Today is February 16th and its been a month since the Curtis pusher project started. I was absent for a week however I didnt miss much. Last week only a few volunteers showed up. So far the following things have been accomplished. The motor was sent off to be restored. It may take 6 months but the museum has an extra OX-5 thats just fresh from a rebuild.
Today there were many volunteers and alot of work was done.
The seat was disassembled and a pattern was made. Metal parts were painted in primer while old parts were cleaned by sand blasting.
The wing was disassembled and checked for rot. Also the keel and pulley systems were disassembled and labeled.
 |
| The le3ading edge of lower wing. Note the warpage and cracks in the wood. |
 |
| Another view of nearly 100 years of weather on thin plywood. |
 |
| Labeling all the cables. |
 |
| Early seat disassembly. |
 |
| Setting up the paint booth. |
I had the privilege of working the lower wing. The leading edge was created by a thin sheet of plywood stretched over some fragile ribs. In order to remove this material we had to carefully dig out hundreds of tiny nails. There were shims that supported the vertical struts but they distorted by years of wear and had to be removed. Finally the end cap ribs were removed to make new ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment