Following is the "play-by-play" summary of the repair work completed by Gerry Beck and his team. 

Note the start date of 10/3/06 - work essentially began as soon as the plane reached their facility.  Gerry pushed back his other projects to accomodate Merlin's Magic - thanks Gerry!

The plane has arrived in Minden, NV where reassembly has begun. 

The following images are small - if you want to see them more clearly, click on the Fuselage Gallery page - the re-build images are follow in sequence and are at the end of the group.

And now the bills come due, so I have to throw in a link to the Make a Donation page.  Ongoing thanks for your interest and support!

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10/3/06
- Most everything is dismantled to the point necessary to command the repairs. The fuselage was ready to go into the jig by quitting time yesterday.
- The Robert Shaw actuator for the coolant door took quite a hit and I think the most economical way to go is to replace the whole unit.
- We had to remove the firewall as an assembly in order to put the fuselage in the jig and found that the hydraulic tank is kind of a weeper and has created quite a mess. I think it would be prudent to clean things up and reseal the hydraulic tank while we have it apart.

10/4/06
- Work is progressing nicely. Denis has the aft bulkhead in the tailcone repaired and is riveting in with the necessary doubler. - Jim has salvage the useable parts from the aft duct and now has the buildup started in the jig. - Mark and Neil are down to the basics of the fuselage but did find corrosion in the lower longerons. The good news is that the uppers look fine. I'm sorry to say that I don't think there is any way arround the replacement of the longerons. The corrosion we found is right at the splice point of the longeron extension so we did not look any further.

 


 

10/10/06
- All is well in North Dakota. Expect a dusting of snow tonight but it won't stay around long. - Dale worked on the hydraulic tank yesterday. Found four cracks in the tank which would account for the leaks which were evident. Will weld them up and reassemble. Should resolve the mess under the instrument panel. - Denis will finish the tailcone today and will probably pull him from your job and put him back on Harry's airplane until the rest of the crew catches up. May have him finish the hydraulic tank though. - Jim is coming along nicely on the aft duct assembly. - Neil and Mark have the fuselage out of the jig now to finish the longeron fitup and hope to have the longerons removed and painted by the end of the day. Then back in and start riveting tomorrow. Lots of little detail work involved in replacing the longerons.

   


 

 

10/11/06
- Tail cone is now done and Denis is making the control and trim cables. - The hydraulic tank is welded and ready for paint. - Neil has powered coated all the fuselage structure and will build up the stations this afternoon. - Mark will be doing all the painting today of the longerons, hydraulic tank and any other parts which are to large to fit in our powder coat oven. Should start riveting tomorrow.

   



 

 

 

 

 

10/13/06
- Neil built up the bulkhead assemblies and is working on the aft floor sub assembly.
- Mark has the longerons in the jig and has all the floorboard clips and other sundry items attached. Neil will help him drive the high shears which attach the main fittings to the forward end of the beams. He will then located and drill the seat attach fittings. He is going to make new longeron to seat attach fittings as they were previously misdrilled into the radius of the longeron. Should have that done this morning and then the longerons go into the fuselage and start riveting.

   



 

 

 

 

 

- Mark cleaned the fuselage yesterday and shot the aft section with zinc chromate primer to match the repairs we will accomplish. Looks good.

  



 

 

 

 

  

10/19/06
- We spent some time on the radiator today. Denis was able to repair the leak by removing a few fins in the area of the damage and soldered the two tubes which were damage. Pressure tests fine. Wanted to make sure we could fix the leak before we went any further into the plugged after cooler core. When we look into the after cooler through the ports, the bottom (exit) is perfectly clean and sparkly. On the other hand, the top is a terrible mess. I think we just have to pull one of the tanks and see what we can do. First thought is to remove the bottom tank and rod it out. My concern is how do we then clean the top with out removing the top tank. I guess we will just have to dive in and see. - All of the aft structure is now riveted in place and almost ready for skin. Most of the riveting is done on the lower longerons. Mark and Neil were making a lot of noise today. - The aft duct is nearly done and just about ready to install when the fuselage comes out of the jig. Jim was off your job for about three days finishing another project for a customer who is coming to pick it up. It is not a problem as he was ahead of the fuselage anyway.

   



 

 

 

 


10/29/06
- Progress moves a little slower in this phase of the project with the fitting and riveting work. Now down to two guys working on the fuselage. The aft turtle deck skin is now being fitted, almost done, just a little trimming and the inside can get painted. Should be able to start the riveting of the last three skins tomorrow. Hope to then pull it out of the jig on Tuesday. Then a little final riveting work on the lower longerons and splice in the aft floorboard which is already made. - Once it comes out of thejig and back in your shipping stand, I think we can start the assembly proscess. Bolt the tailcone back on, fit the aft duct, plumb the hydraulics, etc. All that said, in answer to your question, we won't quite finish it this week. Should be ready to be picked up by the end of next week. - Mark did some work on the canopy system. He found a worn spring which close to failure and felt you about to lose your canopy.Got the part from Pioneer and replaced it. He also adjusted all the trucks. He's a pretty sharp guy.

   



 

 

 

 

11/1/06
- Guys had a good day riveting yestrday, both side skins are on with the exception of a few details. Turtle deck is ready to go.

   




 

 

 

 

 

11/7/06
- We have now moved your fuselage from the fab shop to the assembly shop. The radiator has been installed. Mark is fitting the dog house and Jim is working on the aft duct. Denis is working on systems. - Mark was plumbing the flap circuit yesterday and found the source of the hydraulic leak in the belly. The flap restrictor check valve was cracked. We see that quite often. Had to order one from Pioneer.

11/13/06
- Attached you will find a photo of the "list". Not many items left to check off. - Jim is finishing the side panels for the radiator wrapper. - Denis has finished fitting the aft duct fairings and is working on the hell hole door. - Have to make a couple of bomb release cables which were cut on disassembly. - We should be on schedule for Bill if he does show up on Wednesday. Might be a few minor things for your guys to finish up.

- Casing for coolant door indicator (couldn’t find your style of casing)
- Install coolant door (we didn't get the bushings with the door)
- Hook up the door release
- You will need to find a high pressure oxygen gauge.
- Strobe wiring

- Mark did find two more cracked checked check valves in the hydraulic system. I think I had told you that he found a cracked flap restrictor valve housing and when we ordered one from Pioneer, it was cracked also. A good one should be here today from Pioneer.

   




 

 

 

 

 

11/16/06
- Just finished transfering Merlin's Magic to the shipping stand so it is ready for pickup. I made all the guys pose for a picture so you might be able to put a face with the names I have been feeding you. They are a great bunch of people. From left to right they are:Dale, Denis, Mark, Karla, Neil, Jim, John, Randy, and Dan.