Crazy Eight

Love Ebay!

I have to say, I have found some incredible parts for this airplane on Ebay, hydraulic pump, landing gear cylinders, switches, all new in the original 1950's to 60's packaging. Just amazing. People find pieces at estate sales, they put them on Ebay, don't know what they are and I pick them up for very little. This switch, new, $10 HAAAA! Same price as a piece for a model airplane!

This is the flap cylinder switch.

Pictures of 2011 V

Ok, last page I hope.

I like this picture of a preserved Laos T-28 D-10 tail, depending on the area they were flying over, a card would slip into the picture frame.
Thankfully Charlie Goldbach of Spokane WA purchased this and all the spares.

Headed home.

Daphne and I are headed east now to Montana to visit T-28A owner Phil Petrick. He has a mid time prop for our project and some other spare parts.

Two days of driving and very hot for October, you can see the forest fire haze from Canada.

It was a quick visit, here we are stopping because my partner got sick from drinking river water, poor girl.

Here is an early morning run down the snake river just coming into Lewiston ID to stop for a little business, still smokey.

Here I am finish painting the aluminum on the fire wall with some disappointing primer paint made for aluminum. Oh well, it's so greasy up there it won't matter anyway. You can see all the spots where the screws were to hold the armor plating on, that went to the recycler.

Pictures of 2011 IV

This is taking more pages than I thought.

Here is Chris's broken forward gear trunnion box, it was patched together when he bought it so while he pulled the engine to repair a supercharger seal he decided to rebuild the broken box.

Daphne and I are on the ferry headed to the BC Island of Victoria to see the inventory of parts at Vic Air that are for sale. It was cold!

Here is a nicely restored T-28 A/S Argentine Fennec.

And the huge inventory of parts.

More parts

And parts

Pictures of 2011 III

Summer time, the BEST time of the year in the Northwest, dry and blue.

Here the team went on a road trip to Tucson, AZ. I spent most of the time surviving the heat at the bone yard, here is Nick my trusty nephew, we moved from shade to shade spot to survive the 100F jet blasted desert in June! This huge airplane was similar to the original Flight of the Phenix movie, they flew out on one of the booms! I think PanAm pilot Paul Mantz died making that movie.

This is our Customer Julie of McCune Aviation LLC leading a tour group through the BIOSPHERE just north of Tucson, I went kicking and screaming from the airplanes but definitely the best part of our trip.

Jack showing his stabilizer.

Our tiger Max guarding the shop.

Danny helping me rebuild the aft wall of the front cockpit. Putting shoulder belt recoil mounts in. He is a wizard when it comes to fabrication.

This is 49-1495, the oldest T-28, located at the Boeing Museum restoration shop in Everett, WA.

Chris Zimmer, lives next door to the Boeing restoration shop, with his 1300 pound A model QEC package on the dining room table.

Pictures of 2011 II

Here you can see the grinding evidence that the entire front landing gear box had been landed on the runway at one time. As a trainer airplane it seems to be quite common.

Here is a warm day in April, southern Oregon, Daph and I relaxing after packing up an inventory of spare T-28 parts.

We found more evidence in the propeller serial numbers that another one of the wrecks we are working on is in fact 49-1505. Here you can see the number 137400 on one blade and below you can see the FAA paperwork showing the service record of this blade on T-28 49-1505. We have enough evidence to conclude that this in fact is the wreck. Fun to figure this stuff out.

Here in June we are starting to put 51-7708X back together, cleaning and inspecting every nut and bolt, looking for cracks and painting. Here I am stripping paint and decals off getting ready to repair a hole. There are lots of bullet holes in this one.

Cleaned up and ready to start building back for a change.

Best Photos of 2011

Here are my best photos of the T-28 restoration work from last year even had a few road trips!

This is the Grumman Bearcat at Planes of Fame museum in Chino, CA. I stopped at the shop there in January to ask them some basic restoration questions while I was in town on business. The finish of parts is inspiring and I really like the Aeroproducts prop, similar to the one we are going to use.

Here we, my neighbor Tom and I, got the Mexican donor fuselage on the rotisserie, it made cleaning the parts out much easier and obviously work on the bottom possible without laying on the floor.

This is Gregg Weitzmans original A model he showed it to me in February, located just inland from Santa Barbara, CA. Very attractive airplane.

Checking out my mentor Jack LaBounty, his impeccable A model restoration work in Washington, Chris Zimmer and friends flew down from Everett. This is the front landing gear trunk upside down.

Stripping out our Mexican forward landing gear trunk, again my neighbor Tom had to assist. By the way, I had no idea that the extension spring was loaded, I untied the telephone wire that held the gear in, I turned and WHAM! the gear flew out. Lucky I wasn't sitting on the bucket seat!

Happy New Year 2012!

It's GOT to be better, let's hope. The New Year news is that the spare fuselage is stripped, covered and moved outside and the 51-7708 fuselage was moved inside and we are continuing to finish the mechanicals and hydraulics. The garage is warm and has plenty of room to work in, the wiring may be a challenge from below.

The Engine will be stripped and the core made ready to transport to Ray Anderson.

Fall 2011 rain has started

Yes, had to move the painted piece into the shower to dry in the warmth under the fan. The rains have started!

Summer pictures are next.

Cleaning up the fuselage

I am inspecting the 51 fuselage from the top down and forward back, making sure all the new hardware around the firewall is heat proof, all the aluminum is painted, holes filled with either rivets or screws. Danny and I repaired a 2 inch hole through the left side, per the North American Structures Manual, we still need to put the filler in. My EAA Sheet metal class really paid off, making me feel comfortable now I feel ready to finish up all those repairs. It was great having Danny there with all his experience riveting race cars.

Summer has arrived in Oregon

Last weekend we worked on the 51 aircraft as a family, it was pretty fun. The girls watched in the shade as my nephew Nick and I worked deep in the back cone lubricating the control cables. They were turning white and we checked to be sure they weren't frayed. Nick put the plywood floor together for me and also took pictures in the tight places, so we can inspect for completeness. Nick was a big help!