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ST4 restoration of Frankie the Frankentrac

Cidertom said:
Wow, you're at the point, put some polishing compound on a buffer and go for the shiny look.
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Ugh - I polished an airplane once, never again! I’m going for the classic ST4 look:

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I could use a spare 6 lug big wheel if anyone has one? Then I can make a roof rack for it. I have spare bogie wheels already.
 
Yes, the front quarter panels are steel. I read somewhere Mclarty did not have the ability to form the aluminum into the compound curve that forms the front sides (hydro-press?) so he simply rolled the curve into steel pieces. Not sure why steel, but it is thick and hard, similar to 4130 sheet, maybe .100" thick. They are riveted to their aft lower side pieces which are aluminum. Also the bonnet was easier to make this way. Resulting in that monumental front facia.

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After painting more parts with the epoxy primer, I started cleaning more parts, seems the pile of parts needing cleaning is getting smaller - but grows overnight! I pulled the bulkhead out of the pile, it's seen better days - this is the part that the pedal assembly attaches to and it had a couple of cracks, and was bent up pretty good, so I stop-drilled the cracks and riveted a reinforcement angle to the area that was cracked and where the pedal assembly attaches. Coated it with zinc chromate primer, this will get the gray epoxy primer as well. Then started sanding the paint off and cleaning the rails.

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You're a trooper . . . being that it's steel, that would have been at a blasting shop getting all of that removed in order to save my sanity.
 
DAVENET said:
You're a trooper . . . being that it's steel, that would have been at a blasting shop getting all of that removed in order to save my sanity.
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Yes, I thought about that, my last experience with my TR-6, cost about double what they quoted. Good new is I'm almost done with the steel, rest of it will go fast. Bad news is I failed to save the 2015 and 2016 cat meeting stickers - they did not come off as easily as I'd hoped, so would like to get replacements :(
 
Jphoenix said:
Yes, I thought about that, my last experience with my TR-6, cost about double what they quoted. Good new is I'm almost done with the steel, rest of it will go fast. Bad news is I failed to save the 2015 and 2016 cat meeting stickers - they did not come off as easily as I'd hoped, so would like to get replacements :(
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I'll look around as I might have a sticker or two left...but I bet there's some out there if I can't find any. Awesome work!
 
Jphoenix said:
Yes, I thought about that, my last experience with my TR-6, cost about double what they quoted. Good new is I'm almost done with the steel, rest of it will go fast. Bad news is I failed to save the 2015 and 2016 cat meeting stickers - they did not come off as easily as I'd hoped, so would like to get replacements :(
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timberline jamboree stickers?
 
this frame tube from inside the cab used to be square, water leaked in, froze and made it a round tube, plus a crack and rust. So new square tube going in. Then I sanded all the old red paint off the interior of the cab and painted it with grey epoxy primer. I’ll flip it over later, remove the panels that remain attached, clean up the faying surfaces and prime them. It’s a journey.

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Flipped the cab back upright and removed all the skin panels so I could clean the rust between the frying surfaces and prime them all separately. I cleco'd them back in place temporarily and finished welding up the outer side of the cracks in the roof above the door - that took all morning to weld, grind, weld some more and get it straight. Once I was sure the weld was good, I pasted on a thin layer of Tiger Hair fiberglass filler to fair the dents and low spots and also to filling the in the gaps around the front rood flange that lets water puddle. The Tiger Hair is formulated for strong adhesion to bare steel, my favorite filler for steel. Then another 2 coats of epoxy primer to cap off the afternoon. Soon I hope to be painting red :)

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