Winter 2012
January 28, 2012
Volunteer work day! Come help us build and repair airplanes, Model Ts and more!
2012 Calendar
- January 21 - Volunteer work day
- January 28 - Volunteer work day
- Dates for other activities still unknown
- November 10 - Fall Fly-in & Picnic
- Further updates later
Upcoming Event Information
Volunteer Work Day
January 28, 2012
Come join us on Saturday, January 28, to work on antique airplanes, vintage vehicles, and the aerodrome! The volunteer teams will meet at 9:00 AM to determine what needs to be done and who will do it. All volunteers welcome regardless of experience level.
Recent Events
November 12 Fly-In
November 12, 2011
by Roger Ritter
The Pioneer Flight Museum Fall Fly-in was held on Saturday, November 12, 2011. The weather was only partly cooperative - it was clear and warm, but windy. We had a good turnout of visitors, including some first-time aircraft and interesting cars. The PFM volunteers made a great showing with many dressed in period garb. We also had groups of re-enactors in period uniforms and costume, including a nice encampment area.
The Canuck was down for engine work, and it was too windy to fly the Fokker Dr.I, but we were able to run the Fokker's engine for the crowd a couple of times. Steve Freeman flew his Ryan PT-22 a few times, and we also flew the Meyers OTW. Various visitor airplanes were also kind enough to fly for a bit, including a DeHavilland Tiger Moth and some Stearmans.
Team Vehicles had several Model Ts running, along with the Nash Quad and Triumph motorcycle. The Indian was started, but had clutch/transmission problems so didn't actually move under its own power. One of our volunteers had recently bought a Model T touring car and was happily giving rides to all who were interested.
October 15 Volunteer Work Day
October 15, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
We enjoyed a very nice turnout of volunteers and gorgeous weather to top everything off! There was lots of activity, capped by flying the Fokker Triplane and the return of the Indian’s seat!
Thomas-Morse S4C Scouts
Tom Miller spent part of his day refining the puzzle that is the main landing gear for the Tommies. What remained to be done was to shuffle bolts around until everything fit right and could be properly secured with cotter pins. Apparently we didn’t take sufficient notes or tag bolts when the gear was disassembled a year or two ago! Having conquered T-1’s gear, Tom – with assistance from Steve - went on to assemble T-2’s gear. The man has patience and determination – for sure!!
Dave Miller finished the fabric rub strips for the upper longerons on T-1. The next steps will be rounding the edges, attaching the rub strips and varnishing them, as well as convincing the upper longeron rub strips to follow those curvaceous upper longerons. Then it’ll be on to the engine cowling cheek panel supports! These will be fabricated and installed.
Steve Richardson re-installed the floorboards in both Tommies – it was a much more difficult task than you’d imagine! Each floorboard seems to be custom made – differences in position of screw holes means only one floorboard will fit and it had better be oriented the proper way! But there are only four to choose from. Then it was discovered that some of the earlier screws had not come cleanly out of the holes, necessitating the floorboards be joggled over so the screws could bite into clean wood. Another man with significant amounts of patience and a sense of humor about the task!
It was a full team effort to figure out how the turtle decks go back on! Tom Miller, Steve Richardson and Dave Miller spent about an hour on that task, according to Tom.
Rearwin Ken-Royce
Dave Orloff and a few guys moved some wings up into long-term storage above the shop office (The Attic) and pulled down the Ken-Royce Rearwin wings from behind the laser machine. The wings were dusted off and stored hanging on a wall in the shop office. This was a task we should have done long ago!
Meyers OTW
The annual inspection was almost completed. It will need to be completed next workday.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
A runner was sent earlier in the day to fetch aviation fuel from Lockhart. So the Triplane was pulled from the hangar, fueled up, castor oil checked, and preflight inspected. After that it was towed to the end of the runway by Model T ambulance for an engine run up. If everything looked good Steve intended to fly it.
Steve fired the engine up, ran it a bit on the ground and then took off. Several circuits later he landed… ending in a slow, massive right turn heading straight for the fence! Steve stopped about 30 feet short of the fence! Winds had been very calm when he took off – 10 minutes later he had a bit of a crosswind from the SSW.
Canuck
The diagnosis is that the sticking exhaust valve is actually due to its valve guide being driven down into the combustion chamber – preventing the valve from contacting the valve seat. The valve is actually closing as far as it can! Tom Moore and Jerry Stark flew in to try and help. Steve Freeman spent much of the day working with them on the engine. Progress was made, though some work remains to be done! Tom brought a very cool toy - a digital bore scope for looking inside the combustion chamber.
Team Vehicles
Blue Racer
Al Sumrall and Lynn Howell continued working on the Blue Racer. They were elbow deep in the transmission but reported making progress on getting the vehicle ready to run.
Model TT
The day started off with the TT's wheel. Cameron Whitaker had bought a new inner tube for it, and installing it was not too difficult. However, getting the rim back together was a real job! With the help of a jack and wooden blocks, Kevin Monahan and Cameron finally got the split rim back together. Afterwards, Cameron installed a new set of spark plug wires on the TT, which went rather smoothly except for two spark plugs that broke during the process. Fortunately, Cameron had several spares on hand and replaced them. Ian spent about an hour and a half working to replace the inner tube on another Model T tire and managed to get it done, but somewhere along the line pinched the valve or the tube as it refused to hold air for very long. Ian wisely set the wheel aside for next time!
Other Model T stuff
The French Ambulance, U.S. Ambulance and the TT took most of the volunteers to lunch at Edna’s Café in Kingsbury. Kevin Monahan rode the 1921 Triumph to lunch. Quite a sight seeing all that vintage hardware sitting in front of Edna’s!
After lunch, Cameron, with help from his brother Ian Whitaker started working on the Model T Touring Car. After an oil check, the carriage bushings were oiled and the wheel spindles greased. Cameron rebuilt the carburetor, checked and corrected the ignition timing and checked the electrical wiring. The battery from the TT was borrowed in an attempt to start the Touring Car. Thanks to the starter motor (which amazingly still works) the Touring Car soon sputtered to life! After a few more adjustments it was ready for a drive. Ian and Cameron hopped in and off they went! It quickly became apparent that the transmission was soon going to need new bands, but Ian and Cameron wanted to see if it would go in high gear, so down the runway they did a high speed pass, must have been doing 30 mph! However, they couldn’t get the transmission back into low gear afterwards and looking inside the transmission revealed that the low gear band was shot and would need replacement before being operable again! The guys were not about to be towed back to the shop in shame though, so after a few futile repair attempts Cameron put the vehicle in reverse and backed the car to the shop! Just like a true Model T!! So real progress was made on the Touring Car!
Triumph
Kevin worked on getting the bike running properly then loaded it into his van for its appearances at Austin’s Harvest Classic bike meet plus the Bee Caves show the day after.
Indian
The recovered saddle came back and it looks gorgeous! The work was done by Mike Hallmark at Leather Works (410 Miltex Rd, Seguin, Tx. 78155, 830-303-1560). The saddle was reinstalled, the bike started and attempts were made to run it around. Apparently the bike has clutch issues, it was very difficult to get into gear and when the clutch was let out it was grabby and inconsistent. Kevin laid rubber on the shop apron concrete but the engine stalled after five feet!
Grounds Preparation
Richard Smith spent part of his day up at the entrance clearing more brush away from the fences around the entrance, especially on the south side! That was it for this work day!
October 8 Volunteer Work Day
October 8, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
Thomas-Morse
Dave Miller worked on the rubbing strips placed on the longerons and finished the strips for both lower longerons. This was a tedious and exacting task, involving marking off parts of the strip needing to be relieved to fit around the various bolt heads and steel fittings at each fuselage station. Steve Richardson spent a lot of time searching for electrical wiring for the T-1 blip switch. He had the control column / torque tube assembly looking very spiffy and the new wire is needed to replace seriously frayed wiring where the blip switch wires exit the control column. No wire was found, but Cameron Whitaker will buy some for the project at the Model T store near the A&M college campus! Steve and Tom Gaylord worked on reassembling the main gear for T-1 – the process was two steps forwards, one step back! Tom Miller did a drive by to help organize and inspire!
Meyers OTW
The plan was to fire the airplane up, fly it, and take it to Lockhart for fuel. That plan didn’t happen because the airplane is out of annual. Steve says the FAA is beginning to check all aircraft on the ramp for paperwork and such, so he insisted on finding all the paperwork for the Meyers before trying to fly it. When located the Meyers was out of annual by only three months or so! Kevin Monahan and Tom Gaylord put air in tires and such so flying would be possible. (Kevin went on to put air in all sorts of tires on the property!). At the end of the day the Meyers was on the shop pad so Steve could work on doing the annual during the week.
Great Lakes
Same game plan as the Meyers; fly it and get it refueled! However, the oil tank was empty and there wasn’t any 120 wt oil on the property. After the tires were inflated the engine was pulled through after removing spark plugs so oil in the cylinders could drain out and the engine could be safely started without damage from hydraulic lock. However, with the low oil situation this aircraft was eventually pushed back into the hangar!
Piper Cub
Just moved around to provide access for the Meyers and Great Lakes. Went back into the hangar late morning when the property was hit with a rain shower.
Curtiss Canuck
Various folks poked on the engine, but the exhaust valve on the one cylinder is clearly stuck open! Later in the week Kevin Monahan reported that he and Steve looked at the motor again and determined that the valve guide has actually worked loose and dropped down into the cylinder some. The Canuck is going to have to be parked for the Fall Fly-In and that cylinder pulled afterwards!
Team Vehicles
Ford Model TT truck
Cameron Whitaker, Kevin Monahan, Tom Gaylord and Steve Hester all conspired to replace the inner tube on a model T tire (the driver’s side front wheel / tire on the flatbed truck. Finally got the tire off the rim and discovered a basically new inner tube that had spent its short life creased and pinched inside the tire. But also Kevin said he could feel a thorn or something on the inside of the tire! Cameron also spent some time tuning up the TT’s motor.
Indian motorcycle
Towards the end of the day Kevin Monahan and Cameron Whitaker worked on the Indian and got it running again! No seat, so no one rode it, but the engine fired up and ran nicely! I believe there are still some mechanical bugs to iron out before the Indian will be in really good shape. There were rumors that the Indian’s seat would return soon from the saddle maker’s shop where it is being recovered! Hope that is true!
September 17 Volunteer Work Day
September 17, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
We had a fairly good work day on September 17th! We had an excellent turnout of volunteers and the weather was good for working outside. While advancements were made in a few areas, there were setbacks in others that were very disappointing! Here is the scoop:
Airfield
Terry Bledsoe led a team of volunteers in starting to prep the airfield for the upcoming Fall Fly-In event scheduled for Saturday, November 12th. We have problems with Mesquite trees and “Weesatch” shrubs (spelling? Whatever – it is a very thorny shrub!) growing on the landing strip so the group went out with loppers and plant killer to trim the shrubs off at ground level and douse them with the chemical plant killer. John and Johnny Bush, Billy Cheshire, Mark Halmark and Steve Richardson assisted Terry. The team treated about 35% of the landing strip, from the shop area to the north end of the runway.
In addition, Richard Smith worked at the property’s entrance clearing brush back to improve the appearance of the Museum’s entrance. Richard singlehandedly cleared several loads of brush trash from the area!
Curtiss Canuck
The initial issue with the Canuck this workday was the safety wiring on the turnbuckles and the tightness of the landing wires. Safety wiring the turnbuckles had started last workday, and Steve Freeman had continued safety wiring them throughout the week, but there are a LOT of turnbuckles in the Canuck’s wings and there were quite a few that still needed to be wired. Dave Orloff, Dave Edgerly, John Goble and Steve Freeman started safety wiring turnbuckles, though Dave Orloff was soon diverted to manufacturing leather discs to serve as ant-chafing pads between rigging wires that cross over each other. Ultimately though, there are enough questions remaining about the rigging that they elected to leave the anti-chafing patches off for the moment.
The rigging issue that remains is that the landing wires seem way too tight to most everyone! Rigging tautness was standardized well after the Canuck’s time, so the stipulations about so many pounds of tension don’t apply to this early bird. The Canuck / Jenny manuals don’t give much more insight, simply saying that the landing wires need to be tighter than the flying wires, and don’t over-tighten any wires! No quantitative data to work from. The problem seems to be that if the landing wires are loosened any the wings go out of spec in terms of dihedral, trueness, stagger, and incidence.
Still, after everything was safety wired the intention was to fly the airplane and see whether anything needed adjustment – achieving the final product is an iterative process requiring several repetitions to zero in on the appropriate settings. So the Canuck was towed out to the end of the runway and attempts were made to start the old Curtiss OX-5.
All to no avail. It appears that the exhaust valves in a couple of cylinders were stuck open, eliminating all compression in those cylinders. The Canuck was towed back up to the shop’s pad and attempts were made to free the sticking valves. Marvel Mystery Oil was used, light tapping was tried, as was the old barnstormer’s trick of feeding a little rope into the combustion chamber and turning the engine over, allowing the piston to apply pressure to close the valve without metal to metal contact. In one cylinder the rope got wrapped around the valve, causing a great deal of “discussion” before they freed the rope! These remedies worked on a cylinder or two, but at least one remains stubbornly stuck.
The plan of attack is to consult with Phil Mentari about the stuck valves in the OX-5 as well as the rigging tautness. Phil is the OX-5 expert who recently helped us with the carb and water pump issues with the Canuck. Also, Phil has recently completed a Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny”, in US military colors, and hopes to sell the airplane in the near future after some test flights. We will store his airplane in the old hangar in the meantime. See Team Vehicles for a recap of those efforts.
Thomas – Morse S4C “Scouts”
It was another “varnish-fest” for “Team Tommy”. Tom Miller, Steve Richardson, Stefanie Miller and Dave Miller examined the work done to date on the turtledecks and belly forms for the two Thomas-Morse projects to identify missed spots / areas and then commenced to varnishing the parts needing it. Kevin Monahan worked on paint touch-ups on the main gear legs.
Dave Miller located the spruce necessary for remaking all 4 longeron fascia pieces for Tommie 1. These pieces overlay the longerons and cover the metal fittings and bolts so the bolt heads won’t rub through the fabric covering. Reliefs for two fascia strips were marked out in pencil by Tom Miller while Dave Miller located the forstner bits and started drilling out the first piece. The day ended with two fascia strips marked out and one partially drilled. Next visit should see the marking, drilling, fitting, installation and varnishing of these pieces.
Jerry Stark and Steve Richardson worked to clean up T-1’s joy stick assembly. They had considerable trouble getting to the blip switch! It took numerous attempts using lubricants, twisting, brute force and cussing trying to remove the handgrip! Finally they broke the grip free from the joy stick using a combination heat and long, homemade pins inserted down between the stick and rubber grip. With the grip out of the way they were confronted with an odd & mysterious switch mount in the end of the stick. I think the day ended with the blip switch still firmly installed in the end of the control column! However, we will need to remove the switch one way or another as the blip switch wires are seriously frayed and require replacing!
It had been decided early on that the wood supports for the triangular engine cowl “cheek” panels would need replacing on T-1. It was also noted that the same components on T-2 were different. These parts are listed as "packing pieces" for the side cowling pieces (listed as "side plate assemblies). It was discovered that T-1’s were made from spruce while T-2’s were made from oak. Consulting the Replicraft drawings yielded no clue as to the type of wood used, however we noted dimensional differences between the drawings and both our planes! Given their purpose Team Tommy thought oak would be a wiser choice than spruce and that we should go with the thicker dimensions on the Replicraft drawings. The team sourced some oak wood from the pallet stack and ripped enough to remanufacture all the packing pieces for both airframes. Next visit these too should be finished and in place.
Towards the end of the day Kevin Monahan and Steve Freeman started the process of reassembling the main gear for T-1. Apparently they reassembled the axle assemblies and stopped for the day.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Ian and David Whitaker started their day off by tackling the throttle controls in the Triplane. Steve had reported that these controls were extremely stiff during his brief test flight. Their investigation revealed that the actuation rod from the quadrant in the cockpit was not properly aligned with the pivot mount in the engine bay – it was curving because of the misalignment. They adjusted the pivot mount’s position and the throttle lever returned to normal feel; in addition, it operated the carb lever through a greater range of travel. We finally seemed to be getting full motion out of the system.
The engine was ground run so Ron Marcotte could measure engine speed with a prop tach he’d borrowed from one of the R/C guys flying at the field that day! The engine turned up 1200 rpm out of a total possible 1300 rpm.
Analysis of the slightly lower engine speed pointed towards a cylinder that may not have been firing. Inspection of the spark plug after removal revealed that the porcelain insulator was loose and rotating, so it needed replacement. Steve pointed the guys towards new plugs and they got installed. The engine was test run again and it seemed to be turning up full rpm and ran extremely well. Started on the first throw!
The weather rolled in and it wasn’t until later in the day that the Triplane’s engine was run for an extended test run. Once again the engine started on the first swing and ran extremely well throughout all rpm ranges. Unfortunately the prop tach had left with Ron and the R/C guys so we don’t know whether it is turning up the full 1300 rpm, but everyone is sure convinced it is!
Ian thinks removing the carb and ensuring it is clean and clear may be the final tweak before the Triplane flies again. The need is under debate….
Ian and David say they have come up with the definitive Triplane starting procedure! In other words, they’ve stumbled upon the recipe all the old pilots know quite well!!
- Make sure the magneto switch is “Off”
- Make sure the Castor Oil is “On”! The valve is open when the red handle near the left rudder pedal is pointed down. Access through port engine access hatch
- Lube the valve train rocker arm roller bearings with castor oil (rotate engine backwards)
- Squirt one shot of gas into each cylinder’s exhaust valve (rotate engine backwards)
- Turn on the red fuel valve (handle to vertical) and open the fuel control lever fully and open the air valve lever fully. Wait for fuel to start leaking out of the carb – visible either through the starboard engine access hatch, or in the intake tubes.
- Shut the fuel control valve off
- With the fuel control lever fully open, retard the air control level to about 1/3rd open
- Allow the prop man to position the prop / engine for a good throw
- Engage magneto switch – Move to “ON”
- Prop man swings the prop and when engine coughs to life on the prime turn the fuel valve back on immediately.
Ian reports that with this sequence the engine has fired up on the first throw each time!
Team Vehicles
In his spare time Kevin Monahan brought the 1921 Triumph motorcycle out of the old hangar and adjusted the drive belt tension. I don’t know for sure, but I’m sure he succeeded!
Cameron Whitaker installed a Holley NH carb on the American Ambulance. Cameron obtained the carb for free as it was trashed, he repaired various parts and replaced others from the Museum’s spares, resulting in a $10 carb! The $10 was for a special nut at the bottom of the float bowl – the only part that needed to be purchased! Cameron reports that the American Ambulance now starts and idles easily, running perfectly under load.
Cameron then installed a set of stock-style pistons in the TT with David Whitaker’s help – removing the shot hi-compression pistons that had been giving trouble. The new head gasket failed to seal well when the motor was initially started after the piston swap, spewing water everywhere! Cameron and David disassembled the head and addressed head gasket leaks. The engine remained hard to start – but finally the carb was adjusted so the engine would run, but in the process it was discovered that the carb needs to be rebuilt. Cameron took it home to refurbish it. Already the vehicle is burning a lot less oil than it was and with the refurbished carb installed should run even better as the rings bed in.
Other Team Vehicles guys attended the workday, Al Sumrall, Lynn Howell (and Killer), and John and Johnny Bush. Lynn Howell and John Bush coaxed the Nash Quad to life for its move. Many of Team Vehicles guys swarmed all over the ditch digger to get it started and moved – David Whitaker finally located a safety plug under the seat that had become disconnected and that tool was started and relocated under its own power. An additional three Model T vehicles were moved as well and the old Zeppelin ladder was moved out of the old hangar. Team Vehicles put in a lot of effort to clean up the old hangar as various vehicles were moved, and then spent a lot of time helping Steve Freeman and Terry Bledsoe move airplanes around (similar to rearranging furniture for your wife… “No, I think that really belongs back over there!”) to verify there would be sufficient room for Phil’s Jenny. Killer set a new world’s record for the number of tennis balls chased and fetched!
During the afternoon Team Vehicles was treated to some music from an ancient (1908) gramophone that the Whitakers own – a family heirloom. Cameron has rebuilt the mechanicals on the thing and it works beautifully now! Next thing you know Cameron will turn the gramophone into a motorized bicycle – it will serenade the crowd as it powers itself along! No doubts though - an awesome accomplishment….
Curtiss JN-4D – New Resident – Phil Mentari has been looking for a new spot to park a recently completed Curtiss JN-4D for a test flight or two, then sale. The Museum has elected to accommodate Phil’s Jenny till he sells it. That necessitated making some space in the old hangar which dictated much of Team Vehicle’s day! It took a lot of hard work, generally directed by Terry, to clear out the old hangar and muscle a lot of the stuff over to its new temporary home! Job well done guys! Not sure when Phil’s Jenny will show up, but at least we know we have room for it!!
The airfield was visited by Cindy Weigand – a published aviation author, she has published a book on WWII Wasps who were from Texas. Her uncle was a barnstormer named “Big” Jack Ashcraft. Jack flew with a large barnstorming group all over the country, and Jack’s usual job was flying the wing walker. Cindy had some fascinating stories and photos of her uncle. Cindy checked out the Triplane, a Model T ambulance, and the Bleriot. I think she had fun….
Lastly, the best part! John and Linda Goble showed up with a container full of homemade chocolate chip cookies! The cookies were absolutely wonderful and barely made it to lunchtime!! Thank you, Linda! That was it for this workday – see y’all in October!
September 10 Volunteer Work Day
September 10, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
As usual the volunteers gathered in the shop office at 9 am to discuss the day’s tasks. We were blessed with very good weather – warm, not too humid and with a nice breeze to help cool things off. We had an excellent turn-out, with a few new volunteers showing up to help out. The projects for the day were:
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Despite having finished all repairs the airplane has been grounded till we got the engine sorted out. David Whitaker, Ron Marcotte and new volunteers Michael Craig and his father Don Craig went to work double-checking the magneto and cleaning the fuel system. Michael is an A&P mechanic and noted a moderate number of other small issues needing attention – air in the tires, frayed wires on the mag connections, poorly done safety wire on the interplane struts, etc., etc. So all these areas received attention.
Just before mid-day the airplane was moved out to the field for an engine run after lunch. Ian Whitaker sat in the cockpit and made engine noises until the motor actually started running, when he switched to machine gun noises! The engine run seemed good, so the pressure was on Steve Freeman to try flying the airplane. However, the winds were variable, sometimes stopping completely, sometimes blowing straight down the runway, sometimes blowing from 15 degrees off runway centerline to nearly 90 degrees off centerline!
Later in the afternoon the winds seemed calm enough to fly. The airplane was pulled to the south end of the runway and the engine started and run up. Steve took off but only made 1.5 circuits of the field before landing (really pretty straight – maybe the new steerable tailskid actually works!). The engine sounded rough in the air and it wasn’t just Steve working the blip switch! Some work needs to be done to eradicate the rough running and misfire. But overall it was good progress!
Ron Marcotte took a video of the Fokker flying and posted it on YouTube, check out Fokker Dr.I !!
Canuck
The process of re-rigging the aircraft continued. The first step was to sweep about 2 inches of fine dust off the Shop pad – the winds had blown from the south at some point the prior week! The Canuck was wheeled over from the hanger and propped up on the pad. The first step was to re-level the fuselage’s top longeron.
The steps that needed to be accomplished were to set the angle of incidence of the wings and to re-rig the controls. The ailerons in particular were way off harmony with the changes to the wings! Dave Orloff, Dave Edgerly, Dave Miller, and Dave Freeman – ooops… “Steve” Freeman all worked to make the Canuck right. By the end of the day they were starting to safety wire the bazillion turnbuckles scattered throughout the wing structure. Steve stated he would continue with the safety wire process during the week.
Steve hopes to fly the Canuck on the 17th – and he warns that getting the rigging really right will be an iterative process. Typically you continue making small changes to fine tune the airplane over several flights and adjustment periods. But who knows, maybe we’ll have dumb luck and be right on the money the first time out of the chute!
Thomas-Morse S4C “Scouts”
Steve Richardson spent most of his day, assisted by Dave Miller, varnishing various Tommy belly forms and landing gear spreader bars. Steve is a patient man….
At the end of the day Steve had epoxy varnish on both belly forms, although one may still need to be flipped to finish the piece. Both sets of landing gear spreader bars were varnished and drying.
There may be some touch up painting still needing to be done on the landing gear parts, but the main gear for both airframes should be about ready for reassembly. Attention will need to be refocused on the fuselages and wings of the airplanes.
Team Vehicles
Cameron Whitaker worked on rebuilding a carb for the Model T French Ambulance and repaired a few other odds and ends on the vehicle. Some work remains before the French Ambulance runs properly.
Kevin Monahan spent the entire day, almost, changing the tires on the 1921 Triumph motorcycle! Kevin is another of those capable, competent, and extremely patient men! To the best of my knowledge Kevin didn’t pinch any inner tubes, and successfully reseated the tires around the convoluted rim lips! Several people were tootling about the airfield afterwards on the Triumph, including Kevin wearing an olive drab pith helmet (I am sorry I didn’t get a photo of that!!).
August 20 Volunteer Work Day
August 20, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
The August 20th workday at Old Kingsbury Aerodrome was hot, hot, hot… but we once again enjoyed a good turn-out of volunteers and made real progress on several projects.
Curtiss Canuck
Volunteers had researched the process of rigging the Canuck in the archives and were finally ready to begin the process. Crew on the Canuck was primarily Dave Edgerly, Billy Cheshire, Mike McCormick and Dave Orloff with a lot of assistance from Steve Freeman and limited assistance from “others”.
The crew got more than halfway through the procedure and several folks have commented that the airplane just looked a whole lot more airworthy, with one pundit claiming the Canuck now looks “quite jaunty”! Tasks remaining to be done are to set the angle of incidence on the wings, double-check a few measurements and safety-wire everything securely. The optimists are hoping for a test flight towards the end of the next workday!
By the way – the EAA has an on-line PC wallpaper calendar and the selection for September is a photo taken by Jo Hunter of the Museum’s Canuck during the Spring Air Fair! Congratulations to Jo for having her photo selected!
Fokker Dr.I Triplane – Late in the day the volunteers got the Triplane rotary engine to run again! Dave and Cameron Whitaker worked on the magneto, set it, and retimed the ignition during reinstallation on the engine. Cameron stated the mag had been two gear teeth off!
Attempts were made to start the engine and it fired off fairly easily but never seemed to run for very long… mainly seemed like it was running the prime only (i.e., fuel injected into the cylinders through the exhaust valve as part of the engine starting procedure). What the heck?? We’ve never had a fuel delivery problem with this aircraft before! Investigation revealed that the fuel tank was actually dry as a bone! Well, that explains a lot! Ian Whitaker sat in the cockpit during the starting attempts and made an important discovery – castor oil spray makes for a great hair gel! The stuff sets up and makes your hair wind-proof, and bulletproof!
Look for additional engine runs the next workday when we have an opportunity to put fuel in the tank! Return to flight can’t be too far off!
Thomas-Morse S4-C “Scouts”
Tom Miller, Kevin Monahan, Steve Freeman, Sam Miller, Stephanie Miller, and Dave Miller all worked on various components of the Thomas-Morse projects. The main gear on T-2 was removed from the fuselage, cleaned up, prepped and painted. T-1’s gear was also painted. A little paint work remains to be done next workday, but both units are nearing completion and are nearing reassembly.
The turtledecks and T-2’s belly form were cleaned and inspected, but had to be wrapped back up in plastic for varnishing next workday as the epoxy varnish is on back order!
On the next workday, if the varnish is there, it will be a varnish-fest (complete with oompah music and beer?) as the turtledecks, belly forms, and wood spreader bars of the main gear for both Tommies get epoxy varnished. It’ll also be time to re-attach / repair / re-manufacture the wood strips on the fuselage longerons that keep the fabric covering from rubbing on the bolt heads!
Team Vehicles
John Bush and Lynn Howell (and Killer?) worked on the Model T wrecker adjusting the belt. John also installed bolts where some wires had been on the transmission housing driveshaft connection which should reduce oil leakage.
Cameron Whitaker started disassembly of the TT’s engine, and was assisted by Lynn after Lynn finished tinkering with the Wrecker. The two of them got the motor apart and determined that new pistons are needed. Al Sumrall is sourcing replacement pistons and hopefully the rebuild can be completed over the next workday or two.
Cameron Whitaker also took the Model T US Ambulance’s starter for rebuild and that overhauled unit should be ready for reinstallation next workday.
As usual Team Vehicles also charged up batteries and exercised as many of the vehicles as they could get running around the property!
July 16 Volunteer Work Day
July 16, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
Once again we enjoyed a good turnout of volunteers to tackle the projects needing attention. We were fortunate that the day didn’t turn out to be nearly as hot as we had expected. There were several projects awaiting attention; the restoration of the two Thomas Morse Scouts, the Rearwin Sportster’s ASI issues, rigging the Canuck, getting the Triplane’s rotary engine running plus issues with the Indian Motorbike, and various Model T improvements to be made along with fixing the bed back on the TT.
Thomas-Morse S4C “Scouts”
Tom Miller reports that great progress was made on the Scouts… well, T-1 anyway! Steve Freeman had inspected the T-1 belly former and realized that there was an inwards dip in the stringers one station behind the lower wings. Steve asked that this be rectified as this was not as it should be, though Ron Marcotte had ensured the T-1 belly former was reassembled exactly as it was when it was removed from the airplane. So Ron and Don Ralston set about figuring out a way to eliminate the inwards dip without having to disassemble the belly former. They had that conquered before lunch, at which point Ron had to depart for a family gathering. Steve Freeman and Tom Miller cleaned and checked over the T-2 belly formers and wrapped the unit in plastic to be re-varnished next time.
Kevin Monahan spent most of his day working on the final disassembly and clean-up of the T-1 main gear. He was successful in disassembling the gear down as far as Steve was willing to with it (the only step we are not going to do is remove the strut wrapping and the wood trailing edge underneath). The wood spreader bars went home with Tom Gaylord to be cleaned, stripped, and re-varnished. Kevin spent some time with cleaners working on the exposed steel fittings on the gear legs and also put some of the smaller brackets in the sand blaster to clean them up.
Steve Richardson spent part of his day collecting the instrument panels and such from both Tommies. Steve took the instruments to see about getting them checked and refurbished if necessary, while the wood components (various instrument panels and cockpit floorboards) were parceled out to various volunteers to be stripped and re-varnished at home. Dave Miller ended up with a few parts, and Steve Richardson may have taken some home as well.
Steve Freeman and Tom Miller also yanked the rotary engine out of T-2, so its main gear can be removed and stripped for finishing. The engines for both Tommies need to be refurbished before going back into the airplanes.
Steve Richardson brought back a box of Tommy metal parts he’d taken home to clean and refinish. These were placed into the Tommy parts drawers. Steve had mainly worked on cables and control horns plus some other metal flotsam and jetsam from the Tommies.
Rearwin Sportster
The Rearwin was pulled from the hangar and brought over to the shop overhang to have the ASI issues addressed, but we never got around to it due to lack of personnel. People were engaged in the library relocation, fixing Piper Cub tires and Model T repair!
Piper Cub
In pulling the Cub out of the LLC hangar so we could get a forklift in to transfer the pallets with the library’s book boxes to their new location the folks pulling the airplane realized it had flat tires. Steve asked if the brand new tires could be mounted so various volunteers jumped onto that, including Billy Cheshire and Art Wilson. Before the end of the day the wheels and tires had been removed from the aircraft, broken down, new tires installed, and everything put back onto the Cub! And everything seemed to be holding air! I didn’t ask how many tubes were pinched in the process, but Billy and Art know a thing or three about this work, so they may have gotten both tires mounted and inflated the first time!
Library Relocation
No one has been happy with the library being boxed up and stored in the LLC hangar. Diane Edgerly and Tammy Orloff have volunteered to sort and catalogue the library collection if it got relocated, and we received word that the library should be moved to a climate controlled environment. So the airplanes were pulled from the LLC hangar (see Piper Cub above!) and Terry Bledsoe transferred the pallets of books to the shop office door, with an assist from Laser Alan. Terry then spent much of the remainder of his day re-organizing the LLC hangar.
Dave Edgerly and Dave Orloff, plus some help from Bill and Will Walsh, humped boxes of books into the Shop apartment, and dealt with the small mountain of cardboard created as the book boxes were unloaded. Also, the two Dave’s had to get the bookshelves down from the Shop attic and clean them up some. Probably 90% of the book boxes were unloaded and put onto the shelves, but all the book boxes are now in a climate controlled environment, and I know we can all breathe easier now that that valuable resource is better protected.
The actual cataloging of the library will start next workday!
Canuck and Fokker Dr.I Triplane
No work was done on either of these two projects. The Canuck is on hold for a full weekend of work (Steve needed to blast out of Kingsbury on Sunday as he needed to get home to prepare for Oshkosh), and there was no knowledgeable manpower to tackle the Triplane’s motor.
Team Vehicles
Al Sumrall reports that much progress was made in the Team vehicles camp during the workday. The most significant progress was getting the bed properly bolted onto the TT! This effort was largely down to John Bush, once a party of volunteers had lifted the bed, turned it over and placed it onto the TT! John spent a lot of time in the shade of the bed drilling holes and fastening the bed onto the truck’s frame. Al was delegated to make a parts run to a local hardware store for the nuts, bolts and washers.
The U.S. Ambulance had a suspension part fall off at some point while being operated, but Cameron and David Whitaker located a replacement and got it installed. David and his sons continued their work on the Indian but progress was negligible. They did make some headway in upgrading the Triumph’s fuel system though! Mark H., a custom leatherworker, has agreed to recover the Indian’s seat and spent some time with Al talking about leather care and preservation.
Team Vehicles dined at Edna’s for lunch and traveled to the restaurant via Triumph motorbike, Model T French Ambulance, and Model T Okie Wrecker. All vehicles made it back safe and sound and there were no stories about breakdowns and bubblegum & duct tape roadside repairs so that sounds like real progress!!
May 21 Volunteer Work Day
May 21, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
Once again we had a good turnout of volunteers to work on the various projects. The weather was warm and muggy, and we all fully intended to make good on Steve’s suggestion to take the newly licensed Model Ts and motorcycles to lunch at Edna’s in beautiful downtown Kingsbury. It was a comical adventure….
Thomas-Morse Scouts
As usual, T-2 sat idle as work progressed on T-1 – mostly due to the fact that T-1 is still catching up in the fuselage area, though the gap between the two has narrowed considerably!
Ron Marcotte and Steve Richardson spent the entire day reassembling the T-1 belly former parts. Sounds simple, eh? Except that the belly former was disassembled probably two years ago so several of the damaged formers could be repaired or made from scratch. This was like a giant 3-D jig-saw puzzle. It helped that Ron had been part of the disassembly team!
They started by getting all the formers sorted by size and lightly fastened into place on the lower longerons. Once those components had been placed the stringers were put into place and juggled around until they all seemed to be in the right slots. That was followed by some additional repair and replacement, mostly of stringers.
At the end of the day the whole assembly had been put right, and was glued and nailed. Next steps will be sanding and varnishing the belly formers and turtledecks for both T-1 and T-2.
In addition it will be time to refurbish the main landing gear for both T-1 and T-2, though T-1 will still be the more difficult to tackle, as additional cleaning will need to be done to T-1’s gear. Still, I managed to get a fairly good photo showing T-1’s gear after Kevin Monahan worked on it the previous workday. I had no idea the spreader bars were wood!!
The only other Tommy work was Kurt Maurer and Tom Gaylord made foot straps for T-1’s rudder bar. That assembly will be ready for installation next workday; though it is doubtful the airframe will be ready for the rudder bar….
Rearwin Sportster
Dave Orloff tackled the task of trying to figure out why the air speed indicator in the Rearwin Sportster seems to incorrectly show the air speed. The prior workday John Goble had a shot at it and it seemed that there likely is a clog somewhere in the line. Dave started off by tracing the line and found, in typical aviation fashion, that the line’s routing is anything but straightforward, with connections in very out of reach locations!
The air speed line comes off the pitot tube and goes straight back to the rear spar then cuts inboard towards the cockpit. The plastic tubing and metal pitot tube seem to meet mid-chord, where there are no access plates. There are no access plates along the rear spar either! Apparently the circuitous route is designed to work around the fuel tanks. We’ll need to see what guidance we get from Steve or John on how to tackle this issue….
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
The bad news is that at the end of the day the engine still wouldn’t start, but we seem to have taken a giant stride forwards to getting the motor running again!
Most of the day’s effort was geared towards ensuring that the valve timing was correct and the valve lash correctly adjusted. First steps were to remove the prop, engine cowling and engine face plate, exposing the cams. After adjusting those items (essentially moving parts so all the timing marks lined up when cylinder #1 was at TDC) the valve push rods were adjusted so the valve lash was correct. For ease of use a snack bar wrapper was used as a feeler gauge!
Eventually it was felt the engine was ready to rock’n’roll, and the airplane was buttoned up and rolled out to show center! Big Dave gave his mightiest swings but the motor refused to start, much less actually run.
Dave says the engine now feels normal when he is propping it, so the common consensus is that we are one step closer to coaxing the engine back to life. The theory du jour about what needs to be fixed next is that the magneto probably needs to be timed to the engine, it is likely off. Stay tuned for Episode 42 in the continuing saga of “As The Rotary Turns”!!
Team Vehicles
Model Ts
The big adventure was Kurt Maurer spearheading the effort to repair the TT's bed. It took six people to get the bed off and turn it over. Kurt and Terry Bledsoe installed a new plate on the truck bed to replace the incorrect system that had been securing the bed to the truck’s frame. The search has started for the correct U bolts that secure the bed to the rear of the frame to fix the problem correctly. As usual the goal of Team Vehicles is to not only fix any defect that shows itself on the T's but to make it correct!
Replacing the crank pulley on the wrecker turned out to be a much bigger project than anticipated because the pin that came with the part just would not work. After much gnashing of teeth by Kurt Maurer and Lynn Howell, David Whitaker modified the part and hopefully the installation can be easily completed next workday.
Cameron Whitaker worked on the signal corps truck and improved the ignition with a few custom parts, but as usual with improvements this has had a domino effect which challenges other parts. A new distributor rotor is needed and will be obtained prior to the next workday.
Bikes
David Whitaker took apart the 1918 Indian motorcycle kickstart and mechanisms and we have major issues here! Sometimes parts just wear out or they can rust when they have sat out uninstalled for years and were "used” to start with! It appears that the Indian needs new clutch plates, as well as a kickstart pinion gear! The search begins.
After the day was complete Al managed to install the new custom seat post on his “Hardley Davidson” tribute bike. This seat post was designed and fabricated by Al’s cousin, Brent, and it is designed to hold Al’s weight. Al tested out the new component and is delighted to report it seems to work very well indeed! Cameron used the cone wrenches Al bought to fix the wheel wobble on the Kingsbury Special/Flyer tribute bike. Al is very pleased with the two bikes as well as the education guys like Cameron Whitaker and his cousin Brent have given him during the course of the project!
Hilarity Ensued
The comic relief of the day started at lunch break when a bunch of the guys took the newly licensed signal corps truck, French ambulance, and the 1921 Triumph motorcycle to Edna’s for lunch. Like the road trip in "Animal House" not everything went according to plan!
The Signal Corps truck, piloted by Dave Edgerly and Dave Orloff actually went to Edna’s. The French ambulance, driven by Cameron Whitaker with Terry Bledsoe riding shotgun, and the 1921 Triumph motorcycle ridden by Ian Whitaker with Ron Marcotte flying wingman in his minivan drove past Edna’s and ended up at Lola’s Mexican restaurant halfway to Seguin.
Meanwhile, Steve thought he’d seen the ambulance turn towards Luling, so he was patrolling the streets of Luling looking for a lost 1918 Model T French ambulance!
Eventually it all got worked out and everyone made it to Edna’s, but we ended up eating in shifts because we showed up at different times. The French ambulance suffered some issues on the way to Lola’s, and the Signal Corps truck had a broken wire in the ignition upon departing Edna’s.
Ultimately, however, everyone made it back to the Aerodrome intact and everyone seemed to enjoy the adventure!
2011 AirFair
May 7, 2011
by Roger Ritter
The spring fly-in was held on Saturday, May 7. We had a good turnout despite high winds and two other fly-ins and airshows on the same day. On Friday, we sent a couple of airplanes over to the Stearman fly-in, and the Stearman folks returned the favor on Saturday. Unfortunately, this reporter's camera picked this morning to die, so I had no photos to accompany the report. Fortunately, Jo Hunter was able to attend the fly-in and gave me permission to use some of her gorgeous photos here.
The museum flew our Canuck and Meyers OTW, as well as Steve Freeman's Ryan PT-22. Our Fokker Dr.I Triplane was still not running right, so it stayed on the ground today. We were visited by several period airplanes, including a Nieuport 28 reproduction and a couple of Stearmans. We were able to put on a bit of a ground show by having the Canuck towed out to the runway by one of the Model Ts.
Despite the winds and other events, we were visited by a nice number of fly-in visitors including a Luscombe, Champ, Piper Cub, a Hatz biplane, a couple of Cessna L-19s and several others.
Team Vehicles out-did themselves! Every museum vehicle was running - the Nash Quad, both motorcycles, and all of the Model Ts. After running around the grounds all day, they formed up for a period parade, being driven by our volunteers dressed in period uniforms and costume. Our volunteers' tribute bikes were also out in force - these motorized bicycles are a lot of fun to ride.
Volunteer Work Day
May 6, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
There was a lot of activity at Old Kingsbury Aerodrome on Friday, May 6th in preparation for the annual Spring Air Fair event scheduled for Saturday, May 7th.
Curtiss Canuck – Steve Freeman, Art Caballero, Dave Edgerly and Dave Orloff worked on getting the Canuck ready to fly at the event. An OX-5 expert from Kerrville, Texas – Phil - had supplied a rebuilt water pump with modern upgrades (modern seals and stainless steel shaft) and had rebuilt the carbs – the reason the Canuck ran so poorly last outing was because the carb was full of slime from constantly being dripped on by the water pump leaks. Phil also fashioned a water deflector shield so that nay drips from the water pump wouldn’t land on the carbs!
A Curtiss prop had been located in the collection, and while slightly dinged, didn’t have any delaminations. Art caballero stripped the prop earlier in the week, and Kurt Maurer refinished it so it was ready for install on Friday! So the Canuck gang of four pulled the old prop and installed the newly rebuilt prop. It didn’t go well at first – the proper tools couldn’t be located, but Kevin Monahan and Art put their heads together and created a tool that worked.
After lunch Steve flew the Canuck twice. On the first flight the engine started on the 2nd throw of the prop!! Steve likes the airplane’s performance with the clean running motor and the refinished prop on it.
Airplane Washing – apparently didn’t receive a lot of attention early in the day, but planes were washed starting mid-afternoon on. A few didn’t get washed at all, but most received some attention!
Meyers OTW – the decision has been made to go back to heavier aviation oil for the Meyers, as well as run av-gas in it. Billy Cheshire flushed out the oil tank on the Meyers, and he, Dave Orloff and Bob Gardner helped refill the Meyers with the replacement oil. Steve also flew the Meyers – took Billy along for the ride, and to ensure the oil tank was well sloshed with the new lube dthey did some aerobatics. It is hoped the new heavier aviation oil will help prevent the engine from drooling so much oil out the exhaust stacks as well as do a better job of lubricating the internals!
The field “restroom” and pavilion got power washed for the event, and apparently the restroom pad has proven to be something of a pigeon roost. Reports are that task was messy and awful! Everything was moved off the shop apron so it could be cleaned thoroughly. Everything was so dry and dusty that volunteers were sweeping the shop apron Saturday morning as well! The Millers spent a fair amount of time and energy on Friday preparing the concessions area for business the next day.
Steve Freeman’s award-winning PT-22 was washed by Steve and Al. Kurt and Al pulled out the nicest of the Model T Touring cars and washed it for display alongside the re-enactor’s campsite.
Kevin Monahan and Kurt Maurer set up a battery charging station for the various Model T batteries. Al Sumrall donated two new batteries to the cause. Air Fair started with all Model Ts having fully charged batteries for the day!
There was a lot of effort expended by various people on the Fokker Dr.I’s rotary engine. It seems like the ignition timing is off, so Steve Freeman, John Goble, with an assist from Kurt tried to get to the bottom of the engine’s issues. Attempts were made to start it when they thought they had it whipped, but observers noted flames shooting from the exhausts in all the wrong places. That issue remained unresolved by the time the event rolled around. Kurt and Al installed Kurt’s Spandau replica guns on the Fokker D.VII so it was ready for the event. Kurt is starting to believe the D.VII is his – it currently sports the prop he built last year plus this new set of dummy guns.
Additional work was done on the vehicles by Cameron, Ian and David Whitaker. Cameron rebuilt the Indian’s carb during final exam week at college – it was reinstalled Friday and the bike ran very, very well! Kurt installed an “ooogah” horn on the US Ambulance, and fashioned leather straps to hold the water can on the French Ambulance’s floorboards. Cameron also worked the French Ambulance’s electrical systems. David Whitaker got the Nash Quad running. Brent Alexander donated a fuel filter which made the Quad prance with joy, to hear Al tell it!
Duncan Charlton dropped by to tweak the Triumph motorcycle – tuning it up and tending to minor issues so it would be ready for Air Fair.
Brent removed the fan assembly from the Model T wrecker because of a broken pulley. The vehicle will run fine as long as you don’t go too slow for too long! Brent and Al donated 15 gallons of fuel for the vehicles, and Dave Whitaker donated five gallons of gas.
Terry Bledsoe spent his entire day working on the grounds – which included mowing the runway areas. Bob Gardner and another volunteer walked the runway looking for foreign objects. Terry has the grounds very much cleaned up, roads repaired, everything mowed and trimmed. Looked excellent!!
Apparently the best part of Friday came after the workday was done. Tammy Orloff, Diane Edgerly, Linda Goble, and Jerrie Bledsoe helped coordinate a wonderful BBQ dinner to accompany the usual beers and cigars!!
Volunteer Work Day
April 16, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
We had a great turn-out for the workday, but at the end of it not a lot to show for the effort – but sometimes the work is like that! (All photos courtesy of Bob Gardner)
Thomas-Morse S4C “Scouts” - the work on the Thomas Morse was lead by Tom Miller. Guys assisting were Steve Richardson, Ron Marcotte and Kevin Monahan. Steve started by finishing the painting and Kevin by finishing the varnish on TT1. Both methodically worked their way up and down and all around the TT-1 fuselage searching out nooks and crannies that had been overlooked in the refurb process. It is possible that the TT-1 fuselage structure is finally finished!
In the mean time, Ron Marcotte and Tom Miller started clearing off the long workbench (and I do mean clear it off) to have a dedicated place to work on Tommy parts. The team also brought down all the parts stored in the “attic” they could find, especially the turtledecks and belly forms. Ron had previously been trying to refurb the parts alone, so he brought the team up to speed on his progress and what he felt still needed to be done. Steve and Tom Miller began laying out the parts and sizing up the task ahead.
After varnishing, Kevin wheeled the TT-1 landing gear outside to begin cleaning the unit off. The landing gear was covered in caked on mounds of dirt and castor oil. Kevin worked on it for the rest of the day and made spectacular progress! It took 3 cans of Easy Off plus a can or two of foaming engine degreaser plus a lot of scrubbing and scraping but by the end of the day 95% of the gunk was gone! Parts that hadn’t seen air for decades were laid bare…. To get the remaining muck the gear will need to be disassembled.
Canuck – one of the day’s big milestones was to fly the Canuck for 30 minutes as prep for flying the airplane to the San Marcos Biplane Fly-In scheduled for April 30th / May 1st. The airplane was pulled from the hangar and prepped - radiator topped off, oil tank filled, and av-gas put in the tank. We were successful in getting the engine to start but it seemed to idle rather raggedly, with the left bank of cylinders cutting out. Still, it seemed to run fine at large throttle openings so a flight was attempted – with the result that just after take-off the left bank quit again and the airplane immediately landed! The airplane was parked while speculation started about the cause of the left bank cylinders failing to run. We likely have a carb problem as that is the only system split into left and right cylinder bank systems.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane Replica – Art Caballero has continued making progress on the re-build of the Fokker Dr.I Triplane. The airplane was ready to have the engine cowl reinstalled and the prop put back on, so a crew of guys tackled that job. Looks great all back in one piece again!
In the late afternoon the Triplane was wheeled out to have the engine run, so after fueling and lubing the airplane was ready. Both Ian and Cameron Whitaker got some instruction on hand propping the airplane, but Dave Orloff took over for the actual attempt. But no joy at all, the engine refused to run. It occurred to us that while the engine was reassembled for installation it may well need a comprehensive set-up to ensure the valve lash is correctly set and the ignition is properly timed! Yeah… that *could* be the problem!!
Dormoy Bathtub – David and Ian Whitaker put in some time working on the Dormoy Bathtub but I have to admit I am completely ignorant about what they worked on or the progress they made! They have been making remarkable progress on rebuilding the little bird but whatever they accomplished last Saturday was too subtle for me to catch.
Next airplane workday we'll:
- disassemble the landing gear completely and prep for varnishing and painting
- attach anti-chaffing gear to TT1
- pick up where Ron left off on the TT-1 belly pan. There is a cross member that has to be remade.
Grounds Work – Terry Bledsoe was quite busy during the workday, attending to Museum business in the HQ building and also continuing his crusade to clean up the place. Terry has been achieving remarkable results in storing things and clearing up the grounds in preparation for the upcoming Air Fair on May 7th.
Team Vehicles
The ultimate authorities to detail what work went on would likely be Cameron Whitaker. Various vehicles were exercised during the day, but most of the effort seemed focused on the ambulance that recently had an engine transplant. It apparently has some issues to be resolved as the vehicle was being towed on a rope in an effort to get the engine running! Things may not be as bad as it looked to me, but….
That was it for the day. Sunday was also a workday for people who could make it out to Kingsbury, but the only person I know of who showed up was Carl Canga who resumed work on the Fokker logo adorning the right side hangar doors on the Old Hangar. Carl made some progress but then found his paint wasn’t any good, so the logo will need to be finished later on.
Volunteer Work Day
April 2, 2011
by Tom Gaylord
The Museum enjoyed a good turnout for the workday scheduled for April 2nd. The weather wasn’t particularly inviting, but did eventually clear up with bright sunshine and mildly hot temperatures. There was a broad variety of projects worked on during the day.
There has been some controversy about what prop to try on the Canuck. The Museum has an original Canuck prop in inventory, needing just a light refurbishment and it has been decided to try the prop on the airplane. Roger doesn’t recall this prop flying the airplane all that well, but those flights did take place before the engine was overhauled. Kurt Maurer was recruited to delicately sand the finish on the wood portions of the prop and re-varnish it. Kurt managed to apply two coats of varnish to the prop on Saturday.
One of the main tasks for the day was to complete the annual inspection on the Great Lakes and the Piper Cub. The team elected to start with the Great Lakes because it should be in very good shape due to all the work that Roger poured into it in 2009 and 2010. Figured we’d be through by lunchtime! It actually took all day. John Goble is a thorough and conscientious inspector and the airplane isn’t the easiest to get opened up for inspection. A few minor items were found to need correction, but all the work was completed by the end of the day and the aircraft was started and taxied a bit before being put back into the hangar. A couple of guys did look at the Cub’s brakes and John did give it a cursory look-over for real obvious issues. He’ll be reporting to Steve Freeman his findings, if any. The Cub may well get its annual inspection on Saturday, April 16th.
Progress continued on the Fokker Dr.I Triplane. Art Caballeros has continued reassembling the airplane, so Saturday we found an airframe with all three wings and tail surfaces attached! Art showed up to paint the “N” numbers on the tail and completed that task before lunch. Kevin Monahan and Art Wilson worked on the rotary engine, effecting repairs to a few of the valve train bearings and by the end of the day had everything repaired and hooked back up.
Progress was made on the Thomas-Morse as well. At some point during the day Kevin finished varnishing the fuselage and painting fittings on T-1. We’ll need to do a thorough inspection to ensure everything is done… with that many nooks and crannies we are bound to have overlooked something! Tom Gaylord continued cleaning up cockpit and engine furnishings for reinstallation, and Dave Miller did some refurbishing work on the T-1 rudder bar.
Duncan Charlton spent his day working to get the 1921 Triumph motorcycle running satisfactorily. There have been issues with the brakes and various other controls, so Duncan was trying to fix those squawks! The bike actually spent a moderate amount of time being ridden around the property and while Duncan was successful in some repairs others are not quite ready for prime time yet!
David and Ian Whitaker spent much of their day working on the Dormoy Bathtub. Modifications were made to the tail wheel and its mount and the parts refinished. Various brackets were fabricated and the vertical fin cover was glued on. The airplane is starting to look like an airplane again!
Terry Bledsoe spent his day working around the grounds storing things, throwing out trash and preparing the place for grooming later in the month in preparation for the Fly-In on May 7th. Overall the property is looking better and better thanks to Terry’s considerable efforts!
Cameron Whitaker spent his day working on vehicles, mostly the Model T Ambulance as I understand it. He has made some changes to the distributor and the vehicle has continued its progression on working smoothly. John van den Eynde did a lot of work to prep the vehicle – getting the radiator cleaned out and refinished and installed. He also repainted the topsides on the other Model T ambulance and made a series of minor mechanical and cosmetic repairs around the vehicle. It does look much better than before, though we still need to address some bottom side issues… the differential still has some sort of minor leak, is dirty, and needs refinishing.
