Waldo Pepper Standard J-1 - Restoration Update #01 - August 2017 - Wood Laminating
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- FoF MECHANIC'S CORNER - Fantasy of Flight's wood and fabric specialist, Ken Kellett demonstrates the fabrication of a new elevator trailing edge for the Standard J-1 restoration.
Through the process of wood steaming, forming and laminating, Ken produces a brand new piece ready to be finished and included into the Standard's tail assembly.
Fun Fact: This is the actual Standard J-1 plane that was used in the motion picture, "The Great Waldo Pepper."
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Excellent Ken !
This Man is a "Master"!!!! Kermit let us see more of your behind the scenes '"Magic"👍
I restore old wooden boats and certain parts are made the same way, I even use the same steamer as you, the Jenny is my favorite plane of all, I don’t know why, just love the lines, great job
My friend Jim Applebee flew that plane in the Waldo Pepper movie. His wife Mona did the stunt work for the wing walking. He worked for Tallman aviation at the time, also flew a B-25 in catch 22. He told me his favorite planes to fly were the Jenny and the P-40. He built a lot of planes ,and restored some too. My favorite planes he built were the D5a Albatross and the Fokker triplane at the San Diego Aerospace Museum. Miss the guy alot .
What an amazing privilege you had. That movie completely captured my imagination as a boy and it's stuck with me ever since. To this day no flying movie ever made has come close to the live flying sequences done in TGWP. I wonder if your friend flew in the sequences where WP went up against Kessler?
TheSaturnV no I asked him about that he said his boss Tallman flew the camel ,can’t remember who he said flew the triplane
In woodworking you can never have too many clamps. this series is fantastic. please make more.
Calm, confident, and patient - Ken Kellett is everything I'm not! 😂 🤣 It's probably why I so enjoy his videos.
It looks so simple, but a lot of things look simple if you know what you're doing. I love the workshop videos.
KERMIT YOU HAVE THE BEST OF THE BEST CREW.
The spruce goose. must have been really fun. I toured the interior and was amazed at what was done with wood when you were not able to use extruded aluminium .
Cheers from Downunder👍
I really enjoy these type of shop videos. I hope you continue on through the covering process and to the install on the aircraft.
A pleasure to watch a craftsman at work.
Fascinating !! A true craftsman.
Watching these experts is fascinating.
Awesome work, could watch this all day.
Can you imagine this on a large scale during its production back in the day. Crates and crates of clamps and large steam boxes. Btw I do love your take on a steam box. Perfect and cheap and portable to boot.
Build tip and new tool idea! Nice work. Funny I had to do the same process on my Vk Neuport 17 RC model for the rudder, elevator and wingtips. I guess some things scale down as well. I love these series on bi-plane restorations. I was thinking that if you built screw/clamp blocks at the station outsides, then if they had tapers on the tops you could just force them down into the blocks. Then screw the tapered blocks in to squeeze them tight. They would be re-usable for any aircraft that needed this type of lamination. Best Wishes & Blessings. Keith Noneya
A very simple way to make a steam bender. Thank you very much.
Avery nice work, great explanations.
Now that's an interesting plane with a great history
Thanks for the video. We want more FoF Mechanic's Corner videos ! :)
I recall seeing a 'naked' Standard J-1 in the Air Force Museum and the whole airframe is a wonderful artwork in wood all it's own. I suppose cascophen is a glue that's been around or many years and likely hard to outperform with newer generations of cements. I recall some wood scrap assemblies that were available in surplus stores after ww2 and the woodworking and materials were awesome.
I love this! My brother lives down there somewhere. I'd love to visit and be 2 hands.
Essentially, it looks like you are making plywood...very neat stuff, and great work ;)
I always used waxed paper to keep from gluing the laminate to the jig...!!! Learned that from my balsa days...!,!
Could we have more like this please , it is so interesting !
fascinating, lets have more of these
Totally incredible very interesting to see and to me..specially when you used steaming awesome great job on this video too..thank you so much for your videos too..
Very nice work! Thanks for sharing.
Love it! I will be doing that someday to build
Yes, they did. This was wonderful. A Master Craftsman. (Ok, Apprentice, now put away all of the clamps and jig and clean up...)
This is interesting. Very time consuming. Takes a lot of OJT and reputation to learn correctly. Hope there are some young people interested in learning these skills. Someone has to take over when all the "gray hair generation" are no longer around to teach this must less do the work. Videos like this leave a public searchable record on skills that are too quickly disappearing. Thanks again for making it!
I imagine the heat and humidity of Florida causes some complications with fabrications like this. I worked for American Airlines Fort Worth Maintenance Base for 17 years and the summer heat caused a lot of issues when we were painting the aircraft. We did as much as possible in the cooler temps of the morning as after noon the paint would start cooking off quickly when it’s 95 degrees in the hangar.
More videos like this. Reminds me of the work I did on the Moss Super Solution .
Wood Dope and Fabric is a lost talent. Great Video! I would like to see more of these Mechanic's Corner video's.
Really excellent video! Makes me want to ditch the spam cans!
Very interesting
Maintenance people are special people who are persistent in being very good at very repetitive and tedious jobs.
Thank you for your fine work. You did show steaming 4 or 5 pieces but then lay only one piece on the jig saying leave overnight. Did you also add the other steamed pieces to the curve to set overnight, presumably each piece a little larger but able to be altered at glue up. Was the glue a formaldehyde glue?
Ellie Mae Clampett would be proud. Exc. work.
Me Weeks up here in Canada were I live on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Our women use ash all the time for Weaving of baskets. For them they will steam twelve to fourteen feet strips an inch wide for up to three or four hours before it being pliable enough to hold the final shape. I’m just wondering if you are steaming long enough for that thickness. I hope for the best for your project. All the best. Lee
An inch wide by what? The pieces he was steaming were only 1/8" or 3.175mm thick. That's pretty thin.
Sorry yes the strips can be an inch wide by eight feet long or more and 1/8th think and no more then a quarter of an inch in thickness.
That is a lot of work. Imagine hundreds of aircraft were built in the First World War using these methods.
I love the tennis ball over the rod at 14:29 and 14:45. Do you have pictures of the bruises? ;-)
I am amazed that steamer goes for three hours.
You have enough time in Florida. Here in Tucson you could not move fast enough.
That's a beautiful shop ...... how many folks are you usually employing? ............ JRW
As you make the wood sections, how often do you have an FAA Inspector check the work? Or do you have that done?
Very good craftsman skills!!!Thank for sharing!!
P.S-Guard your blood pressure!!!
I suppose the 2 part epoxy is an aircraft certified type, its probably a lot easier to use when compared to a foaming polyuraethane (sp) type which makes the pieces really slide about.
This is: CASCOPHEN G-1131 parts A & B, resorcinol formaldehyde resin. It's not epoxy. Resorcinol has been used for a long time in the boat building world and early aircraft. It's very water resistant, very strong. A couple of downsides are it requires good clamping pressure while curing and unlike epoxy has poor gap filling properties therefor requires carefully fitted joints.
8 people thought this was a Guillows balsa kit.
Would you ever consider doing the part in another material?
He could really use a helper for that. He could be clamping while the helper is applying the glue.
What wood did you use for this ? I see you are using the real glue for this job, I have used the "modern" PU ,epoxy types, and within days the whole thing springs, Casco is the only way to go, you can never have too many clamps, you could have done with an assistant on this job !
What is the open time of the epoxy and hardener mix?
Question: What wood. Spruce or Western Hemlock?
Spruce is typically used in aircraft construction.
Old growth, tight grain structural grade Sitka Spruce and even current spruce that hasn't had the grain shocked during felling is very difficult to find. It is easier to find good tight grain Western Hemlock. The Western Hemlock is only slightly heavier but does has some improved strength properties over Spruce. I was able to find tight grain Western Hemlock for my spars that was far superior to the current Sitka sources. For the bows, the Western Hemlock would take additional steaming time and he mentioned a long steaming time and that is what prompted my question.
The glue doesn't dry. It cures or sets.
What a Talent,,, "Michelangelo" and "Leonardo da Vinci",,,, Could "Learn" Plenty From This Man,,, He's Got It,,,,
Every time you clamp and unclamp you are inviting an improper glue up it would be more ideal if you laid them all down wet and applied clamp pressure one time to place then a retighten. Do not release any clamping force once you have applied it. There is room and time but this is the ideal situation.
Ken Kellett, Fantasy of Flight's Wood and Fabric Specialist has been building and flying aircraft for over 40 years. In 1978, at 23 years of age, he built a replica of the Wright Flyer and flew it at Kitty Hawk on both the 75th and 80th anniversaries of the original Brothers flight. We think he knows a thing or two about building wood airplanes that can and have flown safely.
I'd be extremely pleased with myself if I only knew what this man has forgotten about working with wood and fabric.
If you don't mind answering a question.....why do you(and the airplane community in general) use the glue you do, instead of simple epoxy or waterproof carpenters glue, etc.? Love the video and thanks for taking the time to share.
Hi Glenn,
Resorcinol-formaldehyde resin is period correct for the antique aircraft they’re rebuilding. But yes, T-88 epoxy is the way to go for general wood aircraft construction.
Some glues do not hold up in different environments. Example, was the Mosquito, which is glued thin plywood. When sent to the Pacific or Southeast Asia. The combination of excessive heat and humidity led to the glue used in England, coming apart.
Aircraft glues and epoxies have a proven track record for their applications. As having built aircraft for many years, there are many glues, formulas, ratings,applications, and cure rates. A stronger glue, like medicine, has different effects in type and application.
Doesn't the radii change w/each 1/8" piece
kool
Why dont you use wax paper instead of painters tape? much better release.
Why don't you have an apprentice helper with that? Looks like you could use another set of hands. Isn't anyone willing to help and learn the trade?
I restore classic motorbikes, the younger generation are not interested in it. Too busy looking at their stupid phones, they can't even change a light bulb.
Graeme Williams or change a tire.
that is a shame !
Why not just cut it out of a piece of wood? What does the laminating do for you.
Laminating increases strength. And by increasing the strength of the material, you can use less of it to get the job done. This means the structure can be LIGHTER...and less weight is always important in an aircraft.
That's a lot of clamps.
Nearly a lost art. Though guitar and wooden bows use the same stye. And some wooden boats as well.
I never knew Donald Trump could build airplanes....................