MVP F86F Sabre Sim Pit - Build Blog

[[MVP] Mugga]

The aft portion of the forward fuselage was loaded up and has been sent to a workshop where it will have all of its internal accessories removed. Once all of the internal plumbing, equipment and accessories have been removed, the fuselage section will be cut into wall-art sections. Each panel will then be polished up to a mirror finish and will have A94-965 serial numbers and artwork applied.

 

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

Managed to add a shrinker stretcher to the tooling collection this evening, jagging a Hare & Forbes unit off Facebook marketplace.  This nifty bit of kit enables you to shrink and stretch sheet metal components, to help achieve curvatures etc!  Essential if you are doing any level of aluminum aircraft building or restoration etc.

 

[Spitty]

Nice bit of kit.Got one myself...

[[MVP] Mugga]

Added a new Media Blasting Cabinet and English Wheel to the restoration workshop today.  The media cabinet will make cleaning down components much faster and easier, helping speed things up.  The English Wheel is something that I have always wanted to learn how to use, so it is more for the fun of developing skills.

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

Spent the friday evening pumping aircraft corrosion treatment ACF50 throughout the nose compartment of the airframe.  Because the aircraft had been stored outside for 35+ years, much of the internal structure is showing signs of aluminum corrosion, which if left unchecked will continue to eat away at the structure causing further damage.  Whilst we are restoring the forward fuselage and cockpit for static/simulator use, there would be no point letting it unnecessarily corrode away!  Another benefit of flooding the compartment with ACF50 is that it works its way into all of the nuts, bolts and fasteners.  This makes removing them much easier and in most cases avoids having to grind and cut everything out.

 

 

 

After several weeks of soaking the fixing screws we also successfully removed the composite radar nose cover from the airframe, which revealed the Radar Ranging unit!  Such an interesting piece of old technology.  The composite cover has degraded and is badly damaged and will require a replica to be made up.  At this stage we are thinking of building up a balsa wood unit, which will then be used to take a fibreglass copy from.

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

Lastly, we finally got the fixing screws on the aft right hand side fuselage panel, behind which is the hydraulic tank and various fuel senders etc.  All compartments will be cleaned out and given a thorough ACF50 soaking before being closed out again.

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

Managed to get my hands on some more new tools today!  The bench top folder is fantastic and makes those smaller light sheet-metal jobs easy! And, after destroying three phillips head screwdrivers, I have gone and bought myself a good set with a life-time warranty!

 

Took some time today to prepare the cockpit instrument panel glare-shield for media blasting in the new cabinet!  All electrical items were removed, all screws and fixings taken out, placards off etc.  Lots of rusted nuts and bolts requiring drilling and cutting to remove!

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

The above photos are the first pass in the media cabinet with medium glass bead.  The paintwork came off easily and the surface corrosion was removed nicely.  Even managed to reveal a range of component part numbers etc.  The parts will receive another light blasting before they are given an Alumi-Prep scrub and light Alodine coating before paintwork.

 

[Spitty]

Its 5 minutes to learn how to use an EWheel,the rest of your life to Master it..Plenty of stuff on youtube..Lazze is my best start with anything sheetmetal...
Lazze sheetmetal

[[MVP] Mugga]

Got some time after work today to finish cleaning back the instrument panel glare-shield.  Took the time to de-rivet some of the more corroded sections, cleaned them up and then riveted them back together again.  After everything was cleaned back and treated, it was given a quick coat of grey primer.  Once I have the remaining glare-shield accessories and components ready, I will then give everything a coat of black paint and protective clear coat prior to reassembly.

 

More time spent cleaning out the left and right hand side gun bays, which over the past 35+ years have filled with dirt and organic materials of all kinds!  Many thanks to Judd for jumping on the shop vac to get this done!

 

[vicktorkrum]

Great job so far! This is already shaping up to be a great build and I'm excited to see the outcome. Recently an A-4 radar gunsight arrived at a family members workplace, and I thought of this blog. I see you already have a nice gunsight, at least compared to some of the dirtier areas of the aircraft, but I was wondering if you want/needed any parts that might be missing or broken? Thank you!

Edited July 1, 2023 by vicktorkrum

[[MVP] Mugga]

8 hours ago, vicktorkrum said:

Great job so far! This is already shaping up to be a great build and I'm excited to see the outcome. Recently an A-4 radar gunsight arrived at a family members workplace, and I thought of this blog. I see you already have a nice gunsight, at least compared to some of the dirtier areas of the aircraft, but I was wondering if you want/needed any parts that might be missing or broken? Thank you!

 

Thanks for the post and YES!  we are always on the lookout for F86 Sabre parts.  If you have cockpit, console, radio, instruments, switch-panels, lighting or any other parts, please let us know.  You can PM me here on the DCS Forum or you can post a message into the MVP Discord.

Many thanks to our MVP team member Nathan for such a big effort today, making strong progress with the removal of all the internal plumbing, electrical harnesses and other accessories.  Nathan has a CAC Sabre in his workshop which will one-day return to flight.  Many of the parts and accessories removed from the MVP sim pit Sabre will find their way into Nathan's airworthy restoration collection for use as patterns or for spares. 

With much of the piping and items removed, you can now see where the corrosion has been working away at the main structural frames that make up the centre section. Far too many years outside and in the weather with moisture helping accelerate the corrosion reaction between dissimilar metals.

 

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

Several hours of time spent in the cockpit today, removing the instrument panel supports and frame for repair and refurbishment. Time was also spent removing old electrical harnesses, hydraulic and pneumatic plumbing. Over the next month our team aims to have the cockpit completely stripped and back to a bare shell for corrosion cleanup, repair, priming and repainting. Once the structure has been cleaned up we will begin refitting the cockpit for the simulator.

 

The instrument panel support and frame were removed from the cockpit so that they could be repaired and repainted.  Unfortunately, someone has previously tried to pull the panel from the aircraft, bending and twisting the frames.  Some light panel beating got everything back into general shape.

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

Another massive job today was the left hand side forward windscreen quarter panel surround.  This area on the aircraft is extremely corroded and damaged, with all the fixing screws either frozen in, or their anchor nuts corroded off the frames.  The result was four hours of solid cold chisel work to break up the frame sections and to free them from the aircraft.  Plenty of ACF50 has been applied throughout to help loosen up nuts, bolts and screws.  In addition has been some liberal use of the Koken impact driver!

 

[Awger]

Have you tried Kroil?  That stuff is magic.

[[MVP] Mugga]

The team got back into things this Saturday, removing the last of the centre section fuel tank accessories ahead of the tank removal next week.  Once that work had been completed, the focus was back on the removal of the ailerons from the left and right hand wing panels.  First up was the right hand wing, which was lifted onto our heavy duty stands.  Unfortunately the wing access panels that would permit us to carefully remove the aileron hinge pins were all frozen into position with rusted screws and hardware, forcing us to apply more agricultural removal methods.  Enter the recip saw and angle grinder with a cut off wheel.  Some careful cutting and the aileron was free of the wing.  The MVP team have traded the ailerons for a range of cockpit parts and a new old-stock canopy clear.  For those with an interest, I took some detail photos of the aileron mass balance assemblies, which I would be certain very few people within the DCS World would have ever seen before.

[[MVP] Mugga]

A big thank you to our friends at the Mildura Sabre Restoration group for their kind donation of a range of cockpit panels today.  These included the left hand console and side kick-panel, the right hand console kick panel, left hand rudder kick panel, left and right hand floor panels and more.

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

Have done some experimenting with the LIDAR 3D Scanner on my iPhone 14 Pro today.  I have ordered an EINSTAR 3D Scanner and when that arrives we will be taking a range of accurate scans of the exterior and interior structures.  Those scans will then be imported into 3DSMAX and will be used for reference materials.

 

 

 

[Kevin509]

Just discovered this project today and spent most of an entire workday getting caught up on this thread. Wow, just, wow is all I can really say! 

I can't wait to see the finished project, and it's amazing for those of us who love this sort of history but could never afford this type of project to live vicariously through someone else who's really doing it! 

[Awger]

I know it was necessary, but... damn... looking at that grinder ... that hurt.

Awesome LIDAR scans ... I've been playing with photogrammetry lately, results aren't as impressive. I've thought about getting a proper scanner but just can't justify the cost.

Waiting for somebody other than Varjo to come up with a reasonable stereoscopic camera + VR for decent AR/MR (live chroma key) ...  /sigh/

Nota bene, latest patch seems to have addressed several of the complaints re: F-86 gunnery.

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

11 hours ago, Kevin509 said:

Just discovered this project today and spent most of an entire workday getting caught up on this thread. Wow, just, wow is all I can really say! 

I can't wait to see the finished project, and it's amazing for those of us who love this sort of history but could never afford this type of project to live vicariously through someone else who's really doing it! 

Thanks mate!  The project is absolutely awesome... unfortunately I have been a little delayed from getting back onto the tools as a result of a car accident, which has left me with a broken back with the L1 and L2 vertebrae suffering compression fractures.  The good news is that my back is healing and I should be able to get out to the hangar again this Saturday to supervise the team continuing the great work!

6 hours ago, Awger said:

I know it was necessary, but... damn... looking at that grinder ... that hurt.

Awesome LIDAR scans ... I've been playing with photogrammetry lately, results aren't as impressive. I've thought about getting a proper scanner but just can't justify the cost.

Waiting for somebody other than Varjo to come up with a reasonable stereoscopic camera + VR for decent AR/MR (live chroma key) ...  /sigh/

Nota bene, latest patch seems to have addressed several of the complaints re: F-86 gunnery.

 

Don't stress it... this bird was well past any hope of restoration to flight... in fact the centre section wing attach mounts were rotten, so it was unlikely we could have even put the wings back on it for static display.  In many respects, this airframe is super lucky as it has not been turned into pots and pans and will live on as a kick-ass full fidelity flight simulator!

[MAXsenna]

Ouch! Get well soon man, and take care!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[[MVP] Mugga]

19 minutes ago, MAXsenna said:

Ouch! Get well soon man, and take care!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk
 

Thanks mate!  I am on the mend.  They're saying about a month recovery time.

[MAXsenna]

Mugga" userid="93050"] Thanks mate!  I am on the mend.  They're saying about a month recovery time.

Crossing my fingers!

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[[MVP] Mugga]

A big thank you to Nathan from the MVP team who was on hand today to attach the transport wheels to the forward fuselage section!  The rear of the forward fuselage was lifted up using the pallet forklift and a custom set of attachment brackets were then bolted to the centre section box.  Nathan then attached a custom axle fabricated from a set of old FJ Holden stub-axles and wheel hubs!  The assembly was then finished off with an original set of 1953 FJ Holden steel wheels rubber treads!

The front of the forward fuselage section was then lifted using 2tonne nylon load straps tied through the 30mm gun port cheek plates.  With the front of the Sabre lifted, we then placed an aircraft lifting jack under the forward fuselage jacking point to secure everything.  Fortunately the entire nose-wheel retracting mechanism was vastly disassembled, enabling us to easily kick-down the nose-leg into the lowered position.  However, the rotation linkages are all missing, so when it lowered down, the wheel fork was 90degrees to the centreline.

A quick video of the first nose gear drop in possibly 40+years!  As evidenced by the enormous amount of dirt and debris it dropped onto the floor!  Again, many thanks to Nathan for getting things done today. 

Using a heavy duty pry-bar, we then managed to pull the gear fork back to centreline.

The nose-leg assembly and wheel fork have a fair amount of surface rust, given that they had been laying in the belly of the Sabre for the past 40+ years outside in the rain and dirt.