The Callair, March 2014, - a progress report

Nuts and bolts are not particularly glamorous to most people but, then again, ones and zeros have the same cachet to most of us. Same with the making of sausage. It's not my usual place of endeavor, but once in the grease and grit, once loosening and tightening, once burnishing the rough spots off fresh-cast parts, the restoration of this airplane becomes a singular focus; takes on a life of its own. Of course, Malcolm is the wizard of the g&g, l&t and burnishing - I'm mostly a bystander. As coach once said, not everyone is an athlete but everyone can be a supporter.

The bare bones of the fuselage are resting on sawhorses now - the landing gear is off and various tabs and fittings, no longer needed, are being removed before new tabs and fittings are welded into place to accommodate the new, current technology, FAA-blessed brake system. 

The bare bones (the airplane, not Malcolm)

Pretty ribs, all in a row.

Some parts have to be persuaded before they can be disassembled and cleaned.

All the work so far is preparation for the media blasters - once in their shop, the steel parts will be thoroughly cleaned of 60-year-old rust, dirt, grease, paint, primer and gunk, then it's back to Malcolm's shop for a last wash with solvent, a couple of coats of protective primer and reassembly.

So far we haven't found a record of the original paint colors or scheme on my airplane (serial number 1002) so we've selected the original paint scheme for serial number 1001, though it won't be black and white. This is the only photo we've found of the Callair-produced Cadet. We're still hoping to find a color version to replicate the paint as closely as possible to the original.

***NEWS FLASH***
See my April 2014 entry, "Serendipity", for an original 1952 color photo of the airplane!

All in all, the project is moving right along.