Vintage aircraft restoration

[JSeward]

Hello everyone,

At the Avalon airshow this year I was simply amazed by the restored Constellation and that got me thinking. Where do they get the parts for the engines and airframe? What would happen if they discovered a crack in a wing spar or something would it ever fly again? What if an engine failed where do they get the parts? Do they fabricate these things themselves?

Thank you

[marianoberna]

If there is something serious, like a cracked spar, probably the plane becomes a static exhibit. Maybe even start 'er up and taxi some. But that's pretty much all there is to it.

Spare parts can always be found, but ofcourse, the rarer/older the plane the harder/more expensive to find spare parts. Usually there is a point at wich making new parts from scratch is cheaper than a spare. And then you don't buy spares, you just make a new piece. What is becoming every day rarer is people trained and capable to fly these machines.

[RetiredF4]

You might look here at MeierMotors

It's a young company 8 miles away from my home. They do warbird restorations from scratch. Lots of pictures there.

Here is their facebook site in english.

[JSeward]

Wow Meier Motors very impressive, does that mean that the aircraft becomes essentially a brand new zero time one if they rebuild everything? Do they do the same parts for the engines as well? I wonder how much it would cost to rebuild one with them.

Thanks

[RetiredF4]

They do lots of engine work themselves, but also use able external contractors for the work. If you are interested in anything, it is a very open minded company. Mail them any question, and i'm pretty sure they will answer in time.

If you like to visit them, it's no problem either. You might even get the walkaround by one of the meier brothers personally.

[john_tullamarine]

If there is something serious, like a cracked spar, probably the plane becomes a static exhibit

Generally, a simple busted bit is at the lower end of the concerns and is amenable to a bit of routine design engineering.

Spares are the concern. Thanks for the link, Franzl .. noted in the diary.

Manufacturing from scratch can become a problem without the data. Reverse engineering sometimes is difficult when it comes to proprietary processes which may have gone into the OEM part.

[LeadSled]

JSeward,
In the case of the Connie, HARS have a complete spare airframe in Arizona. After all the initial inspection and any repairs, the total hours the aircraft is likely to fly means that such cracking is very, very unlikely.
What you can't find ( the engine spares situation is quite good) you make.

[LeadSled]

Manufacturing from scratch can become a problem without the data. Reverse engineering sometimes is difficult when it comes to proprietary processes which may have gone into the OEM part.

John T,
Worth remembering that anything that started of as US military, (in the era we are interested in), the rights and data are publicly held, on the simple logic that the taxpayers paid for it, they own it --- once matters of security are no longer an issue.
It is amazing what is around, I have access to the complete production drawings of the civil version of the T-28.

[Agaricus bisporus]

This outfit is a bit closer to home for you, simply incredible work includes reverse-engineering entire engines, making weaponry and clothing as well as producing numerous WW1 aircraft from scratch. Day's worth of exploring to do on this amazing website.

Peter Jackson (film director) is the man behind it.

The Vintage Aviator | Constructors Of Military Aircraft

[topgas]

When I visited Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight in October 2009, a team were recovering spares from their Connie for the Lufthansa restoration. I think it included the engines and some other bits, to be replaced by non airworthy components, as the donor was static only. In fact it generally looked more than a bit unloved

[Nopax,thanx]

Given unlimited amounts of time and money, anything can be repaired or remade...the Spitfire, for example, has really just two items that one would need to have in hand before a restoration can take place - undercarriage legs and a propeller hub. Everything else can be made, or is relatively easy to find. In the case of the Mk1 recently restored at Duxford, even the prop hub was made from scratch.

It boils down to economics, as with so many things. A Connie isn't worth 20 times what a Spit would be, but it can consume that much in running costs. A spar repair should be quite easy to engineer; some manufacturers don't allow it (P-47 for example) but when exfoliation was discovered on the spars of our P-47 'Snafu' we were able to get brand new spars made in Australia. You would't do that kind of work to a Connie naturally, but a solution should not be impossible, should it ever happen.

[barit1]

Remember the Merlins, the Pratts, the Wright engines were in production for a LONG period of time - two decades or more. In certain cases later hardware was physically identical to early bits, but made with better alloys and processes, so the later bits could be retrofitted to an early engine, making it literally better than new. I'm thinking of valves, master rod bearings, magnetos, parts that might have been troublesome on early engines. Any serious restorer would most likely sacrifice a bit of obscure authenticity for modern reliability.

Am I correct in remembering that CAF's B-29 FIFI is now flying with postwar, late-model R-3350s as opposed to its early, troublesome wartime Cyclones?

And just after WWII, Boeing rebuilt some prewar B-307 Stratoliners, and replaced the wing and tail assemblies with brand-new, available B-17 hardware. In that case it was probably the cost-effective route to modernization.