Over the winter we did some disassembly work and repainting of our newly acquired Culver Dart. The airplane had been in a hangar fire and was burned badly, but most of the parts were in good condition.
The Lambert R-266 is in good shape and after finishing cleaning the crankcase, we can’t wait to get it repainted and back together. Though with the summer flying season upon us, this is likely to be pushed to the back burner until fall. It would be nice to get it done, but there are some other airplanes that need some work for this summer and we’re also keeping going with the Bulldog project.
The engine was fairly dirty, and the fire didn’t help. Several hours were spent with various paint removers as well as a small rotary wire brush. Eventually it started to clean up nicely.
One of the neat things about cleaning up an engine like this are seeing the markings that are often missed without a close inspection. Here the foundry mark can be seen.
