With Andy getting the NEW 120 wheelpant upto a mirror shine, we`re ready for the Dark green trim on the raised beaded body line, hours and hours just on these two parts!! but the little 120 will be nice!   

Fitting the new wheel pant bracketts and overhauled brake calipers, a formed streamlined cuff will cover all of this. 

After many hours, of nitpicking , sanding, and buffing were ready for the trim paint layout and masking will begin. The skins are are all origianl and 65 years old , so they needed quite a bit of work!!

The left wing after sanding and shooting two cross coats of Randolph Butyrate silver, Aero graphics stencils are used to mask the Nc letters, again in forrest Green, almost  there!

The R/H wing ready for some Green!

Liz Kasier , an intern at the museum gets some instruction from the Museum`s Drew Jenkins A&P in proper tourqe sequences in order to  place the continental 0-200A  crankshaft in the crankcase halves .The 0-200 is undergoing a complete major O/H.

Doing some math figuring the tolerances for the new bearings and reconditioned crankshaft, the Mission Chips keep the parts from rusting!!

The Crankcase with new bearing inserts , reconditioned lifter bodies and camshaft, were`s that crank??

With a little warmer weather, (55 degrees) Andy applies a coat of epoxy primer to the 120 gear legs and Firewall.

With the Continental C-85 removed from the airframe work has begun on a top over haul . Two cracked cylinders were found,  two replacement cylinders and the remaing two cylinders  O/H`d, were replacing the old parts with new pistons,piston pins, rings,valves and o/h`d rocker arms we`ll  have a great C-85 for the finished 120. Even with a compression check the cracked cylinders did`nt show a problem.The engine would have gone until a failure if we hadn’t torn  into the C-85 . Peace of mind!!

We have decided to take the wings off of the Cessna 120 for a touch up on the wings and to pull the engine off of the front end to detail the engine and firewall.

We have removed the wings and the fuselage needs one more cut of compound. Having the wings and the doors off of the fuselage will make this process much easier.

The cowling all sanded and ready for buffing.

All of the baffeling has been removed so it can be cleaned and detailed.

Ready for the engine to be removed so detailing of engine and firewall can begin.

The cosmetic restoration for the 120 is in full swing. Lots of sanding and lots of buffing but the time and effort is paying off. The plane is going to be a real beauty

Liz Kaiser a volunteer at the museum sands the fuselage while Drew gets ready to buff the already sanded areas.

The rear top section has been buffed now moving to the next section.

This 1946 Cessna 120 purchased by Harold Hanson back in 2000 is an original airframe with fabric wings. The Engine is a C-85-12 without electrical system which keeps the airplane light and is how it came  from the factory. Our goal for this 120 is to bring the cosmetic appearance of this airplane up to the standards that everyone has come to expect at this museum.

We have removed the Stabilizer, Elevators, Fin and Rudder for some light re-skinning as there is slight damage due to hail.

With removal of all of the tail feathers and then removal of the stripe with paint stripping sanding has begun to remove all surface scratches and light oxidation on aluminum skins.

After the first cut of compound the skin is starting to shine right up. Pretty soon it will be like looking into a mirror.

A good clear view of the sanding that is being done. When we are finished the airplane will have been sanded with 800, 1000,1500,2000,2500 and 3000 grit sandpaper. Takes a toll on the fingers but the outcome is worth it.

We recently received a bunch of pictures and a great story from one of our most active volunteers here at the museum. Kerry Sim is a veteran pilot who has been helping out here in Concrete for a while now, and last fall he started bringing his 15 year old son Cameron along.

Cameron is a great help whenever he’s here and doesn’t just sit around looking at the airplanes. Every time he is at the airport he’s hard at work helping with the basic maintenance and learning about the airplanes. He’s worked on a lot of the planes here, but he’s really getting to know the PT-19. It’s really great to see a teenager changing the oil in a World War II trainer, and even better to see him going for a flight in one!

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One of our side projects requires some engine work, so when it was time to go looking for Continental parts, we decided to do an inventory of C-85 parts on hand. Turns out we have quite a bit more than we thought.

We’re going through everything and deciding what to send out to have cleaned up and fixed and what will just stay here for future parts needs.

More photos after the jump.

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One of the airplanes that’s been begging for some attention in the hangar has been our L-4 Cubby. It’s a Wag Aero Cubby that was built in 1993 and has flown much lately. After towing it over to the maintenance hangar we discovered low compression in they cylinders and decided it was time for a top overhaul. All the cylinders are back and we’ve spent the past few days getting the engine back together.

Andy busy pulling cylinders on the Cubby. This plane was painted with Canadian livery to resemble the Flitfire Cubs that were built and sold to customers to support Commonwealth nations before the U.S. entered World War II.

The new top end awaiting assembly and a return to the sky.

Engine reassembly almost finished. We should do an engine start in the next day or two and have the Cubby back in the air soon.

Well this isn’t what we were hoping for, but after working non-stop for the past few weeks, we have a vibration that looks like it’s going to prevent us from flying the Fairchild to Blakesburg. After getting the cowling on Thursday and tending to a final few details, we started up the engine and began the break in process. There wasn’t anything too noticeable at first, but during the higher rpm run-up there was a pronounced vibration.

Don’t quite yet know the exact cause, but probably is the engine mounts. Will start looking for the problem and hopefully get the F24 flying soon. Below you can see the decal we put on the airplane just as it had when it was new and part of the CAA fleet. Even though it won’t make it to the Corporate Wings event this year, it’s nice to have it dressed up.

The Fairchild and the Ford.