Wing Men

These wings may be fabric covered, but they are heavy and awkward to carry.  Tom Damico, Tom Garden and Bob Oxford had just taken them from the hangar and the waiting fuselage.  We're lucky to have a paved apron for the assembly.

Nick looks a bit like an orchestra conductor here...

After a lot of muscle strain and patience, the wings were on.  

Mellow Yellow is beginning to resemble something that will fly!

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Assembly Day

We arrive, eager to assemble as much of Mellow Yellow as possible.  This day has been a long time coming, and we know that even after today there are myriad tasks before we get in the air (notice the covering where an engine should be?)

There were many small fasteners and cables to rig, and the wings,
struts and fuselage had to be moved outside for easier assembly.

And then it was time to "move 'em out!" Well, not exactly a rodeo; we carefully, slowly escorted the parts outside into the daylight. It was a perfect day, temperature fine, breezes slight (Tom Damico did point out though that all 3 windsocks were pointing in different direction.)

Bob, Tom G, Tom D and Nick escort a wing

Struts are carefully laid out

Wings, struts, fuselage arranged for assembly. To be continued..

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Mellow Yellow

Meet Mellow Yellow! Photo by Tom.

We wondered if this day would ever come. Tom and I also wondered what color was waiting for the Clipper, since Nick was keeping it sort of secret (as in: he bought the paint so long ago his memory wasn't cooperating).  Then painter extraordinaire Bob Oxford arrived one recent morning and "let there be paint!". Bob makes it look easy. I've seen another plane that Bob painted and it was breathtakingly beautiful; the man doesn't disappoint. Just wait until he paints the stripes!

That's Bob with Nick last winter, planning and joking.
 Sure, it all looked like fun back then. Until the heavy-duty respirators went on.

The above three photos show the silver and white undercoats that had been applied prior to the final yellow. It had been an ordeal applying these coats because the paint sprayers, including a newly purchased one, malfunctioned.  Worse than malfunctioning, the sprayers caused mayhem, uneven spraying, clogging, choking off. It was so frustrating, but it makes the sight of Mellow Yellow, oh so sweet. Thank you Bob!

Ready

Set

Fly!

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.