Then and now....seven years in the making

All cleaned up and nowhere to go

It was in the mid 60's today, so I decided to get a year's worth of dust off the Stinson.  I had a hot and cold water spicket installed in the hangar during construction, so even the water was comfy!  With all the dust off, I will focus on rubbing out the finish in the coming weeks.

I also finished the other emblem for the pilot's control wheel.  I found the paint came off easier with some toothpaste, so it is also minty clean!  I remember my dad using toothpaste as a cleaner at Oshkosh in 1973 when we won "Best Aeronca Chief."  We had various touch up paints with us, but nothing to clean the tailwheel fork.  Crest to the rescue!

Bath time over

A beautiful day

After a few minutes, I came to my senses and

 pushed it into the shade and re-washed things

View of finished panel; radios on, too!

Don't be fooled

I was cleaning up today and decided to put the cowlings on.  That gets them out of harms way and also makes the airplane look more complete!  I also cut the wheel pants to accommodate the new Cleveland brakes.  I still have some repair work to do on the wheel pants, then some body work, and finally I will paint them.  However, this gives you an idea of what things will look like down the road.  Don't be fooled, though, no engine under that cowl!

One down

I finished the control wheel insert on the copilot side today.  I decided to do one all the way through paint in case I didn't like the look.  I learned a few things.  If you blow the picture up, you will see some areas where I rubbed the grooves off.  A few others where not all the silver was gone.  Oops!  But, from a distance, it will be OK.  I'll do better on the next one.

Elbow grease

I am doing a few small things while I wait on the engine.  One thing is to repaint the plastic logo plates that go on the control wheels in the cockpit.  As you can see, they are blue on the bottom with white lettering, and then silver above.  Some of the silver has flaked off in 67 years.

I took one to work and asked the guys in the materials and processes lab how they would remove the paint, as I did not want to damage the plastic and cause it to haze.  They gave me some 1000 grit sandpaper to remove the blue paint.  That worked well, but it took time.  The silver paint is inside ridges.  They suggested I cut the bristles off of a paint brush, leaving about 1/4 inch.  Then use that to slowly scrape the paint out.  

As the bottom picture shows, I still have some silver to remove, but the blue is gone.  My goal is the paint the area black that was blue, and gold above it.  

Electrical system working again

The electrical system has been intermittent the past few months.  Sometimes when you would turn on the master switch and then the panel lights, nothing would light up.  If you cycled the master a few times, then things would work.....even though it sounded like the solenoid was clicking on each time.  However, the higher load switches, like the avionics, did not turn on. 

I bought a new battery charger to make sure I had a good charge on the battery.  No effect.  I finally decided to replace the battery relay solenoid, figuring the 67 year old original probably had a lot of corrosion inside.  After hooking the new one up tonight, everything works again.  A good $25 investment.

I also installed the lower wing to fuselage fairing on the left side with all the painting completed.  Not much left to do without the engine!

A few final things

I did a few items today to start to wrap things up aft of the firewall.  I picked up some cream colored Naugahyde and made reinforcement pieces where the rudder cables exit the fuselage on each side.  I also painted them to match. 

I finished getting the last few screws in the upper fairing on the left wing to fuselage fairing.

I got a coat of white on the patch this morning and then again this evening. 

The last action was to repaint the pilot door.  I noticed some over-spray from when I painted the tubes before installing the windows.  So, I masked things off and took care of that.  I also need to re-paint the gold on the left side of the boot cowl.  It got scratched some during the window installation.

Painting patch with white coats

 Reinforcement where rudder cable exits.....yes, the nut

is missing where the cable connects to the rudder.

 View of upper wing to fuselage fairings

Re-painting door on pilot side

ELT Finished

The last step to installing the ELT was to mount the antenna.  I made a bracket this morning and attached it to the right side of the inside of the fuselage with Adel clamps around the steel tubes.  I am also going to buy some copper foil tape to make a better ground plane.  I tried the ELT control panel in the cockpit and everything works! 

I then attached the upper wing to fuselage fairing on the left side and painted all the screw heads.  So, I just need to finish the patch work mentioned last time, install the lower fairing on the left side, and everything will be done from the firewall aft......I think.  Well, maybe except for touching up some paint.

Ah....the smells of Poly Fiber

When I was installing the lower wing to fuselage fairing on the left side, there was a small gap (about 1/8 of an inch) where the fabric was opened for the fuel line to go through.  I decided to put a small strip of fabric there to cover that area up.  So, I used MEK to remove all the finish and then glued a fabric strip in place.  I have been putting on Poly-Brush the last few days.  Tonight, I put on the first coat of silver.

I also got the rest of the hardware to mount the ELT today.  So, I worked on that tonight.  Next is to mount the antenna.

Left wing to fuselage fairing fitted

This afternoon, I installed a new heater control cable.  I also drilled the holes for the left wing to body fairing.  I also worked on the mounting bracket for the ELT.  I need to pick up some hardware tomorrow to finish that task.



A busy Saturday

I was able to spend a few hours on the Stinson this morning and then again this evening.  I routed the wiring for the ELT from the cockpit back to where the unit will be mounted behind the baggage compartment.  One of the items I removed in the process was the fairing over the landing gear struts.  While that was off, I filled the struts the rest of the way and safetied the bolt in the bleed hole.

I also trimmed the glare shield pad this morning, including heating up the edges to melt the carpet strands together to prevent the carpet from shedding on the edges.

When we came home after being out for awhile, the postman had left me a package from Univair.  It contained some rubber molding for the tail and also the windshield.  I installed the rubber molding on the tail this evening.  I also attached the glare shield pad with Velcro.  The last thing I did was glue some of the new rubber molding to the metal strip between the left wing and fuselage.  Tomorrow I will get this piece fitted and drilled.

 Safety wire on the bleed screw

Parts from Univair.  Also, you can see how much carpet

I had to trim away.

Rubber molding on top of horizontal in place

Carpet on top of the glare shield

Rubber molding glued to wing to body fairing for left side

A few more things to do

I received the glare shield pad from Airtex today.  It is gold carpet like the floor and lower side wall.  It does not fit for some reason, so I will need to trim it quite a bit.  At lease that will be on the back side where no one can see the edge from the cockpit.

I also went by Air Parts at lunch to get some sheet metal screws.  While there, I saw they had Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) for a good price, so I got one of those.  I wished I would have thought about this while everything was uncovered.  Oh well, it won't be too hard, though I will need to remove a panel or two.

I mounted the ELT control panel on the instrument panel tonight in a hole blank, so that was pretty straight forward.  I noticed afterwards all the others screws are black, so I will have to paint those!  An ELT is required by the FAA, but you hope you never need it.  It sends out a signal for people to use to find you if you have a crash.....especially useful if you fly in mountains.

Willie guards the door!  The glare shield

panel is above.

The ELT kit

Small square panel right of the altimeter is ELT control panel

Progress Resumes

I was out of town on company travel last week, and catching up this week.  I finally had a chance to get back to work on the Stinson tonight.  I had trimmed the fairing that goes between the right wing and fuselage around the windshield over the weekend and had glued the rubber weather stripping on.  Tonight, I started drilling the holes to hold the fairing in place.  I have them all drilled now and am touching up the paint on the upper fairing before I install it........maybe tomorrow. 

Fairings installed

I started installing the belly closeout panels yesterday and finished that up this afternoon.  I also installed the gear leg fairings, the fuselage to gear fairings, and finished the fairing around the bottom of the wing struts.

All that remains is to finish the wing to fuselage fairing on both sides.  Then get the engine installed.

Belly panels installed

Gear fairings complete right side

Left side...obviously need

some wheel pants, too!

Windshield in

Nathan, Kala, and the twins came by tonight so that Nathan could help me get the windshield installed.  I had everything ready to go and it only took us 40 minutes!  Of course, that is after hours of trimming and fitting over the past few weeks.  Next is to install some fairings and then we are ready for an engine.

Ready for the windshield

I finished painting the closeout panels today.  I also got another coat of black on the lower cowling.  I then installed the glare shield, along with the compass.  You can see a picture below with and without the closeout panel installed.  Looks OK.  I have a cowl pad coming from Airtex to go over all of this.  It will match the carpet.  So, now I am ready to install the windshield!

Finished panel

Closeout panel installed on right side

No closeout panel

Many things to paint

I got the first coat of paint on the lower cowl this morning.  I then put a second coat on this evening.  I also routed the various cables and wires through the firewall.

I then worked on the glare shield and fashioned closeout pieces for both the left and right side.  With that complete, I put them in the small paint booth Nathan built a few years ago and sprayed them.  I also put another coat of paint on the windshield hold downs I made last week.

Last was to mask off the front area so I could spray the steel tubes that are behind the windshield one more time.  They had gotten scratched some with all the other recent activity.

First attempt

This evening after talking with my friend Jerry, I fashioned a close out for the issue in yesterday's post using paper.  I then made one out of aluminum to see how it would work.  Overall not bad.  I need a better solution around the swivel panel lights and the tube.

Input needed

Tonight I trial fit the glare shield.  I have two pictures below.  The first is with the glareshield snugged up against the lower windshield retainer.  That leaves a triangular gap between the top of the instrument panel and the glareshield.

The second shot is with the glareshield attached to the top of the instrument panel.  This leaves the lower windshield retainer exposed.  I am not sure what is correct, but know a few Stinson owners are watching this.  Send me your input......better yet, send a photo.

The end of my instrument panel is just over 9 inches high.  To close this gap, it would need to be around 11 inches.  I copied my new panel from the old, but there is no guarantee the old panel was made the same size as the original when this was rebuilt in the mid 1970's.  Maybe some thick carpet to hide things?

Glueing on rubber molding

Tonight I painted the first coat of paint on the windshield hold down pieces I made on Saturday.  I also decided to glue the rubber molding around the the glare shield that goes above and behind the instrument panel (half circle item in picture).  I also glued rubber molding on the close out pieces that go under the horizontal tail.  Last was to sand the lower cowl some and then wipe it down with a special cleaner.  Maybe tomorrow night I can epoxy prime it and get the first coat of black on.  The cooler temperatures are great for painting. 

It's Hammer Time

I went to Halstead this morning to use Mark's large shear to cut some aluminum for the windshields hold downs.  The center hold down had been previously modified and did not fit correctly.  So, we made a new one about 1.75 inches longer.  We also made a new upper windshield hold down as the one from Univair did not provide enough overlap.

While there, Mark showed me the progress he had made on the bottom cowl.  You may remember from last week it got smashed when a book case collapsed.  Mark had all the big dents out.  I spent about 2 hours hammering out the small stuff.  It will look great once repainted.

After

 

Before

New and old hold downs