gary

Paininting outside will give you an original paint job.. Back in the day they would roll the paint on or spray it over bugs and all.

Hey Gary, don't worry about getting it perfect.

We had the CF B-25 Hoosier Honey ( now Tondelayo) at the Houston airshow and a man walked up who wanted to tour her. We were asking 2-3 bucks. He handed me a twenty and told me to put the rest towards a new paint job. The poor old girl hadn't seen a complete paint job since 1983 and had spent most of the ensuing time outside. She had really oxidized to pink and we were spot painting the worst areas. Lets just say that she had developed a lot of character and looked pretty authentic.

When the man told me to put the money towards paint I gave him this hurt look and told him " you don't realize how hard it was for us to get an authentic combat look, anybody can make them look new" ! He laughed and said nice try, keep the change for the new paint!

Wonder what made him think I was going to give him change back ?

Well, for all of the WIXers and other Warbird enthusiasts, the paint job I'm putting on might look authentic, indeed. The problem is just what Rick described. The general public expects something like on American Chopper, or something like that. I was actually (and still am) considering brushing the letters, numbers, and insignia on the airplane, just like the book says to do. For all of us Warbird junkies, it would make sense. For the general public (who pay our bills), it would look bad. I just don't know which way to go on that one.

I was able to shoot a little more paint on the airplane this morning and it's at least looking better than it did. Y'all wanna sneak peak?

Gary