Discovered this forum and thread, and thought I'd add my nickel's worth. First of all--I'm Rob, and I am the crew leader for the Hellcat's resurrection. The plane is now in the hangar--still on it's nose, and we're continuing the dissassembly process (and still mucking out ton's of silt and lake bottom deterius.) My previous project was the Dauntless (36177) that headed off to Pearl in December. There are a lot of differences between the two projects--the most obvious is the difference in the material condition of the two planes. The Dauntless was recovered in '95, prior tothe mussel infestation and it had relatively minor corrosion on most ofthe aluminum--Only where the alclad coating was disturbed (severe bending, or stretching) was the aluminum corroded--and then it was nearly eaten away. The SBD used a 24ST metal in most of it's sheetmetal--this has a copper component, which adds strength--but when exposed to a dielectric, produces galvanic corroson. The SBD's brought up this summer (currently in storage in our warehouse--awaiting restoration) were infested with mussels, and everywhere on atttached it self, was a little oval of corrosion from the slightly acidic secretions. On all the aircraft--all steel parts were badly rusted: major things, like struts and arresting gear could be cleaned, treated and repaired--but springs, linkages and such nearly always had to be remade from scratch. The inboard flap mechanisms on the Hellcat are so fragile (steel) that I'm not certain I'll be able to remove them in one piece--or in good enough condition to use as a pattern to duplicate. Likewise,all the est of the smaller steel parts. Anything magnesium is completely gone--just a white slime that hardens to the consistency of stone.
PREVIOUS PROJECT--SBD-5 36177
Concerning the Hellcat: we brought the cowling in right after it was removed. The lower part--the air scoops, were crushed pretty badly, but the rest only needed some hammerwork to bring back to true. We cut the outer skin off, and straightened the underlying structure and the inner skin--then straightened the outerskin and welded it back in place. The skin on the F6F fuselage is a 52 series alloy, and is much thicker that the Dauntless's skin--so, even with the mussels--the skin is usable in a non-flying status. If it were to be made airworthy--it'd likely need most of the skins relpaced. The horizontal stabs are a different story. they were built light--out of what appears to be 24ST--about .032 thickness and the skins are like swiss cheese--definitely not restorable--even where there's metal left--it's no more that .010 or so in lots of places. Underneath, the structure is the same, and we're currently remaking 1/3 of the ribs on each side due to severe corrosion.
We've removed the main fuel cell, and are in the process of removing the wing cells, so we can clean out those areas. I don't believe that thes items were ever intended to be removed--they sure don't want to come out--they're pretty much bonded to the airframe, after all this time. the oil tank ws crushed from water pressure, and we cut it apart along the original welds and reshaped it and welded iot back together.
So far the work has been a bit random--until Monday--the plane was still on the washrack, being cleaned and we worked on whatever assemblies we could bring into the hangar. Some, like the cowl and oil tank are nearly finished--others, like the stabs, have a long ways to go. Some, like the seat, will have to be remanufactured.
The wings: Bad--less that three feet remain of one side, and about five feet of the other. They'll have to be completely rebuilt--probably less that 10% of the original structure on either side is useable. Verical fin, rudder, ailerons, stbd flap, canopy, landing gear doors, controll linkages and cables, and a host of other things (and we're not even talking R-2800, yet) need to be found, scrounged or made from scratch. So these planes end up a lot like my great-grandfather's axe--(it's gone through three handles and a new head)-- a lot is not original by the time the project ends. Just the spirit of the thing.
Not sure on where the plane will end up yet--not a major concern down on the deckplates, here. We just look forward to the challenge of making it look like it could fly.
BTW--standing the plane on it's nose makes it real simple to work on the underside of the aircraft. If you've ever spent much time working underneath one, drilling cutting, fitting, riveting, etc--you'd know how difficult it can be. Those tools get mighty heavy, the shavings and such continually rain down onto your face, and you get a real crick in the neck from facing upwards. We can pull the landing gear, and do lots of other things, too, eliminating balancing the bird on cradles or jackstands, as well. Cockpit access is great--you can work from outside--your body doesn't get in the way, either. We make stands for each specific aircraft, and attach them to the engine mounts. Too bad we can't do that for the Coronado, in the next spot over.
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