Demolition clears way for construction project Published Sept. 2, 2010 By Wayne Crenshaw 78 ABW/PA ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Work is under way on the second most expensive construction project ever at Robins, the Advanced Metal Finishing Facility. The first phase of the project is demolition of buildings 148 and 128, which began a couple of weeks ago and will continue for about another month. Work will then begin on laying the foundation of the new building. Including the cost of the building and the equipment, the project is projected to cost $60 million. Only the C-5 De-Paint Facility has been more expensive. The Advanced Metal Finishing Facility, however, might top the list for complexity, said Julian Fant, project engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers. "I've been doing construction management with the Corps for 27 years, and this is the most technically-challenging job I've ever done," he said. The Advanced Metal Finishing Facility will house the Plating Shop, which uses an array of hazardous chemicals to put anti-corrosive finishes on aircraft parts. The new facility will be much more automated and employ a number of robotics, both of which will significantly reduce employees' exposure to chemicals, said Bob Reynolds, 573rd Commodities Maintenance Squadron director. Operations in the new building will also produce significantly less hazardous wastewater. "We will be giving our people a much safer and more modern facility in which to work," said Reynolds. The project is slated to be complete in March 2012. The buildings are next to the road leading to Gate 38 into the flightline. Allowing traffic to use the road during demolition and construction was deemed too dangerous, so the gate was relocated. Bldg. 148 was constructed in 1944 and Bldg. 128 in 1953. The Plating Shop uses a chromic acid solution in an electroplating process to apply a protective coating on aluminum parts such as C-130 propeller blades and other parts that make up the C-130 propeller and hub assembly. The shop also applies protective aluminum coatings via an ionized vapor discharge process to aircraft parts made of carbon steel, including bushings on the C-130 propeller barrel, and carbon steel aircraft parts manufactured in base machine shops.