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Classic Wings Magazine WWII Naval Aviation Research Pacific Luftwaffe Resource Center
When Hollywood Ruled The Skies - Volumes 1 through 4 by Bruce Oriss


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:07 pm 
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Another productive day as I was able to get the rear fixed canopy sanded and painted. All of the canopy sections are now done and will be stored until next summer after the fuselage has been painted.
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 10:43 pm 
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December 6, 2014

I finished up the rear sliding canopy today and moved on to preparing items destined for the cockpit. The two radios going into the rear cockpit had been modified for Ham radio use, and the small front panels with the gain control had to be cut, painted and new knob installed on both. The generator relay box was missing from the T-6, but I did find a junction box with the same dimensions as the end of the original. This will stand in for the original and will be visually the same. A search of restoration stock yielded this original signal light control box that will be cleaned up and added to the cockpit.
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 10:50 pm 
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Back into fabrication today as I began work to create new finishing strips for the front cockpit. Since the intrument and electrical panels are AT-6D, I'm making "D" strips to hold the radio and intercom equipment appropriate for a "D" model. The bottom piece was made in two pieces riveted together. I'll fill the gap and sand everything smooth before final paint. The top unit has pilot holes drilled for the placement of radio and intercom boxes. (The paint on the top piece is still wet on the ends.)
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 11:15 pm 
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Need a bit of help with a couple of control box mounts for AT-6D/SNJ-5
I'm looking for schematics/engineering drawings for FT228-A (BC-451-A Control Box Mount) and FT240-A (BC-496-A Control Box Mount)
I need to fabricate these mounts for my AT-6 static restoration project.

Any help appreciated!

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 9:27 pm 
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After a few weekends off for the holidays, I made it back in for a short visit and fabricated the gun sight reflector for the front instrument shroud. Lacking the original drawings for the glass, I drilled and tapped a piece of 1/4" polycarbonate for screws to hold the glass to the bracket.
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:16 am 
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Following up on last week's project, I finished up the gunsight reflector and installed it permanently. Moving on with cockpit parts, the junction box stand-in for the electrical relay box has been given it's placard and circuit breakers installed. Lacking the exact units, newer style breakers are installed and I'll print small dots with correct amperage numbers to be applied before installation in the plane. Lastly, I began repopulating the pilot's electrical panel, installing some of the switches. With vintage AN units going for $5 USD or more, I'm using more modern units and filling the original mounting holes with screws and nuts.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:28 pm 
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Beautiful work, Norm! They look like new-old stock!

Just goes to show how much you can do with enthusiasm, ingenuity...and the WIX brains trust!

I've just flicked through the thread mostly looking at the pics, but this is a great log. Please do keep us posted! :drink3:

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#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
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"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:11 pm 
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Thanks for the kind comments Zac. It's a lot of fun.

Being just a static restoration with limited funding, it's a challenge to fabricate and repurpose parts to fill in for the originals. If it weren't for the help and advice of WIX members around the world, it would be so much more difficult.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 11:39 pm 
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Today, work on the pilot's electrical panel continued. After completing the installation of new switches in the panel, the ammeter went in before general touch up and clearcoating to complete the clean up. Finally, with reconditioned light control knobs installed, it's all done. The panel now goes into storage until time to install in the cockpit., hopefully by late summer.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:45 pm 
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Not a lot to report this weekend but did manage to create mounts for the BC-451-A and BC-496-A Radio Control boxes. These are mounted on the right side finishing strip in the front cockpit. Without actual design drawings, these were created by duplicating the back of the units, adding the tabs at the top to hold the unit in place. Screws and nuts will be used to hold everything in place permanently and discourage unauthorized removal.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 08, 2015 12:15 am 
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Arrived at the shop to find the BC-456 Radio Power Supply had arrived from a one of my fellow Warbird Information Exchange members. We had arranged a trade, with this hard to find radio part becoming part of the cockpit restoration of the AT-6. Like getting a new toy, I had to jump in and begin cleaning up the unit, bead blasting and beginning to paint some of the parts.
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While waiting for paint to dry, I took a little time to refurb and seal coat the rear cockpit light control panel. Still have to come up with some knobs, but it's pretty much ready to be installed.
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To Restore And Preserve Our National Aviation Heritage


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:10 pm 
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Working on another repair from the cockpit, the control stick lock assembly had seized and someone had apparently tried leveraging it loose, twisting the left side shaft and breaking the bracket loose from the foot rail. After cutting off the bent end and driving the remainder of the shaft out of the bracket, I made a new shaft to replace the bent one. Taking the opportunity to refurbish the unit, the entire assembly was bead blasted and repainted. The lock handle remains to be installed after the fresh paint fully dries and control arm still needs to be welded to the end of the new shaft. I'll also fabricate a reinforcement plate to secure the left bracket to the foot rail once again.
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Wrapping up work on the Radio Power supply, I finished painting the dynamotor and reassembled the supply. Now it, too will go into storage until time for installation this summer.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:17 am 
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Location: Preparing for transit
Well done Norm, if this 6 turns out as well done as the 51H project you will have folks lined up wanting to fly it too. Kee4p up the great work

Craig

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Last edited by CraigQ on Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:00 pm 
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Hi Craig!
Good to hear from you, and thanks for the kind words. Hoping the T-6 will be another good effort, but plans are to get it done a bit faster than the 9-1/2 years on the Mustang. :shock:

If you have the old Mustang Project link ( http://p51h.home.comcast.net/~p51h/index.htm ) it now has Curt's TB-25N project and the T-6 pages linked from there.

BTW, Just caught the link on the SIG that point back here to the WIX thread on the P-51H airframe Couches had stored heading to California for restoration. Looking forward to following that effort, with hopes it will be flying soon. We need another Mustang in the air!

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 11:50 pm 
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Spent most of the day reorganizing the mounds of parts and hardware in my parts cabinets into some semblance of order. A rare occurrence for me as I usually work on the pile method. With that out of the way, I did manage to scrounge some "chicken head" knobs for the rear cockpit lighting control panel and get those installed. Following up on last week, I reinstalled the lock handle on the control stick lock assembly and installed a small bolt to hold the return spring in place of the lever and linkage normally welded on the end of the tube.
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