Okay, here's a real quick update for y'all...
Shorty is still here and has been keeping busy as usual. He finished with installing all of the exhaust exit stacks, so he then got back to putting the cockpit back together. He's doing a great job and it's great to have him here. He's also seen what a bind we're in and is trying to work out staying here for another week. That's the spirit, Shorty! Thanks!!!
Here he is putting the final touches to one of the original radio heads that goes in the cockpit.......
Daniel was here yesterday and today, and was able to get some major work accomplished in a very short period of time. He's been working on the structure for the intermediate floor that goes between the waistgunner's floor and the radio operator's floor. He made the tooling for dimpling the 2" holes in the I beams he's designed and then fabricated all of the pieces (for both sides) and got the right side clecoed in place. Man, I wish I could get him here full time. Things get done when Daniel is working......
Scott and his lovely wife, Ellen, flew in late yesterday just to work today. He's apparently got the bug to work on this pig, and it's wonderful. Both Scott and Ellen worked their tails off today and made great forward progress. They were able to work together (kind of strange, since they're married
) and replace the one rotten support for that last bomb rack. Once it was done, they got the final rack installed in the airplane...and naturally, Scott had to drag one of our bombs in and hang it for some "visual progress."
In this photo, you can see all four racks in place, along with the portion of structure that Daniel installed for the intermediate floor. One thing about it, we may not get the airplane completely reconfigured like I had hoped, but it definitely doesn't look like a trash hauler inside anymore.....
And Andy, bless his little heart, has been just doing a little bit of everything and a whole lot of sanding. I have him going from one project to the next, and he never complains or anything. I wish I had ten more of him.
Me? Well, I didn't do squat today. I woke up not feeling quite right this morning, so in a rare episode of good judgment, I felt it wouldn't be a good idea for me to get up on top of the airplane and paint...particularly after the little spill I took last week. I spent most of the day cleaning out my hangar so that I can attempt to make room for the Cassutt Racer in a few weeks. But that's a whole other issue that I won't bore y'all with.
I'll get here at my usual time in the morning and get some more painting done. Chris Trobridge started prepping the wing for paint this weekend, and Andy got it all finished up, so it's up to me to get some color on it.
It's all going painfully slow, but it is starting to look like a bomber.
Gary
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