Still plugging away on the F-84

[Clifford Bossie]

This week I got serious about polishing out the plexiglas. I started with a sander, using finer and finer grit and then followed up with the automotive polish used on plastic headlight lenses. This is the right side which I have yet to do:



And the left side (which also has a way to go).:



The national insignia are completed with the exception of the lower wing:



Next week I hope to have the various wording ready to take to the art shop to have stencils made. I have created some of it in Corel Draw, but am also still lacking some of the information:



There were at least four variation of the ejection seat warning triangle on the camouflaged F-84Fs, but I have settled on this one:



Maybe by Christmas we can roll her back out into the sun.

[peter]

Wow you can see the difference inthe canopy already! How complete is the cockpit?

[The Inspector]

Using a MOCROMESH kit will make that plexi look like brand new. It's lots of effort but with grits down to 24000 you will get a 'show car shine' plus when you're done, no one will want you to get them in a head lock!!
Check for them @ the auto paint supplier store. It's lookin' better every time you update!!

[Tiger Tim]

Looking good! Will the canopy get some sort of anti-UV treatment when it's done?

-Tim

[cooper9411]

Don't settle on the cheapest micromesh kit on the market, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

[Rauhbatz]

Hi CB...pls share more specifics about the canopy polish process...would love to do that on the crazed section of the Newark OH F-4C.....

[Pat Carry]

Looking good. Keep up the good work.

[BHawthorne]

My eyes are a bit off. I'm not making out two tones of green on the cammo?

[cwmc]

I think it's the lighting, I can see it on the wing but the fuselage is really hard to see.
Chris...

[Clifford Bossie]

Wow you can see the difference inthe canopy already! How complete is the cockpit?

Unfortunately the cockpit is gutted We have been looking for a doner aircraft, but have yet to have any luck. We have considered making the side consoles and instrument panel from scratch.

Hi CB...pls share more specifics about the canopy polish process...would love to do that on the crazed section of the Newark OH F-4C.....

It is pretty much a brute force process. I used a pneumatic sander starting with 80 grit paper and then moved to 240, 320 and 360 grit. After that I used my trusty hand drill with a polishing attachement. With the drill I applied plastic headlight cleaning polish. The canopy glass was pretty pitted, but so far my method has worked. After all is done I hope to use something that will give some UV protection.

[quote="BHawthorne"]My eyes are a bit off. I'm not making out two tones of green on the cammo?[/quote

The two shades show up much better in person than in photos. I am anxious to see the end result when we roll it out into the sun.

[gary1954]

I am not a jet fan, or a fan jet, but in the world of Jets, I love this airframe, along with the F-86 and the Phantom....Tough aeroplanes

Great job on the glass.

[BHawthorne]

It is pretty much a brute force process. I used a pneumatic sander starting with 80 grit paper and then moved to 240, 320 and 360 grit. After that I used my trusty hand drill with a polishing attachement. With the drill I applied plastic headlight cleaning polish. The canopy glass was pretty pitted, but so far my method has worked. After all is done I hope to use something that will give some UV protection.

Hrrrm, interesting idea on the resurfacing the canopy. I've got some hairlines and haziness on the surface of mine. The hairlines don't look to go any further than the surface at the moment. I'm seriously pondering pulling the canopy in the next few weeks. Thinking that the expansion and contraction of winter temps and open air is only going ot make those hairlines worse. I need to pull mine while it can still be reversed. I'm wondering if this wouldn't be a way to redo my canopy also. Sure beats the experimentation, expense and labor involved in vacuum forming a new one. Especially when mine only has surface issues. I am also worried aobut UV eating them up once resurfaced though. I'm sure there has to be some UV coating that could be buffed or sprayed onto it once polished?

You mentioned redoing the cockpit interior. I'm working with a few other projects to help them with measurements for their cockpit projects too. You can also see the renovation we did on 52-9089's cockpit in my sig link. A few of us just purchased A-4 gunsights for three F-84F projects from Aerosource in Florida. Not sure if he has any more A-4 gunsights though. It was a pain just finding these. They are Canadain Sabre pulls, but just the same as the ones for the F-84F. I do have a spare A-1 gunsight, but it's only correct to the straight wing F-84s. It was going to go into 52-9089 before I found the two A-4's I have now. If you still have the stick, the throttle quad and ejection seat the rest can be readily repopulated. I have the parts catalog with exploded diagrams and the full microfilm set to look up the technical drawings for all the pieces for reproduction as needed. I'm having to work through these things anyways assisting a few other F-84F projects.

[Clifford Bossie]

It is pretty much a brute force process. I used a pneumatic sander starting with 80 grit paper and then moved to 240, 320 and 360 grit. After that I used my trusty hand drill with a polishing attachement. With the drill I applied plastic headlight cleaning polish. The canopy glass was pretty pitted, but so far my method has worked. After all is done I hope to use something that will give some UV protection.

Hrrrm, interesting idea on the resurfacing the canopy. I've got some hairlines and haziness on the surface of mine. The hairlines don't look to go any further than the surface at the moment. I'm seriously pondering pulling the canopy in the next few weeks. Thinking that the expansion and contraction of winter temps and open air is only going ot make those hairlines worse. I need to pull mine while it can still be reversed. I'm wondering if this wouldn't be a way to redo my canopy also. Sure beats the experimentation, expense and labor involved in vacuum forming a new one. Especially when mine only has surface issues. I am also worried aobut UV eating them up once resurfaced though. I'm sure there has to be some UV coating that could be buffed or sprayed onto it once polished?

You mentioned redoing the cockpit interior. I'm working with a few other projects to help them with measurements for their cockpit projects too. You can also see the renovation we did on 52-9089's cockpit in my sig link. A few of us just purchased A-4 gunsights for three F-84F projects from Aerosource in Florida. Not sure if he has any more A-4 gunsights though. It was a pain just finding these. They are Canadain Sabre pulls, but just the same as the ones for the F-84F. I do have a spare A-1 gunsight, but it's only correct to the straight wing F-84s. It was going to go into 52-9089 before I found the two A-4's I have now. If you still have the stick, the throttle quad and ejection seat the rest can be readily repopulated. I have the parts catalog with exploded diagrams and the full microfilm set to look up the technical drawings for all the pieces for reproduction as needed. I'm having to work through these things anyways assisting a few other F-84F projects.

I have not been able to work on this project much in the past two weeks and probably won't have much time next week.

We have an A-4 sight and if we bring the airplane inside I might very well install it. Wish I had the reference you have! The parts breakdown is something I have been unwilling to shell out the money for.

Our airplane is no longer anonymous! (As the airframe appears to be made up from at least four seperate donors it was hard to choose one, so I chose 52-9089 as I have a photo of that one in Texas ANG markings. And as Brad can attest to the actual 9089 is in the Kansas Aviation Museum.) Next week I will touch up the serial and paint in the stencil lines.

[The Inspector]

WORD OF CAUTION!!! DONOT sand in circles!!! use an overlapping X style like on a custom car paint job, use constant, medium pressure and keep the water flowing!! Also have a squirt bottle of dishsoap and water handy to spritz on the plastic as a lubricant.
If you sand in circles and expect to fly using that windshield you will have horrible distortion headaches and solar rings in the window. Also try to use a sanding block that will conform to the surface or you will be sanding flat spots in a curved surface

[BHawthorne]

Hehe, that'll be sufficiently confusing considering I maintain and crew chief the real 52-9089. It doesn't have a data plate in the rear firewall of the cockpit? When you look at the starboard rear firewall next to the ejection seat half way up it should be there, just obscured a bit by wiring bundles. Should be both the manufacturer and the USAF data plates. Not to dissuade you from it, but a few warbird registries will be a bit confused. I'm sure there are plenty of Texas ANG F-84F serials that no longer exist in any form. Why not use one of those serials?

We've totally repopulated and redone the interior on the KAM F-84F. We used reflective material insert in the canopy to keep the sun from eating it. Whenever I'm out at KAM on Saturdays we pop open the canopy and let people check out the cockpit. Also do that with the 737 and the KC-135. Just waiting on the winter to be over and I'll mount the A-4 gunsight finally. I really do need to touch up paint the aircraft. We repainted the white underside a few months ago and power washed everything. Most of the ramp time and budget went into the T-33 and the B-47 repaints at KAM this year. Now that those are detailed out I'll have more time for the F-84F. Bird droppings seem to be pretty asidic and the areas popular for the birds to sit need repainted because the paint is eaten through. I hope to have it a bit more presentable in the spring. At least up to the detail of the interior.

WORD OF CAUTION!!! DONOT sand in circles!!! use an overlapping X style like on a custom car paint job, use constant, medium pressure and keep the water flowing!! Also have a squirt bottle of dishsoap and water handy to spritz on the plastic as a lubricant.
If you sand in circles and expect to fly using that windshield you will have horrible distortion headaches and solar rings in the window. Also try to use a sanding block that will conform to the surface or you will be sanding flat spots in a curved surface

I seriously doubt any F-84F will ever fly again. That being said the best I can do on the windscreen and canopy resurfacing the better it'll look. Both 51-9345 and the real 52-9089 need windscreen side windows resurfacing.