Latest at the Old Kingsbury Aerodrome in Texas

[wolfenbill]

Recently we've been working on the Ranger engine for the D.VII so no new interesting photos to show of it since the October trip to Hollywood. However, there are other projects that I'd thought you may like to see. Here is a photo of the daughter of one of our members helping me install a crossbeam on the beginnings of a SPAD XIII fuselage. You can see the powder blue color of the fittings.

[wolfenbill]

Here is a closeup of one of the fittings. This has proven to be quite a complicated project. The fittings of the SPAD are numerous and small.

[wolfenbill]

Right now the SPAD is upside down, i.e., the photo of the young lady and me shows the bottom side of the top longerons. This is a photo of the bottom longerons of the SPAD. It is a long piece, the length of the aircraft of course, but the forward portion is this complicated "sculpture". It is in the shape of the airfoil. The small holes (near my thumbs) are for the two spars. The SPAD spars are actually some of the smallest I've ever seen.

[wolfenbill]

This is a drawing of the "toboggan". The French name is quite different of course but us English speaking folk refer to it as the toboggan because that's what it looks like. It provides the platform upon which the pilot sits and upon which the engine mounts. When you fly the SPAD you have the engine in your lap. We have a complete set of original SPAD XIII drawings. However this drawing is from a set of Jim Kiger (Replicraft) SPAD XIII plans that he will release for sale soon. He sent us a copy for review. We find them absolutely essential, especially in giving us a big picture of the project. He has put countless hours into them.

[wolfenbill]

This is a photo of the toboggan in its initial construction. Yes, those dark wooden pieces that will help support the engine are fabricated out of walnut. Some of the more complicated wooden parts of the SPAD were fabricated by a Mr. Recklaw (or Retzlaff) out of Maine. Please forgive me sir, if I misspelled your name. I have only heard it in passing from someone and have never seen it spelled. As soon as I find out what it really is I will post it. I will also periodically post pictures of this complicated section of the SPAD XIII as it comes together.

[wolfenbill]

Here is another project upon which we are working. It is a Bristol F2.B fuselage lying on its left side. We are framing in the portion of the fuselage that supports the ring for the observer's gun. I am holding the ring that will fit into the frame.

[wolfenbill]

This is another angle of the Brisfit fuselage. You can see the floorboards for both the pilot and the observer. We hope to have it up on its gear within a few weeks. Most of the work done on this fuselage has been done by a couple of 85 year-old guys.

[wolfenbill]

We have an SE5a fuselage under construction and pictures will follow later. Meanwhile, there are lots of wing ribs that have to be made. Here is a picture on one under construction and one completed one lying next to the jig. As I've mentioned before each main rib is fabricated from about 30 various pieces of wood. The Brisfit ribs are similar in construction.

[wolfenbill]

Now to a much EASIER rib to fabricate, the Sopwith Camel. The Camel is one of our long-range projects, but the ribs are very easy to fabricate so I figured we should just put one or two together every once in awhile and before we know it, we'll have a complete set! This rib comes in 3 pieces, top capstrip, bottom capstrip and a plywood web. When we're actually ready to install these ribs on a spar, we'll cut out the two areas through which the spars pass.

[Yeoman]

That looks like one serious amount of hard work chaps! I wish I was there too
All I can do is offer encouragement and thanks for the updates.

How on earth do you avoid getting all the bits mixed up