Here is the May 06 report on the rebuild of AK295, the Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk.

Work has continued this month on the structure in the rear fuselage that mounts the oxy bottles and forms the luggage compartment. We have completed fabrication of the main parts and tril fitted them in the rear fuse.

The baggage door has also been started and we are fabricating the complete latch assy. Trimming and fitting the inner and outer skins and mounting the hinge.

The rudder pedal hangers are missing so we have begun work on fabricating the components required for the assembly. Last month we modified the pedals and this month we have fabricated the adjuster spring keepers and mount brackets as well as the foot kick plates.

The project came with some very badly squashed electrical boxes from in the cockpit. The main switch/fuse box as well as a couple of other junction boxes. We have beaten these back into the best shape we can and have developed a cardboard pattern from the main switch box and begun fabricating this from alloy.

We have completed the fabrication of the inner doublers for the cowl rails and have formed all the lightening holes. We cant progress the side and lower cowls until we get more data on the location of the coolers etc. We have completed the forming of the front dishpan.

The exhaust stubbs have received a fair bit of attention this month. There are enough stubbs for the engine with a couple of spares, but they are of two different styles. The majority are a smooth seam style and we will be converting the other flanged style to smooth as we progress with the rework. Some are badly squashed, but we have been able to knock them back into shape very successfully.

We have almost completed fabricating a new coolant expansion tank for the aircraft. There was a very nice looking new one that came with the project, but unfortunately it had corrosion under the flanges and outlet bosses and is not suitable for an airworthy aircraft.

We have fitted the forward fuselage gun access panel. We have had to replace one of the skins, the right hand one, in order to make it fit the cut out properly.

We have supplied and begun modifying the tailwheel oleo. The Tomahawk oleo is different to the Kittyhawk unit in that the main shaft is 6” longer and it mounts to the tail leg behind the trunion rather that in front. We had a rebuildable Kittyhawk oleo in stock and have made an extension sleeve for the shaft to convert it to the Tomahawk configuration. The components for this are away being plated and can be assembled next month.

We have started fabricating the tailwheel doors which are missing. We have rolled the main outer skins and begun fabricating the inner doublers.

We have fabricated a new trim wheel control mount bracket.