Chapter 80

Tyche

“Frank, Ernie ... what’s the ‘evening’ menu?”

Rather than tell me, Ernie passed me a menu and directed me to a table ... not a stool at the bar. I was astonished.

The menu was in French ... and the heading was Joyeux anniversaire, vendredi, Tyche Selene Flintkote. Le menu du jour est tous vos préférés Choux de Bruxelles grillés, salade d’épinards, côte de bœuf avec frites au four et asperges. fini avec une banane fendue. Pour boire, nous avons notre célèbre Root beer. Vendredi, c’est aussi Halloween.

A banner unrolled from behind the bar ... Happy Birthday Tyche!

“Surprise! And they all popped in and from behind the bar and out of the kitchen. JW, Zoe, Cynthiamae and Billy. All the crew from the “Flint,” half the town, all the sailboat Hispanics and Surprise and Alan. I was shocked ... a surprise party on my birthday was expected ... one a week early had me thoroughly a flutter.

And the presents ... every tool mentioned in the assembly instructions and more. Especially welcome was the 12 foot sheet metal brake and the Eastwood English wheel. I would be able to make long bends and complex curves.

After the party, Alan and Surprise took me home. Alan used the laser level to check the floor. It was level. We started on the construction table.

I hauled 2x4’s ... one at a time ... hey ... I’m still just 4 ... for a week. I helped. That’s about it. I have a feeling this is going to be harder than I thought. Between us, we built a worktable 49 inches wide and 20 feet long. I did a lot of holding while Alan put in a lot of drywall screws and a few bolts. Then I stapled the Fokker paper to the work surface. Alan held it down while I used a ‘slap stapler’ to hold it flat.

Then it was my turn. My kit came with full size plans. I didn’t have to do expanded squares. But I did check for clarity. Muddy plans weren’t anything I wanted to deal with. It looked good and measured out as correct. We started on the fuselage sides by screwing down blocks made from the plywood container sides. We cut the strips with the secondhand Rigid table saw, and the blocks from the strips with the second hand Milwaukee chop saw.

The top stringer was pre-cut but a little long so the tubing cutter came into play cutting two tubes. There were two sides so the cut had to be exactly the same. When we were done we would have a box of aluminum tubing braced with aluminum gussets and held to gather with stainless steel pop-rivets ... better than wood, glue and bracing cross-wires.

The wires were what shot down many WW1 aircraft ... cut a couple of wires with machine-gun bullets and the thing just fell apart.

The blocks we used to hold the curve were plywood that had a starter hole drilled with the secondhand Delta floor drill press. Straight holes make for good placement. The blocks don’t move due to pressure from a hand held drill that’s held crooked.

The blocks kept the curved bottom tube curved while the cross tubing joined the top and bottom stringers rigid while the gussets were riveted in place. Each gusset had to be drilled 12 times per side. And I was the drill operator. Alan only helped with the heavy work. I had to thank the six Powers that Be for the pneumatic pop rivet gun ... they gave it to me for my birthday. Seven gave me the air compressor.

Finish one side? Build another on top of it. Put the two together with more tubing braces bent and rivet the gussets and it’s a fuselage ... took three weeks.

Yup ... longer than I thought.

I had hoped to start the wings next, but, no ... the tail and rudder came next. I had to cut out two plywood circles for the compound curve of the stabilizer and rudder.

Bent a piece of tubing ... kinked it. Heck. Hardware store has the right size and information. Aluminum hardens when it’s bent ... heat it to soften. Worked ... thank you, Mr. Dean.

The rudder was easy ... second time around.

Landing gear next.