Hey guys, Is there anyone out there with tips/advice or experience they can share on restoring a 1:1 scale A/C?
I’m a member of the local Aviation Heritage Museum, and I have been tasked with the restoration [to museum piece, not flight status] of a Republic F-84. Its in fairly good condition. Basically the resoration will consist of buffing out the canopy, replacing some marker lights and the tires, and a complete repaint of the jet. Soooo…any advice?
Spend a lot of time looking for corrosion and cleaning it up, and be very careful moving it so no damage results.
This is how she sits right now, which is also how she was delivered to us. To date, the only work that has been done is the addition of wood blocks added to prevent the control surfaces from moving and being damaged.
Overall, I’d say she’s in pretty damned good shape. I checked her over real good today, and I actually cant find any rust in the sheet metal. Just a couple of screw heads.
I highly recommend that you get a copy of Robert Mikesh’s book “Restoring Museum Aircraft” (ISBN 1-85310-875-8). This is one of the only books on working with museum aircraft and it really is a good one. Mikesh describes, in detail, the work done at the Smithsonian on their aircraft.
There are two “philosophies” concerning museum aircraft - preservation vs. restoration. Preservation is essentially “cleaning it up” and preserving the aircraft’s components and appearance. Restoration is involves replacing items and repainting so the aircraft looks “shiny and new”. There is much more to both of these schools of thought, but you get the idea.
I’m on the volunteer staff of the Wings Over The Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver, CO (www.wingsmuseum.org) and we tend to fall into the preservation category. As a modeler, I much prefer the original appearance, as ratty as it may look, because the aircraft serves as a much better historical reference than one that has been repainted and fixed. You’d be surprised at how much the aircraft you see in museum’s (even the “good” ones) are altered and stray from their original authentic appearance.
Martin
rocketranger, I agree with you on the point of altered a/c in museums. Luckily, this a/c is an iowa Air Guard jet, and the air base where it was stationed IS available to me, as are some of the original crew. They are able to furnish me with the original paint scheme info. I dont plan on changing one bit about her. I had some ppl suggest I change it to the NMF look, but I say this is a Vietnam baby, she served there, she needs to wear the SEA scheme that she was given.
I work down at Pima Air Museum in restoration…
If you need parts, or information about how to put them together/take them apart, contact the NASM. They generally have manufacturer plans and diagrams, as well as military erection and maintenance manuals that are invaluable. They are often on microfilm, so for a small amount they will print them out and send them to you.