Waldo Pepper Standard J-1 - Restoration Update #10 - November 2022 - Assembly & Rigging

OK, Gang, here’s a quick FoF Mechanics Corner update from Ken on the progress of the Standard J-1.
As you know, the original Fantasy of Flight facility was designed as my future dream shop. We just had the floors redone in several back rooms and will slowly be moving into these new areas! Ken has moved the airplane into what will be the future machine shop to complete the rigging process and the making of cables.
Enjoy!
Kermit Weeks
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[@robm.4512]

She’s looking fantastic, Ken, beautiful job! My grandpa was a rigger in the RFC during ww1. He described using a water level (a length of hose with a short length of glass tube at each end, full of water and vented at both ends) to set the whole thing up. He’d never spoken about his war years until he and I were laying foundations for his new shed together in the mid 60’s. I asked him where his level was and he produced these two bits of glass tube out of an oak box that were engraved with fine lines about 1/16” apart, told me to get the garden hose and then told me the history of the glass tubes. Old school works pretty well, they were far from daft. He added a drop or two of something to cut down on surface tension to improve accuracy. I assume it was either a detergent, alcohol or glycol, but I honestly can’t remember now. It was long ago and memory fades. Man, I miss him still. As a kid it seemed like he just knew a way around every snag. Cheers, R. 😎👍🍻

[@37silverstreak1]

I've been an antique airplane nut since I was a little boy. I was 10 years old when my mom and dad took me to see "The Great Waldo Pepper" at the Sheboygan Theater in 1975 and I fell in love with this Standard J1 biplane. Although at that time I thought it was just a large Curtiss "Jenny", and now here I am 47 years later watching you guys completely restore this same plane, well I kind of feel 10 years old again!!!

[@dougscott8161]

Thanks, Ken, for a very informative update on the Standard J-1. Waldo would be proud of you if he could even understand what you were describing. You are a true craftsman following Kermit's dream. God Bless and stay safe.

[@rudywoodcraft9553]

Very enjoyable--a reminder just how much brilliant technology and craftsmanship go into these "old simple" airplanes

[@lewis730]

Mr. Kellett thanks for sharing this. Keep the pioneer to golden age stuff coming. Please share any little details about early aircraft that comes to mind. Your skills and wealth of knowledge is beyond compare.

[@davelewandoski4292]

I knew that was you in the movie the whole time Kermit!! Thanks for sharing.

[@cbcalk]

I always enjoy watching your videos. Especially the updates of ongoing projects. Keep up the great work!

[@steveshoemaker6347]

Thanks Ken it has come a long way ans looking good.....Also thanks to Kermit........ Shoe🇺🇸

[@starfish370]

Thank you Ken, as informative as ever! 👌👍

[@gcrauwels941]

Painstaking work. Beautifully done.

[@Hooligan-F8F]

I was going to go to bed. And here I am watching another excellent update from you folk! Lovely work lovgely aeroplane... Time to watch The Great Waldo Pepper again. 😊

[@joefrawley5295]

Take me barn storming Kermit I'm all in!

[@blancolirio]

All this biplane rigging is tricky stuff!

[@emmettbaker5024]

I thuroughly enjoy watching these J-1 update videos. I don't know all that much about how the very early aircraft went together, so these videos are amazing to watch and learn from. Recently got to see the EAAs standard J-1, and was quite impressed by the size. You don't realize how big of an airplane it is till you are there next to it. I look forward to seeing it with an engine, and eventually with some air beneath it's wings!

[@31terikennedy]

There's a movie that shows the construction of American DH4s during the War. During wing assembly, it shows right and left wing assemblies on done on the floor, separately. Upper and lower wing panels are stood up vertically on their leading edge with the interplane struts being attached top and bottom and then the rigging wires. The wing assemblies are then installed on the fuselage.

[@bigun447]

Great job Ken. Watching you crawl out onto that limb (board) was a reminder of how we used to do things. Today safety monitors would have made you wear a harness, have a mechanical platform with rails, and so on. Mechanics Corner is making history in this time period and it sure beats showing videos from years ago.

[@camerontempleton8898]

Just visited the Museum this last weekend was visiting from Oregon, dropped wife and kids off at Disney world, found Fantasy of Flight on the phone and drove out to check it, not knowing where I was going once I pulled up I realized I had watched Kermit fly his P51 out of this field on KZbin a few years ago. Amazing experience and a very knowledgeable tour guide!!

[@normanbott]

"Winding Sticks" , as known in the UK by hand tool woodworkers. Essential when flattening a rough sawn board. It's amazing how accurate simply sighting these becomes with practice. Beautiful restoration, the maiden flight should be awesome..

[@1boortzfan]

I've been following this all along. I can't wait to see it fly.

[@doronron7323]

Great, thanks for the catch-up. One comment; you show the 'decal' on the side, I assume that's vinyl? This seems to be common for all the graphics applied to restored birds these days. All that stuff was hand painted during the period this 'plane was built, which if an accurate finish is required then surely the original methods would be more in character; it certainly shows! Good luck with all your projects and the entire team stays well.

[@andron967]

Hard to believe that after all this work it will come apart again ! Wow.

[@stevenicoson6670]

Thanks for another great video. It was interesting and enjoyable. Ken, you are a master when it comes to putting together an auto. Appreciate the way you explain things to us. You are doing great on this aircraft. Thanks so much. Retired Air Force veteran.

[@walt8089]

Ken, What a beautiful job you have done on the restoration. It is way better than when it was first built. Enjoy following your progress and craftsmanship on this restoration. Thank You for the video.

[@bin_chicken80]

Thanks Ken. Very interesting. Nice work.

[@fw1421]

Just a beautiful job. Master craftsman for sure.

[@elosogonzalez8739]

It will sure be nice to see this airplane fly again! Anyone contact Robert Redford to see if he'd like to be there for the first flight? Ken, your skills are amazing. You are truly a craftsman. Carry on!!

[@AlisonFort]

You’ve got better knees than I have, Ken, working on a board like that!

[@abbiekellett9196]

No he doesn’t

[@davidbutterfield2949]

Great video, very interesting to hear how the rigging works. She’s looking good, great work 👍🏻🇦🇺

[@davidcotton5361]

love these - thanks Ken and Kermit - great stuff

[@miguelsuarez8010]

I used to build some of my model airplanes with wash out and it gave them great stability.

[@SeanWhite]

Get a sign painter to put the Waldo Pepper on the side. Brush strokes and all.

[@ericsmit7588]

Looking great Ken!

[@DavidSmith-xs3or]

It's great to see these guys build vintage planes from period movies. I'd love to see them build a copy of the Santos Dumont Demoiselle from " Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. "

[@Grossman2868]

So cool to see. Who hasn't seen the movie and its so great to see the actual bird coming alive again!

[@odonovan]

The Great Waldo Weeks (Kermit's brother?) 😁😁😁

[@Gerk8]

Thank you Ken! What a beautiful job on this wonderful airplane!

[@arnhemseptember2009]

Truly big job! All you need is somebody a lot younger and flexible to help you out!

[@LoneWolf051]

easier said than done thesedays

[@arnhemseptember2009]

@@LoneWolf051 I am aware of that. But having to replace a veteran extremely experienced and very nice aircraft restorer because he crashed from a wobly rigging construction is on a much different level...

[@dennisjay3277]

Ken, could you show us a brief overview of making the cables. They really are what makes or breaks the airplane.

[@dalecomer5951]

Second the motion.

[@964cuplove]

There is high precision spirit levels, I used to set up precision camera tracks for motion control shots for film and tv and we always used the analog spirit levels after setting it roughly with a digital one. So it’s quite possible to do it back then…

[@goosf5746]

Dwupłaty są po prostu przepiękne 😍

[@haroldmclean3755]

Nice Job 👍

[@ChrisB257]

Great to see the update Ken, thanks - it really is coming together beautifully. Some pretty precarious work there on the board! Rigging sure is a tedious job.

[@David-yo5ws]

I liked watching Ken's determination to get that cable fitting connected. Reminded me (at 62), up inside my roof crawling around on a board, determined to fix a broken truss board, cause I want to make sure the job is done right! When it's all done, I hope there is little requirement to make any more cable tensioning adjustments. Ken sounds like he has endured enough. 😉

[@happyhome41]

This is a great update. Would be good to make references to how the planes were assembled originally.

[@ceebee2]

Greetings, good people!

[@johndavey72]

Superb content Ken and l was nearly as nervous as you when you were climbing onto the step board ! I'm genuinely surprised you appear to be space restricted , l thought Kermit had an abundance of space . It must be pretty frustrating having all that extra work to do ! Finally l'm sure we were all shocked and saddened by the tragic events last weekend at Dallas and please pass on my condolences to all . Moments like this make us all realise the risks these airmen take to entertain us and in the blink of an eye life is so tragically taken . God bless and blue skies to all,

[@bondisteve3617]

Thanks.

[@mstx1007]

Thank you

[@hamilton1191]

I’ve been watching this channel for some time and find it to be a wonderful source of knowledge, HOWEVER I’m somewhat puzzled by the gaps in the sequence of information posted on some of the projects. For example, the Vega project was on, and then it was off, and then it was on again, and then it went away with no further updates. I find it somewhat disturbing to start following a project, only to have it disappear with no explanation.

[@Sybok51288]

i saw they mention in a video before that when it comes to in house projects (cant remember if vega is or not) takes time, because workers have other things to do in addition like maintain all of the flying aircraft on top of restoration projects

[@rolandalfonso6954]

This was wonderful, start to finish, word for word! Thank you!

[@richtaylor2129]

Wow!! She is looking great!! Great job to all involved!!

[@michaelfuller2153]

Interesting! Nice job, Ken...

[@darkredvan]

Great progress, looking good.

[@fpvoslo]

Nice to see it's coming together Thanks for sharing Regards.....

[@floridaboy3891]

Awesome job Ken she looks great! I’ve been watching this build a long time. Where’s the Corsair?

[@williambailey5405]

Nice presentation. Thanks.

[@mgbrv8]

I use to volunteer at the rio hondo air museum in texas and when we rigged biplanes we would nose them down it made rigging way easier.

[@gregellis3859]

Absolutely amazing work. You are true artist, and I am so grateful that you produce these videos to include us in this restoration and others. But, just a thought, maybe it would be easier to make the door bigger than it would be to take the airplane apart again...🤣🤣.

[@daviddorado5632]

It would be amazing to have an unveil video of this airplane with R. Redford

[@ldnwholesale8552]

Watching a clip from the Smithsonian and they were also doing a J1 With the V8 Hispano. Crawling around on that board? I an about the same age and size as you,, I doubt I could do that. My knees hurt kneeling on carpet.

[@ferociousfrankie]

Maybe a video suggestion, what it takes from a FAA standpoint to get one of these vintage/custom airplanes airborne.

[@boots_n_coots]

After banging around the cow pastures of Midwest USA for a summer, the rigging on Waldo’s Jenny must have been a total mess 😂

[@bobbreit5244]

The Great Waldo Weeks? Seems there could be some kind of better setup to rig that wing.

[@pat36a]

You should start on the other J1 Kermit just saved . While it's all still freash in your mind . LOL . Spirit of St. LOUIS shouldn't take long being a repair and not a restore.

[@MARKLOCKWOOD2012]

Hopefully do a ground run may not fly it but ground runs are cool. Speaking of ground runs are gonna ground run anything down the pipe that hasn’t been run in a bit??

[@stenalbertsen2440]

Looking great 👍

[@baptistlion4060]

16:10 got me lol

[@charlesevens5377]

While there may be high end product digital levels that rival a good bubble level or water level, I have not found one. A good bubble level will show a 1/16" movement in a 6' level easily. A digital level has trouble matching that, in my experience.

[@cleareddirect7013]

Is this the same airplane that used to belong to Ernie Freeman and was in the Great Waldo Pepper ?

[@Audion]

You need proper A-frame ladders and an aluminum bridge between them.

[@dalecomer5951]

Watching Ken walk the plank made me uncomfortable. Please Invest in some service platforms for the smaller planes.

[@markdraskovics1962]

HEY, HELLO Mr. Weeks Well It has been a very sad week for vintage Aviation with the air collision of the p-63 air cobra and the B-17G at the wings over Dallas Air show but frist of all the I wanted to say that I give my condolences to the family's of the men who perished in that accident and was just wondering what your thought were on the accident ?

[@robertlafnear7034]

😁👍👍👍COOL.... BUT..... that Ladder/Board thing🤔

[@45Deere9500]

Looks like you could make use of a “topside creeper,” at times.

[@dalecomer5951]

Exactly. May have to make some bigger ones for aeroplanes.

[@1mmickk]

Youve done a lot of work in a short time. Seems like only yesterday it came off the truck as a pile of pipes.

[@KermitWeeks444]

That was a different J-1!

[@althepal6818]

Why the inscription on the fuselage is a modern print sticker and not hand painted as they would have done then?

[@tobysmith4662]

Hi Kermit, what's your opinion of Dan Gryder?

[@Twistedstar0320]

Do you guys hire a&p's? I'm looking to get out of DoD contracting into something like this.

[@Average_GI_Joe]

That was fast

[@flypawels]

👍

[@schecter6l6]

It's been over a year since this video was made. Is this project done yet?

[@thomasdriver174]

does anyone know whether or not there is a video of the Benoit in flight?

[@ronaldjennings8057]

😀👍👍👍👍👍👍🙏🛩

[@dr.wilfriedhitzler1885]

Where do you get all the money from for such a lot of expensive, fine projects? Is your government involved ?

[@pdxbohica]

His grandfather made a lot of money in the oil business.

[@dr.wilfriedhitzler1885]

@@pdxbohica For real?

[@michaelscott4766]

Interesting video but it's a shame you didn't bother to mic Ken up.

[@HorsleyLandy88]

This is taking way too long for such a simple aircraft, I feel Ken won't be long in following Andy in leaving Fantasy of Flight. Kermit you need some fresh blood.

[@HorsleyLandy88]

Job for life, stop stringing it out Ken. What are we now year 7? Get a grip, this is becoming a bit of a joke.

[@chriswilson8757]

Hey Ken looks like you could use some " Knee Pads" similar to what Tylers use . The amount of History you have Saved and Restored is Fantastic ! 🦘🇦🇺

[@garyhicks2771]

Where is the crew, slow story.