Crazy Eight

Tools

I bought two new rechargeable Milwaukee drills last month at Home Depot on sale and they are fantastic, with 4 batteries I can run all day. The angle drill is a little slow but perfect for working in tight spots. They both have LED lights that work ok, light is only on one side of the work. The regular drill motor has 4 speeds so your chances of buggering are much reduced and the bearing behind the chuck feels substantial so no wonder bits.

Today I received two new 1956 surplus tools to take the cylinders off the engine from Pam Clegg at James G Boone 661-398-0004. She is the new owner and has a large inventory of parts for the Wright engines. When I opened these pieces from 1956, I felt guilty!

Canopy frame and Right skin off

Last weekend was gorgeous, this week, cold and rainy, and it is almost summer. Damn volcano.

It is amazing how once you do one, the second one is so much easier. That's the case with removing the skin on the 49. This time I used the rivet removal tool to quickly center drill the heads, getting most of the aluminum out of the center of the head. Great over painted rivets. Then I came in with a freehand drill of the same diameter and if I was off center or skewed, I could see it and correct so that the old holes in both the skin and the frame came out perfect. I think I screwed up two out of 300?

Another second is removing the rear canopy frame. Last time I cut the heads off the bolts securing the forward sliders from inside the cockpit, center drilled and easy out'd the precision bolts. Well, one of the holes isn't so happy after that. This time, I cut the nuts off with the dremel tool all the way flush to the block, then gently heated the aluminum with propane, for two minutes? each. Waited to cool, then applied penatrant oil and a pair of vice grips to slowly work them out!

Article on 49-1505

Below is a copy of an article from the Dallas Library, email me if you want to read the story. And a photo of the left cowl. A helicopter crash right in front of 49-1505. The photo is hard to see, but the cowl damage on the left side of the plane in the picture matches the one we have, angle of the prop and the melted and wrinkled skin tells the story. I think I found a piece of the helicopter the other day, a wadded up piece of painted metal, doesn't match the paint and the instructions don't match the T-28, it was stuck behind the back seat. I found out earlier this week that this airplane N3707G is Serial Number 49-1505A and was de-registered on 06/17/1970

The rain has made me feel blogless

The monsoon rain bands out of the tropics hitting the Northwest have been relentless. Getting up Sunday morning, being able to see the rain coming down, seeing a fresh spring pop up in my front yard. I should feel bloggy.

Now that it is warm anyway and in between the hurricane like soakings and knee deep grass cuttings in the past two weeks I got to work on the fuselage in the driveway, more of the same, vacuuming, removing parts and cutting steel screws out with the Dremel tool. I am still looking for the serial number plate on that one.

Since Daphne rides with me in the pickup everywhere and everyday, when I sat in the airplane to do some cleaning and preparation to remove the tops off the cockpits, ummm she needed to be inside with me.

Here I am satisfying my ADD by working on the engine, removing the Magnetos to send out for rebuild. They provide spark to the two plugs in each of the seven cylinders. Walter Haywood 707-972-6902 will be doing the rebuilds and I hope to send him other pieces to work on as well. Each part comes back with a certificate for operation.