Beech 18 info...

[Slick Goodlin]

Nark, have you been in contact with Taigh Raimey (I bet I spelled that wrong) yet? He seems like he’d be an invaluable resource on care and operation of a twin Beech in the modern world.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Wayne Millard took me for a flight in that one many moons ago.

[Nark]

Nark, have you been in contact with Taigh Raimey (I bet I spelled that wrong) yet? He seems like he’d be an invaluable resource on care and operation of a twin Beech in the modern world.

I have. He’s in England at the moment, so I’ve been conversing via email. Super nice guy, with a wealth of knowledge.

[CaptNerdly]

A good reference for the B18 is "Beech 18 A Civil and Military History" by Robert K. Parmerter, published by the Twin Beech 18 Society of Tullahoma TN.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I used to fly one of these on a sched. run and it was far more comfortable for the passengers because they didn't have to sit in a airplane sloping up on the ground.





It was a really nice airplane.

[Liquid_Charlie]

Took a perfectly beautiful aircraft and put a training wheel on it. +

[Nark]

Well shit.
He accepted my offer.

(I have no idea how I can post pictures oriented correctly…)

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[Slick Goodlin]

That’s awesome, Nark. I don’t know if you’ve restored a thing or not before but if not my advice is to try and do something, anything, on a regular schedule and get ready for a descent into project hell.

I wanted to say try and do something to it every day but that’s more applicable to a home workshop. Maybe you have the facilities to bring home major sub assemblies and really can chip away at something daily but in any case progress doesn’t happen unless you make it happen. Sounds obvious but it’s awfully easy to let it slip and then be bummed that the project isn’t going anywhere.

As for project hell, mechanical restoration usually starts with making the object even less complete and functional than it is now. That means taking things apart, degreasing, stripping paint, or what have you but the point is it will look less André less like an airplane the more work you do. This is a huge drag and projects often stall and die here. Tough it out and do something as often as possible, eventually you hit that tipping point where you start putting stuff back on and the motivation builds again as it comes together.

The above may be totally redundant for Nark and if so, hopefully someone else can get ahead from what I’ve written.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Nark, good luck on your adventure. So many old airplanes are just being turned into beer cans, it is nice to see one being saved

At the risk of sounding like a communist I think there should be an SPCA
(Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Airplanes). It would have the power to take airplanes away from people abusing or neglecting it and give it to a deserving pilot.

[Nark]

Thanks for the motivation.

I’ve created a 5-15-50-100 yard target list.

First is disassembly and movement.
Next is strip down and clean.
Etc..


I have always found, especially when running forced miles, not to look at the end, until I’ve passed it. By that I mean, accomplish the 5 yard target, not the 50, then the 15then the 100 yard. (Meters for you colonials)

I’m not a very savvy social media influencer, but I’ll do my best to keep you updated with progress.

I’m aiming for airworthy in ~5 years.
Finished and show worthy in ~10.