May, 2014, Seven Months into the Callair

The thing about restoring an airplane is that unless you have an idea of what the process entails, you're likely to think somewhere along the way that it sure looks like an awful mess. Something like watching someone else get a haircut. Have you ever wondered why the barber never has your chair facing the mirror? That's why.

Lots of pictures ... first, a starting weight, then many, many shots of how things went together before ...

How does it go? The head bone connected to the neck bone ... 

etc ...

etc ...

etc ...

By the time an airplane has reached its 62nd birthday it's likely to have picked up a few warts, bruises, and patches.

Peeling back the layers ...

one layer at a time ...

... and the neck bone connected to the shoulder bone ...

Some builder techniques provoke certain questions, usually beginning with "why...?"

The old braking system was right out of Rube Goldberg (or Massey Ferguson) ...

a major goal is FAA approval of a modern brake system that will have continued support.

To be sure, there are repairs and updates required throughout.

I tried to preserve the dirt dauber nest over the tachometer for posterity but it turned to sand in my hands. No telling how old that was ...

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones ...

Even the most seemingly useless pictures can come in handy later when you're trying to figure out where and how and sometimes why things were done the way they were.

...

Then a few parts are readied for re-cover and ...

 

color charts are consulted ...

To take us back to Afton WY in 1952, when it all began.