Wow! It came! (Or, I picked up!)

Well, here it is. The entire deluxe Mustang II kit. Lot's of boxes. Hey, they fit in the garage!

Dan H. and I drove the 6.5 hours to Troy, Michigan and visited the MII headquarters. About a 13 hour round tripper. Altogether we were on the road for about 16.5 hours.

Chris Tieman gave us a nice shop tour and helped us load up. We also got a lot of neat ideas.

Thanks Dan for all the help! I owe you!

After we got home and I got a good nights rest (who could rest!) I got started on the MII building process. I inventoried about 75% of all the boxes. Very time consuming!

Next, I build an assembly stand for the center section. The quick build center section (CS) comes with a single sheet instruction. I got confused almost immediately! If I have the opportunity I'm going to make some detailed notes as I go along and rewrite the instructions.

I'd like to take any guess work out of the project I can for the other builders that are out there.

Here is the CS in the stand with the skins removed. The instructions state to "locate" the landing gear holes in the aft spar. Hey, they are already drilled!

The craftsmanship is outstanding so far. I mean crafts-woman-ship! Teri, of MII, did a great job getting my kit together!

So far the only problem I have is in the instructions. I'm sure the information is there, I just have to get better at my interpretation.

As I assemble the kit I will continue to blog. You are most welcome to come along for the ride!

Brian W.

The Long Wait!

The boredom really set in during November!

The waiting for the kit to arrive is making the time pass slowly. I had to work Thanksgiving and the associated weekend, so we had Thanksgiving the Tuesday before T-day.

I invited over my aviation buddy, Barry, for dinner and to help clean up afterwords.

Christine made a fine dinner!

After Thanksgiving Christine's dishwasher kind of started going south. We ordered up a new one. She has been upset with the old floor in the kitchen for sometime, so we went to look. I ended up repainting the kitchen in mid December to match the flooring we ordered.

It is an old 1950s vintage home. It needs and has been getting a lot of TLC through the years. The kitchen and new floor look great and Chris is happy. (That may buy me some more time in the garage if and when the kit arrives!)

The boredom was so great, Chris and I took a tour of Jelly Belly in Pleasant Prairie, Wi. Each season or Holiday, Jelly Belly changes it's decor. It's kind of fun to see what they have up next & to taste the different candies.

We completed the kitchen, the tour, and we went to the movies to see Unstoppable before the kids arrived.

Our oldest daughter drove up from Oklahoma with her husband. They are meteorologists and yes, they have chased tornados! Cynthia (red coat) graduated with a masters from Oklahoma University.

Matt, next to her, is working on his doctorate in meteorology. I'll have a doctor in the family, but he will not be able to do my surgery. (Matt is taller then he looks. He is standing below grade.)

Robin, far right, goes to University of Alaska in Fairbanks. It was 10 degrees F when we picked her up at the airport. She thought it was kind of warm. Robin is working on a masters in space physics.

Bob and Myrtle blew in on the wind to visit during the Christmas Holidays. They are the white snow people in the center. They have since melted away.

And that is Christine and I on the far left. I just can't wait for the kit to come so I can get to the challenge! (I'm the good looking guy with the pink Mustang II hat!)

I wish everyone a great New Year!

Bye for now, Brian W.

Preparation for Kit Delivery

I ordered the 1st half of the deluxe kit about mid October. The assembly manual and prints came with in a week of the order. Delivery of the kit should be late December or early January 2011.

I have read the manual a few times and gone through the prints. Very similar to building an RC airplane. Just that this one is made from aluminum. (I borrowed Dan H's manual this summer and read it cover to cover.)

I took prints 240.001 & 240.002, sheets 1 & 2, and made copies. I cut the copies and aligned the "center" lines and glued them to some 3/4" styrofoam board.

These prints are to 1/2 scale of the side view and top view of the fuselage of the aircraft. I will use these "mock" ups as reference during construction. I will not take any measurements from these. (Measure on originals only!)

I still have a couple of more weeks of leaf pick up before I swap the mower deck for the snow blower on the John Deer. (Johnny) Moving the snow blower will give me a little leg room under the print table.

I added more lights for my old eyes. These should be satisfactory for assembly of the plane. The work/assembly bench has been holding together very well. I will look at repositioning it when the kit is delivered.

For now all I have to do is wait. I'll probably look through the prints and manual again looking for things I can improve before assembly or details I may need during assembly.

So long for now! Brian W.

Kit Ordered!!!!

All right! I have decided to continue on the plane. I should be receiving the kit in about 10 to 12 weeks. Should be just in time for Christmas! I'll add notes as the time passes before it comes to let you all know when it arrives.

Later,

Brian

Flap Kit Finished!!!

After many night shifts I was able to get back at it. I spent my first three days off reorganizing the garage. Dan H. came by for a visit & to see the project. Dan has the first half of the entire kit and is itching to get started.

I turned the bench to make more room to get around it. I also emptied out the entire east wall into a dumpster. I put my daughter's tornado machine up stairs for storage. (It is cool! That is another story.) Now I need to add more lights so my old eyes can see.

At Dan's suggestion I built a 3' x 8' print reading table. I was able to store the snow thrower under it along with some other keepable materials.

The garage dimensions are 24' x 30'. (With an up stairs.) Should be able to complete most of the construction at home.

Well, here it is. The completed flap kit. There are a few flubs. I could have done better if I knew what skills were required. I learned a lot about the Mustang II kit from this starter kit.

I've purchased most of the tools need to construct the rest of the plane. The question is, do I go on. It took me a little over 50 hours to construct. (A lot of learning hours!)

I'll be taking a break while I ponder this question. Thanks for all your interests!

Setting Rivets Part 3

This is a shot of one of the nose ribs & flap ribs that was set with the improved hand squeezer. Nice uniformed shop heads.

Here are the squeezers with the hardware handles installed. The extra leverage really made a difference. If I continue on and do the rest of the kit airplane I will probably purchase a "main squeeze" from Cleveland Tool Company.

That's it for Saturday May 8th. I'll see if I can continue on tomorrow. (It's Mothers Day!)

BWW

Setting Rivets Part 2

After setting each rivet I used the rivet go/no go gauge to insure I set it properly. The gauges are pretty handy to have and help you, the builder, to keep your rivets uniform & right.

Here is a nice row of rivets set with the riveting gun and to proper size. It took about 3 minutes to set. The lens cap is to give some perspective on size.

This is the flap spar & doubler assembly. I used the hand squeezer to set these rivets. I had to extend the squeezers handles to get enough leverage to squeeze the heads. This took a couple of hours to set!