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  1. #1
    Super Member Joe@Superior Shine's Avatar
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    15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    This whole thing started last year when I was out detailing one day and heard the distinctive roar of radial engines over head. I looked up and to my amazement I saw a WWII B24 Liberator!!!!!!!!! My understanding was that there were none in the world that were airworthy.

    After a little research I found out that over 18,000 of these aircraft were made during WWII and that the the Collings Foundation flies the worlds last airworthy B24J Liberator.

    Recently while on their Facebook page I found out that the Collings Foundation "Wings of Freedom" tour was making it's way to Southern California. Soon after that they posted this photo of their two WWII vintage bombers while in Arizona. You can clearly see that the B-24 is severely oxidized.



    I posted on their page that when it gets here we need to wash and wax it.

    About a week later I was onsite at Brackett airport in La Verne, Ca. to welcome the bombers. I made contact with the crew chief Whitney. He allowed me to examine the aircraft closer. The finish needed some love to say the least. I took these pictures on that day.









    I told the crew chief that I could save the finish on the B-24. And asked permission to do so. I told him I thought I could assemble a crew and support to finance the project. He gave me the go-ahead.

    I made a few calls and secured the backing of a great long time client of mine Gary Johnson of ACE Clearwater Enterprises in Torrance, Ca. Meguiars offered to donate the materials.

    One of the stops during the tour was going to be at the Lyon Museum. We polished two WWII Bombers for them in 2009 so I knew working on the B-24 there should not be a problem. A quick call to my buddy Mark Foster and the location for the project was set.

    A few calls later I had secured a team of friends/detailers to perform the work.

    The Witchcraft paint restoration project was born!!


  2. #2
    Super Member Joe@Superior Shine's Avatar
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    Re: 15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    8:00 AM, Thursdays May 9th couldn't have arrived quick enough!! I was very excited to work on "Witchcraft."

    Once on site the B-24 people told us that a couple of flights had been booked that morning. They regretfully informed us that we had to wait a few hours before we got started. That news bummed us out but what could we do. We soon where cheered up when we were told that as a thank you for the work we were about to do that we could take a seat on some of the flights that were not full! WHAT!?!?! WHERE THEY KIDDING!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!

    Here are a few picks of when I went up.




  3. #3
    Super Member Joe@Superior Shine's Avatar
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    Re: 15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    Once the we were back on the ground it was time to get to work. The first thing we had to do was to unload the trailer and assemble the scaffolding. We also filled bottles and distributed polishers.

    I determined we were goong to use Meguiars #66 Cleaner Wax to clean up the finish on the bomber. Jason Rose recommended we follow #66 with Meguiars D156 Synthetic X-press Wax.










    I needed a couple of expert bottle fillers and who better than Meguiars Mike Stoops and Jason Rose.





    After all the equipment and materials were distributed it was time for a quick briefing about safety and our plan of attack to restore the finish.


  4. #4
    Super Member Joe@Superior Shine's Avatar
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    Re: 15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    Our polisher of choice was either a Meguiars G110V2 or an old school Meguiars G100/Porter Cable dual action polishers paired with Meguiars W8006 6 inch yellow polishing pad.




    This poor girl was badly faded so we had our work cut out for us. Some of the crew started on the right wing.












    Others worked on the fuselage.







    Here Alex is taking extreme care to wax around the names honored on the fuselage.



    This one guy in particular was really happy with his work!


  5. #5
    Super Member Joe@Superior Shine's Avatar
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    Re: 15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    As the day progressed we worked our way around the aircraft working every square inch with Meguiars M66 Cleaner wax until it was restored to it's deep green color and sealed with a protective barrier of Meguiars D156 Synthetic X-press wax.
















  6. #6
    Super Member Joe@Superior Shine's Avatar
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    Re: 15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    By noon we had one side completed and almost the entire crew was on the left side of the airplane.












  7. #7
    Super Member Joe@Superior Shine's Avatar
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    Re: 15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    After a long day and shortly before the sun set we had completed her!! She now wears her Army Air Corps green with pride.



    She went from this -



    To this -



    The project crew was amazing. All were friends. I had worked with most of them in the past. There is no finer bunch!!



    My heart felt gratitude goes out to -

    Chris Jankowski, Detail2U, Rancho Cucamonga, Ca.
    James and Diane Suarse, Comand Detail, Las Vegas, Nv.
    Tommy Salazar, Oneway Detailing, Hesperia, Ca.
    Luis Rodriguez, Classic Shine, Fullerton, Ca.
    Jose Rios, Wax Werkz Detailing, Whittier, Ca.
    Mario Asencio, Please Wash Me Detailing, Rancho Santa Margarita, Ca.
    Chris Castillo, Castle Tree Photography

    And special thanks to -

    Gary Johnson, ACE Clearwater Enterprises
    Mike Stoops and Jason Rose, Meguiars
    Mark Foster, Lyon Air Museum, John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana
    Tim Parsons, Mike Price, Listo, of Professional Detailers Inc., Lake Forrest, Ca.
    Kevin Brown for providing lunch for the crew.

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  9. #8
    Super Member gofast908z's Avatar
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    Re: 15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    Excellent Joe! What an honor to do that job and the satisfaction at seeing it completed in addition to working on a piece of history!

    Thanks for the invite and sorry I couldn't make it, I know everything was planned out very quickly. It would have been fun to work on that and see you and the Megs NXTi crew again.

  10. #9
    Super Member hoyt66's Avatar
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    Re: 15 detailers and 2 gallons of wax later.... B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft"

    Very cool! Nice work guys
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  11. #10
    Super Member silverfox's Avatar
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    Fantastic. What an honor to be part of history by restoring that legendary aircraft.

    And if anybody still has any reservations about D156, I guess this thread should put that to rest.

    Thanks Meguiars and everybody involved in preserving a machine that helped the greatest generation preserve our freedom.
    In my day we didn't have the Internet, iPods,iPads, or smart phones....but we had some really bad-azz cars.

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