OK, next installment:
So, as Gary commented upon in his post above, our first attempt at trimming the flush patch was, um, not exactly up to his, mine, or anyone else's standards!!! And yes Kevin, when it comes to aircraft, Shae does indeed have high standards! (Less so for guys she'll hang out with, but that's great news for us geeky airplane types, nicht war?)
Here's Gary, critiquing the "excessive gap-o-sis-" on the first patch:
Thankfully that was before I did the sigs. Where I screwed up on that patch was cutting the wrong side of the Sharpie line. The way you have to do these patches is hold up the 080 to the outside, go inside and trace the contours of the opening with a Sharpie, and trim to fit. In practice, this involves lots of great exercise and cardio workouts, going back and forth to the sander, taking little bits at a time off. Here's Shae, trimming away:
Now, another quick aside: Gary made a pretty big deal out of the fact that we "actually LISTENED to him, and followed his suggestions". Well, our response was that HE'S the "Crew Chief", it says so right on his shirt! So, we "grunt labour" had no problem following his suggestions, and whaddya know the job came out great!! The thing is, Gary's got a plan in mind, and even though he may not share all the why's and wherefore's with the folks helping, do the job the way da Boss asks, and it'll all work out great.
So anyway, here's a shot of me trimming off the corner on on of the flush patches:
Now, as I said above (darn this post is getting wordy), I signed ALL of the flush patches. All different sigs, and here's one that we felt was especially appropriate:
And Gary holding the signed patch (My, don't he look proud!):
Since some of the time was spent, on breaks, petting the hangar kitties Cols Mosquito and Shadow, I signed this one on their behalf, since they can't hold a Sharpie without opposable thumbs ya know:
The funny thing there is that when I showed the kitties patch to Gary for his approval, he looked at it, looked at me, and said "Man, you need a hobby!!" Um, Gary, this IS my hobby! ':lol:'
Another volunteer was a big help to me Tuesday AM as a second set of hands, thanks TA!
And we can't forget that Shae and I were at HQ in the first place representin' for National Capitol Squadron:
Final thoughts: Gary is doing STUNNING work on both airplanes. But, as good as he is (Be quiet Gary, stop being modest, I saw the work you've done!) he's only one man. This board has been unbelieveably generous for the guns etc, and that's great, but good ole fashioned person-power is needed as well. Gary is, in my opinion, a really good foreman to work for. He'll give you the outline of what he wants you to do, and leave you alone if you feel OK, or he'll go into more detail if you need that. He really missed a calling as a teacher.... he was explaining to Shae and I the finer points of rivet shooting, and doing a better job at it than my old metal structures instructor EVER did.
We spent a week in gods-forsaken Midland, and plan to go back in late March just to help Gary out. How's bout some more folks get with Gary and volunteer? I guarantee, you'll have a BLAST!!
:)
More later, when we journey to "Austin Acres Wildlife Refuge & Petting Zoo. Airplane Tours and Canoe Rides"
_________________
Regards,
Jase
www.b26marauder.com
"I'm having a BLAST!!" 2007 CAF Wing Staff Conference
RIP Gary Austin..always in our hearts
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