Fall 2013
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Volunteer Work Day- come help our volunteer teams work on airplanes, vehicles, and more!
2013 Calendar
- January 19, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- February 16, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- March 16, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- March 23, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- April 13 & 20, 2013 - Volunteer work days
- May 4, 2013 - AirFair preparation day
- May 11, 2013 - 2012 Air Fair
- August 17, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- September 14, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- September 21, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- October 12, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- October 19, 2013 - Volunteer work day
- November 2, 2013 - Volunteer work day- fly-in prep
- November 9, 2013 - Fall Fly-in & Picnic
- December 14, 2013 - Volunteer work day
Upcoming Event Information
Volunteer Work Day
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Volunteer Work Day. Our volunteers will meet and work on restoring and rebuilding airplanes, vehicles, and the aerodrome itself. All are welcome to come and help out!
Recent Events
Volunteer Work Day
August, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
August saw the Tri-City Flyers host a "Wounded Warrior" R/C Fly-In Benefit event on the flying field. Pioneer Flight Museum also hosted the "In-Liners" car club - a group dedicated to in-line engines and the automobiles they powered. So not a lot got done in some ways, as many of the volunteers were drafted into tour guide duties. The heat was bearable (mainly) and we had a good turn-out for the sole workday held during the month.
Aircraft Activities
Thomas-Morse S-4C
Not much activity on the Thomas-Morse projects in August. Mike and Don Craig did an assessment of the T-2 sheet metal fairings and panels and worked out a methodology to get the team over that hurdle. Mike says he will bring his sheet metal tools next workday and start working the issues.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Usually we like to fly the Triplane when we have crowds like this, but the wind was perpendicular to the runway and varied from light to moderate gusts. So the Triplane's engine was started and run for the crowd twice, once in the morning, once in the afternoon. The engine started first flip and ran flawlessly.
Fokker D.VII
The D.VII was pulled from the hangar and set out on display. All the airplanes were fairly dusty - aside from the usual weather-proofing issues on the hangar someone had pulled out a large industrial fan and set it up in the hangar to keep workers cool, apparently. Turning it on immediately creates clouds of dust and dirt in the hangar. Most of the airplanes need a bath.
Curtiss Canuck
The Canuck was pulled from the hangar and put out on display, and Dave Edgerly and Dave Orloff started working on troubleshooting why the engine was so stiff and vibrated when the prop was pulled through. They quickly established that a few drops of oil on the water pump shaft relieved most of the problem almost immediately! So the decision was made to try and start the engine for the crowd.
Dave Orloff is about the only guy big enough to really swing that prop, especially when the motor is stiff! Dave O. set to work while Dave Edgerly sat in the cockpit and managed the controls. Dave Orloff was eventually relieved by Mike Craig as the engine showed little sign of life. Big Dave took over when Mike got wore out and was finally able to get the engine to run. Dave E. wasn't entirely happy with the engine's performance - it felt a little rough over 1200 rpm, he suspects we'll need to adjust the valves and double-check the ignition timing.
In the afternoon, Steve flew the Canuck with Charlotte as passenger, the flight being uneventful.
Steve and Roger have conferred about the troublesome water pump. Steve has a son who is an engineer, so the plan is to take the best water pump we have and have him make drawings of the existing parts, then modify the design to incorporate modern bearings, shafts, shields and seals - essentially make a better "mousetrap"! See whether that works....
Meyers OTW
June - Steve reports that the Meyers OTW is done and ready to return to Texas! Hopefully we'll see it in September! Steve would really like to get the Meyers OTW and the Ercoupe out of his hangar!!
Ercoupe
Even after the engine swap the Ercoupe was experiencing temperature issues, so Steve has done some light engine freshening work and set about overhauling the baffling within the cowling. Steve reports that the process is nearing a conclusion and he hopes to try flying the aircraft again soon.
Rearwin Sportster
The Rearwin stayed in the hangar the entire day, but it was good to see that the tires continued to hold air! In fact, all the aircraft that recently had tire or inner tube work done were holding air satisfactorily.
Rearwin Ken-Royce
We finally got some varnish on the wing panel thanks to Steve Richardson, Tom Miller, and Scott Blair! They finished stripping the wing to allow access to the wood and cleaned some of the accumulated dust off the wing before setting about varnishing the wing and elevator. Due to the drying time of the varnish only one side of the wing was completed.
Next workday we'll need to finish varnishing this wing panel and see how much of the mud dauber nests we can get out of the leading edges. We also need to figure out a way to store the panels that will better protect them. It'll also be time to pull another wing panel down from the wall and begin prepping it for varnish.
Team Vehicles
Model Ts
With the R/C event on the field and the In-Liners Club visiting Team Vehicles spent much of their time talking Ts with visitors and giving rides.
Kurt Maurer spent much of his day driving the Signal Corps truck and reports the steering / handling is vastly improved since Ian tightened up the front end. In looking into Kurt's complaints Ian found that the front axle's kingpins were somewhat loose so he tightened them to Ford's specs. Previously the vehicle would over-steer into turns - and the faster you were going the worse the tendency. Kurt reports that charming tendency is mostly a thing of the past thanks to Ian's efforts!
Cameron Whitaker and Steve Penaluna serviced the Wrecker prior to Lynn taking it out for a drive. Lynn loaded up Killer and a passenger into the truck and started out and says he got about 50 yards before it stopped running. After sitting awhile it restarted, so he believes it may have a clogged fuel filter. Lynn also removed the leaking fuel shut-off valve on the Wrecker and replaced it with a spare he happened to have in his car.
Lynn also tried firing up the Blue Racer, only to discover it has a serious radiator leak, so the car was quickly parked. All in all, almost all the Ts except for the ambulances got started and run.
Thor Motorcycle
Steve Freeman has a Thor motorcycle that has had a little work done on it several years ago. Kevin Monahan has taken the bits and pieces to his home workshop to finish the restoration job. The documentation with the bike indicates it is a Thor IV and is either a 1909, 1910, or 1912 model. Kevin says the serial number is upper three digits which may lean towards an earlier year of manufacture. Kevin says the engine made only 4 horse-power and has the heaviest flywheel he's ever seen on a bike engine!
Indian Motorcycle
Kevin Monahan repaired the dented Indian front forks. It appears the bike may have been involved in a minor accident at some point as the fork travel stops had dented the backside of one of the fork tubes. Kevin disassembled the front end and repaired the dent, reassembled the bike and it is running again.
Triumph Motorcycle
Dave Edgerly spent some time learning how to operate the Triumph. Dave wants to take the Triumph to the annual Harvest Classic bike event in the Austin area. (Kevin wants to take the Indian, though the event is for vintage European and Japanese motorcycles!). Dave plans on trying to peddle a few T-shirts and stir up some interest in PFM.
Miscellaneous
Shop Hangar Repair
Charlotte has been having problems with one of the shop's hangar doors catching on the siding when the hangar door is opened. Terry (and Charlotte) set about tucking the siding back under the door trim and pop riveting it in place. The process entailed a forklift to gain the necessary altitude!
Donation
McCulloch 100 - Steve had an acquaintance deliver a McCulloch 100 two-stroke flat-four engine and manual to his shop in Memphis as a donation for the museum. These engines were used to power early drones. Interesting little piece of technology!
Air Cannon
Al Sumrall bought a golf ball air cannon (M1916 37mm look alike) from an acquaintance of his so Kingsbury has a cannon now! This thing shoots both Nerf style darts (about 75 feet), and standard golf balls (about 200 yards at higher air pressures)! Al has plans to paint it up, make some functional improvements to make it work better and look more accurate - and most importantly, have fun. Al is already talking smack about shooting down R/C airplanes and setting up a target range with "German infantry & tanks".
Al reports that this type of weapon has quite a bit of historical significance. The gun was mounted in FT-17 tanks and the SPAD XII carried this gun so it has a WWI aviation pedigree also. Its WWII successors would have been the 75MM pack howitzer and the bazooka. Last US use was in the Philippines against the Japanese! Al has a link to some additional information about this type of cannon: M1916 37mm cannon
Field Bike
Ian Whitaker has been working on getting one of the surplus USMC Kawasaki KLR motorcycles to run and had made good progress. Kevin Monahan completed the job, taking the bike to his home shop to thoroughly clean out the entire fuel system and effect some small repairs. The bike runs great now! That long travel suspension sure makes running errands around the field quicker, easier, and fairly comfortable! Great job guys!
Volunteer Work Day
July, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
July saw some significant progress on the Thomas-Morse T-2 project and Steve made some progress on the Ercoupe's return to the air. Minor progress was made on the Rearwin Ken-Royce wing preservation project. The heat was bearable (mainly) and we had a good turn-out for the sole workday held during the month. However, the big news was the film crew out at Kingsbury to finally shoot their demo video!
Aircraft
Thomas-Morse S-4C Scout
Steve Richardson reassessed the bulkhead options for fairing mounting on the belly of T-2 and developed an alternative plan. The fuselage was stripped and then flipped over on the work stands to make working on the belly of the fuselage structure easier. Steve "filled in" the depressions created by the belly former stringers sticking out of the bulkhead at the tail end of the structure to provide a solid surface for the tail skid fairing to attach to.
Canuck
An attempt was made to start the Canuck's OX-5 engine for the film crew's sound man but the engine wouldn't start. The aircraft had been sitting out all day long and appeared to be heat soaked, expanding various components and making the engine very tight and stiff to turn over. The crew covered the exposed motor with a tarp and pushed the bird back into the hangar.
One week later during the workday the prop was turned by hand and the engine was still very tight, and it squeaked when the prop was moved. This doesn't appear to be a "heat-soak" issue and will result in some troubleshooting to isolate the issue for repair - though the most likely suspect has to be the water pump shaft!
Rearwin Sportster
Kevin Monahan and Dave Miller, with an assist from Billy Cheshire installed the new inner tube on the Rearwin Sportster. Holding air so far!
Rearwin Ken-Royce (2000C)
Chris Hill and Tom Gaylord removed the aileron from the wing in preparation for final sanding and varnishing.
Team Vehicles
Indian Motorcycle
Kevin Monahan reports he is making progress on repairs to the Indian's front suspension. The dent in the tube was caused by the fork travel stop so he suspects the bike had a minor accident at some point in its life!
Miscellaneous
Movie Demo
The shoot had originally been scheduled for June, but some of the crew's technical people were unable to make it so the shoot was postponed to July. Below are Al Sumrall's and Dave Orloff's comments on the filming process.
Al Sumrall - What an interesting and educational experience!
Dave Orloff, Dave Edgerly, Kevin Monahan, Kurt Maurer (who was also one of the actors), Charlotte Parker and I stayed on site over the weekend and really worked hard but it was both fun and educational despite the tremendous heat. We all stayed for the duration, Friday, Sat, and Sunday. We were all "dead tired" but there was no slack in doing what needed to be done. The hangar sets surprised me... but what really surprised me was how we/they managed to make things work. Even "Rusty Wrecker" will be in a scene. The signal corps truck was a sweetheart, as usual, and did everything asked of her - and the film crew asked for a lot! The 1921 Triumph motorcycle will also be in the hangar scene.
The film people were very tidy and it looked like they were never there after they left. The film crew proved to be a very professional group, though I was aware of some significant "culture" differences with the Kingsbury "natives"! There were no cooperation issues, and we were able to give them everything they needed.
At the end, during the director's flush of success (they all were very happy), I suggested that if the series was picked up FHC / VM / PFM had the ability to produce mock-ups and such (for a fee, of course) and listed the expertise and equipment available at Kingsbury. The director liked the concept as they were trying to keep as much work as possible local, and that some "sets" (like internal cockpit shots) would be needed as there was going to be quite a bit of flight / filming of actors with aircraft. Even the construction of full scale "mock up" aircraft isn't out of the question for some early aircraft.
Amazing how much work it can take for even three minutes of film. Of course, if the scenes were longer there would be more efficiency. Regardless of the outcome for the film folks, the participation by Kingsbury was a success.
Dave Orloff - So, movie making comes to Kingsbury! The whole experience was tiring, confusing, entertaining and interesting. The shop was used, as was the interior of the museum hangar. The shots of Kurt running the T thru the mud by the windsock don't capture the endless retakes, as the sun set. Tense and aggravating, especially for Kurt who was soaked (including his cigar). It was hilarious to hear the director repeatedly urge Kurt to "floor it!" as he splashed past.
Sunday's shooting was hangar-centric and we had to clear a lot of stuff out, with the help of grips from the crew. Luckily the crew also helped us put it all back! We were well fed and Charlotte was busy caring for a couple of heat-exhausted grips, one Saturday and one Sunday. Gary (the Director) made it a point to announce loudly Sunday afternoon that none of the gray-whiskered set fell out despite the heat, pointing to Kevin, Dave, Al and me to illustrate his point!
The movie crew by and large was very cooperative and respectful of us, our assets and facilities. I told them so at the end of Sunday's shooting. We also ran the Triplane for the sound man to add it to his library of sounds. He was ecstatic and took very detailed notes on the engine and airplane. We were unable to run the Canuck, as much because I was too beat to get a good throw as anything else.
I was assured that we will be able to see the finished video as soon as it is available, fingers crossed. Also there may be further opportunities for involvement if the series is a go. I'm not sure I want more of this sort of work though - I'm kinda frazzled working ten+ hours a day.
The Museum may have acquired a few new volunteers from the film crew, plus the film company made a donation to the museum, the Freeman Heritage Collection and Old Kingsbury Aerodrome and paid some extra to cover the additional cost of utilities used in making the video. Hopefully the series is picked up and more - Dave Orloff may not be ecstatic about doing more film work but it sounded fairly interesting overall!
Volunteer Work Day
June, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
June saw some significant progress on the museum's aircraft and Model T vehicles. The heat was bearable (mainly) and we had a good turn-out for the sole workday held during the month.
Aircraft
Thomas-Morse S-4C
Jerry Stark continued working on T-2's metal fairings located around the fuselage. Jerry spent the day removing the belly formers to create cardboard templates to create the additional bulkheads needed to mount the fairings.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Steve had ordered new tires and tubes for the Triplane. Kevin Monahan did much of the work, assisted at various times by Dave Miller and Ron Marcotte. The new tires and tubes went on pretty easily, however the fabric wheel covers were a major pain. The problem was partially due to age, which had resulted in some shrinkage and fragility, and the way the covers had been constructed. There was a hem around the outer edge of each cover that had a drawstring running through it. The drawstring was tightened down inside the rim and was supposed to be trapped between the tire's clincher bead and the rim's edge. The strings were broken while removing the tires and it appeared the clincher bead wasn't securing the covers much at all, if any. Kevin ultimately had to remove all the string and tuck the cover's edges into the clincher bead, which he completed Sunday morning.
Fokker D.VII
Three "clincher men" from Team Vehicles (Clint Allred, Ian Whitaker, and John Allred) put on a new inner tube for the D.VII to correct the persistent flat tire on the starboard wheel. They made short work of it and claimed it was easier to do than a Model T!! They also put a liner under the tube as it did not have one.
Canuck
While the Canuck had performed well throughout the Air Fair event on the last landing of the day the main gear axle was bent. The wheels and tires were fine but that one-piece axle needed replacement. Since everything would be apart it was decided to replace the shock cords as well.
Steve had ordered new tubing to replace the axle, along with some festive shock cord in red. A veritable team of people set about the Canuck! Steve Freeman, Dave Edgerly, Dave Orloff, Billy Cheshire, Terry Bledsoe, Kevin Monahan and Dave Miller all had a hand in the production!
Replacing the shock cords is always a fun task to watch because it takes a fair amount of muscle to pull them tight enough to support the airplane! After much grunting, groaning, swearing and shaking muscles the Canuck is back on her wheels - with a notably greater ground clearance to boot! A "Good Job" to all hands for getting this done in a single day! However, the job will need to be redone as the axle needs to be painted to prevent corrosion. This will require removing the axle, cleaning it, painting it and reinstalling it along with the shock cords. The silver lining is Dave Edgerly thinks he has an easier way to install the shock cords and can achieve a more equal tension between the left and right shock cords.
Ercoupe
Steve took the Ercoupe's prop to a shop in Arkansas and had the pitch adjusted. He has also decided the engine is not economical to repair (it was last rebuilt 46 years ago and has some significant issues!) so he has engineered a swap that will see a good C85 engine installed on the airplane. The airplane will still qualify as an LSA. The engine swap work is coming along well and Steve expects to be able to fly the airplane down to Kingsbury soon.
Team Vehicles
Model Ts
Team Vehicles had two workdays in June; a mini-workday with five volunteers (Clint & John Allred, Ian & Cameron Whitaker and Al Sumrall) plus the main workday with three volunteers (Lynn Howell, Al and Steve Penaluna).
Al and Lynn replaced the lost freeze plug in the Signal Corp truck's crankcase. This was accomplished fairly easily with just the intake manifold needing to be loosened to replace the rusted out freeze plug. They had the vehicle running in less than 30 minutes, start to finish.
They also did some work on the Blue Racer as the Bendix cover had loosened up and caused an oil leak. This repair is only temporary as they resorted to silicone sealant to stop the leak. Al says they need to get some lock washers for the bolts, but they may also need to do some thread repair on two of the bolt holes to make it really right. Clint and Cameron have corrected the Blue Racer's steering issues and it now "runs like it is on rails"! Lynn is still working some oil issues - some crud appearing in the oil - but the engine is running the best it ever has!
The TT and the Wrecker both have new transmission bands, and the team is getting into a real maintenance ritual. Steve did most of the maintenance performed in June.
Team Vehicles has determined that they will not be able to do the Luling parade this year, but they did take the Blue Racer to the Kingsbury VFD Fund Raiser event.
Miscellaneous
Bricks
Some time ago the Museum set up a fund raiser selling bricks. The bricks could be engraved to capture memories or memorialize a loved one or an influential person and the Museum would use the bricks to build a display on the property.
Richard Smith ordered up the first set of bricks, all that had been ordered, and created a temporary display for them in front of the hangar. The bricks are still for sale and we'd like to sell more of them to allow for a nice display. The Board is considering several ideas for the permanent display, including a pad around the field's flagpole, and setting the bricks into the concrete floor when it gets poured in the old hangar.
Hog Damage on the Runway
We were expecting some Museum visitors to fly in on the workday so Terry Bledsoe and Charlotte Parker got to work repairing some bad hog damage to the runway. They completed the work, but the visitors snuck in through the front gate - they had elected to drive up!
Library Inventory
Diane Edgerly came by to begin inventorying the library donations. She brought her laptop, set up some shelving and fired up an Excel template that is designed to catalog books! Diane reports she waded through about 100 books during the workday.
Movie Demo
A group out of Austin wants to use Kingsbury as a location to shoot a promotional demo to try and pitch a documentary TV series to cable channels focusing on the development of commercial aviation. The demo would focus on the birth of Pan AM - which was a dark & stormy day when Juan Trippe and his good buddy Charles Lindbergh needed to fulfill Trippe's brand new contract to deliver mail from Florida to a Caribbean island. Their tri-motor got stuck in the airfield's mud, but the day was saved when a Sikorsky seaplane arrived on scene and Juan offered a deal the Sikorsky's pilot couldn’t turn down! The film makers are interested in Kingsbury for our location (convenient, rural with few modern trappings that need to be eliminated), facilities (old looking aircraft hangars), assets (mainly the Signal Corps truck which will look just like a post office mail truck with a little movie magic, as well as Terry Bledsoe's Champ project), and people (Kurt Maurer has been selected to be the post office employee driving the mail to the airfield)!
Ron Marcotte was present as the movie people went about their business in June. He said, "It was fascinating to see the level of careful planning needed before a shot can be taken. The four person team for CGI effects was there so there was a lot of detailed discussion on how to be sure the computer graphics could smoothly fit into the desired scenes. They will be converting the sky into a stormy one, inserting palm trees to get that Key West feeling and making the whole field look uneven, muddy and wet with some puddles. They want Charlotte to mow in an uneven manner to give it our field a little character. The Kingsbury Volunteer Fire Department has been recruited to make rain & puddles and they gave a demonstration of making it rain, but it was really weak looking! They have a bigger truck, but the CGI people will probably have to augment it to get the effect the movie folks want.
The hangar is an intriguing little problem, in that they seem to like the interior of one hangar but the exterior of the other hangar! They went through a lot of green screen planning so they could convince us the Fokker mail plane was in there. This will mean emptying out a lot of stuff from the hangar. This is all pretty fluid however, and there is no telling what they will eventually decide on.
The film company is planning on starting 2 hours before sunrise and working until 2 hours after sunset. They are planning on feeding 3 meals a day of course! They brought along some PVC pipe to mock up a Fokker tri-motor landing gear strut out of Terry's Champ fuselage/wheel & tire. They'll need to fab up a fender as well.
The Signal Corps truck got a break when they decided to just make a whole, vertical panel with the U.S. Mail logo that would snap into place rather than sticking letters onto the old, fragile paint. They took a chip for color matching. They'd seen Kurt Maurer in a little "Screen Test" video I shot and asked him to play the mailman. Kurt showed up in his vintage duds and impressed everyone! Wardrobe people may add a few bits such as a U.S. Mail patch or hat or something. Kurt has the part nailed, of course!”
The shoot had originally been scheduled for June, but some of the crew's technical people were unable to make it so the shoot was postponed to July.
Engine Display
Tom Moore continued working on his engine display - putting caster wheels on all the stands to make moving them easier.
Hangar Door
Tom Gaylord "broke" the hangar door trying to close up the old hangar. He called for help before departing hastily for home! Dave Orloff and Terry Bledsoe fixed it - with a little persuasion from a sledgehammer! Dave says some heating / welding needs to be done to the door stops to prevent this from continuing to happen.
AirFair 2013
May 11, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
The 2013 Spring Air Fair Fly-In actually went very, very well. We'd had tons of rain in the Seguin area in the days leading up to the event and the field was soaked, but we were pretty well committed to May 11th and moving it would have been extremely difficult. Things looked grim at Kingsbury on Friday morning with all the rain that drenched the field but by noon the weather had cleared and the field started drying out. By late afternoon the guys were flying the Canuck!
The big concern was that the overnight forecast called for a 50% chance of heavy rain. However, we lucked out and while the Seguin area got plenty more rain Friday night, The Old Kingsbury Aerodrome got next to nothing in the way of rain. Saturday dawned clear - no more rain in the forecast and mild temperatures! The field had been drying out since Friday morning so it was useable for the event.
We ended up with a good drive-in crowd and more airplanes flew in than we typically have at our Spring event. We had several interesting aircraft visitors, but the coolest arrival was when the Kerrville "L" squadron arrived overhead in formation just as the U.S. flag was run up the pole with a re-enactor blowing the call on his WWI bugle. Complete coincidence, but very cool.
The Museum had only two airplanes flyable, the Canuck and the Triplane, and the runway crosswind prevented flying the Fokker! We flew the Canuck three times during the day for the crowd and ran the Triplane's engine twice.
Team Vehicles was busy during the show, displaying all the vehicles in the collection and driving most of them. Just before the event was to start the Wrecker broke down and was parked, but it was repaired and got mobile again. There were rumors it just ran out of gas! The Blue Racer was driven but the U.S. Signal Corps truck blew a freeze plug and was parked for the day - an easy repair, but there wasn't time to get it done during the event. Kevin Monahan drove both the Indian and the Triumph around the grounds periodically and Cameron Whitaker fired up the Maytag motorbike. In the afternoon Lynn Howell succeeded in getting the Nash Quad running and took it out for a drive!
There was a special display of the very "antique" condition horse drawn grader, vintage cement mixer, 1913 Model T, PFM's 1927 Wrecker and Clint Allred's 1930s Farmall tractor, all of which were in one color...rust! Despite the monotone color palette the display drew a lot of attention!
Clint also brought his 1924 Model T touring car and drove it around the grounds for the crowd. Steve Penaluna brought his 1955 Crown Victoria (which was once in a Johnny Cash video) and directed visitor collector cars to their special parking spots. Some interesting cars were brought in by collectors, including a 1915 Hudson, and several Model Ts and As.
The military re-enactor contingent was smaller than usual but they still had an interesting display. As usual they had set up a camp and also laid out a couple of blankets and placed a variety of uniforms, weapons and military gear for the crowd to see. The time period for the display was Spanish-American War through WWI. The guys who set the equipment up were very knowledgeable and one could acquire quite an education listening to the explanations about the gear and its evolution through the time period! Quite a few of the PFM volunteers were adding to the vintage flavor in their period garb and many looked downright authentic while driving the Model Ts around the property.
The event ended with Ron Marcotte making a video of a faux silent picture movie being shot featuring the Fokker Triplane, Ian Whitaker in his German officer's uniform, and Al Sumrall (plus a couple of other military re-enactors). Additional props were the vintage movie camera Ron had fabbed up at home. The improvised story line featured the capture of Lt. Von Whitaker and his fearsome Fokker Triplane by our brave troops and his subsequent escape from captivity. We'll have to see whether Ron can cobble something together out of the footage he shot! Al is hoping the flick will win a prize at the Canned Film Festival (not to be confused with the Cannes Film Festival)! Coming soon to a YouTube screen near you!
Overall the event was a success for the Museum - despite increased costs due to a t-shirt re-order (which included the new event T-shirt - which looks fabulous, by the way!) the Museum made a little money on the event.
Volunteer Work Day
May 5, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
The workday on the 5th started out with cookies, brownies, coffee and the usual morning chit-chat in the shop office. Ian Whitaker showed up with a show'n'tell box - it had an early small steam engine in it he'd found on eBay! The engine was the type to be found on an early steam powered automobile. Missing a few parts mind you, but Ian hopes to restore it to running condition!
Aircraft
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
The wash crew (predominantly Steve Richardson and Kurt Maurer) washed the Triplane but came up short on a cleaning fluid that would take care of the castor oil residue!
Curtiss Canuck
Exhumed from the hangar and walked over to the shop apron for some attention to be paid to the water pump and the airplane in general. Chris Freeman was in town for the week (and Air Fair) and his Number One Mission was to go over the Curtiss OX-5 engine and get it sorted out and then turn his attention to the airframe. The primary concern with the engine is the water pump shaft - the noise and the leaks! Roger and Steve have been talking about fitting a zerk fitting on the impeller shaft so it can be greased occasionally to prevent the noise. Chris will fix the packing to slow down the water leaks
The engine was unbolted from the mounts and moved forwards on the engine bearers so the water pump could be removed from the rear of the engine. Ordinarily the water pump is virtually inaccessible, wedged between the rear of the crankcase and the firewall.
In the week between the workday and the 2013 Spring Air Fair Fly-In Chris got a lot done on the Canuck. The water pump shaft binding issue was resolved and the water leak significantly slowed down by reworking the packing. The zerk fitting was installed, but since it, like everything else on the water pump, is inaccessible with the engine mounted in the normal position the shaft and seals were lubed with marine grease.
Once the engine's issues were addressed the motor was bolted back in place and all connections made up and Chris could turn his attention to the airframe. He double-checked all the rigging and tuned up the control cables. He also shimmed the horizontal tail surfaces to make the airplane fly a little more neutral in pitch - come the Fly-In Chris and Steve were pretty happy with the adjustments though Chris felt he could dial the airplane in a little bit better.
Steve started flying the airplane on Wednesday afternoon. He put a good 20 minutes onto the airplane, and it flew again several times on Friday, the day before the Air Fair.
Thomas-Morse Scout
Steve Richardson spent a little time working on the bulkhead form for the belly formers, mainly still working on getting the proper shape of the proposed bulkheads.
Bleriot XI, Rearwin Sportster, Fokker D.VII and Pietenpol Sky Scout
All three aircraft were washed and set out to dry in the sun. Old Pete will need some reassembly to be fit for display, and Ian set about putting it back together.
Several aircraft had their tires inflated - mainly the Fokker D.VII and the Rearwin Sportster. These two machines did not hold air for long; both had deflated by the end of the day. Steve has ordered a new inner tube for the Rearwin. Steve is also looking for replacement tires for the Fokker Triplane and the Curtiss Canuck. The D.VII will need them as well....
Ercoupe
Steve conquered the paperwork issues and took it up for a test flight before committing to the long cross country flight from Memphis to Kingsbury! Steve reports the airplane flies very nicely, but it needs a new prop as the prop on it is incorrect - allowing the engine to overspeed. He grounded the airplane till this issue is resolved, so it won't be at Air Fair after all.
Team Vehicles
Triumph
Kevin got the machine out and ran it some - made an excellent mosquito fogger! Kevin says he needs to tighten the belt drive and adjust the tension.
Indian
Kevin has started painting the fuel tanks and took the sidecar home with him to reassemble the machine. In the week leading up to the Air Fair he finished the machine and reports the bike runs very well now, clutch is smooth and takes up properly and the kick starter works!
Blue Racer
Cameron Whitaker dove into the transmission to figure out why the tranny was slipping again. Inside he found the Kevlar lining on the transmission band shredded! He was also plucking tufts of Kevlar material out of the transmission. While the Blue Racer was returned to service for the Air Fair it apparently needs more work to really be right.
Other Model Ts
Cameron had fixed the started motor for the Model T wrecker at home and reinstalled it, and got that machine running again.
Steve Penaluna and others worked on the US Ambulance, repairing the tire and getting it mobile and back in service. The other Model Ts were started and run.
Gun Crew
Kurt Maurer and Al Sumrall got together during the week between the workday and the Fly-In to work on LMG 08/15 parts. By the Air Fair they had added a few bits to the Fokker D.VII's machine guns, namely ejection chutes for the spent brass, and fabricated a length of the appropriate two-hole ammo belt to equip the D.VII.
Volunteer Work Days
April 13 & 20, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
April was a pretty good month at the Museum. Good weather, excellent volunteer turn-outs and lots got accomplished. Here are the details:
Aircraft
Thomas-Morse S4C Scouts
April 13 - Jerry Stark continued working on T-2's fairings, turning his attention the belly fairing just aft of the firewall. He started with a part patterned after T-1's fairing, and immediately ran into the same problems he faced with the tail skid fairing; the belly former evidently extends both further aft AND further forwards that T-1's belly former. Most problematical is where to attach the fairing along the trailing edge, as well as a fit problem with the fairing against the belly former as the fairing currently wants to smoothly arc underneath the fuselage while the belly former has a much flatter profile across the aircraft's centerline. Jerry consulted with Steve Freeman and the optimal fix is to add a thicker former to the belly former structure so the fairings have something sturdy to fasten to.
April 20 - Jerry and Steve Richardson worked on puzzling out the belly fairing on T-2. Jerry had made a cardboard template between the workdays and he and Steve spent a fair amount of time checking it and discussing ways to move forward. The cardboard template is to serve as a pattern to create an additional former or bulkhead in the belly former structure for the belly fairing's trailing edge to be screwed to.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
April 13 - Mike Craig and his dad were able to make the workday so they tended to the Triplane. We were expecting a tour group of WWII vets around 10 am, and Steve was anxious to fly the Triplane early on to avoid the wind picking up later in the day. Mike and the guys pulled the Triplane from the hangar once the Model Ts were moved. The engine and airplane were checked and the motor primed and lubed. The engine was started and run up.
There was a brief delay as Steve hunted down the aircraft's paperwork, but soon the airplane was hooked up to the Signal Corp truck and moved to the north end of the runway. With the engine started Steve took off and flew the airplane for quite a while, making a series of low passes and steep turns to the left and right. The landing appeared uneventful - the initial touchdown was a little off balance, but after the tail dropped the aircraft quickly stopped pretty straight and true! It probably helped that the field was softer than usual due to the recent rains!
The airplane looked great up in the air! Very exciting that this airplane will be available at the upcoming Spring Air Fair Fly-In!!
Mike Craig is continuing his search for tires as the size he looked for is not available, just as Steve had found out! However, it appears they may have been searching for the wrong sized tires! Mike and his Dad, Don, were re-measuring the wheel's diameter and struggling with the hub sticking out and making a straight measurement impossible when Don noticed the tire's size printed on the sidewall. Yup... they'd been searching for the wrong tire size!!
Curtiss Canuck
April 13 - The Canuck was immobilized for much of the morning. It was trapped in the hangar because one of the Model T ambulances (the U.S. Ambulance) was stuck in gear and there great concern about possible damage if the machine were just pushed out of the way. Team Vehicles swung into action and eventually got the transmission out of gear so it could be pulled from the hangar!
The Canuck Crew put the prop back and found all the groaning noises had stopped - interpreted as a "good thing"! On Friday the motor was still whining a bit causing raised eyebrows and concern all around.
The Canuck was checked over and pulled out onto the grass beside the hangar so the radiator could be filled with water, and then the engine was lubed, started and run. Again, the motor ran strongly in the lower rev range, firing on all 8 cylinders. However, the engine wouldn't pull all the revs it should. Don Craig did some testing with his hands over the carb intakes and the consensus is that the carb jets must have some debris in them causing the engine to falter at higher rpm.
After some testing, Dave Edgerly says the engine groaning was definitely caused by the water pump, the shaft and seal were lubricated and the groaning (from vibration) ceased. Another item to add to the pre- and post- flight lubrication regimen?
Rearwin 2000C Ken-Royce
April 20 - Conservation work started on the Rearwin's wing panels which have hung on the shop's walls for quite some time now. They had received a cleaning and relocation some time ago, but we felt it was time for a serious cleaning and sealing with epoxy varnish.
Terry Bledsoe lifted Tom Gaylord up on the forklift tines to retrieve a wing panel and get the project underway. The starboard upper wing panel was outermost and easiest to get down so it was first. The wing panel was blown off with compressed air while the accumulated dust was disturbed with a rag. Only one large mud dauber's nest was knocked off the wing root rib. Looking better already!
Chris Hill and Greg Solberg took over, tapping nail heads down and sanding the upper surfaces. The cover over the fuel tank cavity was removed and the interior of that box was the cleanest looking part of the wing. Chris reported that as he tapped nail heads down along the plywood covered leading edge he could hear mud dauber nests inside coming loose and falling. Sure enough, when the wing was flipped to do the underside there was a lot of rattling going inside that leading edge! When will we ever learn to plug up openings on airplanes? And getting the nests out of the leading edge will not be easy, there are openings in the plywood covering, but they are small, on the underside of the wing, and located adjacent to solid web structural ribs - each pair of access holes runs across 4 - 5 ribs!
There are some items on the wing we want Steve to look over and give some advice on before we proceed much further. No actual varnishing was done, and at the end of the day the wing was stored back with the Thomas-Morse fuselages.
Ercoupe
Steve Freeman reports the Ercoupe is coming along and hopes to fly it to Kingsbury for the Air Fair. In April Steve fixed the instrument panel's wiring and overhauled the carb. On to the huge quantities of paperwork to make it legal to fly!
Team Vehicles
Indian Motorcycle
When Kevin received the kick starter assembly (from Norway!) there were four holes missing for the rivets that fasten the assembly together. Kevin said the metal was so hard he couldn't even scratch it, so it was off to the machine shop again. The new clutch parts worked out well: pressure plate, spring holder plate and the spring screw locking plate (something we never had). Kevin says he has also finished painting the fender stays he'd made as well as the bike's headlamp brackets. Those parts have been installed and Kevin has also adjusted the rear fender to sit in the middle of the tire. Kevin has made a lever for the compression release that attaches to a hand lever on the fuel tank's right side which is used to turn the engine off.
Kevin continues working on the bondo on the fuel tanks, and also mentioned needing to get the olive drab paint reformulated, as the new stuff is obviously lighter than the paint already on the bike. Kevin is planning on taking the sidecar home to finish up the bike as a single piece.
Model Ts
April 13 - various Ts were started and driven, though I don't recall very many. Mostly they seemed to be pushed out of the hangar and stayed put the majority of the day.
April 20 - Team Vehicles was just three people. Cameron and Ian Whitaker, and their Fearless Leader - Al Sumrall! Bruce Roberson was there as well, working on his project car.
Cameron and Ian concentrated on installing new Kevlar transmission bands in the Wrecker. This a big job with Ts as it involves major disassembly and reassembly and is a dirty and physically taxing job in our working conditions. Cameron was successful in getting the Wrecker's transmission rebuilt but encountered trouble with the starter motor so he has taken that home to rebuild. Al expects the Wrecker to be a much improved utility vehicle by Air Fair, with its rebuilt transmission and starter motor plus the four-bladed radiator fan keeping it cool! Ian also spent some time driving a few visitors around the property in the Model Ts.
Field Bike
Ian also spent part of his day working on the ex-USMC Kawasaki KLR-650 motorcycle that is being rejuvenated to serve as a field bike... or "liaison" bike as the Team Vehicles guys like to call it! Ian has spent a fair amount of time getting the carb adequately cleaned out and functioning properly but he has finally prevailed and got the bike running late on Saturday evening.
Al is already fussing and worrying over "unauthorized" operators abusing this machine for "fun" rather than strictly using the bike for "real work" on the property. Al plans to fit the bike with a basket or a trailer to allow the hauling of parts and tools and such with the bike. Al feels we lose a lot of time and energy walking back and forth between the shop and the hangar (dang - some of us need the exercise Al!) and firing up cars to fetch is just overkill and energy inefficient. So beware folks! No "fun" with the motorbike!!
Miscellaneous
Property Road Sign
April 13 - Carl Canga had asked for the old road sign to be removed and the poles and roof refurbished. Terry Bledsoe took the old sign down and Charlotte has offered to scrape and repaint the poles during the week. The roof will need to be worked on next workday - varnishing the frame and replacing the shingles. Carl brought the new sign to Kingsbury - with help from Dan Siegle - and it is stored in the hangar till the 20th. The sign looks great!!
April 20th - Dave and Tom Miller spent their day refurbishing the property road sign up by the main entrance and ultimately mounted the new sign. Charlotte had not painted the uprights during the week - she had black paint while someone told her the poles should be white! Dave and Tom ultimately painted them green! They also took down the roof and took it to Luling at lunchtime to clean it at a car wash facility. When the roof had dried out they painted it black with a special paint formulated for severely weathered wood. The paint was very quick drying stuff and by the end of the day the sign had been mounted and the structure reassembled. The final product looks pretty darned good!
Drill Pipe Donation
Billy Cheshire donated some drill pipe to be used as poles for the proposed Model T shed. Terry Bledsoe is working on plans for the facility.
Gun Crew
April 13 - Vintage Manufacturing cut two sets of replacement cooling jacket parts, and will schedule up 8 more sets. Jerry took the two new sets, plus the endplate discs from the thicker set to attempt to roll up and weld together two complete prototype jackets. Jerry may only do one, as it appears that the rear disc may have too great a diameter... might need to get these redrawn and re-cut.
April 20 - Jerry brought the materials for the cooling jackets back with questions. He was concerned the thinner end wrappers wouldn't look right so the local "Oracle", Al Sumrall was consulted. Al's opinion was it would look fine. The parts are not curling well, tending to end up more or less as octagons, however the thin metal can be finish shaped fairly easily. Still, we need to evaluate whether we need to redraw some of the parts to provide lead-in and lead-out portions to facilitate smoother curling at the ends, and perhaps additional metal on the sides to promote smoother curves on the more heavily ventilated parts. It appears the Germans machined the cooling slots in the jackets after they were already welded up into cylinders! Not sure any decisions were made, but Jerry took the materials back home with him.
Volunteer Work Days
March 16 & 23, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
Two workdays were held in March, the 16th and the 23rd. We enjoyed great weather both days and a good crowd of volunteers! However, March has not been our best month ever....
Aircraft
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
On the 16th Mike Craig, Don Craig, and Drew Weininger installed new wingtip skids and replaced the points and points cam in the magneto. Mike installed the cam using the alignment marks he thought appropriate (there appeared to be several options marked on the unit). Don adjusted the valve lash on all cylinders and once buttoned back up and prop reinstalled the ship was dragged out into the sunlight for a ground run.
But the engine refused to start, and after thoroughly wearing himself out Don proclaimed that the engine wasn't getting any fire. Time to pull the magneto back out and double-check the work.
After reviewing what he'd done with the points cam installation, Mike eventually decided to set up the cam from scratch, as if he were building a new unit and ignoring all the existing alignment marks. As the unit came back together Mike realized the points cam had been installed 90 degrees off.
With the magneto reinstalled in the airplane the engine started easily and ran great - strong and smooth! Mike, Don & Drew decided to wash the airplane. And then decided to run it again before tucking it away in the hangar till April. Apparently the wash was a "test wash" and the real washing will happen in April!
The final tasks on this aircraft are to replace the tires and give it an overall condition inspection.
Curtiss Canuck
Aside from fluids the guys believe the engine is ready for ground runs. Chris Freeman is coming soon and he will go through the airplane in detail to ensure it is ready to fly.
The "Big Day" was the 23rd - the OX-5 was going to be ground run in preparation for flight in April. The airplane was pulled from the hangar and moved to the covered shop pad for final checks, fluids, and engine run. The turtle deck was pulled from the airplane as part of the condition inspection. Dave Orloff pulled out a vacuum cleaner to get the dirt and debris that had accumulated in the rear fuselage. Dave Edgerly and a few other guys started checking the engine and filling it with fluids. Oil was easy, water less so, as immediately there were several significant leaks from the water pump. Fortunately, the carb splash shield kept the carb dry. Fuel was procured, and after lunch the radiator water was topped up and the engine was finally ready to run.
Dave Orloff was wearing his lucky "one pull" cap, but it still took several swings before the engine sprung to life. Edgerly was in the cockpit and carefully warmed the old girl up before a couple of full throttle runs. The guys not helping hold the bird performed engine checks, noting that the leaks in the water pump tapered off dramatically and verifying all cylinders were firing. Things were looking pretty darned good!
Dave shut the engine down and the valve train was lubed. Steve came over to watch the next engine run and Dave climbed back into the cockpit to run her up again. Dave Orloff took up his station in front of the prop to swing as before, but as he was moving the prop into position a distinct groaning noise was heard coming from the engine. As Dave pulled the prop back and forth we noticed the prop seemed to have a little free play. The engine was checked as best we could to locate the groaning as the prop was slowly moved back and forth. Everyone feared the worst - a bad bearing.
The free play in the prop was analyzed and the cause was determined to be faulty installation - the prop had not been fully seated on the crankshaft nose. The key and keyway were inspected for damage and none was found.
The Canuck was pulled back over to the hangar and put up and further discussions lead to the notion that the groaning could be from the water pump shaft / seals / bearings as the noise was louder at the rear of the engine and Dave E. said he thought he could hear a faint clicking noise from the water pump. Perhaps that leaking water was a sign?
Dave E. and Steve will put together a plan to test out the water pump theory, but it doesn't look like the Canuck will be flying at Air Fair!
Piper J-3 Cub
After a low-altitude power loss, the J-3 was damaged in the ensuing forced landing. Nobody was seriously hurt, but the Cub will be out of action for a while. The 16th was given over to removing a few engine components, pickling the engine for storage, then storing the airplane. The wings were placed on the wall, while the fuselage remained on a dolly on the shop floor. The engine was then removed so Steve could take it back to Memphis for inspection, and the fuselage was hoisted into the rafters to await repairs.
Thomas-Morse S4C Scouts
Jerry Stark and Steve Richardson continued fitting the tail skid fairing on T-2. They eventually moved on to starting to fabricate the upper fuselage metal fairing that sits between the cockpit fairing and the engine cowl.
During the workday on the 23rd Jerry and Steve continued progressing the big forward fuselage top fairing and made a lot of headway! The basic shape is essentially finished, requiring a little trimming where the sheet metal hangs over the top longerons. Looking at T-1's fairing they will need to fabricate a few more items to finish the fairing but it is coming along very well. This may well be the final fairing needing to be fabricated for T-2, though there may be another belly fairing that needs to be fabbed up.
Team Vehicles
Indian Motorcycle
Kevin reports he has been painting lots of parts, and that he has a new kick-start gear assembly en route from Norway! Apparently there is a guy in Norway who makes parts for Excelsior, Pope and Indian Power Plus motorcycles!
Blue Racer Model T
Lynn installed the fuel cut-off valves in the Blue Racer, so the vehicle now has an in-line fuel filter and the fuel can be shut off and the line disconnected from the carb to work on the carb.
On the 23rd Clint Allred, his son John and Cameron Whitaker worked on the Blue Racer. They replaced the foot pedal shafts and the transmission bands and tweaked quite a few of the racer's components and at the end of the day had the racer up and running! Clint's wife Cathie came along and provided lunch for the family - they even fed Cameron!
Other Vehicles
On the 16th, John Busch, son Johnny and others charged up batteries and drove several of the vehicles around. On the 20th, the main focus of attention was the Blue Racer but Al Sumrall reports that they also took delivery of some parts that will get the wrecker up and running. Lynn Howell (and Killer) came out but Lynn had to leave early. While he was there Lynn and Al measured all the vehicles to help Terry draw up the plans for the new "garage". Terry needed the dimensions of all vehicles to lay out the proposed building.
Ian Whitaker spent part of his day cleaning out the carb on the "liaison motorcycle" as well as assisting his brother Cameron with the T. Speaking of Cameron, towards the end of the workday the transmission on his Model T broke and he stayed up all night and much of Sunday as well repairing it.
Miscellaneous
Donations
Mikey Orloff stopped by on the 16th to donate a Lawrence aircraft engine and some Curtiss Jenny tail feathers (uncovered).
Earl Shea dropped by on Saturday, March 23rd to donate some books, magazines and signed artwork / photographs that belonged to George Holmes - a museum member who passed away some nine years ago. Earl has recently started disposing of George's library on behalf of George's wife.
Linda Zakrzewski has donated another 5 boxes of books and materials from her late husband Al's collection to the PFM library. In 2012 she and her boys donated some 40 boxes of books & prints along with Al's unbuilt WWI aircraft model collection. The boxes of books donated this month were apparently recently found in the house!
Engine Displays
On the 16th Tom Moore continued his work with the rolling stands for the engines typically displayed at our events. The motor he was working on was one mounted on a floor dolly - an inconvenient height to view the engine! Tom was making measurements to construct a taller rolling mount.
Event Planning
Stephanie Miller came out to inventory the T-shirts for the upcoming Spring Air Fair. Dave Miller and Tom Miller spent some time out at the pavilion working out a better way to seat folks and speed up the serving lines.
Entrance Road Sign
Carl reports that he has finished building the wood work and trim on the upper part of the sign, and painted the back side with wood primer. He hopes to finish off his weekend by painting the front side. Despite the progress, Carl doubts the project will be finished by the Air Fair event. He has also asked us to add repair / renovation of the current sign's posts and roof to our project list!
LMG 08/15 "Spandau" Replica Project
On the 16th Al Sumrall, Kurt Maurer and Jerry Stark spent some time on the LMG 08/15 project. Jerry tested out the tooling he developed to bend new top straps which seemed to work fairly well. Kurt and Al spent some time talking about the ground gun replicas each has while looking at parts for the aviation replicas for the Triplane and D.VII.
On the 23rd the Gun Crew continued working on the ground guns while continuing to advance the aviation gun replicas. Al's cousin, Brent, had made an aluminum trigger guard grip mount component from plans that Al had so Kurt fabbed up a wooden grip to attach to it. Looked very good bolted onto the receiver. Kurt says he needs to do some work to stain it the proper color and all the ribbing / checkering to finish the piece.
Jerry returned with the Mk.II version of his jig for bending up receiver top strap parts and it sure looks like it'll do the trick. Tom Gaylord has ordered some 3003 H-14 spec aluminum plate to be cut into strips to test bend several examples to fully proof the jig. Al, Kurt, Tom and Jerry have recently been e-mailing regarding fabricating some two-hole replica ammo belts for the D.VII and the Triplane. These two airplanes are currently equipped with three-hole ammo belts (i.e., belts with three grommets in each round / bullet separator holding the assembly together) which were intended for infantry use. The airplanes used a narrower two-hole belt - something made possible by the feed chutes. You've no idea how this has chafed and gnawed at Al all these years!
Al has found two vendors able to provide the appropriate 30mm wide fabric belt material and Kurt did some local research and found a vendor willing to cut brass separators for us, and of course, Vintage Manufacturing can cut steel versions. Kurt also drew up the plans for the laser cutting and had Charlotte and the crew produce a small run of steel separators for experimentation. Kurt also visited with Mike Hallmark - the guy who did the leather covers on the motorcycle seats - to obtain a sample of grommets. The grommets were way too big though.
Some work was done to verify material thicknesses and sizes. Doug Ratchford agreed to research the grommets / rivets that hold the belts together. By the next workday Al should have his next type of ammo belt cloth available and we can perhaps get some grommets ordered that will allow the test assembly of the belts.
In Memoriam
We received word late February that John van den Eynde passed away late January 2013 - he died suddenly from a heart attack. John (and his dogs) spent several winters camped out in his travel trailer on the Old Kingsbury Aerodrome grounds, working on the restoration of the FWD truck, a 2-ton truck used in WWI. John had been making pretty good progress on the cab and the engine. John's history included time in the Belgian military and he was involved with several race car teams before eventually emigrating to Canada.
Volunteer Work Day
February 16, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
Aircraft
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Mike Craig and his father, Don were unable to attend the workday but Mike reports that the magneto points cam arrived and is ready for installation in March. They have also finished shaping and staining the replacement wingtip skids. Mike expects to be able to ground run the engine in March and hopes to get the airplane back in the air.
Thomas-Morse S4-C Scouts
Tom and Dave Miller worked on T-1 and reported that by the end of the day they had finished the fabrication and installation of the starboard side cheek cowl support structure. Even had the wood varnished!
T-2 received attention from Steve Richardson and Jerry Stark - they worked on fitting the metal fairing that encloses the tail skid root on the lower rear of the fuselage. The initial plan was to simply duplicate T-1's panel but it turns out the two aircraft have slightly different belly formers; T-2's belly former extends further rearwards. This changes the mounting points and the curvature of the piece which renders the duplicate T-1 fairing a mere starting point! Getting this panel to fit correctly is taking a lot more thought, trimming and shaping than was originally anticipated!
Piper J-3 Cub
Steve Freeman, Billy Cheshire, and Ian Whitaker tackled a flat tire on the Piper Cub. Good progress was made until they required materials not available on the field - time for a lunch break and a run to the store! Once the tire was repaired, Ian flew the airplane and while airborne noticed a fuel leak in the gascolator. Steve and Ian repaired the leak. Ian reports the airplane flies fine, but no word on whether the trim adjuster issue has been conquered or the tail wheel straightened out.
Curtiss Canuck
Jerry Stark and Kevin Monahan lapped the exhaust valve on the Jenny's leaking cylinder and after finishing the task reassembled the pushrod and valve rocker components. They performed a cylinder leak test and are delighted to report they've cured the leak! Their final task was to ensure all the valves were adjusted correctly. Perhaps we’ll be able to fire the old girl up in March?
Ercoupe
Steve Freeman has continued working on the Ercoupe that was donated to the museum at the end of 2012, alternating between his other project - a Meyers 200! Steve says he has the replacement instrument panel built but still needs to rewire a few of the instruments because he tried to move the layout to a more original factory arrangement. Steve decided not to install the instrument panel’s two storage boxes that came in factory panels - the parts involved are somewhat complex and Steve didn't want to have to manufacture all that in his home shop, plus he considers the boxes "useless" since they are only about six inches deep!
Team Vehicles
1918 Indian Motorcycle
Kevin Monahan reports that he is still chasing the clutch and kick start issues. His number one problem is locating a kicker gear. The new transmission mount bolts reduced the slipping gear but did not eliminate it. The dogs on the back of the gear are "mugged" (yeah... that is a technical term!) so Kevin is searching the globe trying to locate a replacement. His supplier in Australia has not been able to provide the part, so Kevin is now talking with a vendor in Massachusetts. Again! Kevin did procure three clutch parts and has two of them painted and installed.
Model Ts
Blue Racer - Lynn Howell reports that there was no way to shut off the fuel and disconnect the fuel line from the carb. Lynn pulled the fuel cut-off valve which was plumbed directly onto an "L" on the carb. Lynn has purchased the fittings required to separate the cut-off valve from the carb and plans to reinstall the unit in March along with a new fuel filter.
Other Model Ts - most of the other operational Ts got pulled out of the hangar and started up, driven around and generally exercised.
Miscellaneous
Dirt Berm
Terry Bledsoe and Charlotte Parker continued their dirt project - spreading the dirt from the berm. Basically an excuse to drive tractors and such around the property all day!
Entrance Sign
Carl Canga has been working on a replacement for the faded front gate sign at the split in the property road. The new sign is designed to match signage from the 1920s and have more of a 'barnstorming' feel to it. Most of the work is being done in his garage with occasional trips to the aerodrome to take measurements, cut lumber and get advice from some of the others. The laser cut logo has been primed and painted. The parking sign and the under banner have been completed. Carl hopes to have the project installed in time for the Spring Air Fair in early May.
Volunteer Work Day
January 19, 2013
by Tom Gaylord
The museum held one workday in January - on Saturday the 19th. Turn-out among the volunteers was excellent, as was the weather! Lots of progress was made on various projects! Here is a run-down on all the action!
Aircraft
Thomas-Morse Scouts
Dave Miller and Steve Richardson continued working on T-1's rub strips and cheek cowl frames. Steve Richardson specialized in the fuselage longeron rub strips, making good progress in getting the wood strips aligned properly and tacked on. Dave Miller worked on fabricating the starboard cheek cowl mounting frame. Fabricating these mounting frames is intricate work, in the same way that the longeron rub strips were - numerous relief cuts needed to clear brackets and bolt heads, many of which were on angles.
No work was done on T-2. The fuselage was in the process of being stripped so it could be flipped over on the work stands to permit fabrication of the belly panels.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Mike and Don Craig set about working on the Triplane's spark plugs as well as replacing the wing tip skids with examples that curved downwards more to try to keep the wing tips from contacting the ground.
The wing tip skids on the machine were fabricated from straight sledge hammer handles and in some of the landing excitement the trailing edge of the wing tip can contact the ground and cause damage. Mike showed up with two curved ax handles as potential replacements. Mike and Don spent some time evaluating whether the ax handles would actually do a better job of protecting the wing tips, as the ax handles were noticeably shorter than the sledge hammer handles. Their definitive visual aid was to use a floor jack and blocks to tilt the airplane up almost into wingtip skid touchdown position, first with the current skid installed, then with the replacement skid installed. Their opinion was that the ax handle replacement would elevate the wing tip a couple of inches, so they removed the ax handles to finish shaping the handles and lacquer them.
Mike and Don have two items on their ignition system overhaul - replace the spark plugs and install new points and points cam in the magneto. They have located the points cam and have ordered a couple but they did not arrive in time for the workday. Mike researched the spark plugs and determined that spark plugs used for vintage motorcycles with magneto ignition would work in the Triplane's rotary engine. $2 each!! They fit well, and better yet Mike reports the engine ran better than he's ever felt it. The engine started on the first flip and ran significantly smoother! During the engine ground test Don noticed that the machine gun muzzles were no longer shimmying around, they stayed still.
Future work on the airplane includes installing the new wing tip skids and new magneto points cam, as well as the points themselves if replacement units can be found. Mike plans on making a few adjustments to the tail skid to give it a bit more authority, and install new main gear tires as the current tires are suffering from dry rot.
Piper J-3 Cub
A new volunteer, James Olsen, is an A&P and he jumped onto the Piper Cub's engine to change the oil and look into the tail wheel unit, which has apparently become bent. Looking at the airplane from the rear the tail wheel is slightly cocked over towards the left and misaligned with the fuselage but the entire problem appears to be located in the tail wheel's leaf spring. The leaves are no longer aligned with each other and the lower leaf also looked twisted. Charlotte has been complaining that the airplane won't turn left while taxiing, so after the engine was run after servicing Ian took the airplane up to test it out. Ian checked the tail wheel movement prior to take-off and everything seemed fine, but after landing the tail wheel wouldn't turn left. Ian also reports that the trim system isn't working and he made no progress on diagnosing the problem. In the air he can give it a bit nose up trim and then the system stops responding. No further repair was attempted.
Curtiss Canuck
Dave Edgerly, Jerry Stark, and Kevin Monahan continued their work in getting the OX-5 to run. Jerry brought along a Harbor Freight bore scope to look up inside the combustion chambers. They were able to verify that cylinder #1 does indeed have a leak at the exhaust valve seat. Next workday will see them lapping in the valve and seat. The cylinder was prepped for the valve work by removing the valve actuation parts.
The other issue was a cylinder where the valve lash could not be set correctly as the pushrod appeared to be too short! A replacement pushrod was located in one of the parts drawers and cleaned up for installation. Once everything was back together they had no difficulty achieving the correct 0.10" valve lash.
Curtiss Junior
Steve reports this aircraft is almost ready to fly! He is waiting on paperwork for the pusher prop. The documentation is expected any time now.
Ercoupe
Steve has made good progress on getting the airplane ready to fly again, though it is proving to be a bit more expensive than originally thought! Typical airplane! The aileron hinges have been replaced as required. Steve has also inspected the wing's center section for corrosion, also as required. Of the three approved methods of inspection Steve says removing the wings to directly look inside and inspect the metal was by far the easiest! Both wings were removed in 20 minutes total! The new instrument panel has been fabricated and is approaching readiness for installation.
There was some consideration of applying for the STC that allows higher weight limits, however when Steve realized that required aircraft modifications included re-skinning the forward fuselage the STC idea was shelved!
Team Vehicles
1918 Indian
Kevin reports that not much has happened with the Indian. He continues chasing the parts needed to finish the repairs from unreliable vendors dispersed around the globe. Pretty frustrating. Kevin did give a tour of the museum (together with Billy Cheshire) to a trio from "Ride Texas" a motorcycling organization, so Kevin brought the Indian back to show them that bike as well as the Triumph and all the aircraft and Model Ts. They were impressed that both bike could start and run! In the process of installing / removing the fuel tanks from the Indian one of the frame-mounted tabs broke off and Kevin has repaired that. Work on refinishing the fuel tanks continues.
Model Ts
Virtually all the Model T vehicles were pulled from the hangar and started if possible. All had their radiator contents adjusted with antifreeze and the resulting mix tested for temperature tolerance. The main folks doing this work were Steve Penaluna and his son, Cameron Whitaker, Ian Whitaker, and Lynn Howell.
The wrecker will need new transmission bands and those have been ordered. The Kevlar bands will be installed in the Blue Racer as the bands already installed have issues!
Miscellaneous
Field Damage Repair/Berm
Terry Bledsoe spent much of his day driving the front end loader, going back and forth from the dirt berm carrying dirt out to a part of the airfield where the hogs have rooted through the turf and dug everything up.
Entrance Road Sign
Carl Canga, with an assist from Dave Miller worked on the new road sign, located inside the entrance where the road splits in two. They cut and shaped some lumber to form part of the sign and Carl got a good look at his laser cut letters. The current sign is absolutely rotting apart!
Engine Display
Tom Moore and Doug Ratchford worked on installing caster wheels on the existing stands under the display engines. They managed to get the Hall-Scott done; apparently the wood in the stand is very old dense pine and was difficult to work with.
Library Inventory
Diane Edgerly came out with Dave and worked on cataloging the donated library in the PFM HQ building. She was shocked by the number of boxes in the room and elected to start with the prints. She reports that there are many items that would look very good gracing someone's walls. There are some prints by artists that Dave Orloff says are very popular, such as Hubbell and Biederman. Diane is hoping to be a regular and begin working her way through the entire mountain of books. If anyone has any shelving to donate Diane says it would make the task a little easier to manage.
Windsock
Charlotte, Jack and Ian hung up a replacement windsock for the field as the old one was a tattered rag! Charlotte was the one who rode the forklift up to replace the windsock. We should be good for another year or two!
Volunteer Work Days
December, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
The December workday had a surprisingly good turn-out and there were several significant developments. Work resumed on the two Thomas-Morse projects, but we continue to run into problems with the Canuck's OX-5 motor. There were two significant donations to the museum in December - parts for an SE5a as well as a complete Ercoupe!
Aircraft Projects
Thomas-Morse Scouts
Steve Richardson and Tom Miller worked more on Tommy-1's wood work. The wood brace pieces for the left cheek cowl frame were finished and installed. Steve worked mainly on the port side upper longeron rub strip. He installed virtually the whole length and then decided it wasn't quite right and should be mounted higher up on the longeron. Steve took the rub strip off and began reattaching it in the proper position.
Jerry Stark worked on the tail skid fairing on T-2. The piece is troubling as the wood belly form extends further back on the fuselage than T-1's belly form, which results in T-1 having a longer metal fairing finishing off the belly coverings. T-2 started to be stripped so the fuselage can be turned over on stands so the fairing can be easily worked on. Still, Jerry did a lot of measuring and figuring and finally some trimming to get the fairing closer to its final shape.
T-2's front fuselage fairing will need to be patterned as it assembles underneath the cockpit fairing, and the windshield fairing will also have to be fitted to these two fairings. The screws used to fasten the headrest to the cockpit fairing are wrong in respect to the Tommy 1. T-1's headrest fairing attaches with round head screws and what was available during the work day were pan head screws. Steve offered to buy the proper screws.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Mike Craig requested the model and serial number of the Triplane's magneto - he wants to try and find a new set of points and a cam for the unit as his testing revealed that the timing was wandering around from cylinder to cylinder - firing on time for some of the cylinders and retarded on others, usually alternating. Mike believes this may be contributing to the spark plug oil fouling as well as the minor vibration. Ian Whitaker read off the numbers while Tom Gaylord took notes - the inside of the Triplane is dark and the mag is mounted upside down so all the numbers were inverted!
Curtiss Canuck
Kevin Monahan, Bob Gardner and Dave Edgerly worked on getting the Canuck ready to run-up. Kevin and Bob got the propeller attached and secured but they did notice that the bolts are way too long and required washer stacks to get the nuts into position to allow the cotter pins to properly safety them. Another set of bolts for Steve to purchase!
Dave finished hooking up the cooling system with new hose material and filled the crankcase with 4 gallons of the 80W Ashless Dispersant oil that Dave donated to the museum. Kevin, Jerry Stark and Dave set the intake valve clearance on all eight cylinders - no problems encountered. The exhaust valve clearances were a different story! All were adjusted within spec except cylinders number 1 & 7.
The exhaust valve for cylinder number 1 wouldn't close completely, but Dave is confident that is a minor issue and can easily be fixed next workday. Cylinder number 7 was a real puzzle until they noticed the exhaust pushrod appeared to be physically shorter than the other seven pushrods! The threaded adjustment portion of the pushrod was 1/2" shorter than all the others - which neatly explained why they couldn't get the clearance adjustment anywhere near close! They could not get tighter than 0.060" lash clearance - the manual's proper clearance is 0.010". There will be an expedition next workday to find a proper length exhaust pushrod for an OX-5 engine from the spares drawer.
The team wisely decided to not fill the radiator/cooling system with water in case Kingsbury gets freezing weather before the next workday.
J-3 Cub
At some point in the recent past the Cub's tail wheel tapered roller bearings were replaced - but apparently it was a bit of a rush job because the races were not replaced as well. Ian took on the assignment of replacing the races. Ian had little trouble driving out the old races and thoroughly cleaning the hub halves. Then the races were tossed into the freezer while the hubs were set to bake in the little oven on the roll-around stand.
After a suitable length of time for aluminum hubs to expand and steel races to contract Ian set about getting the races installed in the hub. Ian successfully got the races installed with no drama and just a bit of help from Steve. Ian greased the bearings and put the tail wheel back together - giving the wheel a little test spin at the end.
Ian next tackled the Cub's trim indicator - just a little bead that rides in a slot, but it wasn't where it was supposed to be. That took just a couple of minutes to fix. Ian was supposed to also put brake fluid in the reservoirs but the fluid had apparently been thrown out. A task for the next workday.
Ian reported that he flew the Cub, but only about twenty minutes as the trim stopped working while trimmed nose up so he landed. The trim had worked fine during the first fifteen minutes of the flight but then it stopped working properly. Back on the ground it was back to working fine again. A little more investigation needed there!
Rearwin Sportster
Ian was a busy boy! One of the Sportster's tires was flat and would not hold air at all. Terry Bledsoe donated / loaned a tire and inner tube from his Champ project and he and Ian removed the flat and put the new tire and tube on the hub. The Rearwin looks so much better with inflated tires! Our "Thanks" to Terry for the tire & tube!
SE5a
Steve received a donation of SE5a metal parts (reproductions) - sufficient for two aircraft kits. The kits contained many special parts like the cast trim wheels, control column, turn & bank instrument, etc., etc. There are copies of drawings with the parts all bagged and labelled according to factory part numbers. The donation included jigs to build wing ribs and false ribs.
The parts were looked over and photographed then stored in the HQ building. Before offering any part of the kit for sale we'll need to get the paper documentation reproduced and the parts sorted and catalogued.
The Museum has an SE5a fuselage hanging in the rafters that was built and donated by Jack Kearbey. We'll likely begin building wing ribs and such and sort out the wing fittings from the kit then see about selling the remainder. Unofficial plan....
Ercoupe
Steve was also approached about accepting the donation of an Ercoupe. The aircraft is in good shape and was just completing its annual inspection when two things happened: the buyer of the aircraft backed out and the FAA issued an AD regarding aileron hinges. Steve is working a deal to get the aircraft to his hangar so he can do the work to satisfy the AD. Steve also wants to update / replace the instrument panel.
Pietenpol Sky Scout
No further work done on the aircraft as it is still trapped in the hangar by the Canuck. Al and Ian believe the engine could be ground run without much difficulty once it has been freed from its dark corner niche!
Team Vehicles
Indian Motorcycle
Kevin Monahan reports that the transmission cover crack has been repaired, the part painted and ready to go. The tranny cover was cracked while taking the clutch release bearing out due to a ridge on the inside wall which cocked the release bearing on the way out. The crack was only visible on the inside and was repaired by welding the crack and preparing the gasket surface. Kevin has painted the cover.
The issue Kevin has been working to resolve is the poor clutch action. Kevin says that the new clutch release bearing fixed some of the clutch's issues, making it feel better but more improvement is both possible and desirable! The new clutch release made it better but it is not great. The only metal plate in the clutch is badly corroded and the spring screw locking plate was not installed - you can see the small screw holes on the spring securing plate. The spring securing plate is warped so Kevin has been shopping the globe looking for replacement parts. Kevin says he thinks he has finally located appropriate parts and has them on order.
Kevin says that he has new studs and nuts for the tranny cover to install - the current studs are all in bad shape and are too short, the threads sticking out of the cover just enough to accept the nuts.
Model Ts
Post Fly-In Al Sumrall reports Team Vehicles is sort of in "rest & recuperation" mode, just keeping batteries working and the vehicles exercised. Blue Racer is still getting some attention, while Cameron Whitaker and Bruce Robertson continue working on their personal Model T projects.
Blue Racer
The Blue Racer seems to be having some transmission issues and the unit has been in and out of the car, something unspecified with the transmission bands. Lynn Howell didn't make the 2nd workday in the month so we are a little unclear about what is going on at the moment. However, the transmission looked to be reassembled and reinstalled in the car....
Miscellaneous Projects
LMG Upgrade
There is a small project team of volunteers (Al, Kurt, Jerry, Tom G, and occasionally Dave O) working on making better looking and complete LMG 08/15 Spandau guns and systems for the Triplane and the Fokker D.VII. The team has met once or twice, collected research, and is starting to evaluate the fabrication of parts. We have a set of steel parts laser cut from some drawings done by Richard Blackett.
The basic process will be fabricating a serviceable core for the models, a bare receiver, barrel and cooling jacket before moving on to the peripheral pieces. Towards that end Kurt Maurer cut out a receiver core to locate the receiver's steel plate side pieces. Al will be using that to work out a few ideas he has.
Al has also been buying original LMG 08/15 parts off eBay, with the intent of assembling his own non-firing infantry gun. Kurt Maurer spent some time helping Al get his bipod and wood stock to fit up properly. Terry Bledsoe and Kurt have also helped to get Al's top strap to fit his receiver better.
Jerry Stark took a spare cooling jacket home to curve into a cylinder and try welding the seam. There is some concern about the slip roller crimping the part into flat-sided segments rather than smoothly curling the metal. This effect seems to be due to the holes being pre-cut into the flat sheet. The Germans during the war may have created the cooling slots by cutting them into infantry-style water cooling jackets rather than the method we are using.
Hangar Clean-Up
Cameron Whitaker, Al Sumrall, Terry Bledsoe and Ian Whitaker did a mini workday. One of the tasks Terry and Ian worked on was cleaning up the back of the Old Hangar. All the "stuff" stockpiled there was sorted and properly stored or disposed of. The back of the hangar is looking quite a bit better!
Volunteer Work Days
November, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
We had a very good turn-out for the November workday that preceded the Fall Fly-In event. A lot of work got done and the weather was excellent! Here are the highlights!
Team Aircraft
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Fokker Dr.I Triplane The big news was that the Fokker Triplane returned to flight, and Ron Marcotte made a video of the event and posted it on YouTube. Click through and watch as Steve Freeman flew the airplane. Ron titled the episode a "touch and go", but in reality Steve landed on one of the rougher parts of the runway and found himself airborne again after being launched off a hump so he just added power and went around.
The day started with Cameron Whitaker returning the Triplane's Scintilla magneto which he'd cleaned up and overhauled. Mike Craig and Don Craig went into action installing the mag and timing it correctly. Afterwards it was time to try and ground run the engine. Which didn't go as well as hoped!
Investigating the issue resulted in Mike and Don pulling the mag and trying again to get it stabbed / timed properly. This process yielded success and resulted in a very successful ground run.
Steve wanted to try and fly the airplane and did so in the afternoon. All work on the field stopped to watch, and the flight was pretty well photographed and filmed! For once it looked like Steve was actually enjoying flying the airplane - though he still had the landing to perform!
Ultimately the landing went well and the airplane was towed back to the hangar. Steve still notes some engine vibration but the general consensus is that the plugs need to be replaced. The search for replacement plugs is on!
Meyers OTW
The Meyers was prepped to fly during the day and Mike Craig got a ride with Steve. They were gone for a while; it was Mike's first biplane ride as well as his first tail dragger flight. Mike is working on his pilot's license and really enjoyed the trip.
Canuck
The final preparations for installing the engine were carried out in the shop, after which the motor was hoisted up on the tines of the forklift and trucked across the field to the Old Hangar. It took thousands of "supervising" eyeballs to ensure the forklift was raised enough to get the motor over the Canuck's engine bay yet still squeeze under the hangar door opening! But eventually everything was aligned and the old OX was lowered into place on the Canuck's engine bearers.
Dave Edgerly then took over, working with Bob Gardner, Billy Cheshire, Dave Orloff and Ian Whittaker to start connecting up everything that needed to be hooked up so the motor mounts could be bolted down. Ian was specifically recruited to do things like reinstall the water pump at the back of the engine because he is slender and flexible and there is very little room between the back of the motor, the firewall, and the engine bearers!
Once the engine was cinched down onto the engine bearers the aircraft was moved across to the shop's concrete apron for further work. Dave Edgerly began tearing down the carbs to clean them up and get everything working properly. The day ended with lots remaining to do on the Canuck!
Dormoy Bathtub
With the sale of their parent's house in Sealy Ian and Cameron brought back the Dormoy project. Currently it is being stored in the rear of the old hangar! Work done so far looks very good, but man that sure is a tiny airplane!
Team Vehicles
Motorcycles
Thursday before the Fly-In Kevin Monahan washed the Triumph and filled it with oil and gas, oiled it well and adjusted tire pressure to ensure all was well for the event. Kevin also installed the new license plates on the vehicle. The new license number was found under the paint and stickers when Kevin refurbished the front fender plate, so he modified the rear plate to match. The bike now wears a license number it once had when operational on UK roads.
On Friday Kevin put the Indian back together and got it running. Kevin hasn't had much time to work on the Indian's clutch issues as he is eyeball deep in his first paint & body project - the Indian's fuel tanks! Kevin has been learning a lot and is intent on producing a very nice finish on the fuel tanks. But sometimes it is two steps forward and one step back. Kevin has had to strip one of the tanks of the bondo he'd applied because of contaminants in the mix so he is starting over with that tank. Kevin is trying to smooth out the weld seams and warps in the tanks - he reports that each tank was made from four pieces, plus all the knobs and drains and filler holes welded on! Kevin has one tank ready for Olive Drab paint, but it was in much better shape than the tank he has been struggling with. Kevin has also made some new fender stays and those are also ready for paint. But nothing will get painted till the other half of the fuel tank is ready also!
Model Ts
The workday saw the usual fussing about with the Model Ts, getting them ready for the Fall Fly-In the following weekend. Everything seemed to be fine with most of the Model Ts, the exception being the Blue Racer which is still down with drivability issues. Work is progressing on the Blue Racer, so there is hope it'll be running for the Fly-In. Model Ts were driven to lunch at Ebbo's in downtown Kingsbury to get a little extra drive time on them.
Miscellaneous
Charlotte pulled a "Tom Sawyer" and convinced Al Sumrall and Kurt Maurer to paint the sign arching over the property's entrance before the Fall Fly-In. Kurt slyly offered to operate the forklift if Al would do the actual painting. Al took the bait - hook, line and sinker! Al ain't no Michelangelo, so we were all lucky the task was more like "paint by numbers"!
Al did a great job on the repainting, but the operation wasn't without some drama. Al was initially surprised at how things swayed around up on the forklift but he quickly adjusted to that. What really threw him was coming across a "boa constrictor" in one of the tree branches, about two feet from Al's face when Al first noticed him. Al says the evil monster was about a foot long and big around as Al's finger! Despite being faced with a lethal killer Al stayed moderately calm and finished the painting while keeping an eye out in case the ravenous reptile decided to make Al its next meal. Sensing Al's fear the cold-blooded man-eating brute feigned indifference while it waited for the perfect opportunity to strike and take his hapless prey down, but Al wasn't playing that game and quickly painted some distance between himself and his stalker. Al was extremely relieved to finish the job and get returned to earth without being squoze and devoured!
Al really did a great job on the painting though - it looked very spiffy for the Fly-In. Next step is repairing the sign at the split in the property's road! So our "Thanks!" to Charlotte for conning Kurt and Al into repainting the sign and to Al and Kurt for completing the task!
Volunteer Work Days
October 13 & 20, 2012
by Tom Gaylord
The Pioneer Flight Museum held two workdays in October, the 13th and the 20th. The workday on the 13th was expected to be a smaller group and to get less done as Steve Freeman was unable to attend due to commitments elsewhere. The workday on the 20th was the usual full-throttle affair, and quite interesting as the team essentially completed reassembling the OX-5 engine and did a deep dive into the Triplane's 80-hp Le Rhone rotary engine in an attempt to determine why it seemed to be vibrating so much.
Team Airplane
Thomas-Morse Scouts
No work was done on the 13th; all the action took place on the 20th! Steve Richardson varnished T-1's longeron's rub strip as prep for installation while Jerry Stark finished prepping the T-2 cheek cowls for installation: drilling holes in the piano hinge segments and chamfering them for screws. Tom Miller and Steve Richardson worked on T-2's belly tail fairing which fits around the tail skid, checking cardboard templates and transferring the pattern to sturdier material for fit checks. After they were satisfied they had a good template they cut aluminum and began rough trimming / shaping the part. Tom, Steve and Jerry also worked on assembling the T-2 cockpit coaming, drilling holes and temporarily screwing the headrest fairing onto the cockpit coaming and support frame.
Fokker Dr.I Triplane
Most of the work done on the 13th was prep work for delving into the engine. Dave Edgerly, Dave Orloff, and Ian Whitaker removed the prop and cowling from the Dr.I. Edgerly discovered that 3 of the 4 engine mounting bolts were about a half-turn loose - could be a source or result of the vibration Steve felt while operating the airplane. Ian patched the fabric on the Dr-1 wingtip repairing the damage incurred in Steve's last landing.
On the 20th the goal of the day was to figure out why the engine was vibrating so much, even though it was running very strongly! Mike Craig and Don Craig checked the prop's balance and found everything was in order. Steve Freeman, Mike and Don started disassembling the front of the rotary engine to inspect the engine's internals, especially the crankshaft nose piece. Roger had already had a crank nose piece break while flying the Thomas-Morse. A damaged crank was the focus of the day! Since folks typically don't get much opportunity to see the internals of a rotary engine Steve, Mike and Don had quite an audience throughout the process!
The crank's nose piece was found to be fine. A slightly bent push rod was discovered and replaced. An internal rocker arm was found to have some pitting on the roller so the unit was replaced. The bearings in the cam plate were cleaned out as they were stiff from castor oil varnish and fouled spark plugs were cleaned.
Mike lubed all the bearings and moving parts in the Triplane's control system (i.e., ailerons, elevators and rudder) which lightened control system effort considerably! One tire was aired up. Mike also adjusted the tension on the air & fuel levers so they would not close due to vibration in flight.
Once everything was buttoned up the crew attempted to start the engine - without success. Fuel was flowing but there was no ignition. Troubleshooting led to the brush protruding through the firewall not contacting the brass pads on the distributor ring. The unit seemed to have the carbon brush hung up in the mount, and the contact surfaces inside the mount were slightly corroded, so those parts were cleaned up. However, the engine still had no fire so troubleshooting moved further up the system.
Evaluation of the magneto revealed pitting and corrosion on the points and a buildup of castor oil varnish inside the mag. Our mag is not Le Rhone OEM equipment and has a ventilation screen in the casing which was allowing castor oil fumes inside. It is possible that the magneto was able to fire the plugs with the brush hung up in the holder, but in its degraded condition the spark was weak and allowed the plugs to foul. Cameron Whitaker took the magneto home with him for further cleaning and sealing the casing. The magneto is due to be reinstalled in the airplane on the November 3rd work day!
Curtiss Canuck
On the 13th the Canuck got her new tires! Kevin Monahan and Terry Bledsoe mounted the tubes & tires on the Canuck rims and Dave Edgerly and Dave Orloff reinstalled the wheels on the plane.
Steve arrived in Kingsbury a few days before the workday on the 20th, and since the OX-5's cylinders were back from repair he called a couple of volunteers and they started reassembling the motor. Steve Freeman thinks they put those two cylinders on the motor about eight times! On, off, on, off, repeat as necessary! The best theory on why the exhaust valves were stuck is plain old lack of lubrication.
On the 20th the engine was completely reassembled by Mike McCormick and Kevin Monahan. Intake manifolds, valve gear, water pipes and connections, and more were refitted to the engine. Work included making a variety of paper gaskets and properly torqueing down all nuts and bolts. Kevin Monahan was intent on finding "proper" spark plugs for the OX as the plugs that were in the motor didn't come anywhere close to reaching into the combustion chamber! However, the engine has seemed to run just fine on them though.
Kevin reports that aside from adjusting valve lash and lubricating the valve stems the engine is complete and ready for reinstallation. Kevin thinks he'll have the work done prior to the November 3rd work day.
Piper J-3 Cub
On the 20th the Cub sure got a workout! Ian took up a total of three different passengers: Billy Cheshire, Cameron Whitaker and a visitor to the field. Billy and Ian toured the countryside with Billy pointing out to Ian his home. Later Ian and Cameron flew the Cub to a local airfield to refuel he airplane. When they returned to the field there were a couple of visitors and Ian took one of them up. He was an older gentleman who said he had flown for about 50 years, but he hadn't been up in ages! Steve took the other visitor up right afterward.
At the end of the day eight people flew in the Cub yesterday! Some kind of record!
Pietenpol Sky Scout
Al Sumrall and Ian Whitaker, co-crew chiefs on "Old Pete", looked over the Pietenpol a little to see what else needed to be done before trying to start the engine. Their opinion is that it's not far from running. They need to change out the oil, clean out the gascolator and button up the engine's cowlings. Though uncomfortable, they reckon most of this work can be done in the hangar's back corner where the Pietenpol has been trapped for several months due to the Canuck's engine and wheel work!
The last step would be putting a prop on it to try and start the motor. They'd like to "borrow" the Cub's prop (good luck with that, as much as that airplane has been flying!). Ian reports that he has someone looking at the Pietenpol's real prop, Ed Sterba, the craftsman who is making the Dormoy prop. Ed apparently doesn't think Old Pete's prop will be hard to fix! Ian expects to hear soon from Ed to discuss the possible prop repairs.
On the 20th Team Vehicles swung into action continuing to prepare vehicles for the Fly-In.
Team Vehicles
Triumph
Kevin Monahan reports the guy who is doing the Triumph license plates is scheduled to finish the work late October. Kevin expects to have the Triumph fully operational for the Fly-In.
Model Ts
Team Vehicles was pretty active on the 13th - Ian Whitaker, Steve Penaluna and Cameron Whitaker removed the wheels and took off the three tires from the French Ambulance. Al Sumrall and Cameron took the wheels to College station to have two tires mounted. Bruce Robertson and Cameron got Bruce's unpainted T started without too much trouble and Cameron drove it a bit.
The Black Arts - Cameron Whitaker finished rebuilding and adjusting four Model T coils. The process was appropriate for Halloween! These old coils are encapsulated in a wooden box, and Cameron was boiling pitch in a pot on a burner to fill the wood box and seal the coil's components inside. He then had to adjust the coils to ensure they would work properly!
Blue Racer - Lynn Howell continued working on the Blue Racer and had a breakthrough day! He disassembled the carb and discovered the float wasn't working as somewhere along the way a metal tab got bent down! Ten seconds later the float was fixed and the carb was working properly - at last! The vehicle still needs Cameron's special distributor linkage installed so the spark advance works properly. The way things are now the engine can be set up to run right but moving the spark advance messes everything up!
TT - Steve Penaluna installed a new fuel cutoff valve which fixed the fuel leaks the vehicle was enduring.
The TT, wrecker, and US Ambulance were started and run. Everyone was impressed when the US Ambulance started on the first pull of the crank! Due to work in the hangar the Signal Corps truck couldn't be moved out of the hangar, and the "French Ambulance" was still waiting on new tires.
Miscellaneous Activities
Culverts & Roads
Prior to the work day on the 20th Charlotte eliminated the extra culvert that was clogged and cleared and repaired the main entrance culvert. These culverts up by FM-1104 cause water to copiously flow down across the roads on the property and leaves them badly washed out. This has been a problem for several years now! Charlotte also filled the ruts and smoothed the roads. Looks like she does great work because recent rains did not erode the roads any!
There is also a plan afoot to lay crushed rock onto the road that goes to the pavilion from the front entrance. Cost will be split between the Museum, the R/C club, and Old Kingsbury Aerodrome. This work will not be attempted until after the Fall Fly-In!
Landing Strip Work
Terry Bledsoe, Dave Orloff, Tom Gaylord, and Billy Cheshire went into the jungle at the north end of the runway to clear "Wesatch" shrubs. Billy out-worked his three companions! The crew removed an overflowing pickup truck bed of Wesatch weed!
Wild Hog Damage
Terry and Charlotte worked together to fill in some holes that wild hogs have recently rooted into the R/C flying field in front of the pavilion. Terry continued filling in some low spots up near the shop apron while clearing dirt from the south end of the berm to create more room for the Model Ts to parade during the Fly-In.
