One piece at a time.

I have not had time to do the complete inventory that is needed, but I have poked through boxes and looked the project over to see a few things that are definitely missing. The first was the master cylinders. Luckily I found a set here in the DFW area for a reasonable price, well at least reasonable for PMA parts, not reasonable in the true meaning of the word reason. I can already tell this is going to be yet another project that I dump a ton of money into and at the end will have something beautiful that is only worth have of what it would have cost just to buy in that condition..... When will I learn?

The instruments are also non-original and probably not even serviceable. The panel they are in is the wrong one. In fact I have two different panels, and they are both from different years. I'll order the correct 1941 panel from Clyde Smith but I'm not sure where to find the instruments. Everyone familiar with Cubs have see the white faced dials with the cub logo on them, but those are for the post war cubs... Mine being a 1941 originally came with the black faced dials with the cub logo on them in white. So far I have not found a source for them. I was able to find a Tach that has the correct logo on black face but the numbers and marks around the perimeter are wrong. I'll keep it on the book shelf just in case.

I know that I will need sealed lift struts, but I will wait until I'm getting close to finishing before purchasing these. They are pretty expensive, take up a lot of space and are fragile. Might as well wait on those. In the mean time I have the original struts I can use for mocking up if needed.

I need a windscreen and new windows, but they can wait until I order the struts, and for the same reason.

Spars....... This is a tough one. The spars I have are original. They came with the plane from the factory and are quite nice. No checking, no cracking, no discoloration that could indicate rot. There is nothing I can see wrong with them. There is not one reason I can find that they should be replaced.... Accept that in my mind they were installed before television or turbines existed. They are old, over 70 years old. Who knows how they have actually been treated? They look nice, but I'm just not sold on their safety. Do I just go ahead and use them but instead purchase a BRS? Has anyone put a BRS in a Cub for that matter? One more question I will now have to go and research. This one is going to trouble me, to spar or not to spar....

To top it off, the person I bought her from had already rebuilt one wing. Do I tear it down and start over? This is getting into the area of "what do I want to accomplish with this restorations?" Do I just complete the work required to get her in the air, or do I make it an Oshkosh Grand champion? Do I want to fly this bird or sell it and buy something larger? I know I want a Cub. I just don't know what I want her to become....

I have to finish my paint work on a Citabria that I am working on. All that is left is painting the last wing, struts, control surfaces, and all the little sheet metal trim parts. The wing is in two cross coats of silver (poly-spray) drying as I type this, once it's good and dry, I'll sand it out and shoot one more coat of silver, then on to the color. I should have that done and out of the shop in a week. Then I have the next hurtle. I have to finish the body work and spray a 66 mustang that I have decided to sell to fund the cub project. Once the paint is done it will go back together in a matter of months, but it will be hard to keep my hands off the cub. I will continue to look for parts and research while the other project is getting out of the way, and will post that research and finds here.

What do you all think about adding a wing tank or two?