Warbird Information Exchange

Today we were able to determine that we have a good engine and that it won't be a big hangup. I changed 2 combustion liners with repaired spares that I already had. I pulled one more can so I could get to the leaking oil scavenge pump. I'll send it out and see if it can be sealed up. I don't know if it makes sense to do this as there aren't any gaskets in the pump and it's relying on machined surfaces to maintain a seal. We'll see if we can plug the leak for a little while. We also disconnected the connections in preparation for removing the engine. I'm working on a setup to pull the engine and hopefully be able to use it for some of our other airplanes if necessary. Rental of a sky track to hold a 3000 lb engine is more expensive than I thought. I'm looking at a Gantry crane that is adjustable and portable. We pulled the flaps off to check for clearance and I made a mockup of the legs out of 2x4's. Tomorrow I'll see if my idea will work.
That's about all for today. I forgot my camera,but will take some pictures tomorrow to post.
David WHF Maint

David,

I have researched the F-86 for many years and your pics are among the very best I have seen! Outstanding! I have a request.

I am currently building 3 scale models of the Sabre... one in 48th scale another in 32nd and the last in 18th scale. I have several thousand pics of the F-86 and some great line drawings but one area remains elusive. The rivet pattern on the wings.

Do you have any pictures showing how the rivets are laid out on the wing particularly the anodized wing walk areas?

Also I am doing a 32n scale J-47 and a Sabre with the empennage removed so if you have anymore detail shots of your annual check I can use all you have and thanks for posting them.

Mike

Hi Mike, Next time I'm at the hangar I'll see what I can do. Not sure if the rivets will show well through the paint, but I'll take some photos.
Speaking of rivets here is a photo of the spar strap mod to help keep the wings on during High G's.

This next photo shows the rear trunion fitting and the gear downlock mechanism.

This photo shows the aux hydraulic pump. This little electric motor powers the auxillary hydraulics to the primary flight controls and will cycle on and off by pressure switches. This happens automatically if you lose your normal hydraulic system. This same pump will function in emergency mode when you pull a handle in the cockpit and provide 4000 psi continuous until the little electric motor gives out. If you lose that, your options become pretty limited.

I finished opening up the tail section and now all of the cables and hydraulics are exposed for inspection. There are a ton of hydraulic filters to change and they are all over the place. There is one visible in the photo up in the tail section
David

Is the spar strap a factory installed item, or is that something that was added later in life? Just curious.

Thanks for the updates.

Gary

Hi Gary,
It's my understanding that it was added later in life. I'm not sure when it was added to ours, but my suspicion is when it was in Argentina as they lost a few of these to the wings departing. I think we gave them 28 airplanes and they lost 17 of them for various reasons.
David

David,

Thanks so much for the pics... this is great stuff. Was a Marine grunt during the Vietnam era... after I got out flew the mighty Cessna 152 for a while here in Ann Arbor but now I just teach high school kids and build models of mostly Sabres.

The 1/18th scale bird is just begging to be super detailed and at this size the rivets will really look good. It seems that in most pictures the wings get neglected and most plan form drawings only do access panel fasteners not rivets. Have invested many hours filing sanding and correcting the kit panel lines so I'm going to wait for your pictures to make sure I get it right.

This big 18th plane is a hard wing 6X3 version so I'm either going to do it as McConnell's bird or possibly Lt. Henry Buttelman youngest ace in Korea. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I will really be able to apply your open panel shots to the 2nd kit I have started. It's the old Hasegawa 32nd F40 slatted wing late Japanese license airplane. I cut the 6X3 splice out of the wing and took the extra scale foot off the length so now it's back to "E" model specs. Have re-engraved the fuselage but again am waiting on wing documentation. Hasegawa included a really great J-47 (a model in itself). I have 2 of the original kits from Japan which included metal burner cans, the engine cart and the rear fuselage dolly. With the detail your pictures provide it should do the F-86 the justice it deserves.

I'm thinking of doing it as Maj. George Davis's last aircraft. Although no pictures exist of the plane he was killed in I was lucky enough to locate some surviving ground crew with the 4th at the time of the Davis shoot down and have solid information on what his plane looked like. Anyway I do ramble.

Thanks again, your effort is appreciated.

Regards,

Mike

I'll include a couple of shots of the 21st Century Sabre I have hanging in my office. This one is pretty much stock. I did repaint the gun blast panels, exhaust area, wing walks and a few other dissimilar panels.

Hi Mike,
Those models look great. I'll get you the shots you need. There is another Sabre on the field here that is under restoration and the wings have been stripped of paint. I'll see if I can get some photos of his wings as well.
David

Mike,
Here's a few of the J47 installed. If you need more pictures of detailed areas feel free to let me know and I'll make it happen.
David
WHF Maint

David,

I feel like one of my kids at Chritmas. The clarity of the shots is just magnificiant. Are you using a digital SLR? Great pictures!

Hey some bare metal wing pictures would really get it done. The revits in the wing are usually hard to see under paint. I have some really really good highly accurate rivet pattern drawings in 48th scale of the fuselage but the artist does profiles only so he didn't do top down wing renderings. I can make my own from pictures this good... you are a God send.

Next time you pull that engine completly out if you could take a few pictures of the hoses and wiring. I'm going to try a duplicate as much as possible. I have only seen one of these built up right. And it was done in Japan. A shame as the kit engine is really very good. Also (I'm getting greedy now) a shot or two of the formers and stringers would get me going on that as well. I'll probablly display the engine completely out showing the plumbing on the inside of the fuselage. Also these is a mysterious gizmo on the very bottom exterior of the rear fuselage. It looks like some sort of hook or tie down. Some of the kits have this but it invariably gets destroyed when you glue and sand the 2 halves together. If you think of it shoot a pic of that whatever it is? I better stop now. I'm getting a little to excited.

I'll include a few shots of one of my Sabres in progress. It's the 32nd scale ejection seat and some of the decking around the cockpit. I'm going to add a little more detail after seeing your pictures.


Thanks again,

Mike

Well Mike it looks like I can help you out on what you need. As sson as I get my hoist, I will be pulling the engine out. Plenty of opportunity to get pictures. You have my curiosity up as to what might be on the bottom of the fuselage. Off the top of my head I can only think of the vent tube. i'll look tomorrow. Almost forgot, I have an old Sony digital camera which does OK. Send me your e-mail address and I'll send you what you request. My e-mail is cstaffeldt@wi.rr.com
David

Well the real fun began today. Inspect, inspect and inspect. I spent close to 3 hours on the fuselage tail section today and wrote up a bunch of little stuff. A few things of concern, but nothing I'd consider major. I'll be back on the project Wednesday and start on the rest of the fuselage. I've taken pictures of just about everything I've opened up so far to document it on CD for our records. I'll post a couple of photos of the hydraulic compensators mounted in the tail. There are 2 of them, one for normal and another for alternate flight controls.



We finished taking out the 4 oxygen bottles as well today and will send those out for hydrostat testing.
That's all for now. Thanks for looking.
David

Any chance of a small video clip showing her running up after it is all through?

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Cheers,
Peter

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Peter,
Sounds like an excellent idea to me. I am hoping to do some videos with a helmet cam chasing a Mig. We've talked about it, but haven't put it together yet. When we do our ground ops check, I'll aquire a video cam and document it.
David
WHF Maint

Being restored to fly?