M109 camper conversion

[mdmorgan]

Do you guys have a bunch of CLECO fasteners at home?

i've got a box that probably weighs 30 lbs full of clecos.

 

[mdmorgan]

Hopefully air conditioning won't be a necessity at the rally (says the guy working on getting his installed in the pantry truck). How's the pink camo exterior coming?

who ever said anything about pink camo? even my wife is like "no way".

 

[neilhendrix]

MD is doing an Outstanding job. I gotta toot my own horn a little bit. BUT who do you think put him on this Massive job .. ME
MD and wife are taking the trailer thing to a whole new level Simply Outstanding .

 

[Recovry4x4]

i've got a box that probably weighs 30 lbs full of clecos.

Was looking at the background in one of your pics and assumed that you or the Misses was an airframe mechanic. Airframe mechanics always have a collection of CLECOs. Am I far off? The hub covers probably won't make it to the post office until Tuesday.

 

[Mark2X2]

Good Job!

mdmorgan,
I have to give you and your lovely wife a lot of credit for this M109 rebuild. You are way more motivated than I would ever be, if it were me it would have been scraped when I discovered how rotten it is. I can't even get my wife to walk by my Deuce let alone get arm pit deep in the whole project. Keep up the great work and keep the pictures coming, and

 

[Ferroequinologist]

MD is doing an Outstanding job. I gotta toot my own horn a little bit. BUT who do you think put him on this Massive job .. ME
MD and wife are taking the trailer thing to a whole new level Simply Outstanding .

And who put the idea in your head? ME!

It looks outstanding! very high quality work that will last a long long time. I too am blessed to have a wife who likes to get 'down and dirty' with the trucks. It is very good to have a helper that won't drink all your beer!! Can't wait to see it in GA.

 

[neilhendrix]

Ferro I don`t think so

 

[mdmorgan]

Was looking at the background in one of your pics and assumed that you or the Misses was an airframe mechanic. Airframe mechanics always have a collection of CLECOs. Am I far off? The hub covers probably won't make it to the post office until Tuesday.

When I was in the Navy I started working on the F/A-18C Hornet, then we swapped to the F/A-18E Super Hornet. When I got out I decided to go back to school for more sheetmetal training and my wife, who was not long out of high school, decided to give it a try with me. well, she ended up liking it and she was pretty good at it, we were the top 2 in our class . Her, having no prior experiance, got into a co-op program with the base at Warner Robins where she got OJT while finishing school, later getting hired civil service. I went ahead and finished school and got hired by a contract company working on base on the C-130 Hercules, I too later got hired civil service and that is where we are at today, Both of us are structural mechanics on the C-130.

 

[mdmorgan]

mdmorgan,
I have to give you and your lovely wife a lot of credit for this M109 rebuild. You are way more motivated than I would ever be, if it were me it would have been scraped when I discovered how rotten it is. I can't even get my wife to walk by my Deuce let alone get arm pit deep in the whole project. Keep up the great work and keep the pictures coming, and

I probably would have but i made enough off selling stuff i didn't need(for dirt cheap) that i have very little money in this thing. (another reason to love this hobby, do it right and it can almost pay for itself) That and its something for us both to work on.

 

[clinto]

You guys are doing a heck of a job.

We use cleco's for musclecar sheetmetal work at my friend Jim's shop. They took a 69 1/2 M code 6 pack Super Bee to Mopar Nationals this weekend with all the new sheetmetal cleco'd together as a display for their sheet metal and services display.

 

[mdmorgan]

update, Got wheels painted earlier this week, then started drilling skins this weekend.

 

[mdmorgan]

i've got a box that probably weighs 30 lbs full of clecos.

said box of clecos and other aircraft related tools

 

[mdmorgan]

Yay, new sheetmetal. pics are out of order but i tried cutting with some pneumatic shears first but it didn't work very well so i broke out the plasma cutter. That worked very well and so much faster, sometimes i wish i could bring it to work with me.

 

[mdmorgan]

more.

 

[mdmorgan]

this is how it sits untill it cools off later this evening then we will finish drilling this sheet up then this week we will work on prepping what we have done for shooting them on. we are trying to get the left side, front, and top done, then i have to turn the whole thing to get to the other side.

 

[papabear]

Looks outstanding!!! Wish I had the patience to attempt something like that!!!

 

[Billy Bobbed]

 

[clinto]

I would bet you guys are the first people (outside the military) to ever completely re-skin an M109.

That is an amazing amount of work.

 

[neilhendrix]

Man you guys are awesome. I commend you on such fine detailed work .

 

[mdmorgan]

I would bet you guys are the first people (outside the military) to ever completely re-skin an M109.

That is an amazing amount of work.

Thank you, we both appreciate the kind words from everyone. Really? you think we're the first, thats kinda neat. Apart from this being steel its actually easier than drilling up a new aircraft skin. Its wide open, no hydraulic lines or wire bundles or control cables to work around, nowhere near the amount of holes to drill, ribs are spaced 10x farther apart and for the most part, its flat. The hardest part i think is going to be forming the compound curves at the top corners. which i may just cut off the old ones and weld onto the new sheets, havn't decided yet.