14-13-3 Restoration

D

desotodave

New member
So, about 18 months ago I began a complete restoration of my old Cruisair. This is kind of a special airplane for me as I got it from my grandpa who passed away 15 years ago. He was a dealer and sold the airplane new. The owner then had a small accident and sold it back to my grandpa around 1950, so it has been in the family since. The airplane has been sitting unlicensed for about 40 years!!! When my grandpa rebuilt the plane he felt it was under-powered and was able to receive approval to put a 190 HP Lycoming on the plane. This plane is also a little unusual as it has a pilots door in addition to the standard door on the passengers side. We stripped the plane down to the bare bones, and have started from scratch. Right now we have completely redone the interior, with all of the wood refinished back to originaI. We replaced the old coffee grinder radios in the dash and made things look much more streamlined than it was. The tube airframe has been completely stripped and recoated, and then new fabric replaced and repainted. When going through this we did have 1 spar that was bad, and we had to replace a wing. We were fortunate to find someone who had an unfinished project that included tons of extra parts. We should have enough "extra" parts to completely build another plane (with the exception of the engine). Once we are done we should have a bunch of stuff we will put up for sale (wings, control surfaces, couple airframes etc). I don't have a ton of pictures, but here are a couple of the plane in progress.
 
Very nice. I would love a second door on the Cruisemaster. I do agree with Doc, though; that hangar is disgusting. I don't know how you can possibly work in something like that. :wink:
 
I will admit that we have a great facility. To make a long story short, we had an old dirt strip we used for over 60 years and a couple of broken down hangars that leaked like sieves. Power company needed to put in some new lines that shut down our airport, and they had to build us a hangar on the local runway. It really is heaven! Bathrooms, offices, kitchen, shop, kitchen etc. A man can't ask for much more than that.

My dad also has a 14-19. I'll see if I can find a picture.
 
Here we go. FYI, no these are not all ours. We paid almost no taxes where we were, and we have renters to help pay the tax and airport rental(long story).
 
I am reassembling a Cruisair after it having sit for a number of years after a gear up landing. I am almost done with the fuselage. Wings are next. Depending on what I find I may be interested in buy a wing or two from you.

Airplanes look great.

Cheers.
 
Please seek immediate professional help !

No mice, no leaks, no dirt blowing in under the hanger door... and the ultimate in unobtanium...
a Pilot door !

I am going off to whimper now..and will be back when you're better. :mrgreen: :roll: :wink:
 
I understand all about the mice, dirt, wind, raining inside as well as outside, no lights, no heat etc., spent 45 years in those exact conditions. But if we didn't have this hangar, I doubt this project would have happened.

The pilots side door is very cool, it is the only one I have ever seen. Also, I love that my grandpa owned it almost since new, and he put the 190 HP engine on it. He got all the approvals etc. custom built the engine mounts etc.. Grandpa and Gandma flew it everywhere, from New York's Laguardia to LAX. To me it is priceless.
 
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