Crazy Eight

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!

Trying out Dry Ice Blasting

I called Randy at NW Ice Blasters 503-680-0816 http://www.nwiceblasters.com/  to get a quote on blasting clean the 51 fuselage, for that matter, all the parts. Well it turns out that the most expensive thing are the ice pellets. So he offered to come out and give it a try for a few minutes so we could estimate the time it would take, my guess is that it would be $1000 at least to do the whole fuselage. The top is the easy part, doing the bottom of the structure, this would save a ton of time and money and it does no damage at all. I would like to try it on the engine before I take it apart.

Cataloging Parts

I thought I would put in a set of pictures showing what I have done on each part removed. Each part, good or bad, is identified in the parts manual by location and familiarity with the book. Once found, I apply the picture reference number and it's name. Once all the parts are removed, they go in bins per the location on the airplane. The next step is to repair and paint the frame.

What's NEW???

It's been a few months, nothing has been new on the stripping down of the Mexican -51. I think I have removed 50 pounds of rusty screws, nuts and bolts, all went to recycling. Most of the top is done, I still have to remove all of the Dzus fastener springs. In my spare time I welded up a rotator to pick the fuselage up and off the wing stand and then rotate or roll it from side to side. Now I can start working on the lower corners and the bottom. My neighbor Tom came over to help, the darn thing is still heavy and of course the cockpit deck or crankshaft is not the center of gravity or rotation. It's bottom heavy, Engineering, never right the first time!

First welcome Olive to the crew, we sure miss Remo. Olive came from Freightliner Service, she talks a lot! Here she is checking out all the nooks and crannies!

Update

Sorry to all my readers out there, I fell off the blog wagon. While it is easy to do, it's way easier to cut a rusted screw out and go to bed!

So the latest news is that the 49 project is off into storage for the winter and the 51 parts are now all together in the shop. The mostly completed fuselage will be moved inside this week but will be made to be easily moved out when space is needed. The almost fully stripped fuselage will be moved outside once all the hydraulics are out, very soon. The first activity will be a full inch by inch survey and report made for the inspector. Then we will begin removal of the Fennec engine mount mods, all except for the oil cooler flap assembly since it can't be made smaller. The hydraulics will need to be finished, cockpits finished, electrical and avionics installed.

Here are some pictures from two weekends ago when I moved the 49 and it's new empennage onto the trailer and the 51 is now in my driveway. I am removing the massive French roll bar and will replace it with some kind of shoulder harness bar. Then it will be ready to go inside.