Official Build Thread for B-17E 41-2595 Desert Rat/Tangerine

[ACDII]

Hey Guys, Merry Christmas from the Desert Rat and her crew.

There have been some recent photos posted showing the completed Bulkhead 6, and the ongoing restore of the camera bay. I haven't been following the Rat build as close as I used to since I got a new job 2 years ago, not enough time to spend there, but I will see if I can get an update on everything before the year is out.

Work is still progressing at a steady pace, an oven was built to heat treat small parts, and hopefully soon the two fuse halves will be joined as one. It will be done on a Thursday as promised.







https://www.facebook.com/12595DesertRat/?ref=bookmarks

[Jesse C.]

Wow, great work! Thanks for the update and Merry X Mas!

[warbirdcrazy]

Wendover Tom have you been in contact with the Vintage Aviation Museum?

[wendovertom]

Wendover Tom have you been in contact with the Vintage Aviation Museum?

I have not - but they are just up at the Bountiful Skypark which is fairly accessible so I will be in touch and maybe we can help out!

Tom P.

[PeteM]

Any updates?

[Jon_man0499]

Any updates?

Most of the updates now a days can be seen on the B-17E Desert Rat Project Facebook page, and the Vintage Aviation Museum Page (https://www.facebook.com/12595DesertRat), sad no one has updated this page in awhile but i can give updates on some of the stuff we are doing currently, and will be in the future. As of right now we are continuing with the Nose section which has been our big focus this year, we hope to have it done at least structurally by the end of the year. Our winter project will be the Tail gunners position and the recently acquired Top turret.

[Noha307]

I have to ask as I've always been curious, did you guys receive the cargo door or its frame with the project? Any chance we could see some pictures of it?

[I153_Chaika]

Thanks for the updates, the Facebook page is actually quite slow and I guess that you guys spend more time working on that beautiful beast more than writing stuff on social networks.

Anyways, thanks for that thread, I've spent the last hour just reading it like I'd read a great novel. I don't see myself coming to an event involving Desert Rat any time soon because I'm an ocean and a continent away from Illinois or Salt Lake City, but it's heartwarming to see the old girl slowly coming back to life online.

[DH82EH]

I spotted this update on youtube.
It's from April of 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM38p2q-srQ

Andy

[warbirdcrazy]

The tail turret has been installed.

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rat tail installed.jpg (8.05 KiB) Viewed 31416 times

[warbirdcrazy]

The restoration team has been working on the wings. These are the wing attachment channels.

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[Jesse C.]

The restoration team has been working on the wings. These are the wing attachment channels.

Nice work! Looks like there is some original material in this piece

[warbirdcrazy]

The restoration team has also been working on the bomb bay doors, and recently they test fitted one of them.

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[wendovertom]

Looks good!

Tom P

[warbirdcrazy]

Restoration update.

http://warbirdsnews.com/warbird-restora ... QDvr_CKca0