1944 C-15A-Wire-5 Restoration

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Hi Harry.

That is indeed a sad looking roof on your WIRE-5. I hope you have not purchased any replacement plywood yet for it. Any choice of plywood you should make will be incorrect. It was simply not used in any of the original factory production of these bodies by Wilson. The product they used was 1/4-inch solid fibre board. What we drill holes into today and call ‘peg board’. The trick is, they cut it into strips and installed it upside down; the rough, checkerboard surface facing up, rather than the smooth finished side.

David

I suspect you need the "Oil-Tempered" Masonite (Hardboard in the UK), as used for construction siding, roof lining, and levelling uneven floors. It's available in 6mm thickness over here (UK), so I would expect 1/4" to be stocked in the US and Canada. It's waterproof (people apparently made small boats and dinghys with it in the 1940s and '50s), whereas 'hardboard' is not and will swell badly when it gets water on it. (The tempering involves linseed oil and baking to polymerize it, but it's possible that the modern version has been cheapened by spraying rather than dipping the sheets.) Worth checking though, and it will take oil-based paint or varnish without difficulty.

Chris.