September 26 Update

1932 Curtiss Wright Travel Air 12W

What a great time and great weather we had for the MAAC Fly-In at Brodhead.  If I counted correctly, I gave 16 rides in the Curtiss Travel Air and some air-to-air work with EAA for a future magazine article on the airplane. A lot of hours in the old bird, but I can't complain - it was fun!

Our Board of Directors and Board of Trustees for the Kelch Museum met, and we decided to go full-speed ahead on fund-raising for a new building.  Our curator, Pat Weeden will begin work on this.  Please consider donating to the future of this great museum and its fine collection of antique aircraft.  You can go to the Alfred and Lois Kelch Aviation Museum website to see how.

Then it was back to work on the L-P....

Misc. parts painted

Completed throttle levers

I got the rudder pedals I had previously fabricated plus some other misc. parts painted.  I like to use polyurethane for stuff like this for the durability, but don't like the glossiness.  So I use a little flattening agent in the paint to take away just a tinge of the gloss, which in my opinion, looks a whole lot better.








I made new throttle levers too.  The original ones were just too pitted from corrosion.  The aluminum knobs are original and cleaned up just fine.

Wings off and back on storage racks

Fuselage mounted on rotisserie

Then it was time for a rather depressing part of the  restoration process - taking the airplane back apart.  I had done all I could with the wings on - all the controls made and run, etc.  It sure comes apart a whole lot easier than it goes together!

With the wings off, I can focus on trial fitting everything in the fuselage:  fuel tank, seats, engine controls, sheet metal, etc, etc.























Before I get back on the airframe, I've been anxious to do some more work on the OX-5.  I'm sorting thru Miller overhead now, getting a good set ready for nickel plating and then final assembly.

Miller overhead

If you are not familiar with the Miller setup, it was an improvement that came out for the OX-5 in the 20's.  Its main improvement was the roller rocker arm which helped eliminate side-load on the valve stems, causing premature valve guide wear.  The rest of the components are also more heavy-duty than stock and allow everything (except the valve guides and stems) to be lubricated with grease.  Better lubrication is the result vs. manually oiling these components prior to each flight.

Miller actually made available 2 different versions:  One was just a roller rocker arm that was a direct replacement for the stock one.  It still had to be manually oiled, but offered the improvement of the roller.  The second version is the one shown and discussed above.  This is the preferred one as it has the more heavy-duty components and the ability to be greased.  

Miller also made other improvements such as 3-ring pistons.  You can go back to an earlier post where I talk in length about the short-comings of the stock pistons.  It didn't take long for manufacturers, like Miller, to improve on the Curtiss design - less friction, better oil control, more RPM.  This is why I had pistons made (with 3 rings) instead of using the original ones.

Getting the wings off also gave me space to focus more on the engine work.  I would like to have the engine done this winter.













So there you go - proof that I haven't been goofing off these past couple of weeks!  Stay tuned for an update soon - I'm just not sure what!