Warbird Information Exchange

And so it begins...These holes have not been filled with rivets in 45 years. Even had to make a custom bucking bar to get in the area.



Had to modify a bucking bar to fit

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

These clip assemblies anchor the outboard upper vent skins to the wing. So, how long does it take to put a little bugar like that in? A friggin hour! The rest were easy.




Looks innocent enough. Except for that tiny black hole where you have to get two washers and two nuts down.


These are the easy two...


Waaaayy down there is one and just under the return flange is the other.


Invent-a-tool along with screw drivers and scribes to place the washers. Never knew how many magnetized scew drivers I had...grrrrrr. Get the washer on and the take it back off stuck to the screw driver. Ha!


RH shown...

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Scott: Use a drop of superglue to hold the nut on the wrench. Also a drop to hold a washer to the nut, just don't get crazy with a lot of the glue. Let the glue cure for a minute or so, then stab it.

Some times I will even tack glue the nut directly to the end of my finger in order to get one down in a tight area!

Rainy days and Sundays...looks like seven days a week for awhile. Today was Sabre gear door day. Cleaned, stripped, painted and polished. Today was reassembling the nose gear strut door assembly and polishing that and the main gear doors.

Before...love that silver paint






Maybe better...




Main gear door cleaned and painted


Oh yeah

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Some more Sabre "Cosmetology" from the past weeks.

I just can't say enough about this product so I am posting more examples from the past few weeks. The Green Deoxidizer goes on first and takes the aluminum to a clean white state. I don't wipe it off or wait for it to dry. I go right over it with the PMP, Purple Metal Polish and you see the results.

I found micro fiber cloths at the dollar store, three for a buck. I use them and throw them away. Get you some...search them online.

Nose gear door.








Elevator






Leading edge

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

So, original '57 cockpit was wrinkle finish, dark gull grey flat paint color. Best I could come up with was to use wrinkle paint in black and will lightly over coat with the proper FS grey.

Once you figure out the process of painting to achieve the wrinkle, should go well. Eastwood's wrinkle paint, tried others to less than acceptable results.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Canopy deck...The prolific grey spray bomb hit here as well. Cockpit will be pristine and when those lucky enough to be allowed on the wing to view the cockpit, deck must look as good.









Most will be masked and left as seen here. The deck will be painted the dark gull grey flat to avoid any reflections into the canopy.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Elevator tips recovered from years of ramp rash...aileron tips next.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

F86 Turtle Deck Finished

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Misc F86 Progress pics

Back on it's gear


Nose gear door mounted




New aileron tips as the old ones were not worth repair


Vert going together


Fuselage polishing going on

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Drop tank sealing...We are resealing the two joints and new gap seals for the fins. Very simple construction but still had to be expensive to make.

Cork O-ring seal of old to be replaced with rubber O-ring thanks to sabremech.


Gap seals to be replaced


Stripper gotta go..


A peak inside...

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

Mellow yellow...As promised, green primer to yellow chromate...




How many tools does it take for some simple riveting? A bunch plus one "dull tool" doing the work.



These, of course are parts that were pitched back in the 70's. The long rib had all the nut plates installed. These fasten the partition that separates the oil cooler air from the intake air to the upper wing section.

The Tee section is a removable part that ties the lower section to the upper. Nut plates go where your fingers can't. The screws are just for fit up, AN bolts will be the final. That giant green squeezer did the 3/16" rivets without even breaking a sweat.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

I'm really glad that I recently invested in some new sunglasses
'cause man, that is gonna be one shiny Sabre!

Still really enjoying this awesome thread

Thanks so much for sharing this with us Scott.

Andy

More tank work. Inside the 120 drop is an interesting place.







Earlier we found witness marks of a fuel leak from the welded seam of the center section so now is the time to seal it and make sure all is good.


Center section


Forward section

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."