Warbird Information Exchange

Thanks Pete. If you're ever back up on this side of the planet, come on by, I'll put you to work.

Gary

Just a quick update here.......

A couple of hard working volunteers got the bombardier's section prepped for paint over the last couple of days, so that's what I tackled this morning. The three pictures are just the stages of completion, starting with the initial prep, followed by the primer, then finally with the finished paint. I'll obviously post more pictures as this section gets closer to finishing.........






That interior stuff is quite difficult to paint. Just when you think you've covered everything, you shine the light on something you've missed. When you get that, you see yet another spot. I think I finally got it all.

Gary

Your transformation of this section is spectacular. What a job you are doing!

Looks great Gary!!!

I nominate this 'Thread of the Year'

Well, first of all, I hope everyone on WIX out there has had a wonderful Christmas.

Here's your update from today's work that took place.......

I overslept for about an hour or so today, so I got a late start. But I did get about two and a half hours of work in alone before one of our volunteers showed up at about 6:30 a.m. Blake is a member of the High Sky Wing and had already celebrated Christmas with his family a day or two ago, so he wanted to work today. Naturally, I obliged by letting him.

While I was piddling with a little project on my own all day (you'll see an update on that another time), I had Blake start unmasking the bombardier's section that was just painted yesterday........



Once he finished with that, I had him continue the prep work on the flight deck for some eventual cosmetic work up there. In the mean time, Daniel Collier showed up to work today as well. He stayed a little over 12 hours yesterday (what a lightweight ) getting the main door structure ready for me to paint (which I did first thing this morning...among other things). So since the door was still curing, he got going on the fuselage skin for the tunnel gun. I had painted it yesterday and it was ready to shoot on now. He had built some shims late last night for this piece so that it would fit just right. Man, he does nice work!


Here's the skin all clecoed in place.......



And here's Daniel riveting it in place on the fuselage......





So that's all I have for you today. Sorry for the lousy update, but I'll have a better one for you when I get a little further on the project I was working on today. I would imagine that Daniel will have that fuselage skin completely riveted on before he leaves tonight, so I may post some pictures of that as well.

Gary

Merry Christmas Gary, Blake , and Daniel! God bless us all!
Looking good, Gary! Alan

_________________
Just call me Al.

Working on Christmas Day....now that's what I call total dedication!!!

Keep up the good work guys and thanks for again for the updates Gary.

John

as always, great work gary and crew.

it is realy interesting to see the last photo, until you put that picture up i thought that the opening was half as big again as it is.

is the slot in front of the new gun position for? is it a factory jack point, tail skid or something completely different?

I just finished archiving this thread (at least up till to where it stands today). You can view the archive/article at http://articles.warbirdsresourcegroup.o ... index.html

If you have viewed it before and have problems with it now, try refreshing/reloading the page. I've changed some of the older files and your browser might try to use an older version.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

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Looks like a tail stand so the airplane won't tip backwards during cargo loading.

Yep, BDK's got it right. It's what they call the "pogo" so that the airplane won't tip backwards when loading it up with ammunition, cargo, or crew. If the engineers at Consolidated would've placed the main landing gear just a few inches aft, that wouldn't have been as big of an issue. But they didn't ask me, so we just have to live with it.

The pogo, as you see it now, may also be undergoing some changes this winter too.

Gary

Here is the tunnel gun skin as I came in to work this morning. Looks like Daniel got everything riveted into place that he could reach on his own. I'll help him finish this up today........



Oh, and henry, here's a closer view of the pogo assembly you were asking about. We could call this a "before" shot ..............



Okay, back to work,
Gary

I just finally checked this out, it looks like a great thread and I can't wait to get caught up on it, either here or through Scotts article he did. That's some amazing work Gary. I wish I could be involved in something like that, it looks fantastic!

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"It is the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you have wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without the plane." Charles Lindbergh

You can be involved in something like this! Just go to Travelocity.com, or Orbitz.com, or similar, and look up flights to the Midland International Airport (MAF). There are about twenty or so flights per day in and out of here. Heck, bring your friends along. We'll put you all to work.

Gary