The Seabee Project Blog

  The Seabee Project Shop Is Now Live! December 20, 2022 Check out our brand-new online store by visiting www.theseabeeproject.com and clicking on shop, or by clicking HERE . Our shop includes many Seabee-inspired designs, which can be purchased on a handful of products including, shirts, crewnecks, hoodies, stickers, mugs, water bottles, phone cases, etc. If you would like one of our designs on a specific product, that is not listed in the shop, you can order directly by emailing us at theseabeeproject747@gmail.com. New designs and products are being added weekly so check back frequently to discover the newest Seabee Project merch!

Seabee's At The Store! November 26, 2022 Out of complete coincidence, on July 9th, 2022 (The day we picked up our Seabee), Hallmark released their 2022 Hallmark Keepsake ornament series, which included a Republic RC3 Seabee . I had assumed that these would only be sold in limited quantities, and only in the U.S., but I was delighted to see that they had one on display when I entered my local Hallmark store today. I searched the boxes and was pleased to see that they had many in stock (10 boxes to be exact) but also pleased to see that many had already been sold! I believe that Hallmark's choice to create an ornament of such a unique and historic aircraft will help to bring more attention, enthusiasm, and interest back into the Republic RC3 Seabee and hopefully help further grow the Seabee community. Sculptor Lynn Norton was in charge of making this design and I believe that he did an excellent job at recreating every single detail the Seabee has to offer (he even included hull

 All About The Como Air Harbor Association (1946-1979) November 25, 2022 In 1946, our project was first started under the name, Como Air Harbor Association, located in Hudson, Quebec, and owned and operated by Alastair Grant, an avid aviation photographer, enthusiast, and proud owner of Republic RC-3 Seabee, registered as CF-ECV (S/N 516) . Alastair wrote about his Seabee in AOPA's "Vox Pilot" paper, in August 1950, saying, "I am the owner of a Republic Seabee, and I have been highly satisfied with the operation of it during the last three years. The Seabee is an ideal plane for private flying in Canada where we have--especially in the eastern section--many lakes and few airports. I thought you might be interested in this photograph [see cut] of my plane on the ramp leading to the hangar beside my house at Como, Que. The Seabee can run into the hangar easily under its own power at about half throttle even though the ramp is quite steep. When I take the plane from t

  November 2022 Updates November 12, 2022 As of the date of publication, we have: -Acquired a handful of new parts including, control surfaces, cowling parts, seats, hull parts, and much more. -Installed and connected the water rudder -Started paint stripping -Fully cleaned the inside of the aircraft and have begun removing seat rails and electrical cables ...as well as much more behind the scenes that will be revealed shortly!

 September 2022 Updates September 18, 2022 As of the date of this publication, we have made a lot of important progress, in the background, for both of our projects.  In terms of the Seabee, we have arranged to purchase numerous new parts including, doors, floats, replacement nose panels, control surfaces, wheel parts, cowling parts, etc. We have also begun stripping paint from the aircraft using EzStrip , an eco-friendly paint-stripping alternative. In terms of the Bumble Bee model, we have now completed 3d modeling a design for the wooden skeleton (photo), which we will begin physically building in the next few weeks.

  August 2022 Updates August 7, 2022 As of the date of publication, and the 29 days since we picked up our aircraft, our team has fully cleaned the exterior of the aircraft, as well as pulled out the hydraulic system and other loose pieces that were inside the aircraft. It may still not look fully cleaned, but let me tell you, even 5 boxes of 12 magic erasers isn’t enough to fully remove every spec of dirt that’s been caked on the airplane for the last 76 years, so for what we’ve done so far, I’d say we’ve done pretty well… Especially when you see the difference between the cleaned and uncleaned sections (Right) . We’ve only just begun and there is so much more work to do; Hopefully if everything goes well we’ll be able to open our exhibit by the end of the fall of 2022 where visitors will be able to see the current state of the project as well as learn about the history of the aircraft and amphibian aircraft in general. Additionally, we hope to add a second aircraft to our collection,