Scott Dennison
 

I am 63 years old and live in Waukesha, WI. I have been a fabricator all my life, either as a hobby or as a profession. I started in Indy Cars with Parnelli Jones Racing in 1973 working for Al Unser, SR. I drove midgets, sprint cars, and road raced. I headed design teams for Excalibur Automobiles in Milwaukee creating four cars. Recently, I have started my own business and am restoring pieces for a Goodyear FG-1D Corsair WWII fighter.

I am always looking for knowledge and advice as well as good equipment. I also am a TIG welder.

Thanks for letting me join this organization.

Welcome Scott. The Corsair is quite a project, especially that wing folding mechanism! Post pictures please! Lots of a/c fans here.

Hey Bill, thanks. I have been posting the progress on the Warbird Information Exchange

http://warbirdinformationexchange.or...hp?f=3&t=52024

as well as my Face Book page

https://www.facebook.com/DennisonEnt...esLLC?fref=ts#

Probably easier to get a feel from those pages. The Corsair belongs to the Warbird Heritage Foundation and I am doing some restoration of the air inlet sections currently. The project is being done by Sam Taber and his crew at Tab Air in East Troy, WI.

http://www.warbirdheritagefoundation.org/index.php

If you spend some time on my FB page, you can find a bar I did for a friend using a 747 engine cowl as well as fighter ejection seats for bar stools. I have built medieval armor for my boys when they were jousting knights.

I'll have to figure out how to post pictures on this forum. Probably a tutorial somewhere. Most important is to learn from all you guys. I know a lot about a little but you guys never cease to amaze me with what you are capable of. I will never stop learning.

Thanks again!

Okay Scott. Thanks for blowing my whole night! I've just gone through your pages and have to say your woodwork is as impressive as your metal work. Great photography, too!

Welcome to the forum Scott, Nice work.

David

Hi Scott really cool work
Welcome to the forum
Peter

Hello Scott and welcome to the forum.

Did you work at Vels Ford with Parnelli?

Jere

Hi Scott and welcome!:)

Jere, I didn't work at the Ford dealership but the Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing Team, Indy Division, primarily on Al Unser Sr.'s cars. 1973 through end of 1975. Then I joined the Morales Brother's Tamale Wagon team with Billy Vukovich. Jr., Bobby Olivero. Poncho Carter drove the Champ Dirt car to the Championship in 1978. After that, I moved to Salinas CA to work for Ryan Falconer Racing Engines building all their inlet and exhaust systems for the Turbo V-6 Chevy program in IMSA GTP and Indy.

To all who have responded, thank you for your kind remarks. This is quite an impressive group of craftsmen. I will try to stay out of the way and ask a lot of questions. :)

North American T6 Prop Spinner Repair
 

This spinner belongs to a friend who owns and flies a T-6G and accidentally dropped the spinner which landed directly on the point, of course. This spinner was actually made from a sheet, rolled and has one weld seam. It is chrome plated. It was only about .020" thick material.

So, my approach was to make a form of the inside of the spinner. To do this I filled it with fiberglass resin with a 1" stake in it to fit my stand. This gave me the actual profile of the back side of the dent.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...n/IMAG0200.jpg

I then body worked the dent with bondo to make the form smooth and represent the inside of the spinner without the dent. Turning the spinner over and using my shot bag and fingers only, started coaxing the dent back to where the metal really "wanted" to be. Once I got some of the major dent moving, I put the spinner on the form. I then spent nearly 12 hours (not all at once...) using only my hands and cotton gloves slapping, pushing and gently working the thin material back in shape. It really taught me how the form already had a memory and didn't like being out of position. Spinning on the form slowly and just flat palm hammering got the shape back with no damage to the chrome, a testament to the ability of the plater.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...n/IMAG0202.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...n/IMAG0203.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...n/IMAG0241.jpg

Cootehill Armoury
 

I once dabbled in medieval armour when my boys were part of a jousting troupe doing renaissance fairs. I believe this to be the Pennsylvania fair. All is 18 ga. cold rolled steel, all hand formed in stumps. Fully articulated per the period methods.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../129_29352.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../129_29372.jpg

Turbo Chevy 90 degree V-6
 

This was a Chevy V-6 race engine for Interscope Racing driven by Danny Ongais. At the time, no induction pieces existed but the geometry was identical to the small block V-8 so we cut down a V-8 Hilborn manifold and made this one. Everything else was, of course, custom. The era was late 70's.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...nison/V-6B.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...nison/V-6A.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...0DegreeV-6.jpg

Scott, the best part of this forum is if you don't understand something just ask!

Scott:

I'm sure our paths have crossed at some time.

From 63 - 66 I worked at Shelby's. When I drove for them in 64 Ralph Falconer went with me to every race across the US.

In 69 - 70 I worked for STP in Santa Monica We had Mario, Pollard, and Sam Posy. I was Sam's mechanic and fabricator.

In 2012 we won the USAC Western States Midget championship with Cole Carter as our driver on dirt.

Good to have you on board. :D :rolleyes:

Check out my web site.

Jere

Scott, you have an impressive background and wide array of talent as well. My first foray into racing was at Indy before I got sidetracked to the stock cars. In 1970 - 1971 I worked for Howard 'Tilt' Millikan in Crawfordsville getting two cars ready for the race at Indy. One was driven by Rick Muther (the last turbo powered car to run at Indy?)That's me pushing at the left rear, and Jigger Sirois in the more conventional Turbo Offy. I found it an amazing difference in atmosphere while going thru qualifying and practice as opposed to going thru the gates on race morning. I would have LOVED a chance to work with the open wheel cars, particularly any of the Unser boys. If you get a chance to attend a shaping event at Dan Pates, I would certainly like to meet you.

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Bill, I recently purchased you book on wheeling. Thanks for taking the time to produce it. Great stuff.