And the colored planes go....

I've been involved with flight simming for as long as I can remember, and several years ago I made the acquaintance of long time MSFS repainter Garry J. Smith over the internet. In 2009 that led to us becoming involved in a project for the Heritage Flight Museum and the Historic Flight Foundation.  Together we recreated both Bellingham Airport and Paine Field as they were during WWII, and repainted flight sim models in the livery of the museum aircraft.

Thus, visitors to the museums can pretend to fly at Bellingham or Paine as they were during WWII in the actual aircraft that are on display a few feet away, something that no other museum has done. (We took a little artistic license with Bellingham, since during WW II it was basically a small (but beautiful) terminal, 3 runways, and dirt, so we enhanced it with a few extra hangars and hardstands.)

Bellingham, 1946

Paine, 1945

It was a fun project. Garry lives down under in Oz, while I'm up in Bellingham WA so there was a large and convienent time difference between us. I'd work on research and planning all day, and send ideas to Garry before I went to bed along the lines of  "Can you do this???". By the time I woke up he'd have put a full day in, and I'd pick up where he left off. To this day, if I stop by the Heritage Flight Museum I always see the sims in use.

In 2011 Garry and I collaborated again when the 39th Fighter Squadron held their annual reunion at the Heritage Flight Museum. In the days following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there was a strong fear that the next step was an invasion of the west coast of the United States, and the 39th Fighter Squadron's P-39s were hastily deployed to Bellingham as defense. Later they were redeployed to the South Pacific, serving with distinction during the war. 

As part of the reunion, we took a P-39 model and repainted it in the 39ths colors,

and during a break in the reunion the two surviving original pilots who were deployed to Bellingham were brought to the sims. I was privileged to talk them through "One last mission" in the skies over Bellingham. In the photo below, Col. Frank Royal is at the controls while off camera his children, grand-children and visitors look on.

I didn't have to do much talking to the old fighter pilot, like any good IP I just got the sim going and gave him vectors. But as it happened, we did run into a Zero off Sandy Point, and we escorted it back until it landed on the IJN Akagi.

It was a privilege to act as the IP for these two gentlemen. :salute:

Now that OspRey will soon be in Einar's paint booth, it was time to come up with a scheme. Fortunately, Just Flight makes a nice add-on to MicroSoft Flight Sim called Discover Arabia that includes a fairly well done SeaRey, so I've made a blank texture from one of their airplanes, and I'm slowly learning how Garry was able to do those fabulous repaints.

I've gone through various ideas, and since many have said that the SeaRey resembles a baby PBY Catalina, one of my first attempts at learning repainting was to give it a go.

I don't want my airplane to be a Wannabe Warbird, so while the scheme is tempting, I won't do it. However.....

Giuliana is 1/2 Tlingit Indian, and long ago she suggested an Indian paint scheme. I didn't like the idea at first, but with the wisdom of age it's grown on me, and I mocked one up in Flight Sim to take a look.

I really liked it, and G is now designing the scheme. Can't wait to see what she comes up with.



Some other schemes I've been using to learn Photoshop

This is another SeaRey builder's airplane

And of course, it's football season!!!

Come fly with me...

I was covering the stabs the other day when I heard a familiar call. By the time I was able to stop what I was doing, grab my camera and get outside it was almost out of sight.

For comparison.

I'm hurrying.... I'm hurrying....

Is it still a mistake if you learn something from it?

Just a quiet, reflective shot as the full moon rises over another late night.

OspRey was one of the first LSX kits, and there was still some testing to go when I got her. One thing that was discovered was that the stabs and fin needed a little reinforcement, and a couple years ago I was sent a set of reinforcing sleeves to rivet onto the existing structure. Presumably, newer kits have different reinforcements. (I also have a clause in my contract that says I will get any changes free of charge, but that's another story. Stay tuned.)

At first I thought of trying to mask the reinforcements, but it wasn't possible, and I've since grown to like them. Gives OspRey a little touch of Steampunk.  

The stabs were the first thing Einar and I built so many years ago, and Yeah, being a sentimentalist I took a few minutes to reflect on the journey, thing things I've learned (both good and bad), and the people I've met and learned from. 

The stab are covered using the same methods as the flaps and ailerons, but I deviated from the manual and used a single piece of fabric. I'm not going to repeat the process except for a couple highlights. Here I'm shaping the curve over the tip.

Attach, glue, wrap, flip, and iron the other side to make the curve. It was a challenge to do it without cutting the fabric, the kind of challenge I like. Craftsmanship and all that.

With the stab covered I couldn't resist fitting it and taking a look. She's getting closer to looking like an airplane and not a collection of parts.

Moving on to the right hand stab, I took a moment to make a CS check to prevent DS mistakes. (A Common Sense check to prevent Dumb Shit mistakes.)

Despite this, when I went to attach the fabric to the structure something slipped, the fabric got misaligned and I ended up with a fold in the covering. I tried to salvage it but couldn't, and made the decision to start again.

I had been cutting my fabric with an extra (some may say wasteful) margin, and after trimming it off and looking at the remainder, I decided that IF I did it correctly I could still salvage the piece, and it would be a challenge to be precise in my work.

I was extra careful, did a good job and was able to reuse the piece. Fun!

Scott stopped by while the PolyTak was drying, and I spent some time showing him how it all worked. Like a lot of us, Scott is a former model airplane builder, and the PolyFiber also reminded him of working with Monokote. The PolyTak wasn't quite set up enough for full shrinking, but he was able to get a feel for the basics of shrinking the fabric.

A few hours later though, it was time. I will confess that ironing has gotten old.

I was only home for a couple days, long nights trying to squeeze in every minute of summer while I can. 

But pinking tape is still another challenge to do right, and make look good. The next day a bit of heat sealed the edge of the fabric,

and a little reducer and/or MEK cleaned up the tips of the tubes.

Remember what I said about a CS check to prevent DS mistakes? Everybody sing: "One of these things is not like the other thing..." I... uh... forgot to remove a couple bolts from one stab.

The bolts are for the hinges, and it would have been necessary to melt a hole in the fabric for them anyway. A soldering iron carefully cut the fabric away from the bolts, allowing them to be removed. Pinking tape then covered the holes, and got cut away again.

The manual calls for the tip bolt to be removed, and the angle brace should hold it in place. It's not that I don't trust the manual, but I decided to leave the bolt in place while I covered. I'll remove them before I do the pinking tapes.

Getting the elevators ready, I bent the edges of the trailing edge sheeting down, like you do on the wings.

My little pink OspReyMingo will have to wait until mid-August for more work.