Warbird Information Exchange

Boy! What a difference 8 hours of sleep can do! I feel great. I was dragging yesterday. Lately when I know that I have to get up at 0500 I keep waking up every hour to see what time it is. I get three or four hours sleep if I’m lucky. I think a lot of it has to do with the heat up here but oh well.

In spite of my sleep deprivation I managed to shoot a few rivets. Scott deserves a medal for his bucking prowess! Bucker Boy is so damned patient and works tirelessly. I don’t know how a man of his advanced years can have such stamina. It can’t be the exercise he gets flipping switches in the “74”! Maybe it has something to do with his frequent stops in Shanghai? Anyway, a good day of progress.

Shooting that green fairing proved to be a little more time consuming then we initially figured. I hadn’t realized that the forward 30 holes on the fairing were dimpled which meant that I had to counter sink the wing skin before we could shoot. We also had to hand cut quite a few rivets and that slows things down.

Scott and I also shot a few rivets for Ken in the forward crew hatch area. Soon the floor will be installed. I called Jeff on my way home last night as he was working at FEDEX. Jeff told me that the hardware he ordered for the right main should be delivered by next week. We will still need to acquire some additional hardware however before we install the gear. The good news is that it looks like all of the bolts we need are available.

I must confess I am starting to get excited about not only hanging the gear but also painting the tail! With the paint on the tail it will be much easier for all of us to visualize what the PBJ will look like some day in her over all paint scheme. It will also make a powerful statement of progress!

That’s about it for now. Here are a couple of pictures.
Dan

_________________
Check out our new website.
CAF SoCal Wing http://www.cafsocal.com/

Hey Dan! Great effort from all of you guys. I really hope you guys can find some big $$$$ to help get the big ticket items taken care of.... fuel tanks, outer wing panel rebuild (X2), engine overhaul (X2), and prop OH (X2). Are Tony and Carl still on line to rebuild the outer panels? Thanks for the updates bro! Alan

_________________
Just call me Al.

better than great looking....awesome

We MIGHT try to do one of the wings on our own. Not sure yet. Find me a sugar daddy!

Dan

_________________
Check out our new website.
CAF SoCal Wing http://www.cafsocal.com/

Hi guys,

Riveting continues on the right wing in preparation for the main gear hang. Several of us are going down on Saturday to start prepping the tail for paint. Hopefully we will shoot on Sunday. The last time this bird had blue paint was over 60 years ago! The rudders and elevators are fabric and will be shot separately and off the airplane with a different paint made for fabric. In the next few weeks I should have some interesting shots of the painting and installation of the rudders and elevators on the tail. I know it is hard for some of you to see the progress we have made. It is difficult for us at times. We will all see a lot of visual progress in the next couple of months.

TWO YEARS AGO


YESTERDAY



JEFF AND SON


KEN

_________________
Check out our new website.
CAF SoCal Wing http://www.cafsocal.com/

Looking great!! Hows the temperature in SoCal? I hope you all arent burning up! I know how it can be in a hot hangar...

_________________
Taylor Stevenson

Not as hot or humid as Dallas! Camarillo is just acouple of miles from the ocean and morning fog this time of year with temps in the 70's. I live 126 miles north where it is more Dallas like but low humidity so when I drive down to the hangar I enjoy the cool weather.

D

_________________
Check out our new website.
CAF SoCal Wing http://www.cafsocal.com/

Great stuff man. Keep up the great work.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I fell in love with her years ago and by then she was way past her prime. I had seen pictures of her sisters from the “old days” when they were young and fit and fresh but pictures of our girl, if there ever were any, have never been found. I have sat next to her over the years trying mightily to visualize her all decked out in full makeup. Last night for the very first time she gave me a peek at what she once looked like. It was quite a revelation! It was as if I were seeing that black and white movie in full color for the first time. Dang! She looks good in blue and white!

_________________
Check out our new website.
CAF SoCal Wing http://www.cafsocal.com/

Looks good but why not wait until the plane is complete and then paint it all at once?

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Oh man, that is just awsome. She is going to be a looker that is for sure.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Good question. We need to prime the whole plane due to being so near the ocean but we can’t paint the entire plane at this time for several reasons money being one but we thought that if we applied a little color visitors could better visualize what the final product will look like. We also don’t want to impact on other aircraft parked in the hangar at this time. After we hang the right main we can move outside if necessary to finish painting. Our air show is in August and we want to pull her out onto the ramp and thought a little color would draw some attention.

_________________
Check out our new website.
CAF SoCal Wing http://www.cafsocal.com/

Could we sticky this threat so we can find it easy?

_________________
Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

yeah that would be great!

Dan, what are those circles on the back of the horizontal stabilizor? They look to be stuffed up with tape or something for the priming.

I peeked into the hangar the other day and saw her hidden up against the wal, but was scared to tiptoe in and get a good look- it's sure been a pleasure being able to see all these pics you're putting up tho!

_________________
"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

The holes are stuffed with paper to keep the paint out. These areas are covered with plates that we paint separately and will install prior to the rudders and elevators. The holes are known as lightening holes. They make the structure lighter and allow for inspection and access. As we proceed I will continue to take photos and you will see how it all comes together. We will paint the control surfaces off the bird as we use a different paint on fabric.

D

_________________
Check out our new website.
CAF SoCal Wing http://www.cafsocal.com/