Fri Mar 23, 2007 8:02 pm
WOW!!! The cockpit is really looking good Gary. A whole lot different than in late December when I was there and it was gutted. You, Shorty and others have pulled off another marvelous transition. Ol 927 is lookin GREAT. Wish we could get down there again and spend some more time busten up our knuckles.
Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:20 pm
The tunnel gun is cool! 
Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:17 am
By the way, I got a call from our Squadron Leader last night and he said that we've worked out those hotel issues that our Squadron has had and we will now be working with another hotel that is slightly further away, but not by much. If anyone intends on coming to Midland to help, give me a holler and I'll get you set up in the new facility (if you wish).
Gary
Gary
Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:24 am
She's looking great!!
Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:37 am
She's looking beautiful Gary...that tunnel gun looks like it has always been a part of that aircraft since day one.
John
John
Sat Mar 24, 2007 10:42 am
Gary,retroaviation wrote:By the way, I got a call from our Squadron Leader last night and he said that we've worked out those hotel issues that our Squadron has had and we will now be working with another hotel that is slightly further away, but not by much. If anyone intends on coming to Midland to help, give me a holler and I'll get you set up in the new facility (if you wish).
Gary
Thanks for following up on that issue.
John
Sat Mar 24, 2007 2:37 pm
That...looks... AWESOME!!!
'297
Sat Mar 24, 2007 3:10 pm
Great pics from Rob and Gary! I was there in Dec. and all I can say is WOW!!!!!
Gary my imagination is playing tricks on me 'cause, after I look at this pic for a minute, I start seeing the bomb bay doors rolling up the sides of the fuselage.....
Sooooooo,........ Ok, I'll have to wait until next year for that! Squadron application should be hitting Bill Godwin's door step any day..... Alan
Gary my imagination is playing tricks on me 'cause, after I look at this pic for a minute, I start seeing the bomb bay doors rolling up the sides of the fuselage.....
Sooooooo,........ Ok, I'll have to wait until next year for that! Squadron application should be hitting Bill Godwin's door step any day..... Alan
Sat Mar 24, 2007 5:13 pm
This is very exciting!
It's been so long since there has been any changes to 927.
Great Job guys! (Gary and everybody who has helped)
WOOT!
It's been so long since there has been any changes to 927.
Great Job guys! (Gary and everybody who has helped)
WOOT!
???
Sat Mar 24, 2007 7:26 pm
Geez Gary,
Lil used to be the one a/c I avoided at shows. It just looked so plain, drab and boring. The difference you and your crew have made to this great old airplane have also increased my interest in a directly porportional mount. When I get the chance to see her again, she'll be the first one I look at. GOOD JOB
Lil used to be the one a/c I avoided at shows. It just looked so plain, drab and boring. The difference you and your crew have made to this great old airplane have also increased my interest in a directly porportional mount. When I get the chance to see her again, she'll be the first one I look at. GOOD JOB
Diamond Lil
Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:06 pm
Gary,
Could not see Temora, Australia on the schedule......... Good luck with the doors. Know what its like to have a problem that wont resolve itself. Generally best thinking is done at night.
Could not see Temora, Australia on the schedule......... Good luck with the doors. Know what its like to have a problem that wont resolve itself. Generally best thinking is done at night.
Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:42 am
Real quick update for you....
When making posts on this thread, I've always tried to pass along the different moods at the time, whether it be good, bad, stressed, tired, excited, etc., in order to give everyone who keeps up with this reconfiguration to get an accurate idea of what goes on while a project like this takes place. Often times, however, I don't know what's "too much information." So, if this is one of those times, please forgive me.
As you know by now, the upcoming deadline and my inability to be productive enough to finish this project in time has been a major point of stress for me and my crew. Well, there are other things that have been eating at me as well. Shorty is leaving on Tuesday morning and Andy will be going back home to help his family with their farming at the end of next week. I do have a few volunteers scheduled to come in for a couple of days, but other than that, it's looking like I'm going to be working solo again (more or less) to finish this thing up. Not normally a big deal, as I'm used to working alone, but I've got about 5 weeks to squeeze 3 months of work into. Not good.
Another strain on me has been a personal issue with an ex-fiance'. I don't feel there's a need to get into the details on that one, but for everyone out there who's had to deal with those type of issues, you'll understand how painful and emotionally draining that can be.
So, anyway, the reason I bring all of that up is not to sound as if I'm whining or to get any sympothy, but its because I think it's pertinent to this series of updates I've been doing. Although there are still some days of excellent progress, there are getting to be more and more days where there's simply not much getting done (at least by me). Today is a great example. I got here at my normal time (3 a.m.) and spent hours pretty much just staring at my tailgunner's door project. I've got a few little details that I'm trying to work out, but I've hit a hurdle and can't seem to get past it. I WILL get this figured out, but just not today. Too many distractions on my mind, I reckon.
As Shorty and Andy made their way into the hangar this morning, I wanted to try to seem as if I were at least doing something, so I started painting the "U.S. Army" on the bottom of the wings. Well...I've actually only done the "U.S." part for now, but I'll get to the rest later. After reading the opinions of my fellow WIXers, I decided to go ahead and brush paint the letters on, as they would have originally. However, I did cheat. Bill Coombes (Old Shep) was kind enough to have some vinyl stencils made for me to help speed up the time it would take to lay the letters out. So, once I applied the stencil to the bottom of the wing (in the exact location called out by T.O. 07-1-1 of the U.S. Army Air Corps). Then I scuffed the area to be painted, wiped it down, and then started brushing......
After two coats, I removed the stenciling. There is a fair amount of touch up to do since the stencil material doesn't lay down well over the rivets, but that's no biggie. Once the paint dries completely, I'll take care of that. But here's what it looks like for now.......
Carl Scholl will be here in about an hour or two, and is delivering the nose section for the airplane. He and his crew replaced all of the plexiglas in it, along with making mulitple sheet metal repairs, among other things. I will likely have photos of that when it arrives, but have every intention of getting the heck out of here once we get it off loaded.
Until the next time, y'all take care.
Gary
When making posts on this thread, I've always tried to pass along the different moods at the time, whether it be good, bad, stressed, tired, excited, etc., in order to give everyone who keeps up with this reconfiguration to get an accurate idea of what goes on while a project like this takes place. Often times, however, I don't know what's "too much information." So, if this is one of those times, please forgive me.
As you know by now, the upcoming deadline and my inability to be productive enough to finish this project in time has been a major point of stress for me and my crew. Well, there are other things that have been eating at me as well. Shorty is leaving on Tuesday morning and Andy will be going back home to help his family with their farming at the end of next week. I do have a few volunteers scheduled to come in for a couple of days, but other than that, it's looking like I'm going to be working solo again (more or less) to finish this thing up. Not normally a big deal, as I'm used to working alone, but I've got about 5 weeks to squeeze 3 months of work into. Not good.
Another strain on me has been a personal issue with an ex-fiance'. I don't feel there's a need to get into the details on that one, but for everyone out there who's had to deal with those type of issues, you'll understand how painful and emotionally draining that can be.
So, anyway, the reason I bring all of that up is not to sound as if I'm whining or to get any sympothy, but its because I think it's pertinent to this series of updates I've been doing. Although there are still some days of excellent progress, there are getting to be more and more days where there's simply not much getting done (at least by me). Today is a great example. I got here at my normal time (3 a.m.) and spent hours pretty much just staring at my tailgunner's door project. I've got a few little details that I'm trying to work out, but I've hit a hurdle and can't seem to get past it. I WILL get this figured out, but just not today. Too many distractions on my mind, I reckon.
As Shorty and Andy made their way into the hangar this morning, I wanted to try to seem as if I were at least doing something, so I started painting the "U.S. Army" on the bottom of the wings. Well...I've actually only done the "U.S." part for now, but I'll get to the rest later. After reading the opinions of my fellow WIXers, I decided to go ahead and brush paint the letters on, as they would have originally. However, I did cheat. Bill Coombes (Old Shep) was kind enough to have some vinyl stencils made for me to help speed up the time it would take to lay the letters out. So, once I applied the stencil to the bottom of the wing (in the exact location called out by T.O. 07-1-1 of the U.S. Army Air Corps). Then I scuffed the area to be painted, wiped it down, and then started brushing......
After two coats, I removed the stenciling. There is a fair amount of touch up to do since the stencil material doesn't lay down well over the rivets, but that's no biggie. Once the paint dries completely, I'll take care of that. But here's what it looks like for now.......
Carl Scholl will be here in about an hour or two, and is delivering the nose section for the airplane. He and his crew replaced all of the plexiglas in it, along with making mulitple sheet metal repairs, among other things. I will likely have photos of that when it arrives, but have every intention of getting the heck out of here once we get it off loaded.
Until the next time, y'all take care.
Gary
????
Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:46 am
Gary don't feel guilty about what you haven't done or still have to do.
I think everyone here is pretty much amazed at what you have done
I think everyone here is pretty much amazed at what you have done
Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:05 am
Gary,
Things will get better. Take a couple of day's off AWAY from airplanes and things will look better when you return. You and the crew have come so far that even if you do not finish all that you wanted to on her it's a 100% improvement. Keep up the good work.
Jimmy in Texas
Pasadena, Texas
B-17 Texas Raiders since 1984.
Things will get better. Take a couple of day's off AWAY from airplanes and things will look better when you return. You and the crew have come so far that even if you do not finish all that you wanted to on her it's a 100% improvement. Keep up the good work.
Jimmy in Texas
Pasadena, Texas
B-17 Texas Raiders since 1984.
????
Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:29 am
I think you mentioned something about riding some
horses somewhere in a earlier post
horses somewhere in a earlier post