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

[Lucky 13]

Been working on the upper longrons cutting them from a H to T I have also been making the bracket's that attach the longrons to station 4 I have put part of station 4 up to check the alignment with the upper longrons and to check the forward side longrons when I put them in.

[Lucky 13]

Been dismantling the bomb bay catwalk out of 44-83316 and saving what is airworthy and getting it ready to start the rebuilding of the new one. And here are some of the pieces that is left that is airworthyAlso here are some photo's of the old and new bottom tube of the catwalk and some of the work being done on the new one.I also picked up the sides of station three and the splice plate's for station's one and three from Tom Wilson shop.I have also been rearranging the shop and putting in new shelves so I can put more part's in the shop

[hang the expense]

Really cool Ray,3 b-17s under rebuild in the southeast.Who would have ever thought that 10 years ago.

[Lucky 13]

Been cutting the tubes for the catwalk for Lucky 13 and four other's and I will also be cutting the tubes for the outer compression strut for all five planes.

[hang the expense]

I love the stack of new parts.Good work there Ray.

[Lucky 13]

I have finally finish cutting and milling all of the tube's for the catwalk. I will start on Monday cutting the tube's for the outer compression strut's for Lucky 13 and the other five plane's.Here are a few photo's of the other four catwalk's that I am working on.They are for are for Don Brook (2) Bill Stanczak (1) and Bruce Oriss(1). I will also be doing one for Lacey's Lady.I have also put the last eight feet on the jig, all I have to do now is make and put the top five holding station's on.Here are all of the up right's,for Bruce Oriss's jig that I am building for him. The rest of the jig is at my buddy's shop where I have been building them,because as you can see I am turning this place in to a Boeing B17 factory. I will be setting it up soon in my shop, as soon as I make room for it.I steal have about two hour's left in a day so I think I will start working on the top of station #3

[hang the expense]

The tubing work is impressive Ray.Nobody will understand that last photo but we do huh? For anyone that cares that is a router fixture for trimming the inside flanges for 3 top.Its aconvoluted lashup but it gets it done and cheaply I might add.

[384thBG]

Great to see your work Ray, thank you for posting the pics and keeping us in the loop. Someday you'll need to install a bigger door on your garage.

[Lucky 13]

Been working in the Boeing factory ,on cutting the outer compression strut tube's for Lucky 13 and the other five plane's Here are the tube's for Lacey's Lady catwalk Also picked up the ( T ) extrusion's for the floor beam's from Chuck, that he had bent for us, they are part of the flight deck for Lucky 13 and I also picked up Bill Stanczak's for his plane

[OldBillB17F]

Does she have her wings attached yet? Any year-end updates? This is simply awesome.

[Lucky 13]

Been working on the outer compression strut assembly for lucky and the other five planes.I now have all of the tubes cut and I have started drilling the holes in the outer compression strut bottom tubes for the bomb bay door hinge bracketsI have also been working on station two

[hang the expense]

That sure is a really nice looking sta2.Looks like somebody really knew what they were doing when they made that.

[384thBG]

Thanks a lot for the update Ray. Is the pic of your Station 2 rebuild for "Lucky 13" or another? Are those original crash fragments of "Lucky 13" in the pic or from another plane? Thanks, Chris

[Lucky 13]

Station #2 is for lucky 13 and the crash fragments are also from lucky 13. I have more of them and I hope some day I can get the rest .

[Lucky 13]

Saved another original piece of lucky 13 today.It don't look like much,but it only took six hours to straighten it.