Construction of our TBird II
Mickey & Gretchen Watson
February 19, 2003
After a tiresome trip, Iowa and back in just over two days, we are happy to finally have our TBird II plane parts. Since we did not have the tubing powder coated, we are now in the process of preparing the pieces for painting. Mickey spoke with the owner of a local body shop which is going to let us borrow his paint booth this weekend. We are building the plane in a spare room and in the garage. We laid out every piece of tubing onto the floor. Each piece has been marked with a number from the factory – black magic marker. Since we are cleaning and doing some sanding on each piece to be painted, I needed to label each tube using tie on shipping labels. I probably didn’t need to label every tube because not all of them are being painted but I got carried away and tagged over 100 pieces. Many items within the wings will not need to be painted. Mickey made a list of the pieces to be painted and those that just needed primer. He then prepared them by removing all of the dirt/grime and tape adhesive. We will begin painting early Saturday, February 22nd. The type of primer that we are using does not need to be sanded. It can be painted over almost immediately (details later). The color we have chosen for the tubing is silver. Many other parts will be painted black. Our fabric color is blue and red – the shades of which are a little wild. Also, before this weekend, we will be completing our inventory of all the parts. Golden Circle gave us an inventory sheet and requires that we let them know within 30 days of any missing parts.
March 2nd and 3rd, 2003
Many of the wing tubes just needed primer (those that will contact the fabric but will not be visible). Several needed nothing at all. The smaller ones we hung up in the garage by the tags that I attached previously. Mickey laid the long tubes on a bench that we built for assembling the wings. After primering them, we immediately began assembling the first wing. Mickey would make me a list of the parts that he needed and I would go to our parts room to get them. One hole is predrilled for each bracket which is used to set your first rivet. Mickey then drilled the remaining holes for each bracket and I went along behind him setting the rest of the rivets. (Thank goodness for the "air rivet gun.") We then placed the tubes in position and Mickey riveted them to the brackets. Mickey then added the aileron control assembly. We slipped the fabric cover on our first wing then set the whole thing in our parts room. We then laid out the tubes for our second wing. This one went like clock work. Within an hour we had all of the brackets and tubes in place.
March 8th and 9th, 2003 (Saturday and Sunday)
Mickey and Raine finally got the tubes to the paint booth and now they are a pretty silver metal fleck. They spent all day Saturday primering and painting while I cleaned primered and painted the "H" parts in the garage.
We picked up the tubes Sunday morning and returned to work assembling the ailerons, which we finished early in the afternoon. We then began work on the horizontal stabilizer. This took until late to finish. We are missing all of our "C114" parts so we couldn't quite say that we finished it - but very close. All was going well - assembling part of the frame and slipping on the fabric - THEN we began inserting the compression tubes. This is a horrible thing to experience. Mickey placed the two outer tubes in at an angle then drove these with a rod through the center opening into place. The center tube needed much prying in order to get it into place. The fabric at this point was very tight. I forgot pictures of this but will get one of the finished stabilizer. Mickey and Weston collapsed in the floor after a hard day's work.
We then laid out the elevator tubes to begin work tomorrow.
March 15th and 16th, 2003 (Saturday and Sunday)
Mickey finished the fabric on the Vertical Fin and we started on the fuselage. I have to say, getting past that fabric was a relief. By Sunday evening we managed to complete a major portion of the top and rear pod. After measuring the garage door opening, we found that it is going to be just shy of letting us attach the elevator/stabilizer. We have decided to take everything down to the hanger - probably this week or next - to complete the assembly.
March 18th, 2003 (Tuesday)
We began work on the front of the pod. This went along real well and after two hours we were already working on the rudder pedal assembly.
March 22nd & 23rd, 2003 (Saturday & Sunday)
I need to thank Kenny at Golden Circle Air for supplying us with some digital pictures of the yoke assembly. They were very helpful. They also enlightened us on a couple other things that the manual was fuzzy about.
The weather was nice so we rolled the TBird out into the driveway. Mickey installed the seats and gas tank and put the upper rear tubes in the "transport" brackets. He then finished the hydraulic brakes. I painted a few more pieces black that I had missed before, such as the radiator bracket, etc.
The weather was just too nice on Sunday afternoon and we cut our work short and headed for the airfield where we took turns flying the trike. If it stays rainy we may just finish this thing!!!
April 13, 2003 (Saturday & Sunday)
Well, it finally happened. IT FLEW. Mickey spent the weekend hauling the plane with Raney's help (Thank you) to the field and attaching most of the components. We spent Sunday doing the finishing touches such as completing the horizontal stabilizer/elevator assembly. Steve Doll helped out incredibly much. Then Chuck tested it out. He took off from the field and flew for about 15 minutes before landing. It was my turn for a ride and it was wonderful - fast, but really nice. Mickey was next. We flew again Monday.
