STINSON NEWS

Mississippi Wing

Stinson News....

September 26, 2009: GREAT NEWS EVERYONE!!! The cowling is now on for the final time, the prop has been mounted and indexed and the entire front end is buttoned up. Also, the wing root fairings that have been giving us such fits, have been drilled and mounted to the aircraft. We are getting down to the wire now, the list is getting short. According to George, about all that is remaining at this point is mounting the gear leg fairings. AWESOME JOB GUYS!!!!!

September 19 2009: Thanks to lots of sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding filling, both wing root fairings are now 100% finished, and they look outstanding. All that is left to do now is drill the pilot holes to the fuselage then screw them on.

September 12, 2009: The last few weeks have been spent tweaking the nose bowl ring a bit more. Looks like it is very nearly perfect now.

August 8, 2009: The final bit of fitting and trimming was completed on the right wing root fairing. Looks like we are in a good position to take them off for cleaning-up, filling, painting, and final mounting. This has been a big hurdle for us, because of the complexities with fitting the wings to the fuselage. With this task finally complete, we can move onto the final fitting of the gear leg fairings and cowling.

July 26, 2009: Sunday saw a few more faces out at the hangar working. The final layup of glass for the left wing root fairing has cured, and after the final trim, it's ready for filler and finish.

July 25, 2009: Saturday was a big day for us. There were at least a dozen folks at the hangar working on different projects. Col. Collins and Vozzo were busy polishing the chrome accents for the cowling and the Stinson logos on the side of the nose, while Col. Bates, Mr. Pat, and others worked on the wing root fairings. After a final trim and fitting, the left wing root fairing is nearly ready for filler and installation. One more small area to work on, and we will be done with this side. Time to let the glass cure....

July 18, 2009: Several members helped to prepare the aircraft to get the wing root fairings fabricated and installed. A few more hours of labor and we are that much closer.

July 11, 2009: We have a plan for the wing root fairings now, and work has begun on the process for fabrication. Also, all of the interior trim pieces are installed, and the last window was mounted.

March 21, 2009: No work this Saturday. Fellow Cols. are planning to bring down the heavy iron.... Check out the photos from our MArch meeting here.

March 14, 2009: Cols. Vozzo and Steube have been hard at work resolving the fitting issues with the engine baffling. Looks like it is all squared away now. Col. Collins, under the supervision of or Wing I/A has also installed both pilot seats, as well as fabricated several new interior trim pieces.

March 07, 2009: Work continues on the final touches of the interior. Cols. Steube, Vozzo and Collins are quite an effective team. While Pete and George are working on the exterior of the little yellow bird, Steve is hard at work on the final details of the interior. After finding a few issues with the engine baffling, and a leak in the left fuel tank, George and Pete have been hard at work to resolve the issues. It looks like the fuel leak was caused by some stripped threads at the fuel sump.

February 21, 2009: While Col. Collins is hard at work putting the finishing touches on the interior, Cols. Steube and Vozzo continue working on fitting the cowling.

January 24, 2009: Yet another productive Saturday working on the Stinson. The usual suspects showed up at about 8:30am to begin making a game plan for the day. Today's task is to do a little tweaking on the nose bowl ring so that the cowling panels fit properly. With a little hand manipulation, the cowling is looking much better, and makes a snug fit. With this minor adjustment, we are now ready to permanently fasten the nose bowl, re-mount the prop, and button up the front end. Next we have to repair a small leak in the left tank, install the pilot's side window, and finish up the wing fairings.

January 10, 2009: More interior trim pieces are being installed this Saturday. Col. Steve Collins, under the watchful eyes of Cols. Steube and Zavonia is doing a magnificent job on the fit and finish. This morning the team finished the left gear fairing as well. We will be leaving the wheel pants off for the first few flights so this will wrap up the work on the gears. It appears as though we are just down to the final fit of the cowling, the wing root fairings and the wing strut fairings.

January 03, 2009: The right gear fairing has been fitted and is now ready. The left fairing is next.

December 26, 2008: Col. Steube has been working on the landing gear fairings and today trial fitted the brackets that hold them on. Also, the new air box which was re-worked by Pat Patrick was installed and is looking great.

December 19, 2008: The carburetor has been returned and was installed this Saturday. A test run was conducted and all systems are normal. Next we will be fitting the new air box and filter.

November 29, 2008: Col. Steve Collins continues to work on the interior of the 10A. A couple of new floor panels have been fabricated and installed, and the headliner and side panels is looking very nice. Steve is doing an outstanding job making the inside of the 10A first rate.

November 15, 2008: Cols. Steube and Collins continue to make progress on the interior. It now appears to be fully trimmed, with all of the wood panels in place. We still need to finish some trim pieces around the instrument panel and lower portion of the cabin near the rudder pedals, but it is looking very nice indeed. The troubled carburetor back from the shop, but it appears as though it is in the same shape we sent it. Col. Steube has found a shop that can return it to service, so we will be sending it back out this week.

November 1, 2008: This weekend, proved to be a productive one, yet again. Saturday the restoration team installed the battery box as well as the new floorboards beneath and behind the front passenger seat. The team also put a little more time into the braking system on the old bird, and it looks like they are in fine shape now.

Colonel Dave Zavonia captured the photos you see below:

October 11, 2008: This weekend a lot more work has been done on the interior of the Stinson. George and his team have finished the missing piece of the floorboard underneath the passenger seat for later installation. Colonel Steve Collins continued to work on the headliner and interior trim, while Al Stubblefield took the new inspection plates and window/door trim pieces for painting. Sorry we don't have any updated pictures for you lately, but we will be sure to have some added on Saturday.

October 4, 2008: Sorry, no updates for you this week. We're waiting to hear back from the carburetor shop.

September 27, 2008: Our restoration team was at it again this past Saturday morning, working on the interior of the 10A. The headliner was trimmed out, and the baggage compartment was mostly fitted. The pitch trim control was cleaned up and painted to match the yokes. Also, a lot of work was done on the metal trim pieces for the windows and doors. I don't think we have any good pictures to share with you this week, but we'll be sure to have some for you next time...

September 20, 2008: Over the past several months, our team of dedicated volunteers has been working very hard to ensure the aircraft is in perfect working order. Recently, the freshly overhauled Franklin was test run, and found to be operating smoothly. Every Saturday, a small dedicated team of volunteers, lead by Cols. George Steube and Dave Zavonia meet at the hangar to continue the completion of the aircraft. Most recently, after ensuring all control cables are rigged and secured properly, they have begun hanging the interior headliner. Note: A very special thank you is in order to Scott Lynn, for his assistance in wiring the power, grounding, and avionics systems for this aircraft.

September 13, 2008: Today the team removed the carburetor to re-send it to the repair shop, and finished inspection of the rear fuselage. The team determined that a problem with the mixture control was making it impossible to completely shut off fuel flow to the engine. No ETA yet on when we will get it back.

September 07, 2008: Last week the engine ran great, but there seemed to be a problem with the mixture control. Otherwise, engine function was normal.

August 30, 2008: LO AND BEHOLD, SHE'S RUNNING AGAIN!!!!!! Check out the photos and video below...

Click here to see a short video of the first engine start... (2MB)

May 12, 2005: Here is an old photo we found in the archives....

5/12/05