Cub Progress 11-29-08 Bit's 'n Pieces

So many parts...such a little airplane.

Cub Progress 11-28-08-Benefits of Paint.

We were able to get the tires off of the wheels and a bunch of parts washed today. This picture graphically shows the benefits of paint. This is only surface corrosion (I hope) and should come off when I sandblast the parts.

11-26-08 Cub Progress-Cleaning Parts and a covering Lesson.

Sky and I spent a few hours at the airport today cleaning the small parts off in the parts washer. Sky wore safety glasses and gloves, but it is so strong smelling, he had to take a break every few minutes. We got quite a bit done, with some still to go.

Then Glenn invited him over for a covering lesson. Glenn was covering the Sopwith's Pup rudder and he took the time to explain what he was doing as he did it.

Cub Progress 11-25-08

Glenn and I took the fuselage, tail-feathers, door and landing gear out to Wentzville today to be sandblasted and epoxy-primed. Should be done sometime next week.

Cub Progress 11-24-08

I cleaned up the fabric scraps on the airframe, mainly around the rear windows today. Also took off the tailwheel and the main landing gear. Tomorrow we're hoping to take it to the sandblaster along with the tailfeathers, main gear and the door.

Cutting off the old shock cords.

Cub Progress 11-23-08

What started out as a bad day when McDonalds' lost our breakfast order going thru the drive-thru turned out pretty well with Sky and I accomplishing our goals on the Cub. I got the trim system and the elevator jackscrew out along with all of the control cables. I helped Sky take the windshield mounting piece off from the boot cowl and to remove the plexiglass windows and take the fabric off of the door. Then we wheeled the fuselage out right before sunset and rinsed off all the dirt, mouse droppings and associated crud from the front of the fuselage.

Cub Progress 11-22-08

I caught a flight home early this morning as I knew Skyler was anxious to go to work on our Cub. I got home, changed clothes, had him change clothes and off we went. First stop was Sears where he picked out a screwdriver set that he paid for with his own money. These are the first tools that he has bought for himself and he will always remember this.

We arrived at Creve Coeur, talked with Glenn and promptly went to lunch with the fellas.

After lunch, we started in on the Cub. I removed the brakes and the front floorboard. I took out the rear seat belt and both throttles. Meanwhile, Skyler was busy cutting the safety wire securing the stringers to the fuselage, then unscrewing them and taking them off from the airplane. Not bad for a little over an hours work as we had to return home to babysit Little Boo as my wife had an appointment.

Cleaning off the tailfeathers.

I spent just a little bit of time out at the airport over lunch cleaning the tailfeathers and taking the hot air box and gascolator off of the firewall. Most of the tail was fairly easy, but the previous restorer had put masking tape on some of the ribs and 30+ year old masking tape doesn't want to come off very easily. I have to go out of town Friday and Glenn doesn't get back until Monday, so I guess it'll have to wait until then.

Cub Progress 11-11-08

A lot of bending over and hard work went into the Cub today as I removed the control system, floorboards and the remaining fabric from the fuselage.

Tomorrow I'll clean the glue residue off the tail and ailerons and then it will be paint stripping and cleaning time for all the small parts.

Cub Progress 11-10-08

I made good progress on getting the Cub fuselage stripped today. First, I finished stripping the ailerons. Then I took the engine block off the motor mount followed quickly by getting the motor-mount off. Then I pushed all the cables/wires/connections back through the firewall. My friend Rolla Henry came over and helped me loosen the fuel tank straps which enabled us to get both the boot cowl and windshield off. I started taking the floorboard out, but got hungry so I went home.

Cub Progress 11-09-08

We spent this morning taking the fabric off the tail surfaces and ailerons. Here dad helps Sky use the boxcutter to cut the fabric off a stabilizer.

Cub Progress 11-08-08

Mom and dad came into town last night for Skyler's Birthday, which is today. Dad and I went out the the airport and took out the seats, loosened the fuel supply line from the fuel tank and took off the oil tank.

Cub Progress 11-07-08

We spent the day trying to take off the windscreen, then trying to take off the fuel tank and finally settling for taking off the instrument panel.

11-06-08 Washing the Fairchild

They are almost through paving the taxiway. I pulled the Fairchild out and rinsed it off five times to try and get most of the concrete dust off the airframe. Most of it was located on the top of the airplane.

Where are you? The ELT Police

I took the Cubs ELT out Sunday, checked that it was off and put it in a box on the floor. The battery expired in 1996 and I figured it wasn't good anymore.

About 12:40 am Monday morning there was a knock on our door. The local constabulary had sent one of their finest along with a Sky Nazi (CAP) Captain and his high school age underling. "Did I have an ELT or portable safety transmitter? Darn.

I went into the garage and pulled it out of the box. The switch was on. I turned it off, pulled it out of the mounting bracket and borrowing the officer's Swiss Army Knife, unscrewed the back and removed the battery. They couldn't find Steve Fossett in over a year, but they find me in 9 1/2 hours. He said they're not supposed to work when you flight into a mountain. I said, "then why even have them?"

I did find out some interesting data on them from him. 95% of all ELT transmissions are false/unintended, only 17% of crashed aircraft set off their own ELT's and best of all, this happened to a friend of mine 2 weeks ago.

The Cub goes to Creve Coeur.

We took the Cub out to Creve Coeur this morning. The move went very smoothly and she's now sitting in Glenn's hangar waiting to be brought back to life. She won't have to wait very long.

The Great Dustbowl of Creve Coeur.

This taxiway project has gone from bad to worse. They cut the grooves/expansion joints in the concrete last week. This morning, I go out to the airport to find them blowing the dust out with industrial-strength leaf blowers. It looked like a small brushfire moving down the taxiway. The planes parked downwind, in the shadeport, got the worst of it. The were covered in abrasive concrete dust.

The hangar doors would not completely close because they hadn't cut the pin holes for the door pins yet. This is my hangar, the right side of the horizontal stabilizer, located a good 20 feet from the door.

The towel has been in place the entire time.
This is the before shot.
After removing the towel.

I'm not touching it until Glenn takes a look at it.

Cub Progress 11-1-08

We pulled the fuselage out into the abundant sunshine Saturday and hosed it off where we had previously removed the fabric. Under the good light we could see they had primed the fuselage, so there remains hope that there is no corrosion.

After the wash job, we took the propeller, the magnetos and the exhaust system off the engine. My friend Tim was right, this engine is just like a big lawnmower engine. We're hoping to take her out to the airport on Monday.

Almost ready to solo.

We were out in the garage one night this week and Lindsay pointed to the plane and said "airplane." I asked her if she wanted to sit in it, something she had previously not wanted to do. She nodded her shy nod and smiled, so I picked her up and set her in the back seat. I then asked her if she wanted to sit in the front seat and she said yes. I hoisted her to the front and she grabbed the stick with her left hand. I said "No honey, like this," and put her hand on the throttle and right hand on the stick.

Then she said, "Take pictures daddy." So I did.