B-17 Restoration

[Zeus-cat]

I have been working on a B-17 restoration. I took some pictures last week and would like to post them. My photobucket account seems iffy lately, but I 'll give it a shot if no one has a better solution.

Zeus-cat

[B16Enk]

Three options:

Upload them to our server, and link from there,

Send them to me and I'll put them on my photobucket account.

Or use the in-built in-line image attachment available here (you should see 'Add image to post' just below the area in which you enter text, this will auto thumbnail too

[Zeus-cat]

This is the rear section of the fuselage

[Zeus-cat]

This is one of the wingtips with all of the skin removed. For the past three months they have been removing all the skin. Still a fair amount to remove.

Here is how we remove the skin. You can see four rivets on the bottom row that have been drilled into. After you drill the head, you take a hammer and chisel and pop the head off. The four rivets on the left have head their heads removed. Then you take a punch and try to drive the rivet shaft through the hole. Not always very easy. Repeat 62,000,000 times or however many rivets there are.

[Dubbo]

Nice pics Zeus. And you say it's going to be ready to fly in June right? :wink:

[Cold_Gambler]

Very very Zeus

Thanks, and do keep posting pix as the project goes forward please

[Blairgowrie]

Thanks Zeus. Looks like it is going to be a long project but very worthwhile.

Of course, we will all expect a flight in it once it is finished, flyable or not.

To get to Canada turn left at Chicago.

[Zeus-cat]

Turning left at Chicago would take me to Mexico - eventually.

June is about right - June, 2016. They estimate 6 to 8 years. I think they will be lucky to do it in 10.

They do sell rides in these things. However, don't expect me to get you one. I'll probably have to buy a ride for myself.

[Dubbo]

How much just to sit in the de-skinned fuselage and make airplane noises?

[JensenPark]

mmmm...deskinned fuselage.

[Zeus-cat]

Not very exciting, but this is some of the right wing. All the skin will be removed and replaced. If you look at the top of the photo you can see where the aeliron would attach. It's just above the section where the skin has been removed.

This is a photo of new .032 inch aluminum (note: pronounced a-loom-i-numb, not Al-u-minnie-um) that has been drilled out. That is what me and two other guys did yesterday, although this is not the piece we made. We spent two hours drilling through the holes in an old piece of skin into a blank sheet of aluminum. We must have drilled 500 or more holes. Holes 1/4 inch or larger could not be drilled as it is too hard to get them centered properly. They get drilled once the the new skin is mounted to the plane; using the existing hole in the plane as a guide for the drill bit. We did not cut the skin out of the sheet, nor did we cut out the holes where stuff mounted to the aircraft.

[Dubbo]

It's aluminium damnit! Say it right.

Looks very interesting ZC

[Zeus-cat]

MacGyver, a tube of toothpaste (extra whitening), 4 paper clips and a Victoria's Secret catalog and this baby will be flying in an hour!

Frank says this part of a ball turret. Hmmm...

[Zeus-cat]

I find it amazing that these things are as hard to shoot down as they are. There is just not that much to these things.

[Waldo.Pepper]

This is extremely impressive. I'd love to be a part of something like this. However, I'd take it apart, have a pile of pieces for the rest of my life instead of a plane. Then if I ever did put it together again I'd have a shed full of leftover pieces.

[JensenPark]

MORE! MORE!

Please....

[Zeus-cat]

This is the most detailed plans I have seen. I hope somebody has some idea of what we are doing because so far they just turn us loose to take stuff apart.

Parts are just stacked everywhere. Again, I don't know if someone has cataloged all this stuff or not.

Below are the rest of the photos I have. Some are pretty close to what I have posted already. I'll try and get some more next Thursday.

[Zeus-cat]

More photos. I haven't posted in a while because progress is very slow.

I think this is the left wing.

[Zeus-cat]

Various interior shots of the wing.

[Zeus-cat]

[Zeus-cat]

The "Thursday Night Guys" now have our own project. We get to dismantle this engine nacelle and the weekday crew is supposed to leave it alone.

A close-up view of the interior of the nacelle.

[Dubbo]

Only a couple of more weeks and it looks as though it'll be ready.