D-EMUL

Take off 1810UTC, touch down 1826 …

Flys great! Fantastic sun set … very emotional!

The papers from the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (the German FAA) are in my hands now!

The wing root fairings need to be polished and the interior is not finished but …

Paperwork is with the LBA (the German FAA) and I hope to fly it when back from Oshkosh AirVenture 2011!

The left door hides the avionic when not in flight …

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The panel is made of wood but will be replaced later when sure about the instrument placement.

I got the permission from the German LBA to place the call sign vertically and with the minimal letter hight of 11.5 cm to stay as close as possible to the original paint scheme.

The wings are mounted now and the fuel tanks are checked and in place as well. One of the fuel level indicators was stuck, sometimes but got fixed. The quick drain valve of the right tank is leaking therefore could use the left wing tank only.

After the magneto timing was set according to the TCM bulletin and the fuel and primer lines were checked, I primed three times and after a few propeller turns the engine was running.

Cool sound with the straight pipes!

Everything around the engine is now installed, the Plane Power alternator, overhaulded magnetos – timing still needs to be done – overhauled carburator, all cables attached …

Here some pictures taken before leaving the cold hangar

There is little electrical installation to be done in a C120 … a new battery was needed and the few switches and breakers are quickly in place.

The instruments are mounted on wood, but only to find out how to do best.

All parts are polished and I started to assemble … The landing gear is mounted, break lines installed and the engine is put back. I mounted the cowling today and polished the windows (skylights still to be done).

Not yet complete but it points in the right direction (comment of my wife Rita).

The Grahams did not only deliver all the parts polished to perfection – they also kept the promise to polish the fuselage when coming back to EDFM!

I put the fuselage in the heated workshop from Flugwerk Mannheim not to suffer in the hangar at freezing point.

Due to the bad winter weather they arrived in the morning of Dec 23 and started immediately with the work, after a nice breakfast. You need a good breakfast if you get on the road at 4 am and plan to work the full day!

While Graham senior (left) and Graham junior (middle) did most of the job, they allowed me to watch and train how to polish.

The fuselage started to shine already after some hours but they kept on polishing. With the Nuvite Grade S it got the perfect shine.

When you look very close, you will see some pitting from the corrosion it got because nobody took care for more than a dozen years. But we concluded that this is what a real oldtimer must have …

At 2 pm at Christmas eve(!) the job was done and the two friends were rolling home for Christmas. Graham (junior & senior), many many thanks for an excellent work my friends!

The right wing is now finally polished as well.

Next steps are the polishing of the ailerons, stabilizer, rudder, cowling.

If all goes as planed, I will put together wings, fuselage and engine in December.

The left wing is now finished. I believe it was never shining so nice as today! The wing was converted to aluminum in April 1960.

When you compare the pictures from July 2007 with this one, you can imagine how much dust and dirt settled over the years …

Magnetos and carburetor are overhauled and all STCs applied. New hoses and ignition harness installed and mufflers inspected and cleaned.

As soon as the fuselage is finished polishing, I will install the landing gear and mount the engine. I’m eager to listen to the sound of the straight pipes again …

In the meanwhile I learned how to polish aluminium to the perfect “Nuvite shine”. A taff job but the result satisfies!

I was close to give up and to choose a nice paint … but with the right tools and the right materials and some advice how to do it the right way, even a polished plane where no one took care of - for almost 13 years – can be brought back to its beauty.

I thought I will finish the restauration after 3 years and celebrate the roll-out in August 2010 but to avoid stress – I’m looking forward to do that next year …

Carefully cleaned the cylinders and the housig and installed a new PlanePower alternator.

According to some posts in the Cessna 120-140 forum, the cylinders were originally black and the crankcase grey, even on the Continental engines at early times.

May be I did not found the “right grey” but the engine looks pretty nice anyhow.

Carburetor and magnetos got overhauled and all STC’s where applied. The ignition harness got replaced by a new one.

The fuselage is now completely clean and also polished at a first round.

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The company DWA, located in Ketsch, Germany made the leather interior.
Thanks to John from the Skyport Services who sold the control yoke hub covers and the plastic spoke trim pieces to me.

With the black leather – again from DWA – the control yokes looks like new. On the rear of the yokes I mounted a small Push-To-Talk micro switch, invisible at the photo.

Cleaned and started to polish the D-EMUL

Again it became to cold in the hangar. I moved back into the Lucebit workshop. With the fixture (the red cross at the firewall forward), mounted insted of the motor carrier, I can easily rotate the fusalage what allows cleaning and polishing in a very convenient way.

The fuselage is now completely clean and also polished at a first round.

I’m not yet satified with the shine and need to experiment how to do better.
Using the material from Nuvite and for the first round of polishing I used the Grade F9.

After having carefuly cleaned the fuselage inside, Epoxy Primer was brought up to provide another 60 years of corrosion protection. Epoxy Primer 37052 Fluid Resistant is a 3-component epoxy primer from Akzo Nobel Aerospace Coatings for interior and exterior use. If I would have known what it will cost – I would have checked alternatives! But the result is very satifactory …

Now I start to think about the interior color, the next step before reinstalling the equipment inside.

Luckily I took photos before removing everything. Reassambling the cleaned brakes therefore wasn’t that difficult. Henry – thank’s for the hint!

I got the bulkhead firewall set from my friend Thilo, it didn’t fit his C170.

I visited Wolfgang Schüle, who is owning a polished Cessna 140, located in Germany EDTD. Wolfgang is the German representative of the International Cessna 120-140 Association.

Horizontal stabilizer cleaned and started to polish.

At the left hand side a detailed view of the elevator before cleaning it. Quite some corrosion what happened even the plaine was hangared the recent 14 years! The photo to the right shows the same view after cleaning. I did not yet do a full scale polishing, just a first round with Nuvite F9 grade to see how it works.

After discussion with my A&P, I will completely take it apart and rebuild it.

Mid July, 2007, I started to take the plane apart and to clean all parts. I marked the parts with the figure and ref. no. from the Cessna Model 120 and 140 Parts Catalog in order to recognize where it belongs.

Already when working on our “Red Lady“, I created a reasonable infrustruture in the hangar with a workbench, electricity, light, compressed air and even internet connection. But in the meanwhile it became autumn and winter and got pretty cold in the hangar! Luckily two pilot-friends, running a company named, Lucebit what is doing airfield lightning and located beside the airfield, offered to use their workshop. I took fin, stabilizer, rudder, elevator and doors and moved there.

Here a total view of the Lucebit workshop. At the wall (in the corner) some already cleaned parts.

Clean, well heated during winter and with exellent light conditions, I spent many hours there to get experience in cleaning and polishing the parts. The key question is: will it be possible to get the alumium well cleaned and polished or will it be necessary to paint?!

Most likely Lucebit will utilize the workshop more intensive in 2008 and I have to move out again. But spring is coming soon and moving back into the hangar is an option I have.

A year later … I bought the plane.
Also the prop was stolen. I borrowed a wood prop from a friend what he used as deco in his office. Checked the engine, changed the oil and put some fuel in the tank and connected her to the car battery – 3 turns and the engine started to run!

Those are photos from August 2006 as she is standing in the hangar at EDFM, Germany.
Not flying for 14 years! Somebody started to steel parts and to disassamble …