Huey, UH1M

[BLK HMMWV]

Those type flying contraptions don't do well when they looses part of the main blades. Planes at least glide. That thing is voodoo magic.
A whole bunch of moving parts beating the crap out of the air around it trying to tear itself apart.

 

[HoveringHMMWV]

I flew the UH-1H and V models. Was always impressed how the T53L13 engines were held in place by only a few engine mount points. Great engineering.

 

[Guyfang]

About 120 klicks from me is a UH1 sitting on a roof. I wish you were here, we could see if the guy would "loan" you a few things. Will see if I can find a picture.

 

[WillWagner]

I flew the UH-1H and V models. Was always impressed how the T53L13 engines were held in place by only a few engine mount points. Great engineering.

You ain't kidding! Two center mount points and a V-band clamp at the inlet. Unless you consider the plumbing and harnesses as mounting points!

 

[WillWagner]

Gave it a bath on Tuesday prepping for paint. It, the paint on it is chalked and faded pretty bad. Some of the volunteer kids did some scrubbing on the tail, what a difference between the color it is to what the scrubbing reveals to what it SHOULD be! Now I know what the dark stripes on the tail section were/are! The dark lines are the original color! After pressure washing, details came out, like the painting of CARC, by whom and when, a couple of other stencils telling people not to push and electrical disconnect panels as well as some instructions for adjustment between the collective and the synchronized elevators. That pic didn't come out good, the surface dried before I could get pictures as well as a CANG stencil on the tail.

Also gave the engine compartment a bath. Looks almost good enough to fly again!

Glad we found out it was CARC'd!

Also, Cardinal Finishes donated some color and the chemicals to apply it!

 

[WillWagner]

Also found something VERY cool! This aircraft, in it's last airworthy condition, was part of the Los Alamitos, CANG.

I got to read, hold the logs for this. Last flight was logged by the pilot as a ferry to Fort Ord for decommissioning. I believe that is where the M% gun site was removed as well as the cyclic stick handles were removed. Read the notes about engine removal and various other items to put on static display.

When pressure washing, I used a small 1300 PSI electric unit, I came across something on the nose, just above the 40mm ammo chute. I gave it a light rub, and more detail came out. After the paint dried, I gave it a light sand....masked of course...and found this.

I did some digging after work, took a bit of time, because I was stuck on Los AL, but then remembered Ft Ord!

I am going to try and find a Fort Ord web site and put this out there to see if anyone has the stencil/drawing. Who knows!

I think what is above the hourglass is a rendering of the helicopter in the image. I need to do some more light wet sanding.

 

[WillWagner]

Also did some work with the engine cowls. The co pilot cowl had the pivot frame/hinge wired up. Had no idea why until I messed with the pilot side cowl. The rod thet the cowl slides outward on and pivots up into the lock position was missing.

I made a new rod. Since we have nothing to glue aluminum together with, I opted for a tap and bolt together deal. Th aluminum tube was something we had over in the metal storage rack that was, well EXACTLY as the pilots side example! The ID of the tube was too big for 3/8 inch and too small for 7/16 thread but perfect for 10mm/1.5 threads!

I fabbed up the tab for the shaft lock, so it won't slide out and it fits perfectly.

The next issue was the rollers for the slide out/pivot frame. Don't get it. The co pilots side was wired up out of the dirt and rain and are/were stuck solid. The rollers on the pilots side were in the track, in the mud and roll like new. Go figure! After using a bit of heat and a large amount of rust getter, the assembly finally came out.

I tried everything I knew, but the little bastages would not break free. Finally thought, "they were put together, somehow, they can come apart, somehow". I could see that there was a plate/washer on the back of the roller. The fastener fit giid into an 1/8 pipe nipple, resting on the plate, but not the roller. Chucked the pipe in a vice, dropped the roller into the pipe, got the micro torch out and gave it a bit of heat and panther pee pee then proceeded to tappy tap tap on the outer ring, and suddenly, things broke loose!

Those are the SMALLEST rollers I have ever seen! No kidding, MAYBE 3/16 inch long and thinner than a stainless TIG rod. Got the inner race, which is the attaching capscrew and the outer race/roller cleaned up. Cleaned the tiny rollers up as best as I could, re assembled and it turned, but was still a little crunchy. I knew it just needed some exercise, so, I chucked the fastener end up in the cordless, used pliers to hold the roller, and put some miles on it!. Flushed it a couple of times, the grease and oil came out black but cleared up to a nice oil color. Now they are soaking in fogging oil until I go back in 2 weeks.

By then I should have the carb kit for the AFKX!

First pic is a good one and how it is mounted on the cowl frame.

 

[Csm Davis]

And here is a few pics of the 40mm cannon mount cleaned up a bit. It is a dual axis, electrically fired device. We plan to mock up a bbl and put it in. I might be able to fill the chute with some fake rounds too. Gotta go see if I can locate some once fired stuff!

View attachment 900126View attachment 900127View attachment 900128View attachment 900129View attachment 900130

Will Mk 19 rounds fit? Or maybe M203? You can probably get some practice rounds from one of the units on base and have EOD make them safe, then paint as if live. I have been wanting to go to Camp Shelby and do so of this same type work at our museum. So envious of the fun you must be having right now.

 

[TundraWookie]

This is really cool to see!

 

[WillWagner]

Will Mk 19 rounds fit? Or maybe M203? You can probably get some practice rounds from one of the units on base and have EOD make them safe, then paint as if live. I have been wanting to go to Camp Shelby and do so of this same type work at our museum. So envious of the fun you must be having right now.

Dunno. There is a place out this way that has been known to have once fired stuff. I do know someone that can load inert 40mm. Things are in the works....

 

[BLK HMMWV]

Dunno. There is a place out this way that has been known to have once fired stuff. I do know someone that can load inert 40mm. Things are in the works....

Will do you know what model 40mm went in that thing originally.
I can't imagine it being like a MK-19 with a top cover .
I can bring my sim fired Mk-19 down and see if it would fit. Maybe see what it looks like with a barrel sticking out.

 

[WillWagner]

Will do you know what model 40mm went in that thing originally.
I can't imagine it being like a MK-19 with a top cover .
I can bring my sim fired Mk-19 down and see if it would fit. Maybe see what it looks like with a barrel sticking out.

M5

One of the volunteers, an ex-tanker, made a bbl out of wood. Haven't seen it yet, probably tomorrow when I go pick up a trailer.

 

[Csm Davis]

Dunno. There is a place out this way that has been known to have once fired stuff. I do know someone that can load inert 40mm. Things are in the works....

Okay so did some wonderful reading, I grenade launchers, and your M5 could have used either round. There was an upgrade, just try a M203 dummy, if there is lots of slop then the longer Mk19 will be your setup.

 

[WillWagner]

I went to the Museum today. ANNND, being the dip shiat I am, saw the manufactured item and forgot to snap a pic. It looks fine for a display piece. Nobody will know it ain't real.

The cowls are painted....again, no pics. 1970's army aircraft green, not the dark CARC green.

 

[flashbucks]

Will, have plenty of time in rotors from my AF days, including UH1H. To bad the engine is gone as they had an electric starter that rotated everything until the jet lit off. would have been cool for spinning the blades. Great job ton the bird so far.

 

[BLK HMMWV]

I went to the Museum today. ANNND, being the dip shiat I am, saw the manufactured item and forgot to snap a pic. It looks fine for a display piece. Nobody will know it ain't real.

The cowls are painted....again, no pics. 1970's army aircraft green, not the dark CARC green.

I stopped by today to drop off the Smoke discharger parts for the Sheridan.
Checked out your hard work.
I can work on something for the blades but the one blade tip is kind of crusty. you sure you want to make them rotate?
I'm all in if you do.
I think we should get the red strobe on the exhaust cowling active too!!
BH

 

[WillWagner]

I stopped by today to drop off the Smoke discharger parts for the Sheridan.
Checked out your hard work.
I can work on something for the blades but the one blade tip is kind of crusty. you sure you want to make them rotate?
I'm all in if you do.
I think we should get the red strobe on the exhaust cowling active too!!
BH

Yeah, the rotors are pretty messed up. I was thinking the same on the strobe and other lights, but, nobody there in the dark. Did you see the tail rotor? It is in the shop. Came out good!

 

[WillWagner]

A small update on the gunship. BLKHMMWV and I got the tail rotor on today, looks good and looks REALLY good while everything is rotating! Sorry, no pics or videos of that, Craig took aa video, but I can't figure out how to send it to my phone or e-mail, file too large.....

I did a bit more sanding on the nose to try and bring out the last image on the co-pilot side nose and the pilots side.

Here is a pic of the pilots side. "Ready AND Forward", Bison standing on a twisted black and yellow rope. This belongs to the 10th Air Cav which is a descendant of the 10th Buffalo Soldiers. The tenth was part of the 7th Inf light at Fort Ord.

10th Cavalry Regiment (United States) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The other insignia I have not figured out. It is a triangle over a circle. The triangle sides are lightning bolts, the circle has lightning bolts and there is a snake in the center of the triangle as well as a motto under the triangle that I could only recover a few letters from. I believe the letters are, OCHA D or O DE. Cannot make out what is before the O or ater the E. If anyone has a clue, please enlighten me!



And here is a sketch of what I see....don't make fun of the snake, I'm a diesel mechanic, not a Picasso!

 

[319cssb]

this has to be my most favorite thread so far. Love seeing the progress and close up photo's

 

[jeffhuey1n]

I spent the majority of my career working on UH-1’s, mostly UH-1N’s. I would give my left one to get a hold of a Huey, any model, any condition. Stashed around the nooks and crannies of my barns, I’ve got a few parts I acquired over the years. Think flying bench stock. I hated getting stuck somewhere because a piddly little thingamabob decided to break causing me to spend the night in some flea bitten, should have gone out of business 100 years ago, hotel. Got lots of stories, one of which involved the stabilizer (stab) bar.
Someday I’m going to get a helicopter to beautify as a parade/static display tribute bird.