Great Lakes 2T1A-VR I-ESON "the Outatime Flyer"  |
February 16th - 2008
This morning I have driven to Lonate Pozzolo to meet Mr. Annibale Bertolli, a 75 yrs. old retired employee from Aerosviluppi which is well known for his febric covering experience.Towns in this area (Varese province) have grown around the famous aeronautical factories such as Caproni, Macchi, Agusta. Mr. Bertolli himself was a Caproni employee and later employed in Aerosviluppi, which now manufacture helicopter parts for Agusta. He was a model builder during his youth age and won several model championships. He late mastered in aircraft wood working and fabric covering.; he told he had covered some important museum aircraft such as the Macchi Cr42 (WWII italian fighter) and Macchi racers of the Schneider cup in the 30's, now displayed at Vigna di Valle museum. Under Annibale's expert eye I start exploring the fashinating world of fabric covering. I'm using Diatex (dacron fabric) which is practically the same as american Ceconite system. We have started covering the horizontal stabilizers and the rudder, next week will work on the elevators. I have followed step by step procedure under Mr. Bertolli's supervision and I must confess that it is not complicate, except for rib lacing which need practice to understand how to route the needle up and down to perform the lacing knots.
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