Spring 2013
April 13 & 20, 2013
Volunteer Work Days. Come help us work on airplanes, vehicles, and the aerodrome!
2013 Calendar
- January 19, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- February 16, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- March 16, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- March 23, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- April 13 & 20, 2013 - Volunteer work days
- May 4, 2013 - AirFair preparation day
- May 11, 2013 - 2012 Air Fair
- TBD - Fall Fly-in & Picnic
Upcoming Event Information
Volunteer Work Days
Saturday, April 13 & 20, 2013
Come join us on Saturdays, April 13 and 20, for Volunteer Work Days. Help our dedicated team of volunteers maintain our aircraft and vehicles, re-cover the Thomas-Morse Scouts, maintain the grounds of the museum and get ready for AirFair 2013!
Recent Events
Volunteer Work Days
March 16 & 23, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
Two workdays were held in March, the 16th and the 23rd. We enjoyed great weather both days and a good crowd of volunteers! However, March has not been our best month ever....
Aircraft
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
On the 16th Mike Craig, Don Craig, and Drew Weininger installed new wingtip skids and replaced the points and points cam in the magneto. Mike installed the cam using the alignment marks he thought appropriate (there appeared to be several options marked on the unit). Don adjusted the valve lash on all cylinders and once buttoned back up and prop reinstalled the ship was dragged out into the sunlight for a ground run.
But the engine refused to start, and after thoroughly wearing himself out Don proclaimed that the engine wasn't getting any fire. Time to pull the magneto back out and double-check the work.
After reviewing what he'd done with the points cam installation, Mike eventually decided to set up the cam from scratch, as if he were building a new unit and ignoring all the existing alignment marks. As the unit came back together Mike realized the points cam had been installed 90 degrees off.
With the magneto reinstalled in the airplane the engine started easily and ran great - strong and smooth! Mike, Don & Drew decided to wash the airplane. And then decided to run it again before tucking it away in the hangar till April. Apparently the wash was a "test wash" and the real washing will happen in April!
The final tasks on this aircraft are to replace the tires and give it an overall condition inspection.
Curtiss Canuck
Aside from fluids the guys believe the engine is ready for ground runs. Chris Freeman is coming soon and he will go through the airplane in detail to ensure it is ready to fly.
The "Big Day" was the 23rd - the OX-5 was going to be ground run in preparation for flight in April. The airplane was pulled from the hangar and moved to the covered shop pad for final checks, fluids, and engine run. The turtle deck was pulled from the airplane as part of the condition inspection. Dave Orloff pulled out a vacuum cleaner to get the dirt and debris that had accumulated in the rear fuselage. Dave Edgerly and a few other guys started checking the engine and filling it with fluids. Oil was easy, water less so, as immediately there were several significant leaks from the water pump. Fortunately, the carb splash shield kept the carb dry. Fuel was procured, and after lunch the radiator water was topped up and the engine was finally ready to run.
Dave Orloff was wearing his lucky "one pull" cap, but it still took several swings before the engine sprung to life. Edgerly was in the cockpit and carefully warmed the old girl up before a couple of full throttle runs. The guys not helping hold the bird performed engine checks, noting that the leaks in the water pump tapered off dramatically and verifying all cylinders were firing. Things were looking pretty darned good!
Dave shut the engine down and the valve train was lubed. Steve came over to watch the next engine run and Dave climbed back into the cockpit to run her up again. Dave Orloff took up his station in front of the prop to swing as before, but as he was moving the prop into position a distinct groaning noise was heard coming from the engine. As Dave pulled the prop back and forth we noticed the prop seemed to have a little free play. The engine was checked as best we could to locate the groaning as the prop was slowly moved back and forth. Everyone feared the worst - a bad bearing.
The free play in the prop was analyzed and the cause was determined to be faulty installation - the prop had not been fully seated on the crankshaft nose. The key and keyway were inspected for damage and none was found.
The Canuck was pulled back over to the hangar and put up and further discussions lead to the notion that the groaning could be from the water pump shaft / seals / bearings as the noise was louder at the rear of the engine and Dave E. said he thought he could hear a faint clicking noise from the water pump. Perhaps that leaking water was a sign?
Dave E. and Steve will put together a plan to test out the water pump theory, but it doesn't look like the Canuck will be flying at Air Fair!
Piper J-3 Cub
After a low-altitude power loss, the J-3 was damaged in the ensuing forced landing. Nobody was seriously hurt, but the Cub will be out of action for a while. The 16th was given over to removing a few engine components, pickling the engine for storage, then storing the airplane. The wings were placed on the wall, while the fuselage remained on a dolly on the shop floor. The engine was then removed so Steve could take it back to Memphis for inspection, and the fuselage was hoisted into the rafters to await repairs.
Thomas-Morse S4C Scouts
Jerry Stark and Steve Richardson continued fitting the tail skid fairing on T-2. They eventually moved on to starting to fabricate the upper fuselage metal fairing that sits between the cockpit fairing and the engine cowl.
During the workday on the 23rd Jerry and Steve continued progressing the big forward fuselage top fairing and made a lot of headway! The basic shape is essentially finished, requiring a little trimming where the sheet metal hangs over the top longerons. Looking at T-1's fairing they will need to fabricate a few more items to finish the fairing but it is coming along very well. This may well be the final fairing needing to be fabricated for T-2, though there may be another belly fairing that needs to be fabbed up.
Team Vehicles
Indian Motorcycle
Kevin reports he has been painting lots of parts, and that he has a new kick-start gear assembly en route from Norway! Apparently there is a guy in Norway who makes parts for Excelsior, Pope and Indian Power Plus motorcycles!
Blue Racer Model T
Lynn installed the fuel cut-off valves in the Blue Racer, so the vehicle now has an in-line fuel filter and the fuel can be shut off and the line disconnected from the carb to work on the carb.
On the 23rd Clint Allred, his son John and Cameron Whitaker worked on the Blue Racer. They replaced the foot pedal shafts and the transmission bands and tweaked quite a few of the racer's components and at the end of the day had the racer up and running! Clint's wife Cathie came along and provided lunch for the family - they even fed Cameron!
Other Vehicles
On the 16th, John Busch, son Johnny and others charged up batteries and drove several of the vehicles around. On the 20th, the main focus of attention was the Blue Racer but Al Sumrall reports that they also took delivery of some parts that will get the wrecker up and running. Lynn Howell (and Killer) came out but Lynn had to leave early. While he was there Lynn and Al measured all the vehicles to help Terry draw up the plans for the new "garage". Terry needed the dimensions of all vehicles to lay out the proposed building.
Ian Whitaker spent part of his day cleaning out the carb on the "liaison motorcycle" as well as assisting his brother Cameron with the T. Speaking of Cameron, towards the end of the workday the transmission on his Model T broke and he stayed up all night and much of Sunday as well repairing it.
Miscellaneous
Donations
Mikey Orloff stopped by on the 16th to donate a Lawrence aircraft engine and some Curtiss Jenny tail feathers (uncovered).
Earl Shea dropped by on Saturday, March 23rd to donate some books, magazines and signed artwork / photographs that belonged to George Holmes - a museum member who passed away some nine years ago. Earl has recently started disposing of George's library on behalf of George's wife.
Linda Zakrzewski has donated another 5 boxes of books and materials from her late husband Al's collection to the PFM library. In 2012 she and her boys donated some 40 boxes of books & prints along with Al's unbuilt WWI aircraft model collection. The boxes of books donated this month were apparently recently found in the house!
Engine Displays
On the 16th Tom Moore continued his work with the rolling stands for the engines typically displayed at our events. The motor he was working on was one mounted on a floor dolly - an inconvenient height to view the engine! Tom was making measurements to construct a taller rolling mount.
Event Planning
Stephanie Miller came out to inventory the T-shirts for the upcoming Spring Air Fair. Dave Miller and Tom Miller spent some time out at the pavilion working out a better way to seat folks and speed up the serving lines.
Entrance Road Sign
Carl reports that he has finished building the wood work and trim on the upper part of the sign, and painted the back side with wood primer. He hopes to finish off his weekend by painting the front side. Despite the progress, Carl doubts the project will be finished by the Air Fair event. He has also asked us to add repair / renovation of the current sign's posts and roof to our project list!
LMG 08/15 "Spandau" Replica Project
On the 16th Al Sumrall, Kurt Maurer and Jerry Stark spent some time on the LMG 08/15 project. Jerry tested out the tooling he developed to bend new top straps which seemed to work fairly well. Kurt and Al spent some time talking about the ground gun replicas each has while looking at parts for the aviation replicas for the Triplane and D.VII.
On the 23rd the Gun Crew continued working on the ground guns while continuing to advance the aviation gun replicas. Al's cousin, Brent, had made an aluminum trigger guard grip mount component from plans that Al had so Kurt fabbed up a wooden grip to attach to it. Looked very good bolted onto the receiver. Kurt says he needs to do some work to stain it the proper color and all the ribbing / checkering to finish the piece.
Jerry returned with the Mk.II version of his jig for bending up receiver top strap parts and it sure looks like it'll do the trick. Tom Gaylord has ordered some 3003 H-14 spec aluminum plate to be cut into strips to test bend several examples to fully proof the jig. Al, Kurt, Tom and Jerry have recently been e-mailing regarding fabricating some two-hole replica ammo belts for the D.VII and the Triplane. These two airplanes are currently equipped with three-hole ammo belts (i.e., belts with three grommets in each round / bullet separator holding the assembly together) which were intended for infantry use. The airplanes used a narrower two-hole belt - something made possible by the feed chutes. You've no idea how this has chafed and gnawed at Al all these years!
Al has found two vendors able to provide the appropriate 30mm wide fabric belt material and Kurt did some local research and found a vendor willing to cut brass separators for us, and of course, Vintage Manufacturing can cut steel versions. Kurt also drew up the plans for the laser cutting and had Charlotte and the crew produce a small run of steel separators for experimentation. Kurt also visited with Mike Hallmark - the guy who did the leather covers on the motorcycle seats - to obtain a sample of grommets. The grommets were way too big though.
Some work was done to verify material thicknesses and sizes. Doug Ratchford agreed to research the grommets / rivets that hold the belts together. By the next workday Al should have his next type of ammo belt cloth available and we can perhaps get some grommets ordered that will allow the test assembly of the belts.
In Memoriam
We received word late February that John van den Eynde passed away late January 2013 - he died suddenly from a heart attack. John (and his dogs) spent several winters camped out in his travel trailer on the Old Kingsbury Aerodrome grounds, working on the restoration of the FWD truck, a 2-ton truck used in WWI. John had been making pretty good progress on the cab and the engine. John's history included time in the Belgian military and he was involved with several race car teams before eventually emigrating to Canada.
Volunteer Work Day
February 16, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
Aircraft
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Mike Craig and his father, Don were unable to attend the workday but Mike reports that the magneto points cam arrived and is ready for installation in March. They have also finished shaping and staining the replacement wingtip skids. Mike expects to be able to ground run the engine in March and hopes to get the airplane back in the air.
Thomas-Morse S4-C Scouts
Tom and Dave Miller worked on T-1 and reported that by the end of the day they had finished the fabrication and installation of the starboard side cheek cowl support structure. Even had the wood varnished!
T-2 received attention from Steve Richardson and Jerry Stark - they worked on fitting the metal fairing that encloses the tail skid root on the lower rear of the fuselage. The initial plan was to simply duplicate T-1's panel but it turns out the two aircraft have slightly different belly formers; T-2's belly former extends further rearwards. This changes the mounting points and the curvature of the piece which renders the duplicate T-1 fairing a mere starting point! Getting this panel to fit correctly is taking a lot more thought, trimming and shaping than was originally anticipated!
Piper J-3 Cub
Steve Freeman, Billy Cheshire, and Ian Whitaker tackled a flat tire on the Piper Cub. Good progress was made until they required materials not available on the field - time for a lunch break and a run to the store! Once the tire was repaired, Ian flew the airplane and while airborne noticed a fuel leak in the gascolator. Steve and Ian repaired the leak. Ian reports the airplane flies fine, but no word on whether the trim adjuster issue has been conquered or the tail wheel straightened out.
Curtiss Canuck
Jerry Stark and Kevin Monahan lapped the exhaust valve on the Jenny's leaking cylinder and after finishing the task reassembled the pushrod and valve rocker components. They performed a cylinder leak test and are delighted to report they've cured the leak! Their final task was to ensure all the valves were adjusted correctly. Perhaps we’ll be able to fire the old girl up in March?
Ercoupe
Steve Freeman has continued working on the Ercoupe that was donated to the museum at the end of 2012, alternating between his other project - a Meyers 200! Steve says he has the replacement instrument panel built but still needs to rewire a few of the instruments because he tried to move the layout to a more original factory arrangement. Steve decided not to install the instrument panel’s two storage boxes that came in factory panels - the parts involved are somewhat complex and Steve didn't want to have to manufacture all that in his home shop, plus he considers the boxes "useless" since they are only about six inches deep!
Team Vehicles
1918 Indian Motorcycle
Kevin Monahan reports that he is still chasing the clutch and kick start issues. His number one problem is locating a kicker gear. The new transmission mount bolts reduced the slipping gear but did not eliminate it. The dogs on the back of the gear are "mugged" (yeah... that is a technical term!) so Kevin is searching the globe trying to locate a replacement. His supplier in Australia has not been able to provide the part, so Kevin is now talking with a vendor in Massachusetts. Again! Kevin did procure three clutch parts and has two of them painted and installed.
Model Ts
Blue Racer - Lynn Howell reports that there was no way to shut off the fuel and disconnect the fuel line from the carb. Lynn pulled the fuel cut-off valve which was plumbed directly onto an "L" on the carb. Lynn has purchased the fittings required to separate the cut-off valve from the carb and plans to reinstall the unit in March along with a new fuel filter.
Other Model Ts - most of the other operational Ts got pulled out of the hangar and started up, driven around and generally exercised.
Miscellaneous
Dirt Berm
Terry Bledsoe and Charlotte Parker continued their dirt project - spreading the dirt from the berm. Basically an excuse to drive tractors and such around the property all day!
Entrance Sign
Carl Canga has been working on a replacement for the faded front gate sign at the split in the property road. The new sign is designed to match signage from the 1920s and have more of a 'barnstorming' feel to it. Most of the work is being done in his garage with occasional trips to the aerodrome to take measurements, cut lumber and get advice from some of the others. The laser cut logo has been primed and painted. The parking sign and the under banner have been completed. Carl hopes to have the project installed in time for the Spring Air Fair in early May.
Volunteer Work Day
January 19, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
The museum held one workday in January - on Saturday the 19th. Turn-out among the volunteers was excellent, as was the weather! Lots of progress was made on various projects! Here is a run-down on all the action!
Aircraft
Thomas-Morse Scouts
Dave Miller and Steve Richardson continued working on T-1's rub strips and cheek cowl frames. Steve Richardson specialized in the fuselage longeron rub strips, making good progress in getting the wood strips aligned properly and tacked on. Dave Miller worked on fabricating the starboard cheek cowl mounting frame. Fabricating these mounting frames is intricate work, in the same way that the longeron rub strips were - numerous relief cuts needed to clear brackets and bolt heads, many of which were on angles.
No work was done on T-2. The fuselage was in the process of being stripped so it could be flipped over on the work stands to permit fabrication of the belly panels.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Mike and Don Craig set about working on the Triplane's spark plugs as well as replacing the wing tip skids with examples that curved downwards more to try to keep the wing tips from contacting the ground.
The wing tip skids on the machine were fabricated from straight sledge hammer handles and in some of the landing excitement the trailing edge of the wing tip can contact the ground and cause damage. Mike showed up with two curved ax handles as potential replacements. Mike and Don spent some time evaluating whether the ax handles would actually do a better job of protecting the wing tips, as the ax handles were noticeably shorter than the sledge hammer handles. Their definitive visual aid was to use a floor jack and blocks to tilt the airplane up almost into wingtip skid touchdown position, first with the current skid installed, then with the replacement skid installed. Their opinion was that the ax handle replacement would elevate the wing tip a couple of inches, so they removed the ax handles to finish shaping the handles and lacquer them.
Mike and Don have two items on their ignition system overhaul - replace the spark plugs and install new points and points cam in the magneto. They have located the points cam and have ordered a couple but they did not arrive in time for the workday. Mike researched the spark plugs and determined that spark plugs used for vintage motorcycles with magneto ignition would work in the Triplane's rotary engine. $2 each!! They fit well, and better yet Mike reports the engine ran better than he's ever felt it. The engine started on the first flip and ran significantly smoother! During the engine ground test Don noticed that the machine gun muzzles were no longer shimmying around, they stayed still.
Future work on the airplane includes installing the new wing tip skids and new magneto points cam, as well as the points themselves if replacement units can be found. Mike plans on making a few adjustments to the tail skid to give it a bit more authority, and install new main gear tires as the current tires are suffering from dry rot.
Piper J-3 Cub
A new volunteer, James Olsen, is an A&P and he jumped onto the Piper Cub's engine to change the oil and look into the tail wheel unit, which has apparently become bent. Looking at the airplane from the rear the tail wheel is slightly cocked over towards the left and misaligned with the fuselage but the entire problem appears to be located in the tail wheel's leaf spring. The leaves are no longer aligned with each other and the lower leaf also looked twisted. Charlotte has been complaining that the airplane won't turn left while taxiing, so after the engine was run after servicing Ian took the airplane up to test it out. Ian checked the tail wheel movement prior to take-off and everything seemed fine, but after landing the tail wheel wouldn't turn left. Ian also reports that the trim system isn't working and he made no progress on diagnosing the problem. In the air he can give it a bit nose up trim and then the system stops responding. No further repair was attempted.
Curtiss Canuck
Dave Edgerly, Jerry Stark, and Kevin Monahan continued their work in getting the OX-5 to run. Jerry brought along a Harbor Freight bore scope to look up inside the combustion chambers. They were able to verify that cylinder #1 does indeed have a leak at the exhaust valve seat. Next workday will see them lapping in the valve and seat. The cylinder was prepped for the valve work by removing the valve actuation parts.
The other issue was a cylinder where the valve lash could not be set correctly as the pushrod appeared to be too short! A replacement pushrod was located in one of the parts drawers and cleaned up for installation. Once everything was back together they had no difficulty achieving the correct 0.10" valve lash.
Curtiss Junior
Steve reports this aircraft is almost ready to fly! He is waiting on paperwork for the pusher prop. The documentation is expected any time now.
Ercoupe
Steve has made good progress on getting the airplane ready to fly again, though it is proving to be a bit more expensive than originally thought! Typical airplane! The aileron hinges have been replaced as required. Steve has also inspected the wing's center section for corrosion, also as required. Of the three approved methods of inspection Steve says removing the wings to directly look inside and inspect the metal was by far the easiest! Both wings were removed in 20 minutes total! The new instrument panel has been fabricated and is approaching readiness for installation.
There was some consideration of applying for the STC that allows higher weight limits, however when Steve realized that required aircraft modifications included re-skinning the forward fuselage the STC idea was shelved!
Team Vehicles
1918 Indian
Kevin reports that not much has happened with the Indian. He continues chasing the parts needed to finish the repairs from unreliable vendors dispersed around the globe. Pretty frustrating. Kevin did give a tour of the museum (together with Billy Cheshire) to a trio from "Ride Texas" a motorcycling organization, so Kevin brought the Indian back to show them that bike as well as the Triumph and all the aircraft and Model Ts. They were impressed that both bike could start and run! In the process of installing / removing the fuel tanks from the Indian one of the frame-mounted tabs broke off and Kevin has repaired that. Work on refinishing the fuel tanks continues.
Model Ts
Virtually all the Model T vehicles were pulled from the hangar and started if possible. All had their radiator contents adjusted with antifreeze and the resulting mix tested for temperature tolerance. The main folks doing this work were Steve Penaluna and his son, Cameron Whitaker, Ian Whitaker, and Lynn Howell.
The wrecker will need new transmission bands and those have been ordered. The Kevlar bands will be installed in the Blue Racer as the bands already installed have issues!
Miscellaneous
Field Damage Repair/Berm
Terry Bledsoe spent much of his day driving the front end loader, going back and forth from the dirt berm carrying dirt out to a part of the airfield where the hogs have rooted through the turf and dug everything up.
Entrance Road Sign
Carl Canga, with an assist from Dave Miller worked on the new road sign, located inside the entrance where the road splits in two. They cut and shaped some lumber to form part of the sign and Carl got a good look at his laser cut letters. The current sign is absolutely rotting apart!
Engine Display
Tom Moore and Doug Ratchford worked on installing caster wheels on the existing stands under the display engines. They managed to get the Hall-Scott done; apparently the wood in the stand is very old dense pine and was difficult to work with.
Library Inventory
Diane Edgerly came out with Dave and worked on cataloging the donated library in the PFM HQ building. She was shocked by the number of boxes in the room and elected to start with the prints. She reports that there are many items that would look very good gracing someone's walls. There are some prints by artists that Dave Orloff says are very popular, such as Hubbell and Biederman. Diane is hoping to be a regular and begin working her way through the entire mountain of books. If anyone has any shelving to donate Diane says it would make the task a little easier to manage.
Windsock
Charlotte, Jack and Ian hung up a replacement windsock for the field as the old one was a tattered rag! Charlotte was the one who rode the forklift up to replace the windsock. We should be good for another year or two!
Volunteer Work Days
December, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
The December workday had a surprisingly good turn-out and there were several significant developments. Work resumed on the two Thomas-Morse projects, but we continue to run into problems with the Canuck's OX-5 motor. There were two significant donations to the museum in December - parts for an SE5a as well as a complete Ercoupe!
Aircraft Projects
Thomas-Morse Scouts
Steve Richardson and Tom Miller worked more on Tommy-1's wood work. The wood brace pieces for the left cheek cowl frame were finished and installed. Steve worked mainly on the port side upper longeron rub strip. He installed virtually the whole length and then decided it wasn't quite right and should be mounted higher up on the longeron. Steve took the rub strip off and began reattaching it in the proper position.
Jerry Stark worked on the tail skid fairing on T-2. The piece is troubling as the wood belly form extends further back on the fuselage than T-1's belly form, which results in T-1 having a longer metal fairing finishing off the belly coverings. T-2 started to be stripped so the fuselage can be turned over on stands so the fairing can be easily worked on. Still, Jerry did a lot of measuring and figuring and finally some trimming to get the fairing closer to its final shape.
T-2's front fuselage fairing will need to be patterned as it assembles underneath the cockpit fairing, and the windshield fairing will also have to be fitted to these two fairings. The screws used to fasten the headrest to the cockpit fairing are wrong in respect to the Tommy 1. T-1's headrest fairing attaches with round head screws and what was available during the work day were pan head screws. Steve offered to buy the proper screws.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Mike Craig requested the model and serial number of the Triplane's magneto - he wants to try and find a new set of points and a cam for the unit as his testing revealed that the timing was wandering around from cylinder to cylinder - firing on time for some of the cylinders and retarded on others, usually alternating. Mike believes this may be contributing to the spark plug oil fouling as well as the minor vibration. Ian Whitaker read off the numbers while Tom Gaylord took notes - the inside of the Triplane is dark and the mag is mounted upside down so all the numbers were inverted!
Curtiss Canuck
Kevin Monahan, Bob Gardner and Dave Edgerly worked on getting the Canuck ready to run-up. Kevin and Bob got the propeller attached and secured but they did notice that the bolts are way too long and required washer stacks to get the nuts into position to allow the cotter pins to properly safety them. Another set of bolts for Steve to purchase!
Dave finished hooking up the cooling system with new hose material and filled the crankcase with 4 gallons of the 80W Ashless Dispersant oil that Dave donated to the museum. Kevin, Jerry Stark and Dave set the intake valve clearance on all eight cylinders - no problems encountered. The exhaust valve clearances were a different story! All were adjusted within spec except cylinders number 1 & 7.
The exhaust valve for cylinder number 1 wouldn't close completely, but Dave is confident that is a minor issue and can easily be fixed next workday. Cylinder number 7 was a real puzzle until they noticed the exhaust pushrod appeared to be physically shorter than the other seven pushrods! The threaded adjustment portion of the pushrod was 1/2" shorter than all the others - which neatly explained why they couldn't get the clearance adjustment anywhere near close! They could not get tighter than 0.060" lash clearance - the manual's proper clearance is 0.010". There will be an expedition next workday to find a proper length exhaust pushrod for an OX-5 engine from the spares drawer.
The team wisely decided to not fill the radiator/cooling system with water in case Kingsbury gets freezing weather before the next workday.
J-3 Cub
At some point in the recent past the Cub's tail wheel tapered roller bearings were replaced - but apparently it was a bit of a rush job because the races were not replaced as well. Ian took on the assignment of replacing the races. Ian had little trouble driving out the old races and thoroughly cleaning the hub halves. Then the races were tossed into the freezer while the hubs were set to bake in the little oven on the roll-around stand.
After a suitable length of time for aluminum hubs to expand and steel races to contract Ian set about getting the races installed in the hub. Ian successfully got the races installed with no drama and just a bit of help from Steve. Ian greased the bearings and put the tail wheel back together - giving the wheel a little test spin at the end.
Ian next tackled the Cub's trim indicator - just a little bead that rides in a slot, but it wasn't where it was supposed to be. That took just a couple of minutes to fix. Ian was supposed to also put brake fluid in the reservoirs but the fluid had apparently been thrown out. A task for the next workday.
Ian reported that he flew the Cub, but only about twenty minutes as the trim stopped working while trimmed nose up so he landed. The trim had worked fine during the first fifteen minutes of the flight but then it stopped working properly. Back on the ground it was back to working fine again. A little more investigation needed there!
Rearwin Sportster
Ian was a busy boy! One of the Sportster's tires was flat and would not hold air at all. Terry Bledsoe donated / loaned a tire and inner tube from his Champ project and he and Ian removed the flat and put the new tire and tube on the hub. The Rearwin looks so much better with inflated tires! Our "Thanks" to Terry for the tire & tube!
SE5a
Steve received a donation of SE5a metal parts (reproductions) - sufficient for two aircraft kits. The kits contained many special parts like the cast trim wheels, control column, turn & bank instrument, etc., etc. There are copies of drawings with the parts all bagged and labelled according to factory part numbers. The donation included jigs to build wing ribs and false ribs.
The parts were looked over and photographed then stored in the HQ building. Before offering any part of the kit for sale we'll need to get the paper documentation reproduced and the parts sorted and catalogued.
The Museum has an SE5a fuselage hanging in the rafters that was built and donated by Jack Kearbey. We'll likely begin building wing ribs and such and sort out the wing fittings from the kit then see about selling the remainder. Unofficial plan....
Ercoupe
Steve was also approached about accepting the donation of an Ercoupe. The aircraft is in good shape and was just completing its annual inspection when two things happened: the buyer of the aircraft backed out and the FAA issued an AD regarding aileron hinges. Steve is working a deal to get the aircraft to his hangar so he can do the work to satisfy the AD. Steve also wants to update / replace the instrument panel.
Pietenpol Sky Scout
No further work done on the aircraft as it is still trapped in the hangar by the Canuck. Al and Ian believe the engine could be ground run without much difficulty once it has been freed from its dark corner niche!
Team Vehicles
Indian Motorcycle
Kevin Monahan reports that the transmission cover crack has been repaired, the part painted and ready to go. The tranny cover was cracked while taking the clutch release bearing out due to a ridge on the inside wall which cocked the release bearing on the way out. The crack was only visible on the inside and was repaired by welding the crack and preparing the gasket surface. Kevin has painted the cover.
The issue Kevin has been working to resolve is the poor clutch action. Kevin says that the new clutch release bearing fixed some of the clutch's issues, making it feel better but more improvement is both possible and desirable! The new clutch release made it better but it is not great. The only metal plate in the clutch is badly corroded and the spring screw locking plate was not installed - you can see the small screw holes on the spring securing plate. The spring securing plate is warped so Kevin has been shopping the globe looking for replacement parts. Kevin says he thinks he has finally located appropriate parts and has them on order.
Kevin says that he has new studs and nuts for the tranny cover to install - the current studs are all in bad shape and are too short, the threads sticking out of the cover just enough to accept the nuts.
Model Ts
Post Fly-In Al Sumrall reports Team Vehicles is sort of in "rest & recuperation" mode, just keeping batteries working and the vehicles exercised. Blue Racer is still getting some attention, while Cameron Whitaker and Bruce Robertson continue working on their personal Model T projects.
Blue Racer
The Blue Racer seems to be having some transmission issues and the unit has been in and out of the car, something unspecified with the transmission bands. Lynn Howell didn't make the 2nd workday in the month so we are a little unclear about what is going on at the moment. However, the transmission looked to be reassembled and reinstalled in the car....
Miscellaneous Projects
LMG Upgrade
There is a small project team of volunteers (Al, Kurt, Jerry, Tom G, and occasionally Dave O) working on making better looking and complete LMG 08/15 Spandau guns and systems for the Triplane and the Fokker D.VII. The team has met once or twice, collected research, and is starting to evaluate the fabrication of parts. We have a set of steel parts laser cut from some drawings done by Richard Blackett.
The basic process will be fabricating a serviceable core for the models, a bare receiver, barrel and cooling jacket before moving on to the peripheral pieces. Towards that end Kurt Maurer cut out a receiver core to locate the receiver's steel plate side pieces. Al will be using that to work out a few ideas he has.
Al has also been buying original LMG 08/15 parts off eBay, with the intent of assembling his own non-firing infantry gun. Kurt Maurer spent some time helping Al get his bipod and wood stock to fit up properly. Terry Bledsoe and Kurt have also helped to get Al's top strap to fit his receiver better.
Jerry Stark took a spare cooling jacket home to curve into a cylinder and try welding the seam. There is some concern about the slip roller crimping the part into flat-sided segments rather than smoothly curling the metal. This effect seems to be due to the holes being pre-cut into the flat sheet. The Germans during the war may have created the cooling slots by cutting them into infantry-style water cooling jackets rather than the method we are using.
Hangar Clean-Up
Cameron Whitaker, Al Sumrall, Terry Bledsoe and Ian Whitaker did a mini workday. One of the tasks Terry and Ian worked on was cleaning up the back of the Old Hangar. All the "stuff" stockpiled there was sorted and properly stored or disposed of. The back of the hangar is looking quite a bit better!
Volunteer Work Days
November, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
We had a very good turn-out for the November workday that preceded the Fall Fly-In event. A lot of work got done and the weather was excellent! Here are the highlights!
Team Aircraft
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Fokker Dr.I Triplane The big news was that the Fokker Triplane returned to flight, and Ron Marcotte made a video of the event and posted it on YouTube. Click through and watch as Steve Freeman flew the airplane. Ron titled the episode a "touch and go", but in reality Steve landed on one of the rougher parts of the runway and found himself airborne again after being launched off a hump so he just added power and went around.
The day started with Cameron Whitaker returning the Triplane's Scintilla magneto which he'd cleaned up and overhauled. Mike Craig and Don Craig went into action installing the mag and timing it correctly. Afterwards it was time to try and ground run the engine. Which didn't go as well as hoped!
Investigating the issue resulted in Mike and Don pulling the mag and trying again to get it stabbed / timed properly. This process yielded success and resulted in a very successful ground run.
Steve wanted to try and fly the airplane and did so in the afternoon. All work on the field stopped to watch, and the flight was pretty well photographed and filmed! For once it looked like Steve was actually enjoying flying the airplane - though he still had the landing to perform!
Ultimately the landing went well and the airplane was towed back to the hangar. Steve still notes some engine vibration but the general consensus is that the plugs need to be replaced. The search for replacement plugs is on!
Meyers OTW
The Meyers was prepped to fly during the day and Mike Craig got a ride with Steve. They were gone for a while; it was Mike's first biplane ride as well as his first tail dragger flight. Mike is working on his pilot's license and really enjoyed the trip.
Canuck
The final preparations for installing the engine were carried out in the shop, after which the motor was hoisted up on the tines of the forklift and trucked across the field to the Old Hangar. It took thousands of "supervising" eyeballs to ensure the forklift was raised enough to get the motor over the Canuck's engine bay yet still squeeze under the hangar door opening! But eventually everything was aligned and the old OX was lowered into place on the Canuck's engine bearers.
Dave Edgerly then took over, working with Bob Gardner, Billy Cheshire, Dave Orloff and Ian Whittaker to start connecting up everything that needed to be hooked up so the motor mounts could be bolted down. Ian was specifically recruited to do things like reinstall the water pump at the back of the engine because he is slender and flexible and there is very little room between the back of the motor, the firewall, and the engine bearers!
Once the engine was cinched down onto the engine bearers the aircraft was moved across to the shop's concrete apron for further work. Dave Edgerly began tearing down the carbs to clean them up and get everything working properly. The day ended with lots remaining to do on the Canuck!
Dormoy Bathtub
With the sale of their parent's house in Sealy Ian and Cameron brought back the Dormoy project. Currently it is being stored in the rear of the old hangar! Work done so far looks very good, but man that sure is a tiny airplane!
Team Vehicles
Motorcycles
Thursday before the Fly-In Kevin Monahan washed the Triumph and filled it with oil and gas, oiled it well and adjusted tire pressure to ensure all was well for the event. Kevin also installed the new license plates on the vehicle. The new license number was found under the paint and stickers when Kevin refurbished the front fender plate, so he modified the rear plate to match. The bike now wears a license number it once had when operational on UK roads.
On Friday Kevin put the Indian back together and got it running. Kevin hasn't had much time to work on the Indian's clutch issues as he is eyeball deep in his first paint & body project - the Indian's fuel tanks! Kevin has been learning a lot and is intent on producing a very nice finish on the fuel tanks. But sometimes it is two steps forward and one step back. Kevin has had to strip one of the tanks of the bondo he'd applied because of contaminants in the mix so he is starting over with that tank. Kevin is trying to smooth out the weld seams and warps in the tanks - he reports that each tank was made from four pieces, plus all the knobs and drains and filler holes welded on! Kevin has one tank ready for Olive Drab paint, but it was in much better shape than the tank he has been struggling with. Kevin has also made some new fender stays and those are also ready for paint. But nothing will get painted till the other half of the fuel tank is ready also!
Model Ts
The workday saw the usual fussing about with the Model Ts, getting them ready for the Fall Fly-In the following weekend. Everything seemed to be fine with most of the Model Ts, the exception being the Blue Racer which is still down with drivability issues. Work is progressing on the Blue Racer, so there is hope it'll be running for the Fly-In. Model Ts were driven to lunch at Ebbo's in downtown Kingsbury to get a little extra drive time on them.
Miscellaneous
Charlotte pulled a "Tom Sawyer" and convinced Al Sumrall and Kurt Maurer to paint the sign arching over the property's entrance before the Fall Fly-In. Kurt slyly offered to operate the forklift if Al would do the actual painting. Al took the bait - hook, line and sinker! Al ain't no Michelangelo, so we were all lucky the task was more like "paint by numbers"!
Al did a great job on the repainting, but the operation wasn't without some drama. Al was initially surprised at how things swayed around up on the forklift but he quickly adjusted to that. What really threw him was coming across a "boa constrictor" in one of the tree branches, about two feet from Al's face when Al first noticed him. Al says the evil monster was about a foot long and big around as Al's finger! Despite being faced with a lethal killer Al stayed moderately calm and finished the painting while keeping an eye out in case the ravenous reptile decided to make Al its next meal. Sensing Al's fear the cold-blooded man-eating brute feigned indifference while it waited for the perfect opportunity to strike and take his hapless prey down, but Al wasn't playing that game and quickly painted some distance between himself and his stalker. Al was extremely relieved to finish the job and get returned to earth without being squoze and devoured!
Al really did a great job on the painting though - it looked very spiffy for the Fly-In. Next step is repairing the sign at the split in the property's road! So our "Thanks!" to Charlotte for conning Kurt and Al into repainting the sign and to Al and Kurt for completing the task!
Volunteer Work Days
October 13 & 20, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
The Pioneer Flight Museum held two workdays in October, the 13th and the 20th. The workday on the 13th was expected to be a smaller group and to get less done as Steve Freeman was unable to attend due to commitments elsewhere. The workday on the 20th was the usual full-throttle affair, and quite interesting as the team essentially completed reassembling the OX-5 engine and did a deep dive into the Triplane's 80-hp Le Rhone rotary engine in an attempt to determine why it seemed to be vibrating so much.
Team Airplane
Thomas-Morse Scouts
No work was done on the 13th; all the action took place on the 20th! Steve Richardson varnished T-1's longeron's rub strip as prep for installation while Jerry Stark finished prepping the T-2 cheek cowls for installation: drilling holes in the piano hinge segments and chamfering them for screws. Tom Miller and Steve Richardson worked on T-2's belly tail fairing which fits around the tail skid, checking cardboard templates and transferring the pattern to sturdier material for fit checks. After they were satisfied they had a good template they cut aluminum and began rough trimming / shaping the part. Tom, Steve and Jerry also worked on assembling the T-2 cockpit coaming, drilling holes and temporarily screwing the headrest fairing onto the cockpit coaming and support frame.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Most of the work done on the 13th was prep work for delving into the engine. Dave Edgerly, Dave Orloff, and Ian Whitaker removed the prop and cowling from the Dr.I. Edgerly discovered that 3 of the 4 engine mounting bolts were about a half-turn loose - could be a source or result of the vibration Steve felt while operating the airplane. Ian patched the fabric on the Dr-1 wingtip repairing the damage incurred in Steve's last landing.
On the 20th the goal of the day was to figure out why the engine was vibrating so much, even though it was running very strongly! Mike Craig and Don Craig checked the prop's balance and found everything was in order. Steve Freeman, Mike and Don started disassembling the front of the rotary engine to inspect the engine's internals, especially the crankshaft nose piece. Roger had already had a crank nose piece break while flying the Thomas-Morse. A damaged crank was the focus of the day! Since folks typically don't get much opportunity to see the internals of a rotary engine Steve, Mike and Don had quite an audience throughout the process!
The crank's nose piece was found to be fine. A slightly bent push rod was discovered and replaced. An internal rocker arm was found to have some pitting on the roller so the unit was replaced. The bearings in the cam plate were cleaned out as they were stiff from castor oil varnish and fouled spark plugs were cleaned.
Mike lubed all the bearings and moving parts in the Triplane's control system (i.e., ailerons, elevators and rudder) which lightened control system effort considerably! One tire was aired up. Mike also adjusted the tension on the air & fuel levers so they would not close due to vibration in flight.
Once everything was buttoned up the crew attempted to start the engine - without success. Fuel was flowing but there was no ignition. Troubleshooting led to the brush protruding through the firewall not contacting the brass pads on the distributor ring. The unit seemed to have the carbon brush hung up in the mount, and the contact surfaces inside the mount were slightly corroded, so those parts were cleaned up. However, the engine still had no fire so troubleshooting moved further up the system.
Evaluation of the magneto revealed pitting and corrosion on the points and a buildup of castor oil varnish inside the mag. Our mag is not Le Rhone OEM equipment and has a ventilation screen in the casing which was allowing castor oil fumes inside. It is possible that the magneto was able to fire the plugs with the brush hung up in the holder, but in its degraded condition the spark was weak and allowed the plugs to foul. Cameron Whitaker took the magneto home with him for further cleaning and sealing the casing. The magneto is due to be reinstalled in the airplane on the November 3rd work day!
Curtiss Canuck
On the 13th the Canuck got her new tires! Kevin Monahan and Terry Bledsoe mounted the tubes & tires on the Canuck rims and Dave Edgerly and Dave Orloff reinstalled the wheels on the plane.
Steve arrived in Kingsbury a few days before the workday on the 20th, and since the OX-5's cylinders were back from repair he called a couple of volunteers and they started reassembling the motor. Steve Freeman thinks they put those two cylinders on the motor about eight times! On, off, on, off, repeat as necessary! The best theory on why the exhaust valves were stuck is plain old lack of lubrication.
On the 20th the engine was completely reassembled by Mike McCormick and Kevin Monahan. Intake manifolds, valve gear, water pipes and connections, and more were refitted to the engine. Work included making a variety of paper gaskets and properly torqueing down all nuts and bolts. Kevin Monahan was intent on finding "proper" spark plugs for the OX as the plugs that were in the motor didn't come anywhere close to reaching into the combustion chamber! However, the engine has seemed to run just fine on them though.
Kevin reports that aside from adjusting valve lash and lubricating the valve stems the engine is complete and ready for reinstallation. Kevin thinks he'll have the work done prior to the November 3rd work day.
Piper J-3 Cub
On the 20th the Cub sure got a workout! Ian took up a total of three different passengers: Billy Cheshire, Cameron Whitaker and a visitor to the field. Billy and Ian toured the countryside with Billy pointing out to Ian his home. Later Ian and Cameron flew the Cub to a local airfield to refuel he airplane. When they returned to the field there were a couple of visitors and Ian took one of them up. He was an older gentleman who said he had flown for about 50 years, but he hadn't been up in ages! Steve took the other visitor up right afterward.
At the end of the day eight people flew in the Cub yesterday! Some kind of record!
Pietenpol Sky Scout
Al Sumrall and Ian Whitaker, co-crew chiefs on "Old Pete", looked over the Pietenpol a little to see what else needed to be done before trying to start the engine. Their opinion is that it's not far from running. They need to change out the oil, clean out the gascolator and button up the engine's cowlings. Though uncomfortable, they reckon most of this work can be done in the hangar's back corner where the Pietenpol has been trapped for several months due to the Canuck's engine and wheel work!
The last step would be putting a prop on it to try and start the motor. They'd like to "borrow" the Cub's prop (good luck with that, as much as that airplane has been flying!). Ian reports that he has someone looking at the Pietenpol's real prop, Ed Sterba, the craftsman who is making the Dormoy prop. Ed apparently doesn't think Old Pete's prop will be hard to fix! Ian expects to hear soon from Ed to discuss the possible prop repairs.
On the 20th Team Vehicles swung into action continuing to prepare vehicles for the Fly-In.
Team Vehicles
Triumph
Kevin Monahan reports the guy who is doing the Triumph license plates is scheduled to finish the work late October. Kevin expects to have the Triumph fully operational for the Fly-In.
Model Ts
Team Vehicles was pretty active on the 13th - Ian Whitaker, Steve Penaluna and Cameron Whitaker removed the wheels and took off the three tires from the French Ambulance. Al Sumrall and Cameron took the wheels to College station to have two tires mounted. Bruce Robertson and Cameron got Bruce's unpainted T started without too much trouble and Cameron drove it a bit.
The Black Arts - Cameron Whitaker finished rebuilding and adjusting four Model T coils. The process was appropriate for Halloween! These old coils are encapsulated in a wooden box, and Cameron was boiling pitch in a pot on a burner to fill the wood box and seal the coil's components inside. He then had to adjust the coils to ensure they would work properly!
Blue Racer - Lynn Howell continued working on the Blue Racer and had a breakthrough day! He disassembled the carb and discovered the float wasn't working as somewhere along the way a metal tab got bent down! Ten seconds later the float was fixed and the carb was working properly - at last! The vehicle still needs Cameron's special distributor linkage installed so the spark advance works properly. The way things are now the engine can be set up to run right but moving the spark advance messes everything up!
TT - Steve Penaluna installed a new fuel cutoff valve which fixed the fuel leaks the vehicle was enduring.
The TT, wrecker, and US Ambulance were started and run. Everyone was impressed when the US Ambulance started on the first pull of the crank! Due to work in the hangar the Signal Corps truck couldn't be moved out of the hangar, and the "French Ambulance" was still waiting on new tires.
Miscellaneous Activities
Culverts & Roads
Prior to the work day on the 20th Charlotte eliminated the extra culvert that was clogged and cleared and repaired the main entrance culvert. These culverts up by FM-1104 cause water to copiously flow down across the roads on the property and leaves them badly washed out. This has been a problem for several years now! Charlotte also filled the ruts and smoothed the roads. Looks like she does great work because recent rains did not erode the roads any!
There is also a plan afoot to lay crushed rock onto the road that goes to the pavilion from the front entrance. Cost will be split between the Museum, the R/C club, and Old Kingsbury Aerodrome. This work will not be attempted until after the Fall Fly-In!
Landing Strip Work
Terry Bledsoe, Dave Orloff, Tom Gaylord, and Billy Cheshire went into the jungle at the north end of the runway to clear "Wesatch" shrubs. Billy out-worked his three companions! The crew removed an overflowing pickup truck bed of Wesatch weed!
Wild Hog Damage
Terry and Charlotte worked together to fill in some holes that wild hogs have recently rooted into the R/C flying field in front of the pavilion. Terry continued filling in some low spots up near the shop apron while clearing dirt from the south end of the berm to create more room for the Model Ts to parade during the Fly-In.
Volunteer Work Day
September 15, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
September had two workdays, one on the 8th and the other on the 15th. Turnout on the 8th seemed small, but a lot of work got done! Turnout on the 15th was greater and while we didn't get to work on some projects we thought we would it was still a day to remember as the Triplane flew again!
Team Airplanes
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
All the Triplane action happened on the 15th, as Mike Craig, the airplane's crew chief was unavailable on the 8th. On the 15th Mike Craig and Don Craig installed stiffer springs in the tail skid steering cables so there would be some shock protection to the system while helping to provide a more responsive control system. They also rigged the tail skid steering cables so there is no tension on the cables when the skid is in a neutral position.
They also got tired of frayed wire ends snagging their clothes and sticking their hands so they proceeded to trim the cable ends on all the tail group control cables, seized the crimping ferrules and wire ends with string and then doped the string to provide some weather protection.
Once Cameron Whitaker's Model T had some wheels on it the vehicle was moved out of the way which allowed the Triplane to be taken from the hanger. Mike ran up the engine and it felt really strong. Despite a bit of a variable cross wind on the runway Steve elected to fly the airplane. The take-off was very quick, as usual, and Steve was correcting like the dickens to keep the airplane pointed down the runway in the crosswind. The airplane seemed to fly fine, but Steve commented that while the engine runs well it is not particularly smooth. Steve made several low level passes and several practice approaches for the landing.
Steve landed the airplane fine, as usual, and kept it pointed down the runway until the tail dropped. With the tail down the Triplane turned into the wind immediately, as usual, and tipped up onto the starboard wing skid. No real damage was done but the trailing edge of the starboard lower wing was slightly scuffed and may require a small patch. Besides the Le Rhone not running as smoothly as expected Steve's only other complaint was that the air lever would vibrate to a closed position if it was halfway open or less. Mike will look into adjustments or devices that will ensure the lever stays where it was put!
The rotary engine not running smoothly is worrisome as a feature of the rotary engine is its smoothness! So a vibration while the engine is running is a sign something is amiss! During the October workday we need to check the engine compartment for things that may be loose, but we'll also check the prop's balance and the crankshaft's nose piece for evidence of cracking or breakage. It will be an interesting investigation but the potential outcomes are certainly worrisome!
Mike Craig also has plans to create and fit new wingtip skids, making them curve down a bit more at the ends and extending a bit further behind the wing’s trailing edge. Ron Marcotte has posted a video of the flight and landing on YouTube. It can be viewed at Fokker flight.
Thomas-Morse S4C Scouts
On the 8th Ron Marcotte and Jerome Matula resumed fabricating the cheek cowls for T-2, adding piano hinges for the port side cowl (measuring, shaping, drilling, clecoing and riveting) and started the same process for the starboard cowl. Steve Richardson continued working on the cockpit coaming - fastening to the frame, final shaping and starting to fabricate the headrest fairing.
When work resumed on the 15th Ron Marcotte and Jerry Stark continued fitting the cheek cowls to T-2. One of their big issues was that the piano hinge fitting for one of the T-1 cheek cowls had holes drilled for fasteners at very odd places so they wanted to understand what was happening there. They decided that the cheek cowl frame on T-1 was left unsupported and the fabric had bowed the frames when the fabric was tightened. That dislocated the cheek cowl hinge pieces somewhat and caused the fasteners to be repositioned with the odd holes. This support discrepancy had already been noted and the replacement cheek cowl frames are slightly sturdier and have appropriate reinforcing braces per the plans.
After lunch Ron and Jerry obtained some metal etching primer so assembly of the cheek cowls and their hinge plates could start. The panel itself is aluminum while the hinge plates are steel, so an anti-corrosion buffer is required.
Tom Miller and Steve Richardson spent their day continuing to fit and trim the T-2 cockpit coaming panel over the wooden support frame. Fastener holes were drilled and screws obtained, though some additional fasteners may need to be ordered. The joint behind the cockpit (and under the headrest fairing) was prepared for riveting. More fitting and trimming of the headrest fairing panel was done.
Curtiss Canuck
On the 8th Dave Orloff and Dave Edgerly started overhauling the wheels - hand sanding the rims to strip them down and provide a good surface for new paint. New tires / tubes are being ordered.
Meanwhile, Kevin Monahan, Art Wilson and Tom Gaylord removed the two middle cylinders from the starboard cylinder bank on the OX-5. To get the stuck valves repaired the jugs will be sent to the same shop in Seguin that originally installed the valves and guides in the cylinders. The suspected problem is that the exhaust's valve guide sleeve slid down into the port holding the valve open but that has not been confirmed. Tom Moore showed up just as the disassembly work was completed and thoughtfully brought documentation and disassembly instructions with him! Kevin started cleaning up some of the parts, and returned between the workdays to finish general engine clean up!
On the 15th Dave Orloff spent a portion of his day finishing the painting of the Canuck's wheels. He first masked off the spokes and sprayed the wheels with black paint. After waiting for the paint to dry he removed the masking tape.
We were unable to start reassembling the OX-5 on the 15th as the cylinders had not been returned from the shop. No word yet on why the valves are stuck either! Kevin Monahan spent some time cleaning up the remainder of the engine so the two repaired cylinders wouldn't shame the remaining jugs and the engine is looking really excellent! Kevin also squeezed grease into the valve train components and he and Terry Bledsoe resoldered all the ignition wire ends to ensure excellent connectivity at the spark plugs.
Piper J-3 Cub
No real work was done on the Cub on the 8th, but it was obvious Steve had been working on the airplane's side windows as there was new Plexiglas and framing strips added to the Cub's starboard side window. Weather on the 8th was too gusty for flying!
By the 15th Steve had flown the Cub during the week and noted the weather had cooled off enough that he needed a jacket. So the windows were finished to help make the airplane more comfortable to fly! The starboard side window was reinstalled along with the retaining clip that fastens the window up against the bottom of the lower wing.
Mike Craig and Steve flew the Cub later in the day. Mike reported it was his first grass field experience as well as his first tail wheel experience. Later in the day Ian took the Cub around for some touch & go landings then flew the aircraft to a nearby airport to refuel the airplane.
Team Vehicles
Indian
By the 8th Kevin Monahan had finished getting the fuel tanks soldered up and had cleaned & resealed the interior surfaces. He has documented the striping and Indian script on the tanks for reproduction. Terry Bledsoe began power sanding and blasting the old paint off the tanks in preparation for repainting. It appeared Terry completed one tank. Kevin reports he is still chasing parts to finish off the Indian properly.
There wasn't much Indian work done on the 15th as Kevin spent most of his day working on the Canuck's OX-5 engine, however, later in the day Kevin, with advice from Terry Bledsoe, continued prepping the Indian's fuel tanks for repainting. Small amounts of bondo have been required to smooth the surface.
Triumph
The Triumph took up shop space on the 8th as the seat was still out for recovering. However, on the 15th Mike Hallmark showed up with the Triumph's seat. He did a beautiful job as usual!! The seat was remounted on the Triumph and almost everyone with a camera stopped to take a photo of the completed motorcycle!
Blue Racer
Lynn Howell, Killer, and Al Sumrall continued working on the Blue Racer on the 8th. The new baby blue cylinder head has been reattached and the engine was brought back together, though some controls were only temporarily completed. The engine was started and seemed to run fine.
Model Ts
Steve Freeman bought 8 new T tires, tubes, and rim bands to replace dry rotting tires on two of the Model Ts, so on the 8th the guys started removing wheels / tires in the main shop to begin the replacement process. After looking closely at the wheels Steve decided to get the wheels powder coated to refinish them. Olive Drab was the color selected. So wheels had to go back onto the vehicles so they could be moved back out to the hangars so the vehicles wouldn't be in the way of Vintage Manufacturing during the week! Also the search was on to rustle up enough jack stands to support the vehicles while they were without wheels! Olive drab restricted the candidates to the Signal Corps Truck and the US Ambulance. It took an army of guys to separate the tires from the wheels, with Ian Whitaker finally devising a process and leading the way on getting that task done. Steve will take the rims to the powder coaters during the week.
Unfortunately, the wheels did not come back from the powder coater shop in time for the workday on the 15th so lots of Model Ts were stuck up on jacks. Cameron Whitaker showed up with one of his Model T Touring car's wheels refurbished, and it looked bright and fresh. One down, three more to go! Cameron spent his day working on his Touring Car.
Many of the Team Vehicles volunteers were stuck doing one of two tasks, either tending to batteries or wrestling with replacing a tire on one of the TT's split rim wheels! If you were lucky you were tending batteries. Model T split rims look like the pinnacle of simplicity but apparently are the devil's invention - an infernal device known to make strong men weep from frustration. The PFM crew didn't quite sink that low, but man it was close!
Generally the plan was to use a vintage hand cranked jack to push the sections of the rim apart so the rim could be popped into place. It didn't take long before the hunt was on for a suitable cheater bar for the hand jack! Eventually Mike McCormick applied his industrial shop skills to cut two half moon pieces from some 2 x 6 planks to give the jack a more sound footing and additional leverage. The split rim was so stiff that the wood half-moons were being crushed by the jack. But finally the rim opened enough to allow the rim to hold itself open somewhat and the jack was moved to work across the rim's bolt lugs. That led to the rim finally being spread apart sufficiently to complete the job! That delicate balancing act of moving the jack's location without the rim collapsing back on itself took several tries! The search is on for a tool that will make this process easier and safer!
Volunteer Work Day
August 18, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
The Museum held one workday in August 2012. The weather was decent, but windy and gusty. Turnout of volunteers was good and some significant work was accomplished on the various projects!
Thomas-Morse S4C Scouts
Ron Marcotte and Jerry Stark continued to work on the cheek cowlings for Tommie II. They spent a great deal of time attempting to understand some modifications to one of the edges of each piece. Apparently each piece has a steel strip added to the upper edge to assist in attaching it to the airframe. The steel strip forms a lip that hooks onto the oak frame that supports the upper edge of the cowling piece. Once the upper edge of the cheek cowl is latched onto the support frame the mechanic just bends the lower edge of the cheek cowl into place and inserts the rod in the piano hinge that anchors the bottom edge of the cowling. When we really started looking at how much room one has to actually get fingers in there to work with, it looks pretty difficult to reattach the cowl, but time will tell.
Steve Richardson and Bob Herbage worked on Tommie I, shaping the upper longeron fabric rub strips to match the fuselage's curves. The first step was to soak the wood strips in an ammonia mixture to soften them up so the strips will bend easily and conform to the curve the upper longeron makes as the fuselage necks down from the cockpit to the tail. After soaking the wood strips for about 30 minutes or so the wood had softened sufficiently to allow the strips to be clamped into position so they will dry in the shape required. Once the strips have dried to shape the strips will be attached to the longerons.
Tom Miller (Thomas-Morse project lead) started off by sorting tools in a couple of drawers that had been completely upended last visit. Then Tom, Steve Richardson and Bob continued working on the cockpit coaming. By the end of the day the piece had attachment holes drilled and the piece had been cut to final size and formed, including the cockpit cut-out. Next work day will see a little finishing work completed and the headrest started.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Mike and Don Craig finished the refurbishment of the Triplane's fuel system by replacing the gasket for the fuel strainer bowl at the bottom of the fuel tank with the proper rubber one. The gasket used is a fuel system gasket from a Piper Seneca. After further inspection Mike decided the fuel lines were OK for continued service, as they were pliable and free from cracks, defects and fuel flow obstructions. They appeared worn out because they were so dirty! That was a simple fix!
Mike got into the airplane and conducted a test run. Mike says the engine now has tremendous power compared to the first time he operated the motor. Mike ran the engine through a full power run to ensure it turned up properly and the controls operated as expected. Everything was fine so the engine was shut down.
Next Mike turned his attention to the tail skid and the tail skid steering system as he wasn't happy with how it was functioning, the skid was hard against the upper stop virtually all the time. He first tried taking a loop out of the tail skid bungee and the adjustment seemed to work great but after a short taxi the rudder got real close to the ground with the tail skid up against the travel stops. Mike removed the shock cord completely with an eye towards making further adjustments but in removing the cord noticed that the 2 lower wraps were twisted and therefore fighting each other and would not permit the bungee cord to stretch. Mike reinstalled the bungee cord with the same number of wraps it originally had but was extra careful to keep the wraps sequential and wrapped in the same direction. Mike reports that with an empty cockpit the skid almost touches the upper stop and you can push the tail down with one hand and feel the shock cord give just a bit. Furthermore, with the tail skid off the stop the skid steering functions correctly.
As a final repair to the tail skid and its steering system Mike plans to replace the cable shock springs with stiffer units to ensure steering actually occurs at speed!
The weather seemed promising for a test flight so the fuel tank was filled to about 10 gallons and the castor oil tank was checked to make sure it was acceptably full. However, the winds kept shifting too much so no flight was attempted. Mike was pleased to see that the fuel tank and the lines and valves did not seem to be leaking at all!
Once the decision was made to not fly the airplane Mike started the engine again and taxied the airplane back to the hangar. With the assistance of some ground marshalling Mike first turned the airplane through a 270 degree right turn to get pointed back towards the hangars and "S" turned all the way back to the hangar to ensure he could see around the Triplane's nose. Mike says the turns are slow, but very predictable.
As mentioned, for September Mike wants to replace the current springs in the tail skid steering cables with stronger springs. After consideration Mike prefers stronger springs compared to pre-loading the existing springs because you do not want the rudder / tail skid jammed to one side if a spring or cable broke or let go during a landing. Pre-loaded springs in the system would jam the rudder and tail skid hard over if the spring's tension isn't balanced by opposing forces in the other cable. Keeping the steering cables with no tension in the center / neutral position is the best option, but after his taxi tests Mike feels that there needs to be more force applied to steer the skid when you move the rudder full travel.
Sound thinking Mike – landing the Triplane is already exciting enough without building in another way to have a ground loop! But it does sound like the airplane is very close to flight! That is some exciting news!
Curtiss Canuck
Dave Edgerly, Canuck Crew Chief, reports that he and a small crew of volunteers got the OX-5 engine out of the airframe and secured on an engine stand. The motor was moved to the main workshop - transported dangling from the forklift tines. Steve Freeman has asked Tom Moore and Kevin Monahan to remove the two offending cylinders with stuck exhaust valves so that the valve guides can be repaired. Hopefully, only those two will be removed as we hope to get the Canuck flying again as soon as possible.
Dave also says that they had to remove the prop from its boss and leave the boss on the prop shaft as the proper tools to safely remove the boss couldn't be found!
For future reference, Dave wants everyone to know that we need to remove the water pump and get it into position and then lower the engine into place, secure the pump and slide the engine back to line up the mounting blocks. Dave also says that a new lubrication procedure is being developed that requires the valve stems to be lubricated prior to engine start AND post run. The post run is more important!! A lesson hard learned....
Piper Cub
Since the Cub needed no work, John Goble and Ian Whitaker spent some time flying the airplane to get it a bit of exercise. A few guys got rides, including Ian's Dad, Dave! Ian also practiced touch'n'go landings to help keep sharp and reported having a blast in the gusty, variable winds. Ian did mention that the big tree on the south end of the runway is a real pain!
Pietenpol Sky Scout
Ian Whitaker, co-crew chief of the Pietenpol along with Al Sumrall, showed Steve Freeman "Old Pete's" prop - which looked OK until they noticed a small crack in the wood. Not sure what the next steps are, either trying to repair the current prop or obtaining a replacement prop.
Team Vehicles
Mike Hallmark picked up the Triumph seat for recovering. Mike has already recovered the Indian's seat and he does very high quality work! Mike is a professional leatherworker, so this is an exciting development!
Cameron Whitaker rewired the wrecker, producing a very clean and tidy wiring loom. Upon starting the vehicle up the wrecker ran very, very well.
Lynn Howell finished his work bracing the Blue Racer's seat structure and returned the piece to Kingsbury. It fit well, looks good, and should go a long way to better supporting "modern" Americans! Lynn and Al Sumrall turned their attention to sorting out the Blue Racer's other issues, mainly a stuck valve in the engine. The stuck valve was freed without damage but it was a surprise discovery that the Blue Racer was equipped with a Chevy valve train! Dave Whitaker and Lynn had some reservations about the spring retainer and keepers, speculating that the non-standard components may have contributed to the stuck valve. That question will need some investigation. It is somewhat uncommon, but some people put in Chevy 350 exhaust valves to replace the stock Ford valves. The Team Vehicle guys are sort of favoring a return to stock Ford components.
As usual, many of the running Model Ts transported volunteers to and from lunch in downtown Kingsbury. The Model Ts must be running better as there have not been any rescue missions for a few months and no one has been laughing about parts falling off!
Volunteer Work Day
July 21, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
This work day was made possible by John Habina and his girlfriend Charlotte. John is the manager of Vintage Manufacturing and volunteered to open the shop building when Steve Freeman was unable to attend due to prior commitments. John and Charlotte set new standards for hospitality by having coffee brewed and doughnuts available for the volunteers when we arrived! So our "Thanks!" to John and Charlotte for hosting us and allowing us to continue working on the projects!
Aircraft Activities
Curtiss Canuck
Dave Edgerly started the process of disconnecting the OX-5 engine from the airframe so the cylinder heads can be refurbished. Dave was very methodically removing components - taking pre-disassembly photographs, bagging & labeling parts and carefully stowing parts so they don't start drifting off. Dave feels the best option will be to remove the radiator and pull the engine from the airframe so the cylinder banks can be easily worked on.
Dave removed ancillary items like the carb to prevent damage while the engine is out of the airplane and spent a lot of time tracing oil and water lines and disconnecting them. Many of these lines were zip tied to parts of the structure or snaked their way around engine bearers which necessitated their removal so the engine can be yanked.
Pietenpol Sky Scout
Ian Whitaker and Al Sumrall took a look at "Old Pete" and tackled the airspeed indicator issue and they think they fixed it! Ian disconnected the airspeed indicator to test it, attempting to figure out whether there was a clog in the pitot or the line running through the wing, or whether the problem is the ASI meter in the cockpit. They separated the exposed copper tubing from the reinforced plastic tubing at the joint where the copper tubing penetrates the cowling.
With the airspeed indicator disconnected, they then gently blew into the tubing and were surprised to hear a gurgling/ tapping and rattling sound in the wing root. Removing the wing root fairing covering the joint between the wing and the center section took but a few minutes and sure enough the plastic tube connecting to the external copper section was not connected inside the wing root. Al reports there is a bit of an angle there, the plastic tube is positioned well forward of the copper tube running up the cabane and when trying to attach it the plastic tube pulls against the copper tube and it appears that either the plastic tube slipped off the copper tube or was never connected when the wing was reattached. There was no sign of the tube clamp that should have been there!
Next workday Al and Ian will reattach the copper and plastic tubes and will put a pipe clamp on it to ensure that there is no more stress that might cause it to slip off again. They did check to make certain the tube in the wing was clear and open. At this point they are assuming there is nothing wrong with the ASI instrument in the cockpit, but if reconnecting the lines does not resolve the issue the instrument will need to be removed and tested.
Also Ian found a prop (76x42 with red tips) in the back room that had impressions on the back of the hub that are identical to old Pete's prop hub flange. The prop should be right for Old Pete if it is good - it has some epoxy wear on the leading edge and the tips appear banged up a bit but the varnish is otherwise excellent. The prop could probably use some reconditioning on the leading edges. Steve Freeman will be consulted at the next workday for an evaluation of the prop and a plan of action generated, if needed.
Thomas-Morse Scouts
Ron Marcotte, Jerry Stark, Steve Richardson, and Bob Herbage went to work on the metal cowlings for T-2. Both cheek cowlings were cut and shaped and the cockpit coaming panel was started. The process was the usual drill, starting with T-1 panels as templates where possible, and cardboard patterns where using T-1 pieces wasn't feasible. Ron and Jerry worked on using T-1 cheek cowling panels as templates for T-2 parts, while Bob and Steve mocked up the cockpit coaming panel starting with a cardboard template and ending with snipping aluminum (Kevin Monahan assisted with the snipping part)!
At the end of the day both cheek cowling pieces were essentially shaped and trimmed, and the cockpit coaming was roughed out as the trimming continued.
Team Vehicles
Model T Wrecker
Lynn Howell and Al Sumrall were working on the wrecker trying to figure out why there is no electrical current to the starter and engine. They replaced the coil but there was no change in how the electrical system has been operating, so the diagnostic work will resume next workday. At this point they do not know whether the fault is minor or major.
Blue Racer
Not much was done on the Blue Racer, but the vehicle was sporting a new cylinder head and Lynn took the seat home with him to reinforce it, as it is currently considered too weak (another instance of modern "plus-sized" people not fitting the old machinery?). Al Sumrall states that all the parts necessary to finish the planned upgrades to the Blue Racer are on hand and he expects the vehicle to quickly come together over the next workday or so. Cameron Whitaker fabricated a new ignition advance linkage part at home and brought it to the workday. Al commented that the Blue Racer's ignition linkage was so wobbly that moving the lever in the cab made little difference at the advance mechanism!
Model TT cab
Terry Bledsoe, with help from a few other volunteers, moved the TT cab from the hangar and on to a pallet in the shop area to make working on it easier (the cab was stored up on the TT's bed!). Terry then started some minor disassembly on the *new* TT Cab to begin work on straightening flanges and smoothing dents and dings. Among his many talents Terry said he has prior professional body work experience!
Miscellaneous Vehicle Stuff
The Ts were driven to lunch again after batteries were charged up. Today's restaurant was about halfway to Seguin, so it was a longer trip than usual. On the trip back the Field Service Ambulance blew a tire - it appears that the tire failed and separated from the clincher rim, stranding the vehicle out on the road. Ian had no problem stopping it safely. Cameron motored on back to Kingsbury and borrowed one of Bruce's wheel & tire assemblies and got the ambulance back to the Aerodrome. Inspection revealed that the tire failure was not due to tire rot or excessively worn tread so the most likely cause is either a defective tire or damage incurred during mounting the tire on the rim. A new tire will be required and Cameron and Ian Whitaker took the rim to Texas Ts to get a new tire and have it mounted.
Steven Penaluna brought log books for all the Model T vehicles (with one left over for the Triumph motorcycle). Each T got a log book started and the books are stored under each vehicle's seat in a waterproof baggie for protection. The logbooks will be used to document issues and repairs, and possibly running times.
Also, two representatives from the Texas Transportation Museum dropped by for a visit and were pleasantly surprised at what they found. Al Sumrall thinks we'll be seeing more of them in the future.
1921 Triumph Motorcycle
Kevin Monahan spent a little time working on the Triumph - the final issue he had planned to tackle was the registration plate on the front fender - the lettering didn't appear correct. Kevin spent some time rubbing off the current sticker lettering and discovered previous lettering underneath - though it was covered in black paint still. Kevin and Dave Miller spent some time on a laptop comparing fonts with the hidden lettering on the bike's registration plate. Kevin has decided which font to use so the final step will be reproducing it on the plate. Later, on July 31st, Kevin circulated a photo of the fender registration tag - he'd continued sanding down through the black paint to uncover the original lettering.
1918 Indian Motorcycle/sidecar
Kevin reports that he picked up the Indian's fuel tanks today (July 25) - they needed some soldering done to seal leaks. Kevin's next step is to coat the tanks as an additional barrier to leaks and address some suspected corrosion in one of the tanks. Kevin reports he took great pains to document the Indian logo that was on the sides of the tanks so they can be reproduced when the fuel tanks are repainted.
Kevin has also been chasing repair parts to address some of the bike's mechanical issues in addition to plugging oil leaks left, right and center! So far, the most challenging leak has been the oil pump leak. Kevin also disassembled the headlamp for repair and clean-up and has reassembled the unit with a new bulb in it. Kevin is waiting on gaskets and drive chain adjuster as well as the clutch release worm gear. Kevin reports that he has given up for now on locating transmission gears and the kick start gear but says that replacing those parts isn't absolutely necessary yet.
Items remaining to be addressed include fixing the oil pump, sight glass leaks, adjust the valves, weld up the muffler, and eliminate excessive slack on the front end. Wow! Almost sounds like we'll have a new bike...
Volunteer Work Day
June 16, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
Turnout for this workday was somewhat low - school was out for the summer so there were graduation ceremonies and vacations to occupy the time of many of our volunteers, plus the weather was pretty hot! It didn't help that the USAA event was on the same day, so several members were absent working that event!
Aircraft Activities
Thomas Morse Scouts
Steve Richardson, Jerry Stark and Ron Marcotte got to work on the fuselage aluminum panels for Tommy #2, starting with the belly pan. They spent a lot of time trying to find the sheet metal tools, especially the roller tool to produce the nice rounded shapes. They never could find it anywhere (it was broken several years ago) and ended up using Steve Freeman's suggestion - a pipe to press the aluminum down between two parallel boards. Not very elegant but it actually worked!
Steve Richardson later went back to Tommy #1 and continued the reassembly of the fuselage’s components, focusing in the engine mount area.
Piper Cub
Steve Freeman had purchased Plexiglas sheet to be used to make replacement side windows for the Cub. However, the windows could not be cut because a suitable saw blade couldn't be found in the shop. Steve took the materials back to Memphis to cut the windows there. Ian and a couple of other volunteers worked on the Cub’s brake system a bit, and later in the day the Cub was flown.
Tool Sorting
Terry Bledsoe, Dave Edgerly and Dave Orloff got on a clean-up kick per Steve Freeman's request and started gathering all the tools laying about the shop as well as removing everything from the tool chests in order to sort them out and store them in an orderly fashion.
Aero Engine Display
Tom Moore worked on his Aero Engine Display, spending part of the afternoon measuring the engines and drawing up proposed display stands that will better cradle the engines and allow for easier movement of the displays in and out of the hangars.
Team Vehicles
Workday Activities
The first order of business for Team Vehicles was to load up the vehicles going to the USAA event, as they had been instructed by the event organizers to show up between 11 - 11:30 AM!
All hands turned to and got everything loaded and secured for the trip to San Antonio. The sole SNAFU was that Al was offsite and had called and instructed us to load up the "US Ambulance" for the USAA event, but upon his return to Kingsbury he mentioned that the "French Ambulance" was what we had actually loaded up!
So what makes this the "French Ambulance"? Well, you’ll note that the side of the ambulance says "American Ambulance Field Service". Prior to America's entry into WWI in the spring of 1917 many American citizens volunteered to be ambulance drivers in the battle zones. There were several separate entities engaged in providing this service but virtually all operated under affiliation with the American Red Cross. The largest of these independent organizations was the American Field Service which was organized in 1915 by the American colony living in Paris.
All volunteer drivers typically wore uniforms similar to U.S. Army uniforms and between them served all allied forces on the Western and Italian Fronts. Ernest Hemingway was one such volunteer ambulance driver and he was the first American wounded in the war when he was hit by shrapnel from an artillery barrage while serving on the Italian Front. Many of these volunteers subsequently joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps after the U.S. entered the war, as the medical corps underwent a huge expansion to meet the needs of the service. Like everything else about the U.S. military in WWI the medical corps was severely understaffed and unprepared for the conflict. The U.S. Medical Corps started with about 1,200 personnel when America declared war and stood about 350,000 strong at the Armistice a year and a half later!
What makes this a “French Ambulance” in Al’s parlance is that the American Field Service, having been organized by Americans living in Paris, served only French combat units. The design or modifications to the basic Model T may also have some unique characteristics found only on American Field Service ambulances, but that will need to be a story for another day!
So maybe this Model T should be called the "Field Service" ambulance rather than the "French Ambulance"? At least Field Service is written on the side, but at least now maybe we'll all understand what Al is talking about in the future!
After the USAA vehicles had been loaded and were on their way into San Antonio, Cameron and Aaron mainly worked on Cameron's Touring Car with Ian giving Model T driving lessons in the afternoon to Aaron and Doug.
Steven and Doug worked on the Model T wrecker for a while trying to get it started. The vehicle refused to start up so they began troubleshooting the systems. They first suspected a fuel problem so they removed the fuel cock and cleaned it out, as well as the connecting lines but that failed to resolve the starting problem. But they took solace in the fact the fact the fuel lines are clear and clean now! Cameron checked on their progress and looked the infernal contraption over and declared there was no spark. As the day was wrapping up no further progress was made.
USAA Event (June 16th)
Al Sumrall, Tom Miller, Kevin Monahan, Tom Gaylord and Gus Martinez took two Model Ts and the two motorcycles to USAA's corporate picnic/90th birthday party in San Antonio. Al, Tom Miller and Gus went in period costume to add to the effect.
PFM's vehicles were split into two groups to fit into the theme of the event; both groups were located in the same small parking lot/display area. All the various display areas (whether parking lots or roadways) had food and beverage stations for the crowd and each separate display area had themes for both time period as well as food. Each display area presented a time frame (typically a decade) during which USAA had provided member services, starting with the 1920s, which was the display area PFM's vehicles fit into. The Blue Racer and the 1921 Triumph were placed in an area dedicated to 1920s civilian vehicles while the French Ambulance and the military Indian went into a general military display area. There were two other military displays; a contingent from The Nimitz Museum (located in Fredericksberg, Texas) as well as a retired military man who specialized in collecting/displaying Springfield rifles. The Nimitz Museum brought WWII weapons - both Japanese and U.S. and a Jeep with a .50 cal M/G.
The USAA event was a success. Al, Gus and Tom G. stayed with the Ambulance and the Indian, Tom M. and Kevin stayed with the Blue Racer and the Triumph. The crowd was generally very polite, interested, and the guys handed out flyers about PFM and our upcoming Fly-In event on November 10th.
The guys got the vehicles safely back to Kingsbury and stowed in the hangar about half past midnight!
Luling Watermelon Thump Parade (June 23rd)
Al Sumrall hoped to be able to drive the Blue Racer in the Luling Watermelon Thump Parade, but the car was down for a blown head gasket. On June 21st, Al and Lynn Howell (Lynn was fresh from a 10-day vacation in England) installed a new head gasket. The guys found that the blown head gasket appeared damaged, with a chunk missing back by cylinder 4 that locally reduced its sealing area by about 50%. In addition they removed a large amount of silicone sealant, including large chunks that had squeezed into the cooling passages of the head and cylinders. Lynn commented that some passages were compromised by more than 50%!
Despite the effort the Blue Racer was still not drivable (Al has made an issues list and started sourcing parts and believes that everything is "easy" to fix!) so Cameron Whitaker brought over his Model T Touring Car for the parade. Participants included Cameron and Ian Whitaker, Al Sumrall and Billy Cheshire. Billy brought his trailer and tow truck in case the Touring Car had a mechanical problem during the outing, but Cameron’s car soldiered through the entire event without complaint or issue. Al reported blazing speeds of 32 mph on the open roads between Luling and Kingsbury!
A PFM sign was hung on the back of Cameron's Model T and with flags flying and horn blaring they drove the parade route with Ian and Billy in the back seat waving like royalty to the crowds lining the parade route!
The guys had fun and with the signs and the parade announcer's mention of Pioneer Flight Museum we succeeded in getting the museum's name out there to the public.
Volunteer Work Day
May, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
Only one workday was planned for May - and it coincided with a vintage car club touring the museum. Here is what went on.
Team Aircraft
Pietenpol Sky Scout
Al Sumrall and Ian Whitaker have a plan going forward to spruce up "Old Pete" and at least begin doing ground runs with the engine. They have acquired a new fuel sight gauge to replace the old one but have not installed it yet. There is also a prop swap in progress with the Piper Cub - one machine's prop was too much, the other machine's prop too little. The Cub flies great after the swap and it is hoped that the Cub's prop will work well on Old Pete!
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
The engine on the Triplane was started and run for the first time since the airplane was reassembled in April. Prior to the engine run Mike Craig and his father, Don Craig, had to fabricate a new gasket to stop a leak in the gascolator. The visiting tour group gathered around the Triplane for the engine run - and while they were impressed, the volunteers were not.
The initial engine ground run was a troubled affair! The engine would run momentarily on the prime, but obviously wasn't getting sufficient fuel to continue running. In addition, the engine was not responding appropriately to the controls - surging and sputtering without the controls being touched. Mike had brought a plastic bag full of the plastic liner he'd removed from the fuel/oil tank when he stripped and rebuilt the tank to resolve the leaks. So, Mike and Don concluded the remainder of the system could use a good flush and flow check.
Mike felt that the fuel system wasn't routed as efficiently as it could be so they disassembled every part, clearing out debris and blowing compressed air through it to ensure that the entire system was clear of trash - and they found lots of debris scattered throughout every component in the system. At each step in the process they verified that fuel flow through the system was open and clear! The system was re-routed as the components were tested and reinstalled. Late in the afternoon the engine was ready for another ground run where the motor ran very well and responded to controls as desired.
A few details remain to be wrapped up: replacing the rubber fuel lines and securing the fasteners with safety wire. Mike also plans on starting a maintenance log for the airplane. Mike also removed the tail skid plate to modify it before the next workday. Currently the skid has a fair amount of spring pressure on it which appears to be preventing the blade of the skid plate from digging into the ground. Mike plans to remove the blade and weld on another longer & deeper blade to ensure good contact with the earth.
Thomas-Morse S4C Projects
Once again, the two Thomas-Morse projects were worked on under the guidance of project lead Tom Miller. Their first task was to remove the T-1 parts from T-2's airframe - the parts were kluged together to present a better visual for the Camp Mabry and Air Fair appearances and T-2 needed to be stripped so the restoration process could resume. The T-1 metal panels were still filthy from the years the aircraft was flying, so Jerry Stark and Sam Miller set about cleaning the metal cowlings up! As part of the process John Busch and Sam went to town to get more Easy-Off oven cleaner!
Vintage Manufacturing is rearranging their work spaces and the long bench along the one wall had to go, so Tom and a few other folks excavated the tail feathers from under the bench. These parts had been covered several years ago and taken up through the first aluminum coats, but after the time spent under the table in the laser shop they too needed a serious cleaning! After the surfaces had been cleaned they were stored with the Thomas-Morse wings.
Steve Richardson went about the task of cleaning up T-1's castor oil pump. The pump was filthy on the outside but clean on the inside with no varnish build up on the internal parts so it was cleaned up, bagged and tagged until time to install the unit on the airframe.
The T-1 fuselage rub strips took another step towards being installed on the airframe - they were laid out on the workbench and stained so they'd match the rest of the airframe's wood. The plan is to varnish the strips in June and install them.
The "Tommy Boys" spent some time searching through the stacks for aluminum sheet to begin fabricating fuselage panels for T-2. While they found some materials Steve decided it would be better to start with clean sheets of aluminum, so the material will be ordered. Also the search was on for piano hinge materials which allegedly are at Kingsbury, though none was found during the workday! The search will continue!
After some thought Steve has decided that he will oversee the build-up of a rotary engine for T-2. And he believes he has a better core engine at his home hangar in Memphis. The core pulled from the LLC hangar is sitting in the machine shop - guess it'll go back into storage in June. No word about which engine is going into T-1.
Piper Cub
The Cub is essentially finished aside from side windows on the airplane. Steve and Ian took the airplane up in the afternoon, flying to another airfield to refuel the airplane.
Team Vehicles
Model Ts
With the tour group coming at mid-morning Team Vehicles leapt into action as soon as the morning meeting broke up to get Ts moved from the hangar so the Triplane could be moved out and more space created in the hangars for the museum visitors to move through. The team then set about getting as many vehicles started and running so they could be paraded for the tour group plus they are critical to getting the volunteers to downtown Kingsbury for lunch!
The only Model T to be really worked on was the Blue Racer. It was discovered that one of the wheel bearings was dry, so repairs commenced to get that put right. Al Sumrall and Lynn Howell returned to work on the Blue Racer May 28th after Al received new wheel bearing parts. The wheel bearings went on without trouble, but when they went to fire it up for a test drive it was noted the head gasket had blown on cylinder #4. Al now has one of those on order along with replacement crankcase oil spigots to replace the oil level spigots now fitted - Al does not favor these aftermarket items!
Al also reports locating a metal TT cab in Austin, and he and Lynn will check it out as a possible acquisition to complete our own TT. The cab appears complete but has been sitting outside for several years as the owner built up a wood cab for his own TT. Al and Lynn hope to inspect the cab on Monday, May 28th.
1921 Triumph
The Triumph is done for the time being - Kevin spent a little time riding it around the field for the visitors.
1917 Military Indian with Sidecar
Kevin Monahan has the Indian at his shop at home working to repair to the clutch and kick start lever and gear set. Kevin feels he has made some progress on the clutch issue, but found some damaged transmission parts that he brought for "show & tell". The search for replacements is on.
MISCELLANEOUS
Engine Display
Tom Moore and Doug Ratchford spent part of the day surveying each engine and working on a plan and cleaning supplies list for sprucing up each motor. Tom found a missing information placard he'd made for the Lawrence engine that he had inadvertently left behind at Air Fair.
Museum Tours
The Fredericksburg Vintage Car Club had made arrangements to visit the museum during the workday and arrived in their vintage cars about 10:30 AM. There were about 18 - 20 vehicles with as many couples to tour the museum. The engine run on the Fokker Triplane was quite a draw, as were the Model T vehicles being exercised and Kevin riding the Triumph around the grounds. Steve Freeman's PT-22 attracted quite a few of the visitors, as did the Canuck and the Fokker D.VII. A few of the members made donations to the museum before departing for lunch.
USAA Birthday Event Appearance
The Museum is planning on taking two Model Ts and the two motorcycles to the USAA company birthday party on Tuesday, June 12th. Kevin finished rounding up straps to tie down the Ts and trailer resources were verified. Al plans on taking one of the ambulances plus the Blue Racer. Could be subject to change though... the Blue Racer has a bearing problem on one of the axles and the Indian sounds like it is not exactly in one piece.
Model Show Appearance
Dave Edgerly and Dave Orloff missed the workday because they were in Mesquite, Texas attending a model contest as a vendor. Dave Orloff also entered a few of his models in the contest - four airplane models plus a figure and came away with two second place awards plus a first place award for his 1/32nd scale Wingnut Wings Junkers J.I model. So "Congratulations!" to Dave on his award winning models!
The Daves report doing fairly well at the vendor side of it also, selling about half of the kits from the Zakrzewski donation that they'd taken with them to the event. Edgerly estimates (from the boxes in his garage) that he and Orloff have moved along about half the donated kits since they took possession of them late last year. Dave really wants his garage back!!
2012 AirFair
April 28, 2012
by Roger Ritter
The 2012 AirFair was held on April 28, 2012. High winds and mechanical problems kept most of our airplanes grounded, but we had a good turnout from fly-in visitors. Steve Freeman was also available to fly his PT-22. Team Vehicles had a banner day with most of our ground vehicles in running trim. One early problem was solved quickly when we replaced a flat tire on the Ford Model TT truck.
In addition to our own aircraft and vehicles, we had volunteers, re-enactors, and visitors attend in period costume. The early 20th-century encampment was a hit, and the people in period garb were in great demand for photos. Another popular exhibit was a table set up by one of our volunteers with an early radio and an Edison wax-cylinder phonograph.
April Work Days
April, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
Much of the work done in April was focused on being prepared for the upcoming 2012 Pioneer Flight Museum Air Fair Fly-In event, held on April 28th. Here is what went on:
Pietenpol Sky Scout
Al Sumrall and Ian Whittaker requested to be co-Crew Chiefs for Old Pete (and its automotive Model A engine). Congrats guys! Al says their first order of business is to get the engine running, clean the aircraft up and source another sight glass fuel gauge. Ian and Al looked at the cracked fuel gauge for old Pete, identified the type and Al ordered a replacement from Aircraft Spruce that ought to be here before Air Fair.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
A small crew of guys consisting of Dave Edgerly, Ron Marcotte, and Steve Freeman finished off the Triplane, so it is essentially ready for engine tests and a return to the air. Items that needed attention were putting the engine cowl in place and ensuring adequate clearance for the engine to spin, and reinstall the prop - torquing the nuts properly and safety wiring everything securely.
The final step was reattaching the cabane strut bracing wires, and while the guys were at it they measured the top wing and adjusted the cables to ensure the top wing was square and true. We should be able to fuel it up and start the engine in May!
Piper J-3 Cub
Steve Freeman, Dave Orloff, Dave Miller and Don Dixon spent much of the day putting the "new" engine in the Cub. They enjoyed great success and Steve hopes to finish the Cub off during the week before Air Fair with an assist from his brother Chris!
Team Vehicles
Model Ts
Ian and Cameron Whitaker plus Al Sumrall met at Kingsbury to do vehicle work on the 13th. Cameron was involved in a lot of the work, but Ian worked cleaning up a carb and coaxed the vehicles into starting and running. Al mainly served as encouragement!
Cameron finished up the Wrecker rebuilding the vehicle's electrical system and it now seems to run fine. He also added a new switch to the French Ambulance (a very discreet installation) as the Switch in the Frenchie had given up the ghost and is extremely expensive to replace, one of the few parts on a T that is surprisingly expensive. Cameron also installed a starter button on the Blue Racer that is hidden in the coil box.
Ian and Al discovered that the fix to the Blue Racer's fuel tank had failed and made quite a mess. After temporary repairs were made, Lynn Howell's friend soldered up the leaking Blue Racer fuel tank to permanently seal the leak. The Blue Racer runs fine but is still having trouble getting sufficient power generated to go very fast in second gear. Cameron thinks the motor will be fine as it continues to break in, but at least it starts easily and runs smoothly!
Cameron added oil to many of the Model T differentials and tightened up the steering on the Signal Corps truck. All in all, Cameron and Ian had six of the vehicles running on Saturday - all were test driven - and all are expected to be running for the air fair. The only vehicle not running was the TT as the terminal's connectors were broken and the parts house was closed. That repair will be made before Air Fair.
Triumph Motorcycle
Kevin Monahan finished the Triumph restoration and got the bike started again about a week before the Fly-In. All that remained was to finish the repair to the front fender. Kevin feels he has time for a quick fix only, but after Air Fair will take the fender home again for a proper fix.
Miscellaneous
Flyers
Dave Miller's wife laser printed copies of Carl Canga's flyer to distribute to post in the general area advertising the Fly-In. During lunch break Dave posted flyers at Ebbo's - formerly known as Edna's in downtown Kingsbury. In Luling flyers were posted in the Luling HEB, Apple Lumber Company, Blake's Restaurant, the two Luling BBQ restaurants, plus the antiques store in the old theater.
On his way home Dave also posted flyers at a grocery store and the Shell station in Waelder.
Grounds Maintenance
A bunch of the volunteers, Tom Miller, Terry Bledsoe, Dave Orloff, Kevin Monahan, Sam Miller, and John and Johnny Busch, walked the runway looking for debris and thorny plants. Very little was found, maybe because Allen sprayed months ago. The grass around the buildings was cut and trimmed, and tall weeds pulled. John Busch spent quite a bit of time mowing parts of the grounds. Lastly, the guys pulled an old cement mixer and a vintage grader out of the weeds and positioned them around the pavilion to add a little extra vintage flavor!
The big mower deck on the Ford tractor wasn't working as too many sharp turns had caused some jackknifes and bent some thick plates holding pivot pins. The two Terry's, Beer Fairy and Bledsoe, and Kevin Monahan heated the bent plates with a torch and straightened the plates out returning the shredder to service. A day or so before the event Steve ran the shredder over the runway.
Engine Display
Tom Moore got all the engines on stands lined up in the new hanger and made up some plaques briefly detailing the history of each engine. Tom also spent some time cleaning the cobwebs off the motors and sprucing them up a bit.
Camp Mabry Appearance
The PFM was invited to send a few vehicles to Camp Mabry in Austin for their annual "Muster" event which was held on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd. On Friday, April 20th, Al Sumrall, his son Sam and Kevin Monahan went to Kingsbury to move the Indian, Triumph, Model T US Ambulance and the T-2 fuselage to Austin. A U-Haul van was rented to safely move the Thomas-Morse fuselage. Mabry needed to move a few of their own artifacts out of the building so Al and crew could set up the display. The last item moved was a Sherman tank that they started and drove out of the building. Al was extremely delighted to have a Sherman rumble by just three feet away!
During the event everybody that walked in the museum building came to our display, with the Tommy drawing the most interest. Everybody was just amazed at the woodwork and the Le Rhone was the showstopper. Steve Richardson and Carl Canga plus a few acquaintances of Al's monitored the display, answered questions, and handed out flyers for our Air Fair!
Carl and Kevin had to literally drag Al away at end of Sunday to make room for the tanks that live in the area PFM's display had occupied - Al was just having too much fun talking to the people. As it turned out Carl was running the Indian, the last PFM vehicle at the display, out the door while the tanks were rolling up the street! All in all the Mabry appearance was a successful outing for PFM.
