The 79 F150

[ScotiaFE]

Hey Bill
I just noticed you are the Minister of Funny Walks.
Interesting. I did not know you guys down south had Ministers.
We have a few Ministers up here with catchy titles also.
Or at lest I've given them catchy titles. Mwahahaha!

[Drew Pojedinec]

Pretty sure that is from a Monty Python skit.  and a fantastic one we often emulate while walking in public.

Ok, so making some rednecky patches for the back of the cab.  Basically the seam had split and wasn't always in contact with each piece.  It was silicone'd......  I gave the kid options, we either:
-Pull the cab, cut everything out and remake it
-Resilicone it
-Make imperfect patches and fix it perfectly some other day.

He went with the last one.  It isn't ideal but what we could do at the time.  So I cut some one inch strips of steel, bent it and reconnected everything.



http://vid68.photobucket.com/albums/i6/DeepRootsNursery/Ronins%20F150/MVI_1652_zps02be89rp.mp4

^ he's actually pretty decent at keeping a good arc, height seemed good, angle wasn't always perfect.  I'll finish weld it, but he got some time getting comfortable with it all.
We'll cut up a ton of scrap and weld it all together for his practice.... in the meantime I'll do the finish welding.

[WConley]

Hey Bill
I just noticed you are the Minister of Funny Walks.
Interesting. I did not know you guys down south had Ministers.
We have a few Ministers up here with catchy titles also.
Or at lest I've given them catchy titles. Mwahahaha!

The Funny Walks thing comes from having my right hip screwed back together twice.  (Crashing dirt bikes in the desert and Spring skiing in the Rockies can be painful...)  Sometimes in the morning I need to do that funny walk thing just to get it un-kinked.

In L.A. it tends to get way out there crazy New-Age.  Reminds me of a certain ex-girlfriend.  Oh, never mind...

[Drew Pojedinec]

Well, we aren't very good with sheet metal work, but whatever, the floor is hole-free.  Have this project mostly done.  I need to go off to school for a week.  When I get back we'll get the scuff plates and dimmer switch in (need to drill new holes).






Might take on another project with this truck in a few months.

[Drew Pojedinec]

No more 79 progress.  I've been working on my 76 and he's been busy.

The kid was hanging out with some old dudes and they asked if he wanted to work with them.  They have a pretty neat project going on.
Ronin is a bit of a freak about ww2 airplanes, so this has been taking most of his free time.  These guys are amazing, hand making almost every piece for the plane.

Thought I'd share for some of you warbird junkies.

http://xp-82twinmustangproject.blogspot.com/p/photo-gallery.html

[machoneman]

Way cool on the twin Mustang! Now that is an ambitious project as it's essentially two airplanes.

-is this the only fully restored twin in the world?
-projected cost, if it's not a secret? Or man-hours estimated?
-when will it be finished?
-who's going to take it up first?

So many questions......LOL!

[Drew Pojedinec]

Bob,
Yeah, twin Mustang.  5 of them in the world in various states of decay.  3 are owned by the military and are not going to be restored.
This will be the ONLY flying one in the world.  They hope to have it flying late summer/early fall of this year.

Cost I couldn't possibly say, but I can say it'll be over 3mill for sure.  There are at least 5 people working on it 6days a week for the last 3 years.  I've watched these guys put 250hours just into custom making a cowling or other part.  Best part is all of the work is being done with just sheets of aluminum, an english wheel, a shinker, and some sandpaper.

I suspect one of the many investors will take it up with a highly skilled pilot.

We have a ww2 flight training museum in town, they always have neat stuff there.  B17's, B24's, etc are always coming in for repairs.  A C47 lives there that is still in use, it's a true combat veteran seeing action in North Africa, and paratroop drops at D-Day.

The kid has been doing menial work, drilling holes, sanding parts, running wires, helping make reproduction fiberglass parts, etc.  He's just happy to hang around and be a part of this all.  The head of the operation has taken a liking to the kid, so they mostly work side by side.

Any other questions and I'm sure the website will provide.

dp

[machoneman]

Thanks!

I was a visitor long ago (25 years, maybe 30 now) to the DuPage (IL) County airport where a P-38 was being restored. An amazing amount of $ and time to make a 100% resto out of an already flyable plane. Lost track of it, the name or serial number but did see a story later on.

Apparently an ad appeared in Aviation Week (?) magazine looking for a pilot with past experience to test fly it. A follow-up article said that a fellow showed up, presented his credentials and after some lengthy taxi tests, took her up and had a whale of time doing flyby's, rolls, stunts and whatever to totally wring the plane out. Upon landing, he signed the certificate (FAA, airworthy, I guess) and took off in his own plane.

The pilot? Chuck Yeager.

Wished I had been there!