Saturday, April 13, 2013

11th work weekend

This weekend the following things were being finished.  The brass plates were being attached to the keel.
Small gussets and ribs were attached to the center wing.  More metal parts were sand blasted and cleaned.
The wheels and tubular frame parts were primed for painting. 
This was also a second Saturday at the WAAM and this weekend featured Studebakers.
Painting the front wheel
New tires for wheels.
Moving tables to work on the wing.
white material is soaking oil out of wood.
Preparing wing for rib and gusset repair.

Painting inside the wheels



Sunday, April 7, 2013

Week 10

This week the rains have come back so the painting was put on hold.  However several volunteers showed  up and many thing were worked on.
There was a crew that rebuilt the supports and gussets for the landing gear.  Over 90 years of use the wood has fatiqued and become crushed from the load.  We had redo the supports connected to the lower wing.
Another group worked on the seat rebuild.  There was also metal parts that needed sand blasting and cleaning on the wire wheel.
Finally the group working on the brass straps for the keel were getting closer to completion.
Fitting the seat and replacing wood on the end caps.

Sand blasting and working on the keel.

Week 9

Although I was occupied with Easter that weekend , I hear the work was fabulous.  The Metal frame and landing gear tubes were painted gloss black.  You can see how the paint was applied out side the hanger.
The tail sections were primed with a special primer that allows the fabric to be glued in place.
Frame and landing gear being painted.
White primer applied to tail surfaces.
Black painted drying on frame and landing gear.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Week 7 and 8

During week 7 and 8 the volunteers continue to work on Curtis Pusher.
There are several groups working in different areas.  One group continues to clean up frame parts.  Soon they will be primed and painted.
Another group is working on the restoration of the lower center wing.  This wing supports the landing gear and the V-8 motor.  Several of the ribs in the leading edge required replacement due to rot.
The ends caps of the wings were warped and required rebuilding .  The crew had to reconstruct the pieces carefully to maintain the original airfoil.
Antoher crew has been working for several weeks on the seat.  A new seat is being built out of wood and will soon be assembled.
Still anothe r group is working in brass recreating hold down for the keel and landing gear .
All this work is very interesting with a high learning curve.
Rotted wood on end plate.
Polished metal of frame .
Brass being folded and formed for keel landing gear.
Fitting new wood.
Disassembling the tubular frame.

week 5and 6 Sanding Continues

The original Curtis pusher had a frame made out of bamboo.  this plane was contructed later in the 20's and 30's by Billy Parker and has been modified to with stand many crashes in films of the period .
One of the modifications was to create a frame work from steel tubing.  The other was to use modified wings from the Curtis Jenny.  In this post we are dealing with the frame.
Many of the frame parts were rusted with years of paint applied.  The same was true for the tail structure.  The crew has to remove this paint and rust using sand blasting for small parts andpolishing with wire wheels.  you can see how tedious this work was.
After the paint was removed the parts were primed and then painted.
Tail section being cleaned for primer.
Cleaning the tail with a wire wheel on a grinder.
Metal parts before and after cleaning.
Cleaning the large parts with a wire wheel on a bench grinder.