B-17 "Champaign Lady" Restoration

wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
Okay, here is a shot from many years ago when they were restoring the quadrant. You can see the item in question in the "open" position on the far right.


 

wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
Yeah, It was really cool to see the old man's name in the news... It was an AP story than ran in papers all across the country. Very cool.
 

wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
Didn't get to get any work done tonight. Wife convinced me to go to church instead of the airport..........
 

rcspaceflight

creator of virtual planes
Didn't get to get any work done tonight. Wife convinced me to go to church instead of the airport..........

Didn't you tell her that the best way to get closer to God is by flying towards the heavens? ... You kind of need a plane for that.
 

wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
lol, We recently just joined a church. But before that, going to the airport was pretty much my 'religion'. Now I suppose I just have two.... :)
 

wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
Two quick shots that dad posted on his FB taken today.....

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wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
Small video with the old man on the museum's YouTube channel talking about how they came about the noseaert.

 

wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
My phone was dead by the time I got up to the big hangar. Helped with some very important hangar doings on the other side of the airport.... Moving airplanes around, moving parts, helping bring in a beer cooler, you know, the usual... Grabbed some photos from some of the Vietnam vets...

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wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
Need to start getting back to updating this thread.... I will be posting a lot more once I am done coaching soccer for this fall...

Here's a quick shot of the new skin that has been put on the tail....


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Stingray Aviation

Junior Member
Over the last several months we have been experimenting with the best way to make these rib sections for the horizontal. It is very much a trial and error process. When these were mass produced they were able to essentially stamp these things out with no problem. Without that type of machinery around, we are forced to work every single piece like this by hand.

Fiberboard works well for building ribs like these. Use two sheets cut to the shape of the rib with holes drilled through them, sandwich a blank between them, fasten them together with bolts and wing nuts, and use a mallet to work the flanges over the sides of the form.
 

wittpilot

Just Plane Crazy
Fiberboard works well for building ribs like these. Use two sheets cut to the shape of the rib with holes drilled through them, sandwich a blank between them, fasten them together with bolts and wing nuts, and use a mallet to work the flanges over the sides of the form.

Believe it or not but we did almost this exact process... we made a form out of a similar type of wood with the holes in the proper spots and used it to make the channels... not only is there a lip on the channel, but there is also another channel within the channel.. we achieved that by epoxing a steel rod to the edge of the form... Unfortunately the initial forms did not hold up so we strengthened the tips with some phenalic block. The biggest problem is that each rib is different...so each one needs a different form....:-/