Does it bother you when a War Bird is restored wrong?

[GtoRA2]

Bodhi
 Good points... I am only bothered a little by most of the stuff. If you need the stuff fore safety, I can understand that, even better if you hide the best  you can though.



On the Museum birds, the reasons you list are just why I find it inexscuable. LOL, I figured it would be easier to restore a static plane cause you could use the warn out stuff.


Toad,
 I have some clue as to the costs, they are so high in general whats a few hundred grand here and there?




  I would rather see an incorect one in the air then nothing at all.


MT I can tolerate and still enjoy the inacuracies of warbirds, hell I can only catch the major things.  Replica cars do nothing for me at all, especialy the fake fiberglass cobras. Now I know the real ones are up past 250grand at this point, but a fake cobra is a fake cobra, just as bad as the fake Lamberginis based on Fieros.

[Nilsen]

ROFL!! Sandman

[capt. apathy]

nice sandman, classy way to handle the letter.

[Sandman]

Originally posted by capt. apathy
nice sandman, classy way to handle the letter.

At no time are you allowed to use the word "classy" when describing sailors.

[Kieran]

Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
At no time are you allowed to use the word "classy" when describing sailors.

Yes, the proper word is buggery.

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by qts
Well, if I'm ever fortunate enough to be seriously wealthy enough to buy a Me 262 from Stormbirds, I'm going to insist it has a proper ejector seat and hang the realism!

Hell, why go for realism on a Stormbirds 262 anyways, they are totally 100% replicas.  The engines produce a lot more thrust then the originals to begin with.  

Don't get me wrong, I am happy to see them fly, but they are 262's only in silouette.

[Pongo]

I think that the best condition original birds should be static onlyl. Fly replicas.
I think they are too valuable and vulnerable to fly.

[Snork]

Originally posted by qts
Well, if I'm ever fortunate enough to be seriously wealthy enough to buy a Me 262 from Stormbirds, I'm going to insist it has a proper ejector seat and hang the realism!

To the best of my knowledge ejector seats are not ever authorized in privately owned birds.

[qts]

Whyever not? There are plenty of private jets around and how else does one egress at speed when at speed?

[Nilsen]

you dich or die in private jets i belive

[cpxxx]

Basically if you own an warbird you can pretty do what you like with it. Paint it purple and replace the wings with those from a Learjet.  But the fact of the matter is that most owners attempt some form of authenticity.

Personally if I owned a warbird it would be as authentic as possible down to a genuine cockpit complete with gun sight. But naturally items like the engine and electrics and any safety related items would be compromised. Cockpit instrumetation would be authentic 'looking' but work properly. In any case with GPS nav is a cinch these days.

My biggest peeve is inaccurate colour schemes, incorrect colours or too much gloss paint and polished aluminium.  I don't like seeing late exhausts styles and four bladed props on early Spits either.

Probably my favourite restored aircraft are from the Shuttleworth collection in England who go for authenticity to the point where sometimes it restricts their operation.  They are as good as they get.

But in fact, as to the question of authenticity, quite frankly many 'restored' flyable aircraft are little more than replicas. A typical crashed warbird pulled out of a lake or a Russian bog had little enough remaining of the original after restoration. All too often the accusation is made that the only original part is the data plate. While that in an exaggeration if you want a flyable aircraft it has to be made airworthy. A half corroded mainspar and mud filled  instruments would be fine in a static restoration but it won't fly.

It's an argument that will run and run but I feel aeroplanes are made to fly and fly they should. But until I win the 50 million super lotto. I won't be able do anything about it.

At the end of the day the easiest thing to get right is the paint scheme. Paint is cheap.

[Delirium]

The warbirds are there for one reason only, no matter how you slice it; they are there to project the thoughts and images of a by-gone era.

I like to see all original equipment, but I'd rather see a replica or something with a modern engine or avionics than no warbird at all.

[vorticon]

it irks me the same way it irks me when someone when someone drops a v8 in a spitfire (the car) then brags about it in classic car magazines...

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by cpxxx
At the end of the day the easiest thing to get right is the paint scheme. Paint is cheap.

You have never researched a paint scheme have you?  IMHO, the easiest thing to do is the Sheet Metal Fabrication.  That is straight forward and governed by the Aircraft Structural Repair Manual, and the Maintenance Manual.  No abiguities there.  It is laid out in black and white and usually involves a lot of bold print when it specifies something very important.  As for engines, we have been using Covington and a few others, but I like that idea, leaves the engine rebuild in the hands of the experts.  We do everything else, wire, plumb, w+b, avionics, everything, that and we paint it too.  The T-6 in my thread of the other day is very authentic, and that means that the research into just that portion involved several 100 hours just to make sure all the details were correct.  That does not count the special stamps that are made to apply warning labels and that ilk, because guess what, for the most part, they did not use stencils at the factory (overspray concerns) they used roll on stamps.  Just one more drive to make things "accurate"

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by Pongo
I think that the best condition original birds should be static onlyl. Fly replicas.
I think they are too valuable and vulnerable to fly.

Well maybe someday when you have the money yourself, you can buy an original airframe, restore it to the tune of several millions and put it in the hangar.  Till then, I am glad I work with people with a better sense of the aircraft's purpose.