PV-2D Harpoon 84062 (Tanker 101) comes back to life

[TAdan]

Fantastic update Taigh! You and your team have been very busy. Great work and thanks for sharing.

[the330thbg]

Awesome, brilliant, fantastic update!

Question, sir.

What was this part of the aircraft for?

A 'relief tube' for the exceptionally endowed?

Many thanks!

Attachments

[Taylor Stevenson]

Flare gun port?

[the330thbg]

Flare gun port?

well.., there is that!!!!

Last edited by the330thbg on Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[D Hansen]

That's where the fuel line attaches for the fuel tank which sits under the Nav. table...if memory serves it held an additional 200 gals or so(don't quote me on that) And that project looks great!! Flare gun tube goes above that table and the larger flare tube mounts behind the radar operator

[Taigh Ramey]

Awesome, brilliant, fantastic update!

Question, sir.

What was this part of the aircraft for?

A 'relief tube' for the exceptionally endowed?

Many thanks!

Dave gets the Pony, of course since he is a fellow PV-2 nut. It is the filler neck for the fuselage fuel tank, a future project. There is a 165 gallon self sealing rubber fuel tank that sits in that big cavity under the navigators table. Military aircraft, in their fighting trim, rarely have spare room and the Harpoon is no different. Imagine a massive rubber fuel tank right under your nav table. There isn't even any room for your legs under the table as the tank butts right up against the raised center floor board. The navigator, when seated, would have to spread his legs so to speak to be at his table.

The Harpoon was a long range patrol aircraft and they put fuel wherever they could; outer wings, inboard wings, drop tanks, fuselage tank, forward and aft bomb bay.

I have been fabricating the parts needed to install the fuselage tank and I am close. The plan is when the nav table comes out for final finish then the fuselage tank goes in. Just getting it through the door and into place will be a chore. I think Larry was the one to first ask how was I going to get the tank in past the radar station that I was making at the time and I had that goofy look on my face with the question mark parked over my head that said good question. A few measurements later determined that the only thing to be removed is the Radar seat and it should slide by the racks. We will see!

Yesterday Cade welded up one of the parts we needed to fabricate for the fuselage tank and we have a couple of others to do and then we will be ready to install it. The parts are for the flanges that attach the filler neck to the tank and other fittings. Imagine a big 3 inch filler tube from the part you asked about to the tank under the table. Hopefully soon I will be able to show you that installation in photos as we are getting close.

More nav station updates tonight or tomorrow.

[Taigh Ramey]

Above the flux gate shelf is an instrument panel with an airspeed indicator and an altimeter. I have noticed that there are a lot of variations from early to late Harpoons and there isn't much information on this late style panel so I had to scale it up from a few photos. Using existing mount holes, witness marks and photos you can scale the parts pretty accurately.

Starting with the mounting brackets



Incidentally the rusty thing is the flare gun mount. It was/is still installed and needs some work like everything else!

Sometimes when I am on a roll I seem forget to take photos so I have to jump to finishing up the instrument panel.



I found a near matching set of Navy instruments with the munsell green finish commonly found in the Harpoon. It looks like the altimeter is vertically challenged and is in need of some serious care. It's only reading about 6,640 feet high. Isn't that in tolerance? Looks good anyway until I can get it repaired. The cutout for the Kollsman knob is right to the spec's in the AN drawing but it sure has a gap. Another altimeter fits the cut out better but this Navy altimeter is the one to use.



Some paint, correction card holders and cards added and in it goes. I need to find an airspeed correction card.





Next is the nav seat. Once again a lack of photos happens during jam sessions, sorry about the spotty coverage on some of these projects.

A board for the base and the cushion is fabricated and sealed then the seat is fit in place with bushings and hardware.





Then the seat comes back out for upholstery

The Navigators lights are the next project and brackets are fabricated and new old stock lights are fitted along with a rheostat.



With the seat upholstered, installed and the lights in place the Navigators station is becoming more complete.

Before:



and earlier today:

[Fouga23]

It looks nothing short of amazing! Sure you are not planning on repainting the interior? Bit of a big gap now between the aircraft and new fittings. Would be an award winner!

[cco23i]

WOW! Looks TOTALLY different then when we were there in June! OUTFRICKENSTANDING!

Scott

[maxum96]

Taigh, you and your crew are doing an AWESOME job bringing that Harpoon back to life and into it's original military configuration! Keep posting. This is one of my favorite threads on the forum.

[Taigh Ramey]

Repainting the interior is always an option but this is a flying restoration and was never intended to even think about any awards. Sure we could tear her down and do the full blown restoration but it is not economically feasible or even practical for our fledgling organization. The airframe is very sound and cleans up well. Yes we have 66 year old paint and its flaky and bad in places but it is original and is still good.

Right now I would rather the newly painted items wear in and match the original paint than strip the interior and make it all the same color. Like I said stripping and repainting is always an option in the future but it's only original once and I am going to try and preserve and save what it there for now. I have always preferred having an original and authentic example than a shiny new restoration. My stand on this certainly goes against the grain of most of the warbird movement as polish and gloss seems to prevail but that is changing slowly as authenticity gains the respect and appreciation it deserves.

The industry is heavily driven by ego and personal desires for custom work tailored to the guy paying the invoices which is certainly fine but I would rather have a Rosie the Riveter come in and see her original zinc chromate looking a bit worn after 70 years but still flying.

We are getting closer to painting the old gal on the outside and when she is painted she will look great. Frankly I am trying to find a good shade of primer so that when the top coat of non specular sea blue wears off in the normal traffic and maintenance areas it will look like it did.

I have been experimenting with differing coats of zinc and tinted zinc chromate on the parts I have been building for the interior to do the same thing and I am getting closer but I still have a ways to go to get the look to be the same. I know you all are shaking your heads and are now more certain than ever that I am nuts (I'm used to that by now!) but trying to get the new finish to match the old from a wear prospective is quite a project in itself. No bullet proof epoxy coatings that never wear for me anyway. If my customer wants it, no sweat, its just not appropriate for this project.

Enough rambling...for today anyway. Ken, Larry and several friends are coming over to slave away on the old gal so I better get to work.

[DaveG]

This:

The industry is heavily driven by ego and personal desires for custom work tailored to the guy paying the invoices which is certainly fine but I would rather have a Rosie the Riveter come in and see her original zinc chromate looking a bit worn after 70 years but still flying.

is why I sent in a small donation for your project. Looking great!

[Taigh Ramey]

This:

The industry is heavily driven by ego and personal desires for custom work tailored to the guy paying the invoices which is certainly fine but I would rather have a Rosie the Riveter come in and see her original zinc chromate looking a bit worn after 70 years but still flying.

is why I sent in a small donation for your project. Looking great!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

[Dan Johnson II]

It looks great from where I'm sitting. It's nice to watch what appears to be a labor of love, as opposed to a competition.

[peter]

Taigh, it is your project and you do what you think is best. I fuly agree with you that authentic looking interior, paint etc is much better than spanking new high gloss look that most have. Well done to you for trying to preserve as much originality in this restoration as you can