Progress update

[Scott]

Merry Christmas all

I've used the holiday down time to update my blog.

Updates are in the Tail Feathers and Fuselage sections. As always, would appreciate your oversight, input, concerns, feedback.

We're going to leave the cold again for a while in January/February so will probably be March before the next installment.

http://c-fclr.blogspot.ca/

Cheers and have a great 2016!
Scott

[Nefj40]

Re: Progress update

Love the blog. It really shows how much work goes into a restoration.

[Scott]

Re: Progress update

Thanks Dave
one of the biggest challenges is staying motivated because there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The blog is only a summary and believe it or not I've been trying to make it as brief as possible! Talking to others who've completed Tcraft and other restorations it's clear that a very important strategy is to just keep picking away... do something, anything, every day.

The blog is important to me in that it does allow sight of what I've achieved so far. Sanity preservation if not motivator.

Scott

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Progress update

Thanks Dave
one of the biggest challenges is staying motivated because there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The blog is only a summary and believe it or not I've been trying to make it as brief as possible! Talking to others who've completed Tcraft and other restorations it's clear that a very important strategy is to just keep picking away... do something, anything, every day.

The blog is important to me in that it does allow sight of what I've achieved so far. Sanity preservation if not motivator.

Scott

you think there is no end in sight with a t-craft. Try doing a Staggerwing....

[Scott]

Re: Progress update

you think there is no end in sight with a t-craft. Try doing a Staggerwing....

I hear you. I wasn't trying to start a size or complexity competition. The point is you and everyone else who has taken on a restoration project, whether a Tcraft, Staggerwing, Goose, B707 whatever will have no doubt experienced the feeling. And perhaps its easy to see why some projects don't make it to completion for decades if ever.

[Joe cooper]

Re: Progress update

I hear you. I wasn't trying to start a size or complexity competition. The point is you and everyone else who has taken on a restoration project, whether a Tcraft, Staggerwing, Goose, B707 whatever will have no doubt experienced the feeling. And perhaps its easy to see why some projects don't make it to completion for decades if ever.

I agree with you 100 percent. Comparing a Staggerwing to a simple t craft is a real stretch. There's a Staggerwing pro in New Jersey by name of joe ( or maybe jim) flood who is a master aircraft restorer and pilot. His son flys a beautiful Pitts and instructs in same. (The landing gear mechanics on a Staggerwing alone is enough to make ones hair turn grey. Google john Desmond's staggerwing) there are always a great many " projects" that are never completed. Some die, others give up due to work, family, etc.

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Progress update

I hear you. I wasn't trying to start a size or complexity competition. The point is you and everyone else who has taken on a restoration project, whether a Tcraft, Staggerwing, Goose, B707 whatever will have no doubt experienced the feeling. And perhaps its easy to see why some projects don't make it to completion for decades if ever.

I wasn't trying to start a competition either. Just saying I have done both, the tcraft I can do in my sleep. The staggerwing will take years off your life. The difference is I do it for a living and can work on one all day long. You probably have a day job, wife, kids, etc. all demanding your time which can turn a small project into eternity when trying to do it on the side. My personal projects are that way, took me 15 years to build my personal tcraft, but I probably built 50 other airplanes during that same time for for my customers.

[Bruce Caldwell]

Re: Progress update

Can you tell me about the line oil you used to fill the fuselage? I would like to fill my landing gear as well.
Thanks,
Bruce Caldwell
M95893

[Scott]

Re: Progress update

HI Bruce
I just used Randolph tube/line oil, purchased from Aircraft spruce. Don't know much about it except it meets the Mil spec for corrosion preventative oil. It's a thin oil which makes it easy to use and I think the theory is the oil will eventually wet the inside of the tubes even if gravity won't do it. I rotated the fuselage once I had oil in the tubes anyway. And other tubes I filled completely so there's no doubt all internal surfaces are oiled.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Progress update

Bruce:

Like Scott, I used tube oil (in my case it was Polyfiber "tubeseal") but boiled linseed oil, Randolph or Polyfiber products all have the same effect. You need to have a word with your local vetinarian to get a big diameter needle, like a horse syringe to inject the stuff. I got one from the local zoo. The syringe in the pictures below they inject tigers and other cats with antibiotics.





(well not any more they don't)

Rob

p.s. I'm sure you could do the same with a catheter, but I'm sure the thought would cause most males on this forum to cross their legs, as it does me.

[Ray36048]

Re: Progress update

Can you tell me about the line oil you used to fill the fuselage? I would like to fill my landing gear as well.
Thanks,
Bruce Caldwell
M95893

I think some of the landing gear tubes have weep holes. The oil will drain out.

[mikeg]

Re: Progress update

Thanks Dave
one of the biggest challenges is staying motivated because there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The blog is only a summary and believe it or not I've been trying to make it as brief as possible! Talking to others who've completed Tcraft and other restorations it's clear that a very important strategy is to just keep picking away... do something, anything, every day.

The blog is important to me in that it does allow sight of what I've achieved so far. Sanity preservation if not motivator.

Scott

Scott,
I have done a number of restorations from "simple" cover jobs to several basket cases (oldest being a 1929 Fleet 2). You can not look at the whole project. As you say, it is almost overwhelming. What works for me is to think of it as a bunch of "little jobs". When that particular "little job" is done, you will get a terrific sense of accomplishment and add fuel to go to the next "little job". Hang in there, you are preserving a part of aviation history.
Mike
NC27451
NC29804
NC447K

[mikeg]

Re: Progress update

Thanks Dave
one of the biggest challenges is staying motivated because there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The blog is only a summary and believe it or not I've been trying to make it as brief as possible! Talking to others who've completed Tcraft and other restorations it's clear that a very important strategy is to just keep picking away... do something, anything, every day.

The blog is important to me in that it does allow sight of what I've achieved so far. Sanity preservation if not motivator.

Scott

Scott,
I have done a number of restorations from "simple" cover jobs to several basket cases (oldest being a 1929 Fleet 2). You can not look at the whole project. As you say, it is almost overwhelming. What works for me is to think of it as a bunch of "little jobs". When that particular "little job" is done, you will get a terrific sense of accomplishment and add fuel to go to the next "little job". Hang in there, you are preserving a part of aviation history.
Mike
NC27451
NC29804
NC447K

[M Towsley]

Re: Progress update

Mike,

A little off-topic, (I have done a number of restorations from "simple" cover jobs to several basket cases (oldest being a 1929 Fleet 2), we have a 1929 Fleet Model 9 at the airport undergoing restoration. Lots and lots of small parts.

[Scott]

Re: Progress update

I think some of the landing gear tubes have weep holes. The oil will drain out.

Just in case there is any misunderstanding, the oil is only put in the tube to "wet" the internal surfaces. It is drained out again in all cases.