Winging It

I rearranged the garage last night and made room to start working on the wings of 98K. I started removing the fabric from the right wing tonight. Like the fuselage, it is obvious the wings were also home to mice during the decades 98K was stored in a barn. Since the wings were stored vertically, the D-section at the leading edge and back of the main spar were the worst. My trusty Shop-Vac came through again.

I have not decided what tool is most important in an airplane restoration, but I think it is a close race between the Shop-Vac and the digital camera!

The left photo shows the wing on the sawhorses before starting surgery. An hour later, with the help of a sharp knife, is the picture on the right. The fabric is attached to the ribs using PK screws, so at least I won't need to learn rib stitching. To my untrained eye, everything looks OK so far. I see a lot of stuff to clean up and items to replace (like pulleys, cables, and other hardware), but nothing major.

In like a lamb, out like a lion

You probably remember hearing the title saying when in grade school about the month of March. We knew we would be paying for those 85 degree days in early March, and that time came Friday night. We had a sleet storm most of the night with 40 to 50 mph winds, followed by snow on Saturday morning. It made for a good reason to hunker down in the fortress for the weekend and think about airplanes and such.

The other thing we have learned about Kansas weather is it changes fast. The storm was over by late Saturday afternoon and the sun was out, doing its thing to melt away the icy memories. After getting out of the neighborhood this morning, we found the roads to church to be totally clear. Guess I'll have to go to work tomorrow after all. To be honest, I was getting a little cabin fever; though I did find the movies Pearl Harbor and Apollo 13 on the TV to help pass the time.

About 50 miles west of us they had about 24 inches of snow, so it could have been worse. I have a lot of branches to pick up, but that is the worst of it. Thanks to everyone who called or e-mailed to see how we were doing.

When I brought all the pieces of 98K home to the garage, I knew I would be parking outside for awhile. But, no problem I thought - winter is over. Yea, right!

Finally All Together Again

Today was another momentous day for 98K. With the help of my friend from work, Johnny, we transported the wings of 98K from the storage unit in Andover to my garage. I now have the wings, fuselage, and all other parts under the same roof. I think this is probably the first time in over 25 years. As you may recall from a post about this time last year, the engine cowlings and wing struts had been separated from the rest of the airplane and taken a detour to Iowa somewhere in the distant past. I was able to make contact with one of the previous owners and obtain those very necessary items.

The wing cradle I made about a month ago seems to be working real well. I put some outdoor seat cushions in temporarily to keep the wing from coming into contact with one of the supports. I'll get some carpet scraps this weekend and make a better looking fix.

In other news, I located a used left elevator in great shape in California. It showed up today courtesy of UPS. The above shot shows old (painted) versus new. The old one has many dents (looks like a baseball bat went wild in a few places) and an incredibly ugly patch on the other side, which just happens to be the top side that everyone can see when the plane is on ground display. So, one more item to scratch off the list.

We're now waiting for warm temperatures to epoxy prime the steel tubing. Of course, there are winter storm warnings starting tomorrow with several inches of snow predicted. Good garage weather, but not for painting. But it's spring in Kansas, I'm sure we'll hit the 70's again within a week.

PowerPoint Engineer

Being the PowerPoint engineer that I am, I decided to try and draw a Stinson in the computer and then I could play with the colors. Here is drawn by hand as seen below and done on the computer. By the way, this is my 100th post! Makes you wonder how far along on the restoration I could really be! But then you would miss out on all my great stories and corny musings.

Staying Inside the Lines

I never went to kindergarten, so that is my excuse for never learning to color inside the lines. Of course, there are self improvement folks out there who tell us we should not be constrained by staying inside the lines. In fact, think outside the box (or some such mantra) they chant.

Anyway, it was a quiet day today, other than Willie (the dog) barking at every item he could see move from his perch on the deck. Kala left to drive back to K-State with spring break wrapping up. So, I thought I would do some things inside in case she called with car trouble or something (yes, we still worry - a parents prerogative).

So, I decided to ponder the paint scheme for N9598K (aka N678DR). A black and gold scheme had been put on the table in honor of our Alma Mater, Purdue University. There is still a faction rooting for blue and white in the factory original scheme. Be that as it may, I decided to try various renditions of black and gold. You may be asking why the paint scheme is important when that activity is at least a year away. My excuse is I will be doing some of the interior work (like installing a new headliner, for example), and will need to know what color to chose sooner versus later. Besides, I figured it was good therapy to color for a few hours (I do feel more relaxed).

So, we need your thoughts, if you care. I'll post 3 versions below and you can leave a comment or send an e-mail. If you want to design you own scheme, I'll even send you the blank template I started with.

Here are the Choices

Left is all black with gold leading edges (wing, horizontal tail, and vertical tail) and gold striping. There is also a gold Griffon (Purdue Seal) and N-number on the vertical. To the right is a reverse of this (though the scanned didn't pick up the colors very well. Above center is something in between (that's why it is in the center!). So, when you vote, you can say left, center, or right. You can also say that deviating from the factory scheme is heresy, but then I already plan to replace the Franklin engine with a Lycoming, so that boat sailed some time ago. By the way, I looked Griffon up in the dictionary and it says "a fabulous creature." Seems fitting for what 98K is hoped to be.

Back Home Again

Today was a banner day as the fuselage of 98K returned home to my garage. My friend from church, Jerry, who has been an A&P-IA for years and worked at both Mooney and Cessna here in Wichita, again offered me the use of his trailer to bring 98K home. I also conned Jerry into coming along to see the various sites in the Wiebe hangar.

There is always something interesting to see in the hangar, and today's treat is pictured above left - a 1941 Ryan!

After replacing a tire on the trailer (see below), we were ready to load the fuselage on the trailer and head home. Above right is Mark and me posing with 98K's bare bones skeleton. Now I need to get the garage cleaned up some so I can also bring the wings home. I have no excuse to not have something to keep me busy.

It won't hold air!

Pictured is what remains of one of the trailer tires. Guess it ran out of air somewhere between Wichita and Halstead. Oops!

Don't Waste the Good Ones in Practice!

I flew Kala up to Topeka yesterday at lunch in a Bonanza so she could spend a few days of spring break visiting Nathan and his family. I pick her up tomorrow. My landing at Topeka was one of the poorer I have done in quite awhile and it caused me to reflect. The picture at the right is at Oshkosh last summer, where I got to enjoy watching a Ford Tri-Motor land about every 15 minutes as they gave rides throughout the day. The Tri-Motor pilot did a great job managing airspeed and that last few feet of altitude.

I went through my log books (I am on my third one) to see just how many landings I have been a part of in my flying career. The current count is 2448. That may be why there are more good ones than bad ones. They say practice makes perfect, and probably some level of practice is good. However, I have also heard the phase "don't waste the good ones in practice" be it landings, free throw shots, or whatever.

I had a flight about a year ago in a club Bonanza where we had a gear retraction issue after takeoff. I wasn't sure if the gear was really up or down, so I went through the emergency gear extension checklist. Even though the tower confirmed the gear appeared down as I flew by them, I still planned to land on the mains as softly as possible and keep the nose wheel off as long as possible.

I did a text book landing and the gear remained firmly extended (yea!). The tower controller told me over the radio "that was a great landing." I thanked him and thought to myself that it was nice to come through when it really counted.

So, maybe a bounce or two once in awhile is OK. You need to practice just enough to be ready when it counts. Two other sayings come to mind. "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one" and "the number of landings should match the number of takeoffs." Happy landings!

Curse You Red Baron!

I am from the generation that grew up reading the Peanuts cartoon strip and watching Charlie Brown TV specials, back when they weren't re-runs. Snoopy's arch enemy was the Red Baron, who flew a red Fokker Tri-Plane. Today we attended the March meeting of the Mid-America Antique Airplane Group, hosted by the Wiebe's at Wiebe Field in Halstead, Kansas. That location will sound familiar if you have read recent posts. That is where the steel tube frame of 98K's fuselage has been in repair.

At the fly-in was the beautiful red replica of a Fokker Tri-plane shown above with Kala posing in front of it. The airplane was well crafted and fun to watch fly. It was flying over the field and landing when we pulled up in the car. After closer examination, it was no wonder it was such a formidable challenge to Snoopy - especially if all he had was a flying dog house!

There were about 50 people there and about 10 airplanes. The weather cooperated with temperatures in the mid 60's, though the winds were out of the south between 10 and 20 mph. Mark cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and everyone else brought side dishes and deserts. Fun, food, friends, and airplanes - what more can you ask for? I also took the opportunity to show Debbie and Kala the Money Mite I posted about previously. Kala thought it was neat, but didn't like the idea it was only a single seater. Debbie just shook her head and wandered off in another direction.

The good news is Mark had finished the few remaining items to weld on 98K. He wants to look it over one more time and make sure he hasn't missed anything. Then he will fill out the paperwork (FAA Form 337) and I hope to sneak out of work early later this week and pick it up. I'll probably bring the wings home from the storage unit at the same time. Yea!

Welding Repair Location Summary

The diagram to the left shows all the different locations on the steel tube fuselage of 98K where we have either replaced or patched a piece of tubing. The longerons along the bottom that run from the cabin to the tail have consumed the majority of the effort, as they were completely replaced. Since moisture runs downhill and the Stinson has a tail wheel, most of the corrosion is in the aft, lower portion of the fuselage. See the below posts for details on the repair process. I continue to be impressed with Mark's skills and abilities. A great combination of craftsman and artist.

In the Home Stretch

Welding activity continued today at Halstead, Kansas. After putting in a full day, we are almost finished. Possibly one more tube to patch and then a few items to weld back on, such as one of the vertical stabilizer mounts, a few gussets, and the handle you use to move the airplane around on the ground by hand (such as putting it into the hangar).

I thought I would include a series of photos of how the process works. I think I can only get two pictures in each post, so I will split this into two. The above left photo shows one of the tube clusters after the tube that is being replaced has been mostly removed. You can still see part of the tube remains. In the right picture, the tube is now totally removed, and you can see the open ends of the other tubes in the cluster. For the rest of the story, see below.

More Details on the Process

The picture on the left shows the tube cluster with the new tube laid into place ready for welding. The picture on the right shows the final product, with the welding complete. It was taken with a flash, so the background detail is lost - it is not that the tubes are white hot! This process has been repeated about 25 times so far. The top post for today shows a diagram of where either tubes have been replaced or patches installed. As with all of these posts, if you click on the pictures, you get a full screen view.

Summer Dreams

For all our blog followers who are still shoveling snow or putting up with cold temperatures and drizzle, summer is on its way! In Wichita today it was sunny and 84 degrees F. The beautiful sunset tonight from our back deck shows promise of another good day tomorrow. You know the old saying: Red sky at night, pilot's delight. Red sky in morning, pilot take warning.

It's a Grind, but Fun

I took today off and went back to Halstead to continue the welding activity on 98K. Today we replaced one of the pieces of tubing that runs from just aft of the cabin all the way to the tail. That meant I needed to remove the existing tube first. This is accomplished by cutting the tube off at each weld cluster. Then you grind the old weld away at the cluster that holds the tube in. With a little additional grinding by Mark and then some finesse with the pliers and other tools, Mark was able to remove the remaining small pieces of tubing from each cluster. I think there must have been 5 or 6 weld clusters I had to grind on in this process.

I told Mark this was probably like how Mount Rushmore was carved. The cheap labor (me) comes in with the dynamite and blasts the rough image in. Then the artist comes along and does the detail work. I did the course grinding, Mark did the detail work. Then Mark welded in the new tube as seen in the picture. The tube on the left is the one we just replaced, the one on the right is the next to go (note all the corrosion holes). Before I left today, I removed the old tubing on the right and did a lot of the grinding.

We'll pick it up again next week. One more day may almost do it. We need to get this run of tubing done on the right side as seen in the photo, and then replace about 3 cross tubes. We also have several tabs and other odds and ends to weld onto the new tubing.

More Welding Photos

To the right is an example of one of the tube clusters ready for welding. To the left is Mark welding away.

Want a Mooney Mite?

This is a single place airplane made in the late 1940's in Wichita, a Mooney Mite. Many of you may be more familiar with its bigger brothers, the 4 place Mooneys. The Mite was quite a plane for its day, cruising over 120 mph on only 65 HP. It also has retractable landing gear.

Mark is in the final throws of restoring this one. Like everything he does, the workmanship is incredible. You won't find a nicer version of this airplane, and it can probably be yours for something in the mid 20's. You still have time to pick the trim color, too!

Here is a website with a general history of the design:

http://www.mooneymite.com/overview.htm