Sweet looking ribs. Hold the sauce please.

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Zeus-cat

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B-17 elevator ribs. Nice to see these things finally mounted (being test fitted at the moment). The team I was on made 6 for each side. 9.5 hours per rib. And you know back in WW II they probably took 10 seconds to stamp one out.

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Before they were mounted

RH elevator ribs sm.jpg
 
What a cool project. Are you going to cover them with canvas? Aren't there any spare parts or was everything melted down?
 
This is the Champaign Lady in Urbana, OH. We just finished year 10 of the restoration and have about another 10 to go.

The spare parts and tooling are long gone so we fabricate everything by hand; even our tooling. That's why it took 9.5 hours per rib. We had to make a form for each different size rib. We used the form for one left and one right hand rib. Then threw it away and made the next form. We had to make the forms for the blisters and the special "joggle" tool where the ribs meet the elevator. We had to invent and then make the tooling that put the indentation in the sides of the ribs where the clips and screws will go that holds the fabric on.

Someone will cover them in fabric. That's a ways off for now.

She will fly one day. I will NOT be on the first flight. :wink:

Here is the website: https://www.champaignaviationmuseum.org/
 
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