Rebuild of B-17F 42-3455 "Lucky 13"

[384thBG]

Great work Ray! And thanks for posting Ray's work here Bill!
- Chris Wilkinson

[384thBG]

Ray Moore asked me to post some recent work he's done for Station 1 because he's been so jammed with work for others and his project.

[384thBG]

More pics of Ray's recent work, Station 3.
IMG_5893 by Christopher Wilkinson, on Flickr

IMG_5886 by Christopher Wilkinson, on Flickr

IMG_5889 by Christopher Wilkinson, on Flickr

IMG_5890 by Christopher Wilkinson, on Flickr

IMG_5903 by Christopher Wilkinson, on Flickr

IMG_5902 by Christopher Wilkinson, on Flickr

IMG_5900 by Christopher Wilkinson, on Flickr

[aerovin2]

That is some beautiful work going on there. It is very interesting and exciting for me and I am sure many others to see this new fuselage start to come together. I doubt if many have any idea of the complexity and challenges in doing something like this, so to see the nuts and bolts of the process gives a taste of what is involved. Hat's off to Ray for his work.

[Dave]

I like that a lot, makes me want to build a nose section for my cockpit now, is that the tail end of Liberty Belle in one of the photos?

[aerovin2]

is that the tail end of Liberty Belle in one of the photos?

I saw that and it must be though I am not sure why based on what I have heard about what is going on with Liberty Belle. Perhaps on loan for use as a pattern? I suspect we shall know soon enough when somebody who knows chimes in (eh, Chuck?).

[Lucky 13]

Y'all did see the tail of Liberty Belle, I am rebuilding it" Liberty Belle" will fly again!

[TAdan]

Wow, you've been busy Ray! Thanks for sharing your handy work. Nice to see Liberty Belle will return!

[384thBG]

is that the tail end of Liberty Belle in one of the photos?

I saw that and it must be though I am not sure why based on what I have heard about what is going on with Liberty Belle. Perhaps on loan for use as a pattern? I suspect we shall know soon enough when somebody who knows chimes in (eh, Chuck?).

Ray didn't tell me specifically what he was doing, but hopefully he or Chuck will have some time during the holidays to add more here as to what he's doing to this section.

[terveurn]

Ray

How much is going to be new build and how much is going to be from the Greeley Bar section ?

If using the Greeley Bar nose section, does that mean Liberty Belle gets a new AAF serial number

[AURktman]

Outstanding work! Now what did you do after lunch? How much of the rudder / vertical stabilizer was salvageable from LB?

[Chuck Giese]

is that the tail end of Liberty Belle in one of the photos?

I saw that and it must be though I am not sure why based on what I have heard about what is going on with Liberty Belle. Perhaps on loan for use as a pattern? I suspect we shall know soon enough when somebody who knows chimes in (eh, Chuck?).

Ray didn't tell me specifically what he was doing, but hopefully he or Chuck will have some time during the holidays to add more here as to what he's doing to this section.

A brief update while I'm finishing up work on our C-47.

Ray is tasked with rebuilding the rear half of the Liberty Belle fuselage.

The forward fuselage is still being worked on in Douglas. My work on other projects is winding down, so it's (finally) back to the Bomb Bay structure early next year. It's time to assemble the Compression Struts and Catwalks that Ray has been prepping. (I'm building the construction jigs for these, along with those for bulkheads 4 and 5.) We've ramped back up the work to get new bomb bay carry through tubes and wing attach plates made, and Wilson is working on the hat channels for bulkheads 4 and 5.

The Greeley Bar fuselage is NOT going into this rebuild.

[384thBG]

Thanks for the update Chuck, lots of work there.

[Lucky 13]

Here is a little bite of work on station number (3)

[Lucky 13]

Also pick up some bomb bay doors, I got a little work to do on them.