Thanks so much for all of the congrats guys, I know I have a long row to hoe so to speak when it comes to getting familiar with this bird both aerodynamically and mechanically but am confident that my 17 years of military aviation mechanical experience gives me at the very least a bit of a leg up. So Im starting at the second rung rather than the bottom. I'm confident that with the thousands of years of combined experience represented here, I'm in good company.

Cannon- Thank you very much for that tip, that's something I'd have never thought of until I was posting here asking what's the best way to fix a wing tip I think I'll round up some axle jacking adapters or an approximation thereof and attach em to some 4x4s for ease of use.

Hotrod- you cant imagine how badly I want to remove both ADF and Loran RIGHT NOW after watching years of dudes removing square inches of paint and moth poop in order to shave weight! Don't get me wrong, I am awed by the effort that goes into all of that and intend to follow suit when appropriate but jeez I think it's given me a complex. "hmmm I dont REALLY need 2 pens in the plane do I?"

I took Mama and Max The Destroyer down to meet the new family member last night and have been given the seal of approval. (phew!).

SD

Love the nickname "Max The Destroyer" He looks like...well, just that...a destroyer Just like every 2-3 year old should You have a great looking family! Fun times ahead for sure. Congratulations on your new set of wings!

CW

"If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" Glad the old Stinson passed muster!

Well done on the new acquisition, there is a stinson guy on here but he doesn't post very much. He might be a good resource for you.
What's his name? 'naked pilot'?
Matt knows him.

Straydog wrote:.... you cant imagine how badly I want to remove both ADF and Loran RIGHT NOW after watching years of dudes removing square inches of paint and moth poop in order to shave weight! ....

If you really want light and simple, and will only be operating VFR, you could also pull out the KX155 and the audio panel. A buddy of mine used to have an airplane with the Terra mini com & txp, worked great, and the com even had some sort of built-in two-place intercom which worked well also.
Unfortunately, Terra was bought by Trimble, which was bought by Apollo, which was bought by UPS, which was bought by Garmin. Those sweet little Terra units just sorta got lost in the shuffle, and probably aren't factory-supported at all these days, should they happen to go gunnysack.
FWIW I figured my last two airplanes wouldn't be very good for IFR anyway, so I pulled the vacuum system and gyros (horizon & DG) out of my C170 & C150/150TD for the sake of light and simple. I'll probably keep them in the 180 though, esp since it would be a very capable IFR ship should I ever decide to get myself trained up for it.

It looks good in your hangar!

Have you got a chance to fly it much yet?

Hey Trent, Thanks man I agree. Haven't had the chance to take her up yet due to the alternator/ voltage regulator thing. As I described to another gent the other day, it's like when you were a kid and got that new RC car for Christmas but you had to wait a million hours for the battery pack to charge before you could play with it. It's kind of like a grown up version of that. I'm hoping to have it all sorted out within then next couple weeks though and will proceed to put lots of 100LL though it and report back.

SD

BTW you need to change your avatar to include that mighty Super Stinson!

Ha! OK OK There, I fixed it. I was trying to get a pic of the plane with me doing a handstand but they all ended up just being pictures of my ass! (Or i cant do a handstand yet)

SD

Beautiful family, beautiful plane, you are blessed. Max won't be the destroyer, he will be Max the Aviator thanks to a Dad like you. Congrats, luv those Stinsons.

Wow thanks for that compliment Cliff. Thats my hope with each of my kids, that the exposure to aviation will plant the seed like my Dad, Step-Dad, and Grand-Dad did for me.

SD

Circa 1980