Gary ~ What's The Plan For Diamond Lil ? 2006 and Beyond!

[henry]

of course we would...

would some sort of info board with a little on the techniques of hand painting numbers and the authenticity of rough paintwork help with the general public?

btw does anyone here do design/layouts for a living, i'm sure the general public would love to see an abridged (sp) version of the transformation, with a few of the detailed bits added. i know it has realy given me an appreciation of what is involved.

[bomberflight]

was able to shoot a little more paint on the airplane this morning and it's at least looking better than it did. Y'all wanna sneak peak?

Yes please Gary

[chico]

I was actually (and still am) considering brushing the letters, numbers, and insignia on the airplane, just like the book says to do. For all of us Warbird junkies, it would make sense. For the general public (who pay our bills), it would look bad. I just don't know which way to go on that one.

Gary

BRUSH THE LETTERS!

You guys have a sandwich board that you put out near the plane during airshows, right? Put a note there that says "that's the way it's supposed to look, damnit!" and be done with it.

But then, I think D-Day stripes should be painted on with a wide brush or the nearest mop. Maybe when I get my own C-47.....

[TAdan]

Y'all wanna sneak peak?

Gary

Yes Please

I agree with you on the hand painted lettering and insignia...if that is the way it was originally done, then go for it.

[Connery]

I was able to shoot a little more paint on the airplane this morning and it's at least looking better than it did. Y'all wanna sneak peak?

Gary

Like you EVEN have to ask!!

[Ztex]

Y'all wanna sneak peak?

Silly question!

[TimAPNY]

I was able to shoot a little more paint on the airplane this morning and it's at least looking better than it did. Y'all wanna sneak peak?

Gary

Like you EVEN have to ask!!

If he torments the cats they scratch and bite him, We on the other hand keep begging for more! He won't post them he just want to torment us and get his kicks for the day!

But Please Gary prove me wrong.

Tim

[retroaviation]

Soooo, what are you saying exactly? Do you want a couple of pictures of the start of the new paint job or not?

It's really not all that great, maybe I should just wait a little while longer.

Gary

[Randy Wilson]

While everyone is waiting for Gary to post, here are three images of our latest "stripping" party, working to get the B-24's rudders and elevators ready to recover. Below, I'm playing "Master Blaster" while Blake Cowart steadies the elevator. We worked from about 6pm to 9:30 last Tuesday.

While not quite yet finished, these next two shots show how far we have come in just a few hours of work.


As soon as our A&P pronounces things clean enough, the next step will to be to prime the pieces, then start recovering them. For those interested in fabric work, I'll try and take a lot more photos when we get to that part.

Randy

[Edward Soye]

I was actually (and still am) considering brushing the letters, numbers, and insignia on the airplane, just like the book says to do.

If you can get away with it, definately hand paint them Gary! We had that debate at our musuem recently (shiny new, versus original hand brushed look) and remarkably the hand-brushed camp won out! Now its just a matter of waiting until the next paint job to see how it turns out.

Can't wait to see the results on your project.

[retroaviation]

I thought since I was being held hostage in my office by clerical duties, I'd go ahead and give y'all a short update. Yesterday, while trying to press on with the tail skid assembly, I found the old piece of aluminum doubler that the skid eventually bolts to on the bottom of the fuselage. It was in pretty rough shape and I decided to fabricate a new one real quick. The first thing to do was to cut out a piece of aluminum sheet and start duplicating holes from the old piece........




I then just traced the shape of the old piece onto the new one, cut it out, and trimmed it to the correct size & shape.......




The next thing I needed to do was to give the new piece the radius needed to match the bottom of the fuselage. I reckon I could've walked aalllll the way over to the other side of the hangar and fought with our rolling machine, but instead, I chose to find something nearby that had about the right radius I was looking for and just leaned on it a bit......




The next step was to put the old skid base plate on the doubler and trace the outer edges. I won't be using that same base plate any longer, but I need the new one to attach to the same location........




I then countersunk the holes that will need flush rivets in order for the base plate to sit down correctly. That pretty much covers it for this piece for now. My next step will be to build a new base plate for the tail skid....




Now how did these two pictures sneak in here?






Oh, and we also received our bomb doors and four bomb racks yesterday! There's no way that I'll be able to put the bomb doors on this year, but at least we have 'em. I'm gonna try hard to get the racks installed, but frankly, it's going to be a longshot with the impending deadline. I'm sure I'll keep you posted on it though.......






Well, I'm going to try to sneak out of here and actually get some work done on the airplane. Andy is currently making some stencils for a little touch of detail with the new paint job, and there is obviously much more to do regarding that. But I thought y'all would like a peek anyway.

By the way...don't even think about asking about the noseart. That's definitely going to stay hush-hush until the unveiling.

Gary

[Bear]

Thanks for the update Gary! That paint is looking good!

[Django]

Looking great! Check your email Gary.

[TAdan]

Thanks for the sneak peak Gary. I like the way this paint scheme is going.

Nice work!

[Beachy]

She's looking great so far, Gary! Thanks for the photos!