Getting Ready for Saturday

MiG-23 wing pin grease... Changing the grease in the pin is like scooping a quart of doggy doo out of a mason jar -- by hand. The wing pin consists of twelve parts... it's a hollow 163mm pin with two caps that rides in an upper and lower bronze ring. A keeper centers the pin vertically between the two rings. At each end of the pin is a sliding plate with a felt ring that feeds grease into groves on the bearing surface. Should be interesting trying to keep the plates and felt in position as we slide the wing into place.


The wing pin assembly is massive.


Mi-2 batteries on charger. Bord 211 is almost ready for its experimental exhibition airworthiness certificate. New blades will be installed Saturday morning and then balanced the old school way -- a different color of chalk on the end of each blade strikes a roll of paper at the end of a long pole. Adjust the blades after examining the chalk marks and repeat.


We've discovered that a pair of Odyssey 925MJ batteries fit into the Mi-2 and Mi-24 battery boxes almost perfectly. The Odyssey batteries are sealed (they can be shipped, fully charged, via UPS with no special consideration) and do well with the Soviet philosophy -- the voltage regulator does what it can and the battery is expected to absorb any imperfections in the system. We've found that the Odyssey batteries last longer, start stronger, and hold up better than "real" aircraft batteries.

Plans for Saturday include starting Mi-2 bord 211 and first attempt at installing the wings on the MiG-23.