Warbird Information Exchange

I recently acquired an F-86 Sabre jet Mach meter, made by Kollsman. The paint is flaking off the pointer. Being an early 1950s instrument, I'm sure the original paint is both radioactive and lead-based. How do I handle removing the old finish? I doubt there's enough radioactivity or lead there to cause an environmental calamity or be dangerous to me ... right?

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Dunno, there's a medium sized freak out going on right now over the long closed/ignored instrument repair shop @ Magnuson Park on Lake Washington (former NAS Sand Point) in Seattle, so wear eye protection or you're liable to get poked in the eye from all the finger pointing and creative blame shifting.
Call an instrument repair shop and ask, if no, you're good to go, if yes, maybe they can replace it with a new one done with 'glow in the dark' paint.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

If you're that worried, just sand it under running water.... & try not to drop it down the plughole in the kitchen sink

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.

Or sell it and get a better guage..
sand it under running water.. seriously...

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Cheers,
Peter

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I use old pointers as toothpicks. Haven't had a cavity in years! What, me worry?

People built and worked on these for decades. Some died from the effects of radiation, more probably died from the effects of smoking.

My recommendation is to do what you need to, just use some care. of course I'm not a doctor OR a representative of the EPA.

If it is painted, I would dip it in paint stripper, then throw the stripper residue away. Eating the paint or breathing the dust is probably your biggest worry.

It's not bs, it works just fine!

Feel free to elaborate about how that doesn't prevent you breathing dust from sanding?

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Those who possess real knowledge are rare.

Those who can set that knowledge into motion in the physical world are rarer still.

The few who possess real knowledge and can set it into motion of their own hands are the rarest of all.

I didn't mean it doesn't prevent you from breathing it in.. its just a way of getting rid of a harmful substance.. cest le vie.. if it were me I would either live do with it or replace it with a better one.

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Cheers,
Peter

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if the radium is olive green & cracking then it is deteriorating. caution should be exercised by wearing a good dust mask, or respirator & rubber gloves. your tv & microwave oven emit more radiation then that single instrument.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Ugh. I'm currently involved retiring an active duty aircraft to a museum and the de-mil requirements are staggering. One of the biggest items on the checklist is to survey the aircraft for "radioactive material". Instruments, circuit breakers, flight control counter balances, etc. It's painful. A special test set has to be used that picks up Alpha and Beta particles being emitted. Once the "contaminated" items have been identified, they have to be removed potentially destroying/gutting the appearance/integrity of certain aspects of the aircraft.
One museum official told me that it has gotten so bad in the last two years, "If you donate a baseball cap, it has to be scanned for radiation and all of the proper paperwork documented."

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."