Wooden puzzle

I had a large box of wood I received when I picked up the Gullwing stashed in a corner of the hangar.  Strips of wood were used around the windows and doors and provided some contour to the fuselage, but mostly provided a place to attach the headliner or interior panels.  Previous folks involved in the restoration had made a few new pieces on the right side, but I always wondered if they were accurate. 

Its a really rainy day here in Kansas, so I decided to see if I could fit the old pieces together.  I determined where several pieces go, and pretty much assembled the entire left side.  I also determined for the right side which pieces were already duplicated and labeled and removed those from the table. 

I'm left with a few pieces to figure out where they go.....but not enough total pieces.  I wonder what the design should look like for overhead in the cabin and also around the front windows. I may need to either go on a field trip or find some drawings.....maybe both.  The original V-77 in 1943 had a pretty spartan interior since it was for military use.  Most have been spruced up over time.  That is the plan for this one.

Wood on right end is original.  Left end is stuff for

new pieces and a few already made.

Most of back left window was already there.

  I found the pieces for around the left and right doors.

Left aft window

Water pooling around my willow tree

Passing on the flying bug

At church today, we met a young man from Germany who is living with a host family for a year and attending high school here in Andover.  One of the kids in the host family, John, has been up a few times before with me and is now excited about becoming a pilot.  The exchange student, Nick, had never been in a small airplane before, so we decided we should go fly this afternoon.

John flew the first leg with his sister, Jillian, and Nick in back.  We landed at El Dorado and swapped so Nick could fly some.  Both John and Nick both did a great job.  Who knows, maybe 2 future pilots.  We had some hot chocolate and cookies to warm up afterwards.

Nick up front, John and Jillian in back.

I forgot to get a picture of John flying.

Nick at the controls

Jillian, Nick, and John afterwards

 

More stripping in the hangar

I removed the paint from the tail wheel fork yesterday and also picked up 2 engine stands at Northern Tool we are going to re-purpose into a wing rotisserie.....and they were on sale!  That should make rib stitching and painting the wings a lot easier.

Paint stripped

Paint bubbling up with stripper applied

Two engine stands in the back of Debbie's car

Sharing the joy of Stinson flight

We went to a Christmas party a week ago hosted by our neighbors. They have a son who is all about airplanes.  His name is Christian.  I took Christian and his mom for a ride about 2 years ago in the Stinson, not long after they moved in.  With my travels to Seattle since then, our schedules have not matched up very well.  At the party, Christian asked when he could go for another Stinson ride.  Today was the day.  His dad, Paul, went with us.

We flew around El Dorado Lake and back to Stearman with Christian doing most of the flying.  We landed on runway 35 in the grass so Christian could experience a grass landing.  It is always fun to share my love of flying with someone else equally excited about it!

Christian at the controls

No spoon

I received the tail wheel fork I had ordered today from  the guy on Barnstormers.  So I have fork but no spoon.  It needs to be cleaned up and painted, but otherwise looks good.  I also got new bearings for the tail wheel from Amazon.

115th Anniversary of First Flight

Today marked the 115th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk.  What better way to celebrate than go fly!  I invited Andrew, our recently minted private pilot posted about yesterday, if he would like to join me.  I wanted him to truly experience the Stinson now that he has something to compare to.  He had flown Piper Warriors during his training.

We did some air work and then returned to Stearman for some takeoff and landing practice.  Andrew  did 3 full stall landings in the grass, the last of which was superb.  Then he tried some wheel landings on the pavement.  Those also went very well.

Always fun to share the joy of flying, especially when it is a Stinson.....not that I am biased or anything.

He's got that "I'm flying a Stinson" grin!

Light levels were dropping fast after we returned

Busy day at Stearman

A lot of airplanes were flying this afternoon, taking advantage of a sunny day with light winds.  Temperatures were in  the mid 50's, too.  See pictures below for what I captured in about 15 minutes.

I also decided to display the Hallmark airplane decorations I have been collecting for the past 22 years or so.  Debbie had an ornament tree that fit the bill nicely.  I have duplicates for many, still in the box, but not all.  One thing I noticed is they are not all to the same scale.  The first in the series is the Wright Flyer, so I put it on top.  Everything else flowed down from there.

New Private Pilot

You may recall a post from September 19 about a young man named Andrew I have known for several years and his first solo.  Andrew took his Private Pilot check ride a week ago on December 9 and passed.  Congratulations!  We’re planning to go fly tomorrow afternoon in the Stinson to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the first flight by the Wright brothers.

Getting air time finally

We finally have some nice flying weather in Kansas.  I went up Friday afternoon for just over an hour and then again on Saturday for about half an hour.  The visibility has been really good as you can tell from the pictures below.  While flying on Friday I went up towards Cassoday and tried to get a few pictures of the Flint Hills.  Whoever thought Kansas was flat has not driven through that area.  It is very stunning to see any time of the year.

Yesterday there was a fire out near Leon so I went to look at that.  Just a grass fire.  I have a socket in my panel that allows you to pipe music from the I-Pad into the intercom system.  I finally have the right cord for that and gave it a try.  It works great, especially with the Bose noise canceling headsets.  The system mutes whenever the radio receives or you transmit.  I found you need to move the boom mic away if you plan to sing along, otherwise the intercom picks up your voice and mutes the music.

In restoration news, I received the tail wheel strut on Friday.  Wade also determined we need a new tail wheel fork.  I contacted the guy who provided the strut and he also has a fork. Debbie was gone at the time and I wanted to get the payment off, so I hiked into Benton by foot to the Post Office and got a money order and sent it.  Only 2 miles one way and I need the exercise.

New strut on left

El Dorado Lake

Flint Hills

Flint Hills

Fire on the horizon after leaving Stearman Field

Just a grass fire

Selfie

 

Locating tail parts

Wade sent me the below photo.  He has installed oak wood strips in the aileron well on the aft portion of the outboard wing.  The fabric is held down to these wood strips with strips of metal mechanically fastened.

In other news, we found a guy on Barnstormers who had some UC-78 surplus parts.  That is also called a Bamboo Bomber.  Many years ago someone removed the Stinson tail wheel strut and installed one from a UC-78.  My strut is severely corroded as previously posted (9/24/18) and needs replaced.  So, that should be on the way in a few days.

Wade also took the tailwheel apart.  It is a Goodyear and it has some issues with what appears to be homemade spacers.  Also hard to find grease seals for this model.  The UC-78 parts book shows it should be a Variety brand tailwheel.  Just happened to find one on eBay, NOS (New Old Stock), for a reasonable price, so that is on the way.  Merry Christmas to me!

It’s alive!

Wade sent me a text today with the above title wording and below photo.  It shows the navigation light on the right wing shining bright.  For those not familiar with all things aviation, there is a green light on the right wing, a red light on the left, and a white light on the tail.  Then you can tell which way an airplane is going at night when you are trying to avoid it.

We had to buy a few different items on eBay and put them together to get to this point.  Little things like lights often go missing during a restoration that changes hands a few times like this one.  In fact, Wade found an original retractable landing light on eBay just yesterday, so that is now on the way.  The one I had is not original and pretty large compared to what we need (and draws a lot of power).  So, next to a digital camera, the internet is probably the second most useful tool to a restorer.

Flap actuator access

Wade send some notes and pictures of recent V-77 activity.  Rib repairs are complete on the right wing.  He has also ran the wiring for the navigation light.  Fellow V-77 restorer Randy Phillips had suggested we install an access panel to the flap actuator, in case a repair or servicing was required after the covering was complete.  Wade has now created and installed one on my right wing as seen below.  It won’t be long before the right wing will be finished and we will need to move it back to the hangar and swap it for the left wing.  Probably a good Christmas break task.

Cover installed

Frame work

Nav light wiring run

New fuel senders

I saw an article last spring in the AOPA daily news feed I get about CiES and the high tech fuel senders they had developed. The ones in the V-77 needed replaced, so I contacted them about developing an STC for the V-77.  They said send an old one out and they would see what they could do.  They just finished the STC a few weeks ago and I was one of the first in line to buy them.  They arrived today and look really nice.  It will be a few years before I try them out, but one more thing to cross off the purchase list.

More rib repairs

Wade sent a few more pictures of some of the outboard rib repairs, including before and after.  Debbie and I have also been talking color schemes.  Black with gold trim seems to resonate for some reason.   Below is a picture of one we found online.

Repair complete

Part way done

Before the repair, you can see a flat spot

where the rib was crushed previously 

After the repair

Before

Rib work end near

Wade had the day off due to Veterans Day, so he got some additional rib repairs made.  Special thanks to Wade and all the other veterans out there for your service to our country!

Wade mentioned there are just a couple small repairs left out near the tip on this half of the wing.  Next up is to make an access panel for the flap pneumatic actuator.  This was a suggestion from Randy Phillips as you occasionally need to repair these actuators and it is a shame to have to cut into the fabric.

One of the biggest rib repairs needed

 

Always nice to be working inside on a cold day

Leading edge off

Wade sent a shot tonight of the latest progress.  In order to repair one of the ribs, he had to remove a major section of the leading edge sheeting.  If you zoom in, it is the first shiny rib with blue tape.  He had to bent the steel stock (the shiny part) to match the curvature of the top of the rib.  You’ll note the front of the rib is wood!

Rib repairs started

Wade sent a few photos of some rib repairs he made today.  The repairs are per the Structual Repair Manual.  It involves removing the damaged portion of the rib, which is made of hollow square steel tubing, and replacing it with a piece of solid square steel which slides into the existing hollow rib with a one inch overlap.  A few fasteners hold it all together.  I was able to purchase the solid steel stock off of E-Bay a few weeks ago.  Wade found the replacement fasteners also online.  Next to the digital camera, the internet is one of the key tools to a restorer.

A few of the damaged ribs were probably from the move and squeezing everything into the U-Haul.  The others make you scratch your head, especially since someone had thought things were good enough to start covering!  Glad we removed all of the covering and started over!

After the repair 

Before 

Another rib repaired