Warbird Information Exchange

Hey Hot Stuff Crew! Good job! That has to be THE most authentic re-enactment show I have ever seen! How you guys and gals managed to get all that snow in the right places and all the cold weather gear ya'll had to wear, making those fabulous pictures for us, the only thing missing was the Welcome to Attu sign! Sure impressed me, but how are ya'll going to manage doing that during the airsho season?

Seriously, the work youve all done is excellent....I was down at Midland in the CAF hangar loading a few planes for transport, and had the chance to get close up and personal with "FI-FI"....she has two of the new engines installed now..they were done by the same guy that did your new 2800....they do look more like a piece of art.

Gary

Gary, you should know by now that we do the south Pacific reenactment during the summer! Yes, those engines are true works of art. We are excited to have to new ones to fly behind.


PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org

This is the best pic I have of the new engine on "FI-FI"....almost makes you want to frame them instead of mounting them on the airframe....almost..


Hope that yours runs even better than it looks!

G

Very cool pics PJ!! I know how long it takes to get things done and you guys are really cooking! Please keep posting your progress and I will try to do the same
Dave

Thanks,Dave! Yes, the Indiana weather always makes things take longer, but we always find a way to make progress. Hopefully one day Hot Stuff and Fifi will share a ramp at one of the air shows!


PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org

Ok, I think it's time for an update. How is the engine change coming along.

Still have a lot going on around here, but going to try and get out there Wednesday. Planning to work that day??...I need a break from the work around the house.
Hopefully will be able to get away and make it out.

Some pictures would be nice as well.

Warren

Hi Warren,
I believe Jenny has a post with pictures coming soon. Engine change is coming along. lots of little details to attend to with that and also we have been working on the annual. I believe there will be the usual Wednesday maintenance this week...contact Glen for times.
Paula


PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org

All right already!

Hello again WIXers, and I guess I will get off my dead behind and post up a maintenance report.

It has been a couple weeks since the last time I wrote, but it's been an eventful couple of weeks for the Hot Stuff crew.

There was plenty of work out at the ramp this past weekend, but the weekend before, we were off a rare Saturday, but for the worst sort of reasons. PJ's old Dad passed away, and all the AMHFers and what appeared to be the entire population of Rushville Indiana gathered to pay respects. Doc King was a medic in WWII (Phillippines) and came home from the war to be the town's beloved veterinarian for the next 50 years. Our hearts all go out to poor PJ.

Out at the plane, we have had a break in the endless bitter cold and snow. There are signs that the ice age is perhaps not upon us after all, but instead maybe there will be a spring. This past weekend, in fact, it was so tolerable, the crew put aside engine work in favor of getting outside and doing some airframe inspections.



Half the empennage inspection is done now, and that's what we see going on there above. Control cables lubricated and checked, control stops and hinges, and general structure is what we're looking at, mainly.



By "we," I mainly mean "the rest of the crew but not IndyJen," because I was slacking off--attending a couple safety seminars down in Columbus, IN. When It was over, I flew on up in the beloved Grumman:



It was a fine day for flying around, you know it, and I always enjoy seeing these two planes together. When the day was over, PJ flew back to Shelbyville with me; she's always up for a Grumman ride.



There's Long Tall Glen proceeding with the inspection. Looks like he's checking elevator hinges and cable runs, there. Apart from some fasteners that were changed, I don't think there was much amiss back in that area.



PJ has finally arrived at the point where the soda blaster is no longer in the "fun new toy" category, apparently, but she did finish up cleaning the heat shield Saturday. It was well coked up, and needed a good deal of work to get clean.



Electrical Guru Roy and President Rich have continued their project to replace the J-1 electrical box for the right nacelle. Roy is doing some connector work in the picture, there. He and Rich also combed through the balky electrical wiring in our old tug, and think they have figured out what has been running down the battery.

As long as it was "work on the tug" time, Rich No. 1 (the Official Dad of IndyJen) attacked the fuel pump problem--or rather, the "tug dies about every three minutes, no matter what" problem. The general consensus has been that the fuel pump was the culprit. Dad pulled it out of there, and corralled Kevin the former brother-in-law, who is a CarQuest distributor. A suitable replacement was turned up, and donated for free (thanks your support, Kevin!).



There it is, installed and good to go. The tug runs like a champion again, and that makes everyone happy.



All the foregoing is not meant to imply that work has ceased altogether on the shiny new engine. Above we see new guy Neal, and Don who has previously been called "Bob" (sorry Don), and Dad building up the engine for all they're worth. It's got everything installed and prepped that it can have, with all that's left being the items that can't be installed until the mount is bolted on.

It's basically ready to put on the mount, but the mount is not quite ready to receive it. I imagine that work will be happening this Wednesday and Saturday.



That's about all there is to report, WIXers. We're continuing to progress, and as the weather permits, we'll continue to do what needs to be done on that airframe. I'll keep you posted as the engine and prop work happen, too.

Till next time,

_________________
IndyJen

------------------------------

Support "Hot Stuff"
Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon of the
American Military Heritage Foundation
http://www.amhf.org

That looks like a really great crew you have!! It also looks really cold! darn glad I'm in West Texas. It's finally hittin' the 70's. We'll be on the same ramp somewhere I'm sure. Keep up the good work!!

Dave

That's not really snow, Dave. It's all of that soda from blasting the dishpan. Actually it was a heat wave...high 40's and close to 50! Better days are on their way.


PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org

Hi All-

Just a quickie here: We've been chipping away at a number of items on the D check and engine swap, and through some networking by our newest member, Don, we've secured bead blasting services for the engine mount. I hope to have that back in the shop, get the welds penetrant checked, and the mount primed all on Monday. Once the mount is painted, the build up of the QC package should be fairly quick, and we'll also be able to get another engine stand out to the hangar and free up some more acreage in the shop.

The timing of the build up should work out fairly nicely, as the new carb should arrive within the week. A related flange repair should be done about the same time, and the A&P doing the work has expressed an interest in joining our merry troupe, so the pace could increse again. There's yet another fella out there with fantastic sheetmetal skills that we hope to snook... er, entice into joining the effort in the near future.

WIXer Warren stopped out this week and contributed some man-hours to the effort. It's always good to see our friends, especially when they pick up a tool and help shorten the "do" list!

For my part, the last several days have been primarily of the admin variety. Not my first choice of activities, but it needs to be done. Lots of phone calls and quality time on the internet sourcing services, squaring logs away, studying manuals and AD's, all that fun stuff. Plus, we can see the top of the office desk again! I had forgotten what color it is...

Oil-stain color, if I remember right ...

_________________
IndyJen

------------------------------

Support "Hot Stuff"
Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon of the
American Military Heritage Foundation
http://www.amhf.org

HI All-

Saturday was a wet, dreary, low turn out, low productivity day. Hopefully, just a transient phenomina.

The most exciting news of the moment (month? Season?) is that a benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has offered to cover the cost of having the airworthiness directives against our propellers complied with by a prop shop. The work offered to us includes returning the props to us in what they advise will be "show quality" condition, including all the appropriate stenciling. So, it would appear that a couple of major planets have popped into a most beautiful alignment, and with perfect timing.

The shop gets down our way periodically and will be able to work our props into their previously scheduled pick ups and deliveries. As it happens, they will most likely be in our neck of the woods somewhere between this Thursday and the early part of next week. As such, the new priority for Wednesday's work party will be to get the left prop pulled and ready to ship, as well as gathering up the various other items we want to send along. So, we need to be sure to have enough people on hand Wednesday to get that all done.

In related news, we have been given bead blasting services for the right engine mount, and I had hoped to get the mount back to the shop and get the dye penetrant inspection of the welds done today, but alas, revenue work seems to have bumped us back a bit. We also have secured the use of a local aviation university's spray booth to paint the mount. Appropriate paint materials, as well as the dye penetrant kit have been supplied through the generosity of several individuals. With a certain amount of luck, we may be able to get the new engine on the mount and the shipping pallet out to the hangar by the end of the weekend.

Given the progress of the maintenance cycle, and the fact that the weekend looks like it may once again be rainy, I am attempting to secure the use of a local FBO's hangar for the weekend. If we can get the plane into the hangar, I would like anyone who can possibly help out to come on down as much as practical Friday evening through Sunday afternoon so that we can remove the stress panels from the wings, address the things that need to be done, and close the wings back up. If we can do this, it will be a HUGE step towards a successful season this year!

In more general news, this year's maintenance cycle is off to a great start. There have been no show stoppers to address, aside from the engine swap and the prop AD, and those are now well in hand. Our little crew has done a great job of keeping ahead of issues, and I am hoping the remainder of this cycle will be a lot more verifying that all is well, and a lot less correcting of discrepancies. That is not to say there aren't a lot of people-hours to be invested, quite the contrary. We need the troops to keep coming out and chipping away at our long laundry list. Wednesday afternoons and all day Saturday are the norm, and since we are a public charity, mileage, expenses, and donations are all tax deductible! Even Uncle Sam wants you to help out!

Thanks again to all our benefactors, the various new people who are pitching in, and all the old hands who've made this great progress possible. They can all be very proud of their contributions!

Hello WIXers,

Just a brief one this time.

There's been a lot of work going on out at the Hot Stuff ramp, mostly of a highly repetitive sort that's not incredibly photogenic--or at least, the photos of one day's work look an awful lot like those of another day.

Probably the most notable development, from the perspective, let us say, of someone walking across the ramp saying "hey, when did they do that?", is the appearance a couple weeks ago of the propellers, returned from the prop shop and hung almost immediately on the engines.



There they are, at the end of a long day's work for Glen's mid-week crew. It was an interesting sight when they arrived, too. The infrastructure used by the ol' prop shop is, shall we say, picturesque.



They hang these big old Hamilton Standards on that tiny little trailer, and drag them hundreds of miles, and everything arrives safe and sound every time, so there you go. But I have to admit that I expected, I don't know, something beefier for the purpose!



There's the crew, using the forklift in the usual manner to unload the trailer and prepare things for installation.

In other news, our man Hot Rod Steve found a hot-rod artist of some repute who has been out to the ramp a few times now, freshening up Hot Stuff's nose art. It is looking great, and will likely be done within another visit or two. PJ will perhaps put up some pics of the finished project. We should also be installing Machine Shop Gaylon's replica rockets shortly, and the old girl will be looking like All Business again.

And the new shiny engine is ready to run, and surely will be run this coming week.

And that's the news in brief for this time, the last Hot Stuff news update to be expected from yours truly. It's been great, telling you all about the doin's of our dedicated crew for the past couple years, but all good things must come to an end. I expect that one of the several fine writers on the team will pick up and carry on with the maintenance reports, so keep your eyes open for the further adventures. A busy season is looming, and the big blue airplane may be darkening the skies near you!

Keep 'em flying,

_________________
IndyJen

------------------------------

Support "Hot Stuff"
Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon of the
American Military Heritage Foundation
http://www.amhf.org

Good evening (morning?) all-

Just a quick note here to let our supporters know Hot Stuff moved under her own power today. The engines start beautifully and sound awesome. We collected some good data and checked off a bunch of items, and did a gear swing that was entirely satisfactory. Once I recall how to post a pic, I'll try to get one of the old girl on the jacks for your viewing pleasure. Unless, of course, PJ beats me to it (hint, hint...). Just in case anyone is wondering, it's 110 bidirectional strokes per retraction, with three required. look out, Popeye...