Summer 2010
Volunteer Work Day - September 18
Come to the airfield on Saturday, September 18, for our next Volunteer Work Day!
2010 Calendar
- January 16 - Volunteer work day
- February 6 - Unscheduled volunteer work day
- February 20 - Volunteer work day
- March 20 - Volunteer work day
- April 3 - Volunteer work day
- May 1 - Wheels and Keels Show, Houston
- May 8 - AirFair 2010
- June 5 - Volunteer work day
- June 19 - Volunteer work day
- July 17 - Volunteer work day
- July 31 - Volunteer work day
- August 21 - Volunteer work day
- September 18 - Volunteer work day
- November 13 - Fall Fly-in
- New Calendar coming soon!
Upcoming Event Information
Volunteer Work Day
Saturday, September 18
Come join us on the 18th of September, and help us rebuild the Thomas-Morse Scouts. We'll also be doing lots of miscellaneous stuff, and working on a new deck/front steps for the new museum office.
Recent Events
Volunteer Work Day
August 21, 2010
by Tom Gaylord
Despite the predictions of extremely hot weather we had a fair turn-out for the work day. All told we had about 12 volunteers working on various projects, and with the shop main doors open we actually had a pleasant breeze! Here is what got done:
PFM HQ - Terry Bledsoe continued working on the PFM HQ entry deck. He and Dave Miller cut down a bunch of lumber to make railing additions. Terry made a great start on getting those fastened to the deck railing.
Dave Edgerly started working over the T-1 Le Rhone rotary engine. When the disassembly of T-1 started in the shop we discovered a huge mud dauber's nest up under the cowling completely covering one of the cylinder's valve actuation mechanism! Dave started cleaning up the engine and preserving it to prevent rust while the airplane is overhauled.
A small army of folks started covering one of T2's lower wing panels. Cheesecloth was added to the leading edge cover, rib braces were added, and the cover was fitted. After stitching the wing root trailing edge curve the envelope was glued to the wing root rib. The cover was shrunk and the first coat of dope was added. Rib stitching will be the next major step! Folks involved on this project were Joe Pantemuhl, Dave Orloff, Dave Edgerly, Dave Miller, Steve Freeman, Roger Freeman, Billy Cheshire, and Richard Smith. Heavens knows I may have missed one or two! Sorry if I did, guys!
Ron Marcotte and Sanford Swope worked on the belly formers for T1. Ron has been leading the effort to get this part fixed up - and it has presented several interesting challenges!! Ron about hit the roof when it transpired that there were differences between T1 and T2 (two additional formers on T2!) and then we couldn't find T2's belly former unit. (Roger had stored it in the attic for safe keeping!) Ron and helpers have pretty much completed parts inspection/repair & fabrication and are in the process of re-assembling the piece.
Don Larson and Joe Pantemuhl continued working on T-2's fittings. They learned that MEK dissolves built up castor oil, revealing that "rusty" metal components were actually sound. Next step for T-2's fuselage will be varnishing the wooden components.
Myself, Dave Miller, and Mike McCormick finished the basic stripping of T-1's fuselage so it can be properly cleaned and inspected/repaired. All cockpit fittings and furnishings were removed along with the firewall and engine mount spiders. What is left is basically a bare wooden fuselage with cross bracing wires. For maximum efficiency the undercarriage will be removed as well which will allow the fuselage to be rotated as required. Roger Freeman pointed out original serial number stampings on one of the fuselage's main verticals. Very cool!!
The engine mount spiders were both coated in castor oil, and when set aside the front spider had loose oil sloshing around in its pockets which started leaking out onto the floor. The other one had a massive mud dauber's nest on its backside. Lots of work needing to be done on the T1 fuselage!
Doug Hortvet spent the day working on the Indian motorcycle. Last time around it was identified that the fuel tanks were leaking, so Mike McMains was recruited to repair the units (he knows them best as he fabricated them!). The tanks were waiting for Doug when he arrived. Not real sure exactly what Doug got accomplished, but the Indian was looking way more "whole" than it has in awhile!
Volunteer Work Day
July 31, 2010
by Tom Gaylord
We had a pretty good turn-out last workday, despite weather predictions of triple digit heat! The work seemed divided up into three sections:
- HQ Deck
- Thomas-Morse fuselages
- Model T Racers
Last workday we managed to get most of the HQ deck finished, so steps were the next "step"! Terry Bledsoe led the team, with Lynn doing a lot of the actual work with help from Terry, Al, and Dave Miller. And Bessie the shop dog and Jerry Lee (aka "The Killer"). The dogs seemed to be the ones with the common sense in that they stayed in the shade a great deal of the time!! But at the end of the day the stairs were complete, aside froma little railing work. HQ still needs electrical and water / sewage lines run to it.
Roger recruited the Whitakers to work on the Model T racers - though I think they spent nearly all their time on the Blue Devil vehicle. I could be mistaken about that though. They also spent some time further refining the Maytag Motorbike Runabout.
Tom Miller had spent three days at Kingsbury varnishing the wood on the T-2 fuselage and starting to paint the metal fittings with Rustoleum black enamel paint. Tom got a heck of a lot accomplished!! So various people tried to finish the detail painting on the fittings but we failed to finish the project. I will say the smartest (and one of the more patient) of the folks working on it was Greg Solberg who crafted a paper template to allow painting of the fitting "tulips" without slopping paint on the wooden parts! Don Larson and Ernest ??? spent part of their time making sure all the fuselage turnbuckles were properly safetywired. They did finish that part!
Dave Orloff and a few other helpers who drifted in and out worked on stripping the T-1 fuselage so that in-depth cleaning could take place. The engine was hoisted out and placed on a stand. The cockpit was stripped to provide adequate access to the fuselage structure. Lastly, Rom Marcotte with some help from Ernest worked on the belly formers for T-1. A few puzzlements reared their ugly heads and I'm not sure Ron got them all sorted before it was time to leave for the day!
Art has been working on the Meyers, and has been making slow, but visible progress. The prop for the Meyers had returned from refurb and looked gorgeous!
Team machine gun ran into some roadblocks and didn't get much sorted. We'd like to make 4 replacement Spandau LMG 08/15 German aircrcaft guns to outfit the Triplane and the D.VII before the Fall Fly-In. Mike McCormick's plan set was located and the drawings are under review - but Mike said the resulting guns are greatly simplified and that we really should assemble a prototype to ensure everything fits together good before cutting a lot of materials. So, we are not certain of which direction we will go in, but Mike's drawings will almost certainly make a great starting point, as many of the folks involved feel the existing drawings are too simplified. But we'll keep everyone posted on where we go from here. So stand-by... or sit. Roll over and play dead! Or whatever....
Volunteer Work Day
July 17, 2010
by Tom Gaylord
The day was predicted to be smoking hot - and the weather was exactly as advertised. Still, we had an excellent turn-out of volunteers and were treated to several aircraft flying in for a visit! One of those flying in was Mike McMains in his polished RV-7. There was also a Mooney and a Maule? Steve Freeman had commuted down from Memphis in a Cessna.
The work was divided up into about 4 sections:
- Thomas-Morse work
- Indian Motorcycle
- Motorized bicycles
- PFM HQ Front Porch
PFM HQ Front Porch Work - Terry (and Jerrie?) have done great work designing the front porch, laying it out, and getting the uprights, frames and joists built. Yesterday it took about 5 of us (Dave Miller, Terry Bledsoe, Lynn Howell, Al Sumrall and myself) to cut and screw the deck boards to the joists. We almost finished the job, except we ran out of deck screws! Just as well, it was way too hot, and the work required too much bending over, kneeling and standing for a bunch of old guys! The only member of the crew with any real energy was Jerry Lee (aka "The Killer") - Lynn's chihuahua pup! Lynn has volunteered to get the stairs started, so we should be able to finish the deck and stairs next work day (hopefully).
Motorized Bicycles - The Whitaker clan (Ian, Cameron, and dad) spent much of their day fine tuning Al's "Kingsbury Special" homage / replica bike, while also working out the details on their motorized bicycle (powered by a 1930s washing machine motor of all things). Fun to watch - and it adds a whole new audio impression of what the Marines on Guadalcanal called "Washing Machine Charlie". I failed to get a photo of the Frankenstein bike in action... but it appeared to be significantly faster than the Kingsbury Special!
Indian Motorcycle - Doug Hortvet showed up to continue trouble-shooting and fixing the Indian's issues. Al eventually showed up to supervise... what the Dilbert comic strip refers to as "random acts of management". Unfortunately Doug discovered both fuel tanks were leaking at the bottom fittings. Mike McMains built the tanks and he has been consulted about potential fixes. Mike actually flew in to visit and see if we had any metal working projects he could work at home. Talk about timely!!! I am not familiar with all the machine's ills that Doug is tackling - but I have developed a tremendous respect for Doug's patience, perseverance, and methodical way of identifying and fixing problems on a cantankerous motorcycle that is almost 100 years old!
Speaking of 100 year old machines - the remainder of the crew spent their time working on the two original Thomas-Morse S4C "Scouts". During the week, Roger has had Art working on the Tommy's wings - and Roger reports that the T-1 wings are doped and silvered and are complete except for color dope. Roger will have Art move onto the tail surfaces to get them to the same level of completeness before moving on to the T-2 Wings. Way to go Art!! And Thanks!
All the Saturday gang went to work on the two fuselages. Tom Miller, Don Larson and Sanford Swope started the day cleaning the bracing wires and burnishing the turnbuckles on T-2. The wood, at least aft of the cockpit has been cleaned and prepped for varnish (and actually - the entire fuselage wood work may be prepped). T-2 is starting to look very good! After cleaning for a bit, Sanford migrated over to assist Ron Marcotte in fabricating belly formers.
Steve Freeman, Dave Edgerly, and Dave Orloff tackled T-1. The belly formers / stringer on T-1 need major repair, so they wanted to strip the fuselage to the point where it is easy to turn upside down to facilitate the repairs. So they spent the day preparing to pull the 80-hp Le Rhone rotary engine. Great progress was made, but at the end of the day the engine was still attached to the airframe! T-1 is a restoration completed some 30 - 40 years ago and has been flown off and on since the restoration was completed. Much of the airframe is coated in castor oil. Icky-gooey dirty stuff.....
Roger has continued making great progress on his Model T racer. In fact, he has started a 2nd racer, and has obtained some hot rod Model T parts to give 'em a little more pep! Roger characterized the orange one as the "good" one, and the blue one as the "evil one". I'm not sure why one has to be good and the other evil....
Lynn brought a roof for the Model TT and an original back panel for the cab. He says that he wants to use the roof as a master for what he says will be a better reproduction that he will make. Maybe we will have a "Hat" on the TT by the next airfair.
Volunteer Work Day
June 5, 2010
by Tom Gaylord
We had an excellent turnout, and lots of fun stuff got done during the day! Billy Cheshire is spearheading a drive to get some of our vehicles into the Luling Watermelon Thump parade on Saturday, June 26th. The discussion centered around several of the model Ts, plus maybe the Indian and Al's tribute bike. Looks like a "Go"! Part of the day was spent starting and running the Ts, along with teaching Billy how to drive one!
In addition to the efforts above, Doug Hortvet, Al Sumrall and John Bush were working on the Indian motorcycle. The Whitakers were helping Roger with the rear end of the Model T Speedster! Al also installed a "show piece" copper fuel line (non-functional) on his tribute bike - the PFM Flyer!
Fuel Pump Refurb - Carl Canga has lust in his heart for the ancient fuel pump and wants to adopt that as a personal project. He and Dave Miller began disassembling it, and took the unit completely apart during the course of the day! I have to hand it to them... I'd have never made it that far!
Searchlight Overhaul - John Bush has appointed himself "Searchlight Czar" and drafted several volunteers to begin stripping and refinishing the searchlight. Very good progress was made, especially considering that John wasn't able to devote the full day to this project!
Meyers - the Meyers was noted to be in need of some cosmetic TLC at last annual. Dave Orloff, Dave Edgerly, Chili and Roger Freeman spent much of the day erecting the top wing's center section as well as a fair degree of engine work. They removed and cleaned the spark plugs, set valve clearances, and replaced all the rubber oil drain lines between the rocker boxes. They also repainted the engine case! When you see the airplane next I am sure you'll "ooohhh" and "aaahhh" over the powder-coated struts on the airplane. The bird is looking sharp again!
PFM HQ - Terry Bledsoe is working on plans for a new set of steps and "porch" for the museum HQ building. We have several PCs donated, and one of them was carried inside, but not set up yet. Terry installed a new lockset for the building.
Thomas-Morse S4C Scouts - both T-1 and T-2 saw work resume on them this workday. Art Caballeros will also work on the project once the Meyers is completed, or as he has time in between. The fuselages were set up, and Tom Miller and Dave Larson started stripping fittings off T-2. This airframe needs clean-up and varnishing, but is otherwise in very good shape, since it is a new restoration. Don vacuumed out several years worth of mouse nests in a drawer so we have a place to stash Tommy parts. Ron Marcotte and Duncan Charlton went to work surveying the turtledecks for the two airplanes for damage, effecting repairs, and finally coating both units with varnish. Tom Gaylord and Jeff Basham worked to document T-1, removed the belly formers / stringer assembly, and removed and cataloged various parts, including the instrument panel. The panel in T-2 is more authentic so Roger measured up and will laser cut a new instrument panel for T-1. Since T-1 is an older restoration and has been flying for some 30 years, the fuselage is in need of serious cleaning and has many bits and pieces needing repair. We need wood workers!!!
AirFair 2010
May 5, 2010
AirFair for 2010 was a low-key fly-in. Strong winds in the morning, combined with several other fly-ins the same weekend kept our attendance a bit lower than we've seen in the past. Despite that, we all had fun and got to see some interesting airplanes and vehicles.
Due to the high winds early on, we weren't able to fly the WWI-era planes in the morning. We did engine runs on both the Fokker Dr.I and the Curtiss Canuck, though, to the delight of the attendees. By mid-afternoon, the winds were dying down and we were able to fly the Canuck about 4:00. Those folks who stuck it out till then got a treat. We used the Signal Corps Model T to tow the Canuck out to the downwind corner of the runway for takeoff, and that made the photo-op of the show!
Fly-in and drive-in attendees included a Stearman, a Pietenpol Air Camper, a Morgan car, a Lotuse Elise sports car, and a beautiful 1924 Studebaker. Our own vehicles were out in force, including three Model Ts, the Nash Quad for a bit, and the Triumph dispatch bike. In addition, Al Sumrall's homebuilt PFM Special sorta-1909 motorized bike was buzzing around to the obvious enjoyment of its various riders.
Several museum volunteers dressed in period costume for the fair, including both WWI-era military uniforms and simple coveralls with aircraft manufactuer logos painted on them. Those looked surprisingly good - coveralls are pretty timeless, and with a big Curtiss or Lockheed logo on the back it could easily have been some time in the 1920s.
Some of our vehicles and visitors:
