{"id":1291,"date":"2014-05-20T16:36:55","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T16:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2014-05-20T13:39:51","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T13:39:51","slug":"restoration-of-the-white-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/2014\/05\/20\/restoration-of-the-white-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoration of the White Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flying the White Mystery, Elmer Wasman<\/a> placed third in the first RC Nats in 1937.\u00a0 The White Mystery had an elaborate control system based on wind-driven controls.\u00a0 Walt Good has a detailed description of the controls in the April 1986 issue of Model Aviation<\/em> in the article, \u201cHistory of RC Flying<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 A shortened version can be found in the Model Aviation<\/em> “History Preserved” column, June 2014.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
A much older Elmer posing with the 3rd place trophy in won in 1937. National Model Aviation Museum, photo by Fred Mulholland, 1994.11.01.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After being updated and flown in other contests, and used as a teaching tool, the White Mystery was eventually retired to Elmer\u2019s attic where it sat for over 50 years.\u00a0 Fred Mulholland<\/a> rescued the model from the attic in the late 1990s with the intent to restore it.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The fuselage resting in Elmer Wasman\u2019s attic in Leroy, IL. National Model Aviation Museum, photo by donor, 2000.35.01<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fred describes getting the model out of Elmer\u2019s attic noting that it was covered in dust and had been chewed on by mice.\u00a0 The glue joints weren\u2019t solid, so it had to be very carefully lifted down and out of the attic.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Barbara Mulholland receives the White Mystery fuselage as it is handed out of the attic. National Model Aviation Museum, photo by donor, 2000.35.01.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fred involved Elmer in the restoration process, gaining insight and information on the model\u2019s original construction.<\/p>\n

\"Elmer<\/a>
Elmer Wasman – L and Fred Mulholland- R reminisce over the unrestored White Mystery fuselage. National Model Aviation Museum, photo by donor, 2000.35.01.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While most of the fuselage was salvageable, the wing had to be entirely rebuilt. It took Fred two months to restore the model and he described the process as, \u201cblow, scrape, sand, study photos, build, restudy photos and rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fred<\/a>\"Fred<\/a>\"Fred<\/a><\/p>\n

Fred Mulholland working on the restoration of the White Mystery.\u00a0 National Model Aviation Museum, photo by donor, 2000.35.01.<\/p>\n

Eventually the restoration project was concluded.\u00a0 Fred covered the model just as Elmer had originally, with doped white silk on the wings with a red scalloped edge.\u00a0\u00a0 The front part of the fuselage was covered in white bamboo paper, but the tail section wasn\u2019t doped to save weight.\u00a0 In order to see the interior components on both the original and restored model the top section of the fuselage was covered in removable clear Celluloid sections.\u00a0 No attempt was made to reproduce the original control system.\u00a0 Tom McCoy<\/a> donated a Forster 99 engine to the project to replace the original installed engine.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The framework of the restored White Mystery waiting to be covered and assembled. National Model Aviation Museum, photo by donor, 2000.35.01.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The fully restored White Mystery. National Model Aviation Museum, photo by donor, 2000.35.01.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before donating the model to the museum over Memorial Day weekend in 2000, Fred brought\u00a0it to the Jacksonville, FL nursing home where Elmer, and his wife Johnnie, were living.\u00a0 Despite Elmer\u2019s illness, he was ecstatic to see the model completed and refused to stay in his wheelchair.<\/p>\n

\"Elmer<\/a>
Elmer Wasman \u2013 L and Fred Mulholland \u2013 R pose with the restored White Mystery in early 2000. National Model Aviation Museum, photo by donor, 2000.35.01.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thank you to Fred Mulholland for all the restoration work which he completed with the\u00a0assistance of John Hatch.\u00a0 Thank you to Tom McCoy for donating the engine, and to Fred Mulholland for donating the model airplane and documentation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flying the White Mystery, Elmer Wasman placed third in the first RC Nats in 1937.\u00a0 The White Mystery had an elaborate control system based on wind-driven controls.\u00a0 Walt Good has a detailed description of the controls in the April 1986 issue of Model Aviation in the article, \u201cHistory of RC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,47,112,1],"tags":[56,95,85,132],"class_list":["post-1291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-early-model-aviation","category-museum","category-radio-control-2","category-uncategorized","tag-artifact","tag-preservation","tag-radio-control","tag-white-mystery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1291"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1293,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1291\/revisions\/1293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amamuseum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}