Warbird Information Exchange

Copy that! I've got it, looks good ,send the CAD file.

Dave

Why is the dome black? Aren't they normally silver/natural color?

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

Not necessarily.

Makes it go faster.

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

I would take a guess in that the domes aren't even painted but in fact Black Anodized.

Need to answer my questions from the original e-mail that I kept not being able to get the file to attach to first...

Thanks for the update!

Since Dave's approved the layout, I thought I'd give a "before and after" preview of what the new panel will look like -

BEFORE


AFTER

Great stuff Dave! To all other readers, members, lurkers, etc...... There are more photos on our website..... http://www.cafb29b24.org/a/B-29-Updates.htm
Our webmaster has set up a blog page for Fifi....... so keep checking for updates...... Alan

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Just call me Al.

Another quick update from me. The AutoCAD drawing that goes with the above concept image was e-mailed to Dave early this afternoon. We should see it installed and Testiclese running in no time now that the slow-poke has finished his work!

You've done a great job and I'll be getting the panel done ASAP.

We finally got the prop job done and they have been delivered to San Antonio Propeller for the AD work and repainting. I leaning toward having the domes natural. Many of the pictures I've seen, show them that way. No, they are not anodized black.

The #2 and #3 props had already been removed and just needed disassembled. Once that was done I got to work taking the #1 and #4 props off.

First, remove the safety ring and remove the dome cap.





Next, put the lift ring on the dome, remove the lock screw on the dome nut and start unscrewing the dome nut.




Get someone to hold the lift ring while you continue to unscrew the dome nut. When oil starts running out, you know it's close to coming off. Let the oil drain for a bit and get a shoulder under the dome. Once it's loose, pull it off the distributor and put it down somewhere, cause it's spewing oil all over your pants.





The prop removal tools in this picture are from left to right: Distributor wrench, prop shaft nut wrench/socket, Sweeny Tool and the Sweeny Tool fixture. And a breaker bar.



The next thing to come off is the distributor. Remove the locking devise and put the distributor wrench on. Unscrew the distributor.



Someone forgot to take the rest of the pics anyway the next thing is to install the fixture that holds the Sweeny tool. It screws on where the dome nut came from. Once you have that on, pick up the Sweeny Tool, ugh, and put it on the fixture. Then insert the prop shaft nut wrench/socket into the middle of the Sweeny Tool. Rotate until it lines up and goes over the prop shaft nut. The Sweeny has splines on the inside and the wrench/socket has them on the outside. You can see this in the previous pic. With the Sweeny, you can loosen the 2200 foot pounds of torque with a 1/2 drive breaker bar. It is probably about 200 foot pounds of force to break it loose. You torque the nut on with the same Tool. Gary showed me this, very cool!! Once it's broke loose, continue to unscrew it until the prop shaft nut until it's completely unthreaded. The prop won't fall off like I thought it would!! Then put the lifting straps on and with the help of your trusty crain operator, slide the prop off and yer done.


We got all 4 props apart and loaded and I rolled out for San Antonio Thursday morning.




Got to San Antonio Propeller about 2:00 that afternoon and unloaded.

Here's some pics of our right wing section at the repair facility in California. Notice they have it all put in a "jig" they made especially for it.





Now that they have it in place, they can remove the rivets needed to peel back the skin and find those nasty corroder bugs.

On to the next project!!

We found out recently that Nelson's shop needed a mockup of the 3350-95w with the 26wd rearend on it. They need it so they can start making the necessary modifications to make our cowlings fit. Soooooooo, we got one of our -95w's out of a can and put it on our Whiting stand. We will remove the power section and replace it with a 26wd's power section. Anyone need any of these -95w power sections, PRTs, etc. I'm going to have about 9 of them to sell.






This Whiting stand is a perty cool gadget!
You use this handle to turn the engine around its crankshaft axis.



This shaft/gearbox is used to rotate the engine to a horizontal position with the back of the engine facing up.



It looks alittle scary just hanging there on it's shaft!!



Just some FYI. See the data plate for this engine. Can you say BowTie!

The photos were great... thanks for sharing!

Glad to see the outboard wing getting attention and the cove already off. Be sure to post some photos of the aileron actuation intercostals (bell crank brackets?) from station 655 to 675 aft of aft spar. Curious if you have the large single hole (early) or double lightening hole (late) design. The Doc folks tooled up to hydroform the early ones. They had heavy rot in either end of upper/lower left and upper/lower right hand brakeformed flanges as well as the small structural parts in that access area. Then look out for rot in the pulley bracket, lower stringers from Station 510 to around 608 (water would run down to the lowest point of the outboard wing, accumulating desert dirt/hard water particulate which would corrode the stringer), assorted aft spar stiffener corrosion, corrosion on aft spar formers and webs near an access panel or hinge points 533, 603, 675, 747, and 795(notice a pattern?), chance corrosion on the milled wing spar caps due to bad heat treat, ramp rash on the sta 850 wing tips, corrosion on the spot welded sta 820 aft spar former with nutplates, then the light spotty freckles and the few unexpected things that are unique to every aircraft.... Too bad they only painted the spars on the outboard wings, flaps, and the horizontal stabilizer. They would have fared much better with some protection, though the gray lacquer wasn't nearly as good as the yellow they used in the main wing.

You seem to know alot about this stuff. How about coming to Midland for a visit. I could use that kind of experience!

Dave