AT-6B Static Restoration - Chanute Air Museum

[Mustanger55]

Working on finishing up the control shelf today, I managed to replace some of the placards I was unhappy with and install the hydraulic pressure gauge that I had repaired. The gauge was badly worn inside and out, so I created a new dial face and repainted the needle as well as repainting the bezel. Fortunately, the gauge had no radium paint so it was safe to open it up for repair. I was unable to find any specifics about the color for the hydraulic filter, but did find evidence that on some aircraft the handle was to be painted yellow, so I followed suit leaving the rest green.


With the control shelf nearly ready for installation, I decided it would be a good time to pull the throttle quadrants to be worked on over the winter months. It was a bit of a struggle removing these as the quadrants had to be partially dismantled and removed from the mounting bracket in order for the brackets to be removed from the plane. These have seen a lot of wear and the propeller control arm is missing from both and will have to be fabricated. I have yet to locate any drawings for the individual parts so I'll use the mixture arm as a template. Both quadrants are front cockpit type, having friction locks, so I'll use the best parts from both to make the front quad, and use the remaining for the rear, eliminating the friction lock thumbwheel.

[phil65]

Nice work...

Phil

[Mustanger55]

Thanks Phil,
Looking at your avatar. Are you a B-25 guy? If so, my co-volunteer on the P-51H Mustang restore is now working on a TB-25N here at the Chanute Air Museum. Curt is currently working to strip the painted plane back to NMF. (An enormous task.) It was painted OD Green to simulate a Doolittle Raider. The Mitchell was used at Tuskegee and Curt plans to return it to natural metal finish with appropriate markings. It was a B-25J converted by Hayes Aircraft to the trainer version.
Info here>>> http://p51h.home.comcast.net/~p51h/b25/index.html

[phil65]

Yep

Back in the day, helped put this one back in the sky.
Hanscom AFB, Ma.



Phil

[Mustanger55]

Whoa! Cool! Gotta show this to Curt. Having worked on a Mitchell, I guess you can appreciate the amount of work he's taken on by stripping the paint.
As for me, I'm happy working on the little single engine types.

Besides bead blasting and painting a few parts, I took some time to tear down one of the two throttle quadrants to make a template for the propeller lever. While apart, I cleaned things up a bit and started repainting parts. So far its cleaning up nicely.

[Warbird Kid]

Yep

Back in the day, helped put this one back in the sky.
Hanscom AFB, Ma.



Phil

Phil, are you sure thats the same one? I think that one was Tallichet's.

[phil65]

Hi Chris,

Not the same one, it is an X Tallichet’s bird.

At Bradley, Ct.



Phil

[Mustanger55]

Beautiful Restoration. I've always preferred the less extravagant paint schemes. Is that Mitchell a TB-25H?

[phil65]

TB-25J ?

[Mustanger55]

Being honest, I only know a little about the later B-25 Variants. Based on the engine air scoops though, I think it may be a TB-25H. The J's I've seen have the rectangular scoops like this one. H's had the lower crescent shaped scoops.


There seems to be a few mixed/modified variants among warbirds, so can't always tell for sure from photos.

[Ryan Harris]

All B-25's were built from the factory with the flat carb scoops. The larger square scoop came about when the Hayes mods were done. The switched was necessitated by changing to Bendix carburetors from Stromberg. (I think I remember that right)

[Mustanger55]

You're right Ryan,
As my buddy Curt pointed out to me, the scoops were changed when the Bendix carbs were installed by Hayes. That would follow the designation as a TB-25N as opposed to a TB-25J. I still believe the picture posted by phil65 shows a TB-25H, due to the nose configuration, but I could be wrong. Admittedly, I'm no Mitchell expert.

[phil65]

I think it had Holley carb's....

Phil

[Mustanger55]

After a 2 week absence I got into the shop today for a short visit, and managed to get 2 Propeller control levers made to replace the one's missing from my throttle quadrants. Without engineering drawings to work with, I created paper templates from the Mixture lever. After cutting the parts from 1/8" aluminum sheet, I cut the center hole on the drill press with a common hole saw. After cleanup, I drilled the control rod connecting ends before bead blasting, priming and painting the levers. The handle ends will be shortened once the knobs are ready to install. Also, at the request of a friend, I discovered how to get into the PTT switch by screwing off the button side of the knob. Mine had no notches to help with removal and the soft aluminum knob would scratch easily if pliers were used without something to protect the finish.

[Mustanger55]

How do you make throttle lever knobs for less than $10? Doll head knobs from the craft store, slotted with a rotary tool and beveled on a belt sander. All that's left is to paint and letter the knobs before installation. Hey, it's a "Hollywood" restoration after all.