Warbird Information Exchange

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Looking REAL good Gary!!! My hats off to you. I like that house you call a TOOL BOX I sure hope it is not full of bucking bars ! It would be tough to move, where are you hinding the electric motor at anyway?
Scott.....
Cold here in Wyoming.....

Are you using blueprints and original materials and methods or is this an artists rendition (functional equivalent)?

Hmmm, well, a little bit of both. We do, indeed, have many of the original drawings on microfilm. However, the quality on quite a few of them is less than desirable. Remember, AM927 was a pre-war (for the U.S.) airplane, being built in 1940. Even finding the drawings we have was challenging, and some simply don't exist.

The piece that y'all have seen being built so far on this thread is pretty much a fairing with windows in it. I have built most of it by looking at old photographs and studying rivet lines, skin patterns, etc. I got the sheet metal and window thicknesses from the factory drawings. So there is a little bit of originality mixed with a touch of artist's rendition. As far as original methods...well, I wish. I don't have squat here for stamping out the tracks, formers, ribs, and so on. I just do it the old fashioned way and make it by hand, with form blocks, English wheel, stretchers, shrinkers, & so on. And frankly, I'm not that good at it. I waste a bunch of time making scrap. Still learnin' though. All it would take to make this project go much smoother would be for someone to simply drive up here with a few tractor trailer loads of original factory equipment.

As I get into making the tracks for the tailgunner's doors, for example, I may have to improvise as best as I know how. I have several folks working on getting the best copies they can off of those original films, but it's very difficult to get much other than a basic idea. The waistgunner stuff is pretty well documented though and should go together pretty well. I just wanted to knock out this tailgunner stuff while I still had some energy on this project.

I hope that helped answer your question.

Gary

Gary,
We all envy your tools, time and toys. I love fabricating stuff but never have the time to do it with all the transient breakdown work that just doesnt stop up here. My next project will be a piece of wing skin for the wall in the living room. I was even pondering the idea of building a teardrop travel trailer, better than the tent at "Rainy Reading!"

Great work, Keep it coming!

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"Hindsight is usually 20% off!"

Thanks for taking the time to post updates and photos of her progress. She wil definately make for a different looking B24 on the airshow scene next year!

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Cheers,
Peter

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Thanks Gary, yes it does. You're doing a fantastic job. Data can be hard to come by, even on some of the more common aircraft. Your efforts are much appreciated and will surely enhance the display. I'm sure as soon as you are finished though some guy will drop off the original vellums he saved from the shredder back in 1952...

This is probably one of the best threads ever, actually getting to see the work being done step by step with two way feedback, absolutely fantastic, keep up the good work.

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Wow, has it really been that long since I last visited?

I think this is a great idea. I'm all for keeping airplanes the way they originally were, but now that this is becoming a real B-24 it will certainly have more marketing potential and just look totally cool!. I'm all for it. Gary is a hero.

John

Thanks y'all.
Gary

Here's some photos from today's work. I had to step away from the tailgunner's section for a little bit as my mind started wandering some and I was making stupid mistakes on it.
These are shots of me removing the radio operator's floor. Waaaay back when the airplane was converted from a bomber to a transport, they essentially took the radio operator's position out of the airplane by raising the floor and making it a storage area. Well, I'm undoing that. All I got finished today was the removal of the floor. I'll have to make some bracketry and such, but the reinstallation really shouldn't be too bad. I'll also enclose a picture of what the radio compartment originally looked like.

Sorry for the poor quality of photos. It's kind of hard to see what the differences in each shot are, but it's all I have for now.

Fat boy in a tight spot...

The fairings all out of the way...

No more floor...

What it's supposed to look like...


Gary

I like that standard issue wooden 1940s office chair in the period photo!

I'd like to put one back in, if possible. Got any laying around anywhere?

Gary

Thats the standard PBY Navigator or Radio Operator swivel seat isnt it? I assumed they were used as standard through all of the B24 Series as well?

regards

Mark Pilkington

http://home.earthlink.net/~cutawaypby/

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20th Century - The Age of Manned Flight
"from Wrights to Armstrong in 66 years -WOW!"

I'm sure it is the same seat. You have to remember, our B-24 is much different from any others you'll see out there. It was built before we went to war and although it was about 25th or so off the production line, it is serial number 18. Consolidated used many parts on these early airplanes that they already had. The PBY Catalina was about the best airplane for them to "steal" parts off of it's production line to get this B-24 project going in full swing. Although the B-24A (ours included) had it's own specific firewall forward, Consolidated eventually put the PBY Catalina Q.E.C.'s (quick engine change) on our airplane since parts for the Cats were still being produced and the B-24A program had long since been upgraded. That is why our engine cowlings are round and all other B-24s are that oval shape. Some interesting trivia for you.......if you look at the nosebowls on our cowlings, you will see that there are small, vertical slots in various locations on them. Those were for the work stands for the PBYs so that the mechanics could work on them over the water.

Whew. I reckon that's kind of a long-winded explanation as to why the radio operator's chairs are probably the same. But that's the best way I could explain it.

Gary