FIFI getting makeover!

[DH82EH]

Those folks were, without a doubt, the pioneers of this ol' airplane thang.
(Canadian doing his best Texas accent, eh?!)

Andy

[Pogo]

Hearing Brad tell them over beers is really entertaining BTW.

Now see, I'd just about stand in line and buy a ticket for that, myself.

(Canadian doing his best Texas accent, eh?!)

^^^ And maybe that, too.

[menards]

I think the original idea was to polish her, but they found the surface corrosion and damage from sitting at China Lake to have been too much for it to polish up, so they painted her. The new paint more metallic to look more like polished metal, but I suspect that she would need to be completely re-skinned (which is basically what they did with "Doc") to be able to go with a pure polished finish.

I was speaking with Tony over the summer, and he told me that Doc's skins & rivets were original.

[CAPFlyer]

Huh, because I'm pretty sure while watching the restoration, there were several pics of major sections being de-riveted, removed, and in part replaced. It was also mentioned when polishing the airplane that they had replaced sections of skin in several areas due to corrosion found.

Then again, to me, replacing skins doesn't make a plane any more or less authentic so I don't see why people get so hung up on it because I'd rather have a good skin on a plane than one that's been pitted and might be a problem later down the road.

[Spitty]

On one of the Lancasters thats being restored the skins on the tail were so thin and wavy from repeated paint stripping they had to be replaced off memory.

[bluehawk15]

The reason FIFI had a black belly is she was painted as Fertile Myrtle for the movie The Right Stuff. She wore that paint for a while because (as I recall) the production company dissolved before paying all their bills, including the money owed to the Confederate Air Force for the use of the B-29. I can't remember if we ever got paid, but I strongly suspect we did, with Waggoner Carr as a member!

[K5DH]

FIFI came home from the paint shop today. She looks really sharp! She's now tucked away in the back of the main hangar in preparation for winter maintenance.

[Pogo]

Pictures, or it didn't happen.

[CAPFlyer]

Plenty of pics and video on Facebook.

[Dennis7423]

Just watched her arrival video on Facebook. Same markings as before, but the navy blue for the nose art script looks darker. The natural metal paint? Looks fantastic. I know she can't be bare metal because of the condition of her skin, but this new coat of paint looks great. Job well done guys

- Dennis S.
Thornton, CO USA

[Chris Brame]

Looks pretty sharp from here. Is the name a bit smaller?