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

[tulsaboy]

WOO-HOO!!!

And go with brushing by hand. I like authentic!

kevin

[Connery]

Thanks for the update and the sneak peek on the paint job. It's going to look GREAT!

[bomberflight]

YAY !!!! Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures

With the arrival of the doors and shackles ~ she really will be a bomber again in the not too distant future. That is just Awesome !

[rwdfresno]

Gary, she is looking almost as sexy as the ladies on this forum. Maybe we should make a WIX calender and sell it to raise money for the bomber lol.

[Former Member]

Thanks Gary for those teaser pics of the paint job...you've made my day!!!

John

[retroaviation]

I had a little flat black paint left in my gun this morning and didn't want to throw it out, soooo Andy and I walked over to the noseart collection here at the museum and started looking at what stencils these ol' B-24's had on them. I knew where some went, but just wanted to double check with the original noseart panels we have here (plus it's just so dang cool to walk through that exhibit ). Anyway, so when we got back, we started punching stencils out so that I could apply them to the airplane before the paint in the gun cured.

It all seemed pretty straight forward to me, but when a museum guest walked through and mentioned that he was amazed at all I had to do in order to just put a tiny little stencil on, I thought I'd go ahead and snap a few shots of that process to show y'all.

Now, first of all, the pictures may seem a little confusing, as some will show the stencil with paint on them, while others may not. I started taking the pictures mid-way through the process and then went back to fill in the gaps when painting the same stencil on the other side. So, try to disregard the painted and non-painted stencils while I try to explain this process.

The first step is to cut each stencil down fairly small. I prefer to have only a small amount of material around the letters, so that the tape will hold it down nice and snug. The further out the tape is, the more likely the stencil will "rise above" the surface you're painting and give the letters a "fuzzy" look. Many times, I'll even get some stick-'em stuff (the same that's used on Post-it-Notes, but in a stick), and apply it to the back of the stencil so that it'll lay down better. This doesn't work well on non-glossy finishes for some reason, so I opted not to use it this time.

After you cut the stencil down, just start taping it down, making sure it's nice and straight, because people never notice what's right...they only notice what's wrong......




Then tape the other edges, again, making sure that it's held down nice and tight against the surface you wish to paint.....




Then you mask around the stencil to protect the painted surface from overspray. I just use a couple of posterboard templates that I use over and over and have cutouts in them, which I can locate wherever necessary in order to save time (and tape).......






Then you just spray the paint on. You only need a couple of very light passes here. It doesn't take much to get the job done right. Too much paint and it'll look horrible. And yes, I know I wasn't wearing a respirator for this job. It's a no-no, and I don't recommend painting without one. I was just too lazy to get all geared up for literally two seconds worth of painting. Bad excuse, I know, but it's the truth. Try not to flame me too bad over it, please......




Then as soon as you're done painting, you remove all of the masking in reverse order of installation...carefully! Here is the finished result...




And just to give you an idea of how small that stencil is, here's a partial shot of the left side of the airplane. The stencil I applied in this update is at the lower, center of this photo......




Okay, I've been here my 13 hours today. I'm going to try to sneak out of here so that I can get rested up for some more of this fun tomorrow.

Gary

[k5083]

Gary, this thing is going to be on a lot of magazine covers and I sure do hope the articles give you credit for your diligent work. Personally, I haven't looked forward to seeing an "old" warbird this much in years.

August

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

In case any of y'all who didn't catch the other thread I posted about the new helpers that we had here the other day, here's a shot of the two that are painting the airplane........




Gary

Gary,

I don't know about the rest of you folks, but I gotta tell you that it looks like you have some QUALITY help going on with your paint crew

Paul

[retroaviation]

Gary, this thing is going to be on a lot of magazine covers and I sure do hope the articles give you credit for your diligent work. Personally, I haven't looked forward to seeing an "old" warbird this much in years.

August

Well, I appreciate that, August, but I do feel guilty often with the fact that I'm not the only one working on the airplane, but because of this thread, I get the majority of credit (good AND bad). There are lots of other folks who have pitched in to help. Heck, just look at yourselves. The WIX bunch is probably the most valuable players in this project. If it hadn't been for the huge monetary and moral support from y'all, I'd be in the corner of the hangar, banging my head against the wall (although I'm pretty close to that stage right now ).

I don't do as good a job as I probably should in recognizing the folks that do come out to help though. And as embarrassing as it is to say, I don't remember names very well at all, so often times, when writing my updates, I just can't place the names of some of the people who may have been here for only one or two days. It's horrible of me, I know, but my memory is as short as my..............well, let's just agree that I've got a short memory.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, and I'm really going to the house this time. I'll probably holler at y'all tomorrow.

Gary

[k5083]

Don't worry Gary, I'm bad at recalling names too, and that's really a problem for a lawyer. (Gosh darn it, what was the name of that guy in the ambulance I was chasing ... ?)

August

[John Cotter]

I spent a couple days out in Midland hopefully helping Gary out with the B-24A. The only thing I can say is WOW. It is amazing the amount of work, effort, and skill necesary to do this project. I am a member of the B29/B24 squadron and REALLY appreciate all the hard work and dedication that Gary is putting in this project.

The CAF is very fortunate to have someone with his ability to not only manage this, but create parts from scratch.

I had a great time in MAF helping Gary & Andy. I like the direction this project is going and when completed Ole 927 is going to be a star on the airshow circuit.

But I do have one concern. Where are the other volunteers? We (the squadron) need to step up and get out to the hangar and help Gary. Mid May is fast approaching.

Thanks for all the hard work, dedication and effort Gary.

[snjfxr]

You know what we say at the Airlines Gary? It'll look OK from 30,000 ft!!
But really, the paint scheme look's very cool. Can't wait to come and help you get a couple of things done. For those of you that can't come and help, send $$$$$$$$$$$$. It's that simple. Be a true part of this historical restoration.
Talk to Ya'll from Midland.

Dave

[george]

Gary - The non-glossy paint job looks absolutely beautiful. The colors chosen are great.

I've tried to read all the posts on this thread, but if I missed your explanation of getting the bomb doors and racks, I apologize. If you are at liberty to say, where in the world did you find 60-70 year-old undamaged B-24 bomb doors? Thats just amazing to me.

I have got to tell you how many years down at Harlingen I asked about getting those passenger windows removed, especially after the bomber nose was installed. Well, you and your guys have now done it, and that fuselage is a B-24 again. Great job.

[T-6G Pilot]

Gary,

Did you clean the paint off of the static port?

[bdk]

A stencilling tip an old friend taught me (and maybe you already know this):

Use a hole punch to make some small holes in the area you want to keep down tight (like in the middle of a big stencil) and use a small dab of masking tape from the outside to hold the stencil down through the hole.

Hope that makes sense!