The Doyles go flying.

Warm temperatures and calm winds made yesterday an ideal day to test fly the Stearman. It was a pleasure to see Chuck Doyle take his Stearman out for a flight.  The first hour is on the tach and we're poised for the second flight once the winds settle down. As the flights continue we will shoot some video and in flight photos to share with you all here on the blog. Thanks for checking in! 

Stinson(s) Progress

Both the V-77 and SR-8 are moving right along. The wood shop is getting down to the particulars on the doors and window frames. The floorboards, stringers and bulkheads have been fabricated and fitted.

New firewalls were fabricated and fitted. 

The SR-8 panel will be quite original. We took the original, cleaned it up and will be laying it out based on Stinson factory photos. By "cleaning it up" we welded up numerous holes and got rid of heavily modified spots to accommodate modern instrumentation. Quite a bit of time was spend getting the panel back in order.

The original panel in the V-77 is made out of phenolic. We are using it as a pattern to fabricate new out of aluminum. This airplane will be nice and custom.

Almost all the small pieces and sub assemblies are back from cad plating, chrome and power coat. Once all in place some serious visual progress will be happening. We'll be sure to put another update up where there is more to see. Thank for checking in.

Full Plate

2012 is off to a good start for the team. We're currently working on four projects which are; Stinson SR-8C, Stinson V77, Waco Taperwing and D17S Staggerwing.

The SR-8's parts are OD green, the V-77 gloss black. As of now we are planning on the SR-8 exterior to be Black and Red with gold pin stripe. Colors for the V-77 are TBD however, it's going to have a R-985 Pratt & Whitney up front which should make for an exciting airplane.

Both Stinsons have been completely stripped of all parts and all the sub assemblies have been stripped down as well. Both fuselages have been blasted, tested and re coated.  All of the small parts are out for plating, chrome and paint. It wont be long and we will be going back together with the "twins". The wood shop got a leg up on SR-8 before it went for blasting by building and fitting the door and window frames as well as the stringers.

It's Alive!!

First ground run and leak check of the Doyle Stearman were performed today! So far, everything is green light go! The fuel injection and extended exhaust make for little different sound.

N966CD

For the first time in a while N966CD sees the light of day as a completed airplane!

N966CD

The holidays and lots of travel the past two weeks makes the blog long overdue for an update. The Doyle Stearman is near completion with just a couple of details remaining. It's standing proud in the shop looking good. Now we're hoping for some warmer temps to get it in the air! Lets hope the mild winter continues.  

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A line up shot of inventory at RARE Aircraft Ltd in 2003. How many WACO's can you count in this picture?