Sea Wolf project

[Cvairwerks]

Dan: I definately know the problems of choice.....One of the things we have done is work to try and keep on top of our variable expenses and a couple of our semi-fixed ones. Val is great about harping on the cable company expenses and getting them to keep giving us the special rates. That alone had clipped about 55$ a month out of the budget. We keep looking for places to reduce expenditures without compromising quality of life. I've cut back on my road and work consumables and trying to completely brown bag it. I figure that I will be able to cut another 100-200$ a month that way when I can totally do it. We've made other choices, all geared to being able to dedicate more dollars to airplanes and hangars. I know that your situation is completely different, but that's how we are working things.

As to the software...I just remembered this morning that AutoCad Lite, while not 3D, is supposed to be a pretty good package and under 75$. Drawings can be imported and updated in the 3D packages later. I've managed to find some readers for well under a hundred bucks for a manual one. You might check with the library in town. Ours got rid of all of their manual units and went to a couple of high buck scanner/viewer/printer combos. I'm not sure where in Wi. you are, but should be able to find a usable unit in Duluth, Green Bay, St. Paul or Chicago areas. Just some food for thought and hopefully some stimulation on making parts happen.

[Tim L]

Hi Dan, I guess I'll make this my first post. Have you checked download.com for any free cad programs? I just did a quick search and found a few. http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tag=fil&qt=3d+cad&sort=&operatingSystems=&licenseType=49&fileSize=&ca= there might be something there that will work.

Good luck with the project!

Tim

[Dan K]

Thanks for the heads-up, Tim; and welcome to WIX.

All you guys could save me some real time and effort if you'd just dig up a center section for me (but where's the challenge in that, right?).

[muddyboots]

Dan, I know this has been asked, but...What the heck are you going to DO with it?

[Dan K]

Dan, I know this has been asked, but...What the heck are you going to DO with it?

You're kidding, right?

Well, I'll tow it around and pick up chicks, of course...what do you think I'd do with it?

Oh wait...that would mean alimony. Scratch that.

Actually, I haven't gotten that far with a prepared answer. Scale model builders finish projects all the time. What do they do when they're finished? Display them for the enjoyment of others? Blow them up with firecrackers? Pick up chicks? (doh! $%@#*, sorry, scratch that). I suppose that if (and that's an extremely big IF) I would ever get it to a point resembling display quality, it might wind up in a museum somewhere. But who on earth would want to display a one-of-a-kind naval aircraft from WWII? Suggestions welcome!

It's just a hobby. Some guys sit in a boat weekend after weekend. Some slap their wives around. I like scrounging chunks of old airplanes and banging metal. Go figure.

[Cvairwerks]

Dan: Thats a whole lot better than sitting around sucking up gallons of suds and watching a bunch of way overpaid, seriously IQ challenged people run up and down a bunch of well groomed airstrips chasing balls and each other!

[Warbird Kid]

Dan, I know this has been asked, but...What the heck are you going to DO with it?

I suppose that if (and that's an extremely big IF) I would ever get it to a point resembling display quality, it might wind up in a museum somewhere. But who on earth would want to display a one-of-a-kind naval aircraft from WWII? Suggestions welcome!

Oh I could think of a museum that be suited for it perfectly.

[muddyboots]

Dan, I know this has been asked, but...What the heck are you going to DO with it?

You're kidding, right?

Well, I'll tow it around and pick up chicks, of course...what do you think I'd do with it?

Oh wait...that would mean alimony. Scratch that.

Actually, I haven't gotten that far with a prepared answer. Scale model builders finish projects all the time. What do they do when they're finished? Display them for the enjoyment of others? Blow them up with firecrackers? Pick up chicks? (doh! $%@#*, sorry, scratch that). I suppose that if (and that's an extremely big IF) I would ever get it to a point resembling display quality, it might wind up in a museum somewhere. But who on earth would want to display a one-of-a-kind naval aircraft from WWII? Suggestions welcome!

It's just a hobby. Some guys sit in a boat weekend after weekend. Some slap their wives around. I like scrounging chunks of old airplanes and banging metal. Go figure.

Do the wongs fold? I can see you cruising the main drag downtown with all the high school beeboppers!

[RMAllnutt]

Thanks for posting these Dan... excellent, excellent work. What original parts do you have excepting the canopies and the flap valve?

Cheers,
Richard

[Dan K]

Thanks for posting these Dan... excellent, excellent work. What original parts do you have excepting the canopies and the flap valve?

Cheers,
Richard

Ah yes...the flap valves. Someone must have discovered a case of those, as I've been contacted by at least half a dozen folks owning one. Sadly the TBY only used one, so my $$ went to the lowest bidder.

Another TBY bit I've seen multiples of are these Parker fuel valves. Since they're stamped "VS" they sometimes get mislabeled as being Corsair valves.



As can be expected, much of the electronic gear (radios, radar, radio altimeter) is identical to what the well-dressed TBM-3 was wearing in 1945.

Sea Wolf bits are hens' teeth, which is what makes Albert's discoveries so valuable. If you've got a chunk of something stamped "VS-2" it came off a Sea Wolf (And if I find out you've been holding out on me... ).

[RMAllnutt]

Hi Dan,
I have a fair bit of VS stuff, but nothing with VS-2 on it sadly, with the exception of the flap valves. I did find a crate with several hundred of them in it. Only bought four or five though. It's very similar to the corsair one. I do have an interesting control stick torque tube that I can't indentify. It's not corsair, and stamped VS. The part number is VS-44123-1. Any chance it's from a Sea Wolf? I guess it could be from a Kingfisher.

Cheers,
Richard

PS. Do you have any VS hardware, not for a Sea Wolf?

PPS. Incidentally, that fuel switch you showed was used in the corsair restoration done by Brad Hoods team a few years ago. I guess they just adapted it. Always wondered what it originally went to though.

[Dan K]

I do have an interesting control stick torque tube that I can't indentify. It's not corsair, and stamped VS. The part number is VS-44123-1. Any chance it's from a Sea Wolf? I guess it could be from a Kingfisher.

Unfortunately I still don't have a complete parts manual yet. The index for the engineering drawings will have the answer, so the next time I pull out the microfilm I'll take a look. I'm guessing it's probably for the OS2U as well. Remember that Consolidated-Vultee was building TBY's, so the chance of using a crossover "VS" stamped part is pretty slim.

Concerning the fuel selector (from my previous pic): Now that you mention it, I don't think the selector itself is stamped, but the elbows attached to it are all marked "VS-2". It hadn't occured to me that the F4U might use the same model.

[RMAllnutt]

Actually, the fuel switch used on the corsair, well, the early ones anyway, is radically different from the unit you have. I believe Vintage Fighters used it as it was in better condition than the original one they had, but I may be wrong.

What parts have you been able to find by the way? It must be an incredibly hard thing to search for!

On another note, and I can't quite remember whether I have the right aircraft here, but back in 1997 I met a volunteer at the MAAM who had worked at the airfield in Reading during the war. He told me that he had personally helped scrap a bunch of torpedo bombers there. My memory is a little flakey on the type though, but they were definitely either TBY's or SB2A's. Do you have any knowledge of this? Either type could have been there of course, as they did build both aircraft in PA.

Cheers,
Richard

[Warbird Kid]

The part number is VS-44123-1.

This might be from the VS-44 Flying Boat. Hence the VS-44. Or it might not be. Dunno!

[Dan K]

What parts have you been able to find by the way? It must be an incredibly hard thing to search for!

On another note, and I can't quite remember whether I have the right aircraft here, but back in 1997 I met a volunteer at the MAAM who had worked at the airfield in Reading during the war. He told me that he had personally helped scrap a bunch of torpedo bombers there. My memory is a little flakey on the type though, but they were definitely either TBY's or SB2A's. Do you have any knowledge of this? Either type could have been there of course, as they did build both aircraft in PA.

Cheers,
Richard

Truth of the matter is I don't own any more parts which are exclusive to the TBY. Every little bit adds another piece to the overall puzzle, but reality suggests that searches for the Holy Grail have probably yielded more success than my efforts at finding Sea Wolf parts.




I don't have many details surrounding the scrapping of TBY's postwar, but Reading is such a short hop-&-a-skip away from Allentown that it certainly could've happened there. Since the SB2A wasn't equipped to handle torpedoes, if your MAAM acquaintance definitely recalls recycling torpedo bombers then he may certainly have contributed to their demise.