FM-2 Wildcats!

fighter_ace06 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 13, 2013 11:37 pm

Awesome picture! Can you tell what the BU number is on the original photo. It should be an 867__ by the rocket rails and white stenciling. Should be a very close serial to mine.

Flew it again today, generator wasn't working so it was just one pattern. Battery was getting low and the prop was sluggish so I put it into low pitch and turned everything off to conserve power. I flashed the field and did some rewirirng so hopefully she works well tomorrow. Hopefully I can get at least an hour in tomorrow. We still have a few leaks to chase but for the most part she is running good. The shotgun starter works flawlessly and is much quicker and easier than electric. It spins it so fast it's almost idling already. It starts on the first shot with mixture in, mags on, and a 3 sec prime.

Jim MacDonald · **Posted:** Sun Jul 14, 2013 1:58 am

Congrats, Conrad. Bet it felt awesome to have all of the hard work & attention to detail pay off when you finally got her in the air.

Mac

AvroAvian · **Posted:** Sun Jul 14, 2013 3:15 am

Well done Conrad! A great achievement!

airnutz · **Posted:** Sun Jul 14, 2013 6:07 am

Not an N3N...

DH82EH · **Posted:** Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:11 pm

Great news!

Congratulations! :drink3:

It has to feel pretty good to have all that hard work pay off!

She looks amazing!

Andy Scott

airnutz · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 12:08 pm

airnutz wrote:

Not an N3N...

...mebbee a Consolidated PT-3 Husky?

Congratulations Conrad!!

JohnCFord · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 4:34 pm

It is a GREAT day indeed. I love the open canopy shots. The world is a better place with another Wildcat in the sky. :drink3:

~J~

fighter_ace06 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:39 pm

Over the weekend I flew off the first 5 hours. Took her to 11,000 feet 300kts and did all sorts of maneuvers. Stalls are gentle and spins are quick with about a half rotation for recovery. At 11,000 the engine required the emergency fuel pump to be on when pulling high Gs. I did a loop and watched the right wing the whole time demanding it stay on, and it did! Looks like we built it right, or maybe just some good old Grumman iron works. Up high when pulling hard you get vapor forming on the leading edge of the wing at the fold line. Must be the prop arc interfering, Greg Shelton said his does it too. I got to do a little flying with our T-28 piloted by Jason Griffin and demonstrated the superior turning, he started buffeting then I threw out flaps, yanked on it and it spun around like a top! It's amazing how fast it will turn around with all that wing.

fighter_ace06 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:43 pm

Yesterday I worked to try and get the generator online. No luck yet but in the process we had a breech failure on the Coffman starter. After looking for another breech online for a while I finally decided to rebuild mine. The breech is the assembly that holds and fires the cartridge. Behind the cartridge is a mess of pins, springs, elements and a bunch of phenolic and plastic blocks. The cartridge fired but blew back past the ignition pin and detonated all of the inner workings. Needless to say I grabbed a flashlight and began to collect all of the pieces from the engine bay. It took a while but I was able to find all of the pieces and glue them back together to use as a pattern. After a half day at the machine shop I was able to reassemble the breech and test it out this morning. All is good now but I may make a few more spares for the future.

Well test flights are over, now to apply the carrier markings. Notice the stenciling underneath the diamonds on the rudder, especially "INSP" on the trim tab cover. The 16 on the vertical was a stencil so it has a cool "messy" look. The carrier markings are also a little different color white, as if the stars were done at the factory then the diamonds and numbers on the boat.

rtwpsom2 · **Joined:** Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:42 pm **Posts:** 162

Bitchin!

Junkyard36 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:21 am

Love the markings! Congrats again on the great job for you and your team Conrad!

:drink3:

Mike

Chappie · **Joined:** Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:40 am **Posts:** 987

Fantabulous!!! Love the aircraft!!

Chappie

K5DH · **Posted:** Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:40 am

I am diggin' this!!! What a superb restoration!!! :supz:

Conrad, if you need a destination for a cross-country shakedown flight, come on up to Fort Worth and pay VFM a visit! I can't remember how long it's been since we had a Wildcat on our ramp.

Warbird Kid · **Posted:** Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:49 am

Great looking bird Conrad! Do you have a pair of external wing tanks for the Wildcat?

fighter_ace06 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:03 am

Yep we are painting the tanks now. They were in the original crates when I got them and the had a couple dents from the saddles. So I am going to keep the dents and paint them grey to match VC-79s.

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