Adaptation and Creative Solutions

Sometimes you just don't know what you're getting into. Parts and pieces of a 1949 Piper Clipper have been shipped from Colorado and if guessing by the overflow of packages, you might conclude that everything you need is there for "easy" restoration. But some necessary bits are either well hidden at the bottom of full boxes, or in some cases you decide to alter the original design somewhat - now what?

Case in point: Nick and Tom decided that they didn't want a back seat and they adapted the area around the back windows for the redesign.  It wasn't easy to apply the Poly-Fiber around the new back windows but they managed. The rotating support that Nick built allows them to position the fuselage for best access. It only looks easy.

Here they have finished adding the interior's side fabric after much turning and repositioning the fuselage.  The reach is inevitably a couple of inches shorter than required, so Nick turns the whole thing on its side and works through the door openings. Another adaptation is the back interior wall. Now dressed in yet-to-be poly-brushed Poly-Fiber, it was originally planned as a metal barrier.  That didn't seem necessary after all - so Nick crawled under the frame to add the fabric.

When the Clipper was recently rotated for access to the interior cabin roof, I got to thinking about the uncommon views of the fuselage top and bottom. I pay more attention to these vantage points when planes pass overhead now.

One more uncommon view: Nick happily using a cell phone (mostly he mutters about the unnecessary clutter of the "instrument panel"). Once an analog instrument guy, always an analog instrument guy.

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Inspection Rings

No, they're not having a duel. Tom and Nick are making sure that the iron isn't too hot so that when it is used to smooth out bubbles in the fabric, and flatten pinked edges that have popped up, it will not loosen the bond. The plastic inspection rings were glued into place, covered by Poly-Fiber and then attached using Poly-Brush.

Getting ready for the  Pitot tube

...nice to have an AI nearby..

...hey Tom, are you giving a blessing...an incantation...?

Nick - is there something about that Pitot tube that looks wrong?
It looks suspiciously clean to me...

The next challenge awaits. The inside area around the back windows and below the doors needs fabric, and Nick considers the obstacles that must be accommodated. Notice that the ceiling has already been covered. Nick came up with a way to rotate the fuselage in order to work from whatever angle is easiest. But nothing seems easy. "Sleep on it", it'll all be clear tomorrow (we hope).

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Contemplating Color

 

Even though the Clipper does not yet have its silver coat, I've been wondering what color paint is in the cans stacked along the hangar wall. Maybe it was this rainbow outside my window last week that got me thinking about it.  More likely I was trying to remember what Nick had told me about the design and color he has chosen. Then again, maybe color was on my mind triggered by a flight in our 150 that George and I made to Dansville recently. So many colorful possibilities.

A runway model if there ever was one. Design by Dior?

Reds seemed to dominate.

Hey George, what do you think about that spiffy Cessna logo?!

This Cessna 150 seems bigger than ours. Is it an illusion created by the paint scheme?
This looks like a grass runway Armani model...

I thought the red plane above had cool striping until I spied this one.

So many possibilities.

Not too bold, not too busy, this one looks just right  to me.
Now I just have to wait to see what Nick has chosen.

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Poly-Fiber Predicaments

Nick has restored many planes using the Poly-Fiber system, and he has a copy of their manual in the hangar. I wish I'd read it before we started. The manual is full of tips and advice, and would have forewarned that trying to apply a subsequent coat of Poly-Brush over a not-quite-dry previous coat can cause the second coat to lift up and off the Poly-Fiber.  Note the light color spots on the fuselage just over Tom's right shoulder.

Looking closely you can see a couple of "lifted"spots where another coating of Poly-Brush will be required.

Another coat  of Poly-Brush is generally a good idea.
The orange tint becomes deeper and richer and any missed spots become quite evident.

Executive decision making...

...or deciding if the work table can be cleared for lunch?

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Hangar Talk

Loitering around hangars, checking out the latest projects, swapping stories (controller transgressions are especially popular), are a pilot's version of the post-game replay.  Pilots like to tell tales and share information as well; so it is that people are making their way to Nick and Tom's hangar to see how the Clipper is coming along. It's a good excuse to take a break from the Poly-Brush.

Don Perricone talks to Tom while George Hernandez and Nick figure something out...

Don Perricone has aviation and restoration experience, click on Don's name for a small piece of his story. George Hernandez, my partner in a Cessna 150 here at Marcellus, has a great aviation website that you're going to want to see; click on George's name for his blog "SOARCNY".

Student pilots with airplane restoration skills drop by too (this includes me, more or less); Bob Oxford, master painter  (I recently saw some of his handiwork and it was flawless), stopped by to see Nick and the Clipper's progress.

Bob and Nick

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

More Fun Than Golf

  

Not that I've ever actually played golf, so what do I know, but watching (ahem, "assisting") Nick and Tom restore the Clipper sure has been fun. Even when parts don't fit, parts vanish, or mystery parts present themselves, these guys keep smiling.  If I've learned anything from this experience it's that persistence pays off; re-think, re-jigger, go home and sleep on it, and try again tomorrow -  somehow the parts will fall into place.

Sometimes the parts really do vanish.  "Did anybody see where that went?"

Not all work sessions leave us this happy - this was a good one.  Wayward parts notwithstanding.

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Poly-Fiber Couture

Let the nip & tuck begin. Tom stands ready to fill our workspace with toxic glue fumes as the Poly-Fiber is secured. It was a painstaking task for Tom as he secured the sleeve with clothespins, trimmed excess fabric, then glued the fitted and aligned covering to the frame. Nick worked alongside, enduring Tom's jokes about Aviation Inspectors ("AIs").

AI wisdom...or a discussion regarding lunch?

Beautiful, isn't it?

Tom looks so happy and serene here...could be the glue fumes.

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.

Bit by Bit, What it Takes

Tell someone that you may have to rebuild the engine of your restoration project antique airplane, and they likely will nod their head in empathy and admiration. Bring up your travails covering the airplane's frame with fabric and dope, and you've instigated a heartfelt reminiscence of blind rib-stitching, Poly-Brush highs, (no-heat) heat guns, migrating Poly -Fiber seams, and needing just one more inspection ring.  If you want to burst that bubble of awe --- show them your workspace. emphasis on WORK!

Bit by bit, the job comes together and it's not just an abstract idea. An airplane takes shape.

And through it all, Nick and Tom are still smiling.

Photos and text by Kathleen Jacques.