MVP F86F Sabre Sim Pit - Build Blog

[[MVP] Mugga]

Many thanks to Nathan from the MVP team who managed to source original new stock panels to help complete the external cockpit fuselage structure!

Nathan was also able to source us a nose-wheel cap, which gets installed over the top of the nose-wheel axle nut.

And.... incredibly!  Nathan was able to locate three original undercarriage retraction status indicators, which are not easy to come by!

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[Spitty]

Your lucky the holes lined up:)

[[MVP] Mugga]

Many thanks to the team for tackling the drill-out of all 34 screws from the heavily corroded inspection panel on the left hand side of the cockpit fuselage. Slow and steady won the race today! With all of the rusted screws drilled out, all of the anchor nuts were drilled out, leaving the structure ready for corrosion clean up. Instead of installing all new anchor nuts and hardware, we will instead install the panel with countersunk rivets, as we will never have a need to open the panel again.

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

Another important milestone was achieved today.  After several months of pumping penetrating oil into the gun-sight unit locking mechanism and praying it would free up, the team were left with no option but to cut an access hole into the forward windscreen armor shielding.  The 100mm cut off wheel on the grinder made short work of the alloy armor plating, and in short order the stubborn gun-sight was pulled out of its mountings, possibly for the first time in 45+ years!  The next step now is to complete the removal of the forward windscreen structure and all the cockpit electrical accessories and wiring, the hydraulic plumbing, and all other items.   Once the cockpit is cleaned out and back to just a bare structure, we will give everything a rub back and prime then paint.

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

A slow progress night tonight, with work continuing on the removal of the forward windscreen structure.  Unfortunately, all of the attachment hardware is considerably corroded and proving to be extremely difficult to remove, which has slowed down progress enormously.  We have managed to get half of the right hand side unbolted and hope to have the entire forward windscreen structure removed by Saturday afternoon.  Have included some photos of the structure showing how corroded things are.

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[Spitty]

Needs to be dipped into a big vat of Deoxidine.

[[MVP] Mugga]

15 hours ago, Spitty said:

Needs to be dipped into a big vat of Deoxidine.

It's a little like that in areas!  I am hoping we can have that forward windscreen assembly out of the airframe by Saturday afternoon!

[[MVP] Mugga]

Saturday proved to be a lucky day with the project acquiring an original nose-cone!  Super appreciative to our donor for this great addition.

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

A big welcome to Nathan, our newest Sabre simulator restoration team member!  We wasted no time in giving Nathan a baptism of fire today, getting him straight onto the tools and into the cockpit!  Nathan, AKA "[MVP] MeSSedUp" is also one of our MVP Admin's on Discord and can be often found flying the MVP Server skies!

The team removed the left hand side ammunition tray door today to begin the clean up and refurbishment. The door will require an entirely new skin and a new attachment hinge to complete.  Many thanks to [MVP] MeSSedUp who hit the tools to start this work, was great to finally have him in the workshop with the team.  Hopefully we see him in the shop much more regularly as we progress things.

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

A big thank you to Nathan Eustace who put a solid day into the forward windscreen assembly removal. We had hoped to have the structure free of the aircraft by close out, however, several corroded and stubborn fixings have thwarted things.  You have to see it first hand to believe just how many nuts and bolts hold on the forward windscreen assembly.  Over engineered, but given this airplane was built in the 1950's, they were probably just learning what could and could not be done.

This weekend wrapped up with a thank you BBQ which everyone enjoyed, along with a couple of rounds of cold beers! Thank you again to everyone who has been taking part and enjoying the restoration journey and experience!

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[Spitty]

People dont realize how painful rusty old fasteners can be..Especially if a cockpit is full of them.great work guys.One job at a time.

[[MVP] Mugga]

On 9/18/2023 at 8:06 AM, Spitty said:

People dont realize how painful rusty old fasteners can be..Especially if a cockpit is full of them.great work guys.One job at a time.

So true!  We have managed to get more out of the cockpit over this past week and I will snap some photos tomorrow and upload.  Our goal is to have the cockpit fuselage section cleaned out, primed and painted before the close of November.  That way, we can spend December and January fitting out the cockpit, panels and sim integration.

[[MVP] Mugga]

Took the opportunity to tear down the A4 gun-sight and HUD so that all the components could be painted and made ready for reassembly and re-installation. 

965 came with a complete gun-sight assembly in the aircraft, which included all of the small accessory brackets etc.  These will now be refurbished and installed onto the gun-sight unit that was in the production spare forward windscreen assembly.

The UNCAGED/CAGED placard bracket had unfortunately corroded way, so we quickly fabricated a new one out of 0.25 aluminum sheet stock.  This has been primed and will be riveted back onto the bracket when reassembled.  All original hardware was given a light media blasting and will be painted when reinstalled.

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

An all out effort was put in today to remove the forward windscreen structure with the last of the rusted out bolts and hardware either ground out, drilled out or cut out!  The removed forward windscreen section and associated parts will be boxed up and sent across to [MVP] IndianaShane in Western Australia, where it will be used as part of his F86 Sabre sim pit build.  Hopefully he starts a forum post and we can follow his build too!

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

Managed to get several coats of matte black paint onto the gun-sight HUD frame and accessory brackets.  Once these have cured overnight, they will be given two coats of clear to protect them and to make future cleaning easier.  Without the clear layers, over time cleaning can erode the surface layer paint, so the clear helps provide some longevity.

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

Went back to the workshop tonight to drill out the forward windscreen attachment brackets out.  This was a little easier said than done and  It took turning the entire forward structure upside down to get clear access and managed to burn through several good drill bits removing the fixings that held them in.

The aluminum castings attach to the windscreen hoop frame and tie the structure into the main fuselage cockpit and are integral to the overall strength of the cockpit hoop.  Without them, if you hang on the hoop frame lowering yourself into the cockpit, they're likely to move and fatigue crack.  

When we removed the forward structure of the aircraft we salvaged the brackets as the ones on the production spare have been cut through.  We have now discovered that the brackets are hand-drilled at the factory and do not line up!  NO jigging is a PITA.  I have taken some photos comparing the silver (one recovered from the aircraft) and the green (one from the production spare).  Interestingly the part numbers are not the same either.  Am going to do some research to work out why that is.

Once the salvaged brackets have been cleaned up, we will have to blind rivet them and hand-drill them to match the holes in the production spare frame to get everything to fit.  More work... who said building a sim pit out of 100% original aircraft parts was going to be easy!

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

Managed to get a little more time in the workshop at lunch today, this time focused on the instrument panel and the associated support beam and brackets.  The panel attaches to a back-frame which was salvaged from the aircraft and is cracked in two places.  I folded up an aluminum support bracket and then drilled and riveted the broken sections together..  Tomorrow I will media blast all of the components and then prime and finish paint them.

Got the clear coats applied to the gun-sight HUD frame today.  Will now let these components sit for the next 7 days to cure and harden.

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

Reassembled the A4 gun-sight components.  This will now be wrapped and stored until we are closer to reassembling the cockpit.

Many thanks to Judd from the MVP team who pulled down our worst A4 gun-sight box this evening.  This unit box will be cleaned up and repainted, and the internals modified to accommodate the sim.  This will include the use of an LCD display for the gun-sight, and digitisation of the wingspan adjustment and cage/uncage levers.

[Spitty]

The bane of parts off two aircraft not having holes line up..Cant use a piece of Aluminium rod and countersink the bracket both sides and peen into place?Then sand smooth.I use soft A rivets to plug unwanted holes.

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

4 minutes ago, Spitty said:

The bane of parts off two aircraft not having holes line up..Cant use a piece of Aluminium rod and countersink the bracket both sides and peen into place?Then sand smooth.I use soft A rivets to plug unwanted holes.

 

Will be doing exactly that... filling with rivets and then re-drill to fit everything neatly.

[=RS= Hart]

This is an awesome project, it's a shame the CAC Sabre isn't in DCS, it'd be a fantastic match/equal for the MiG-19 as it stands

[[MVP] Mugga]

The team got back on the tools this weekend, with the cockpit centre console removed for restoration.  All of the console instruments, wiring, relays and switch gear have been removed.  The structure will be media blasted, primed and painted before all of the new sim electronics are installed.

Edited June 4, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

Took a quick scan of the cockpit centre console

 

The Emergency Stores Release handle and attachment bracket have been media blasted and given primer coat.  The attachment frame will be cockpit black, whilst the handle itself will be red with white lettering. There is also a stainless retainer cage, which we are yet to polish.  The assembly will be modified to accommodate an electronic switch setup for the sim pit, doing away with the old wire system used in the actual aircraft.

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga

[[MVP] Mugga]

Great to welcome three new MVP members at the restoration workshop, we are very much looking forward to seeing 'Slaxor' and crew on the weekends.

 

[[MVP] Mugga]

The team made another big push this evening in the workshop with the focus on removing all of the cockpit accessories and fittings. We aim to have completely empty by this coming weekend so we can drag the fuselage outside and pressure wash everything, removing 50 years of accumulated dirt and debris.

Once we have everything de-greased and clean, we will then get stuck into the sheet metal repairs where the structure has corroded.  There is extensive corrosion damage to the flooring on the right hand side of the cockpit, which is the side that had the broken front quarter window.  many decades of exposure to moisture and collection of water has taken its toll.  Around five new floor ribs will need manufacturing so that the floor panels can be properly supported.

There is also extensive corrosion of the alloy structure that supports the stainless steel cockpit canopy rails, as a result of the dissimilar metals.  We will need to remove the canopy rails and clean back the aluminum supports and fabricate flush patch repairs and new channel angles to replace the badly corroded areas.

Whilst it looks terrible at the moment, everything will clean up nicely and when the paintwork is finished it will look like it has rolled off the production line.

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by [MVP] Mugga