Warbird Information Exchange

Fiftycal: That statement combined with questions you have asked in another forum shows that you are very new to restoration work and aircraft structures work. Your understanding of how to restore what you have appears to be very limited. The current line of RV aircraft were designed to be built with very little in the way of hard tooling. A P-39 was designed to be built with lots of hard tooling and quite a bit of soft tooling too. Trying to build up a wing kit with nothing more than matched hole technology to mate with a center fuselage that was built with hard tooling and keep all the necessary structural relationships correct so that it will fly correctly, is an extremely difficult task. I believe that all of the P-39/63 rebuilds that are flying now, used coordinated hard tooling between the fuselage and the wing construction.

Understand that I am not trying to knock you, or curb your enthusiasm, but having been involved in restoration and new production of aircraft for more than 35 years, I have a way different view of what you are working with, without having seen anything but the few pictures on your ad. We have had people pop up over the years with lofty goals and wildly unrealistic expectations, coupled with beginner skills sets and have ended up with severely bruised ego's and extraordinary doses of reality when things didn't happen as they planned, or where it was pointed out that they needed some skills development. No matter what, the final outcome we all want, is a structurally sound and correct flying aircraft that is a testament to the restorer's skills and knowledge.

Cvairwerks i can assure you everything is being done correctly, im just saying you dont need to send things to a shop, they are far stricter here than even the US, every part comes with 10lbs paperwork

Please reread what I wrote. I never said the work had to be sent to a shop. I never said it was going to be done incorrectly. What I said was that there are only a few shops that would have the ability and likewise very few individuals that could and would take on a restoration this complex. And, of those shops and people, most are already booked ahead so far that it would be years before they would consider taking on a project like these.

Reading thru your posts on the other board, shows that you are very new to the restoration world and have a very small skills set right now. It's going to be a real challenge to you with these projects and I wish you well. It's going to take a lot of time, materials and budget along with lots of scrap to get these going. Even with all the years I have in restoration and production, I still am learning new skills as the years go by., and have scrapped my fair share of parts during fabrication.

Any pics of these racing Mustangs with the F-86 tails? I've googled and can't find anything. Thanks.

I think thoe Ebay projects are okay. Their best use would be to use as a basis of a static restoration . Many Me-109's and other aircraft has been restored to that level in Europe. If you wanted a flyer, it would make much more sense to buy one of the replica Oscars or a P-39 project that is much more complete. There are a few better options than trying to restore one of those to airworthy condition. First of all, the Oscar is too rare to justify flying. A static or taxiable build would allow the most original metal to be retained..

To go even further, Precious Metal doesn't have a P-51 fuselage either. It was a purpose built fuselage entirely designed for racing and accepting the Griffon. Mustang components can be bolted up to it, like the tail cone, wing, and scoop, but it did not in any way start out life as a stock P-51 fuselage.

To add the ebay projects thread, I have decided to put my Seversky P-35 replica up for sale. With my SNJ-2 project going, I need to concentrate on finishing it. PM or email david@P-35.com for details

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Seversky-P-35-Wor ... nav=SEARCH

Sorry to hear that - hope you can find someone equally enthusiastic about the plane to take over the job.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

oh man, that sucks. Im very sorry to hear your giving up the project. Wish I lived closer.

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It is not so much giving up, but giving someone else the opportunity to carry on with this project.

When I started 12 years ago 3D CAD was in its infancy and 3D printing was almost nonexistent. Through the years I have garnered allot of resources, but always hoped to find a benefactor to sponsor the project.

Last year I was very lucky to come across a very historic SNJ-2 project (will announce particulars when paperwork is cleared up) and now am focusing on restoring that aircraft.

I have an opportunity to purchase a huge lot of parts for the SNJ that were not originally included with the project and am trying raise the funds. I am negoiitable

have you done most of the cad work properly and is it ready to tool path and cut?

how much of it is done? is it just meant to be for a representation or is the cad work done to make an actual aircraft?

Well, to define "properly" yes I used the services of an engineer and top-shelf CAD software for the (re)design. I also was able to access the Planes of Fame AT-12 to double check measurements

The problem is the original Seversky drawings were somewhat deteriorated, mixed up between versions and incomplete. As a result some drawings had to be reverse engineered. Another problem was the extrusions