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Sd50 Tail Fin Restoration

R

Rockteer

Well-Known Member
Hi,

It's that Sd50 again! thanks to all those who educated me on what type of bomb I had, need further educating please! What fuse would have been fitted to this type of bomb??

Also, I am planning on restoring the aluminium fins but they have sustained some damage, it raises the age old question restore or not to restore.

Option 1 as I see it. Make an ali skirt and fit over the top of the damage and wrap around the bomb leaving the fins untouched underneath but at least it will look complete from the outside.

Option 2. Cut a piece of ali to the exact shape of the missing section and use a plastic weld paste to weld the piece on and then sand and paint.

Option 3. Is it possible to weld onto this material (I think not).

Option 4. Leave as is.

Would appreciate your thoughts.
 

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Rockteer said:
Hi,

It's that Sd50 again! thanks to all those who educated me on what type of bomb I had, need further educating please! What fuse would have been fitted to this type of bomb??

Also, I am planning on restoring the aluminium fins but they have sustained some damage, it raises the age old question restore or not to restore.

Option 1 as I see it. Make an ali skirt and fit over the top of the damage and wrap around the bomb leaving the fins untouched underneath but at least it will look complete from the outside.

Option 2. Cut a piece of ali to the exact shape of the missing section and use a plastic weld paste to weld the piece on and then sand and paint.

Option 3. Is it possible to weld onto this material (I think not).

Option 4. Leave as is.

Would appreciate your thoughts.
Click to expand...

Hi Mate
There is a chance that a good tig welder would do it,as you could make a lower section just below where the screw holes are and put a new section on.
If you look at the composite of the ally and it looks like aero bubbles dont weld it as it will just blow and blow.
If the bomb body is good and you personally think you want to re construct it then why not:tinysmile_fatgrin_t.
there is the option for gluing it back together but ally is a pig for glues to take to.

Keep us posted on the outcome:tinysmile_shy_t:

Best phil
 
..or if you want to sell it,i have a minter SD50 just crying out for a set of tails! ;)
Nothing like a hard approach!

Notice the wink smilie,only having a laugh with you pal. :egg:

cheers

waff
 
Last edited:
waffenamt said:
..or if you want to sell it,i have a minter SD50 just crying out for a set of tails! ;)
Nothing like a hard approach!

cheers

waff
Click to expand...

Interesting set of fins there bud no wonder they changed to steel,as these
were cast as one:eek:oh:

Best phil
 
Phil,Is that part of the bomb body stuck inside those fins as i can see screw holes?

Rockteer,the bomb had a 25 or more commonly a 55 im told.

cheers

waff
 
hi rockteer i agree with phil cut the broken section off and make a new one

regards lee
 
Ok, this may sway things a little, got a buddy to try the tig on a small area and it wouldn't take at all, I think this is cast from mag alloy. The other problem is that the top collar of the tail fin tappers and I can't think how I could make another one to fit it? any ideas.

Waff that is part of the tail assembly inside, one hell of a casting. If your SC50 had fins I might be tempted!

I believe I have a fuse that is suitable and also came across a genuine lifting eye that should fit this bomb.

I have started to remove the bad paint job and found a base coat of red oxide, would this have been original or should I not worry and strip it?
 
waffenamt said:
Phil,Is that part of the bomb body stuck inside those fins as i can see screw holes?

Rockteer,the bomb had a 25 or more commonly a 55 im told.

cheers

waff
Click to expand...

Hi Mate
No what that is is a locating ring which slides into the rebated bit on the back of the bomb,like a step down.

The holes around the sleeve are for screwing the tails on the back of the bomb:tinysmile_fatgrin_t

Best phil
 
I gotcha, by removing the paint I am hoping to free the screws up (with a lot tlc), the bomb casing is missing the base plug, if you happen to have one as a door stop somewhere I would be very interested! I am also cleaning out the fuse locking thread on the bomb casing but the thread looks a little worse for wear which I would think is normal. The casing is coming up nicely, much of the lumps and bumps was just old paint the steel is better than I thought underneath all the paint.
 
Rockteer said:
I gotcha, by removing the paint I am hoping to free the screws up (with a lot tlc), the bomb casing is missing the base plug, if you happen to have one as a door stop somewhere I would be very interested! I am also cleaning out the fuse locking thread on the bomb casing but the thread looks a little worse for wear which I would think is normal. The casing is coming up nicely, much of the lumps and bumps was just old paint the steel is better than I thought underneath all the paint.
Click to expand...

Forward of the fuse pocket towards the front should be some date stamps
and waff marks.

Try using a high speed wire wheel and they should appear.

This sounds like the tailfins are maizack or a very low grade alloy which will
be very hard to weld without the edges bursting up.

will have a good think on this one.

Best phil
 
Rockteer,
Have you actually got the rest of the bomb and this is the broken section that you have pictured in post#1?

cheers

waff
 
Hello Waff, yes I have the casing (was put up for identification a while back), I am new to collecting ordance so needed an ID on it as I was convinced it was an SC50! and was about to embark on making a tail fin, so am very glad I checked first!

Thanks Phil, look forward to your thoughts.
 
Screw cut tube !

Rockteer, that is a nice tail section you have there and it would be a pity to ignore it especially if you have the "business" end too !

Have you considered approaching a local machine shop who maybe able to thread the rear internal diameter and screw on a skirt made from Aluminium tube ?
It may be worth enquiring further.

I am with Satan on the material, most likely a very poor quality alloy and if it is "Maizac" then there will not be a lot that can be done with it welding wise-machining or filling would be the most likely options.

Good luck and we all look forward to seeing how it goes.:tinysmile_shy_t:
 
Hi Chris,

I am I right in saying that if the internal is threaded and the skirt inserted that the damaged section is outside or is this cut off? not sure if this will cause issues when fitting to the bomb? it is a pretty tight fit already.

Would look good if this could be done though.
 
Well found link!

Rockteer,I have a baseplate that unscrews off my SD50. Perhaps you could have one made up using my example?

cheers

waff
 
Rockteer said:
Hi Chris,

I am I right in saying that if the internal is threaded and the skirt inserted that the damaged section is outside or is this cut off? not sure if this will cause issues when fitting to the bomb? it is a pretty tight fit already.

Would look good if this could be done though.
Click to expand...
Hi the only thing i can think of is making an internal former
and rebuilding what you have in fibreglass.

There is no invisible way of joining a new peice that would be strong enough
and you cant disturb that inner band as it locates on the back of the bomb.

If you use whats there as a template then at least you have control of the job and can work at your own pace with it.

There must be some good re constructive products out there that will do the job.
It would be a light weight repair that would preserve whats left of the sleeve,and then you could use a good body filler to hone the shape.
Not a perfect solution but one that could produce good results if your carefull.

Any elaborations on this would be good:tinysmile_fatgrin_t
Best phil
 
Fibreglass.

All in all Rockteer I think Satan has the best approach as it is rather "No nonsense" and a good practical approach to a difficult to solve problem.

The idea of making threads would be difficult and of course expensive when it is outside your control.

Best of luck.
 
Hi, Yes I agree I think this may be the only option and at the end of the day it preserves the tail assembly as is. It would have been nice to have done a permanent restoration but then again you can only do what is practical. Unless another tail assembly turns up then I think this is the best solution. I am guessing that a complete unit will be hard to come by. I guess many suffered a lot more damage than this example. One should be grateful for what I have! I have now stripped off that awful paint job and will post pics soon. Still seems to have a base coat of red oxide, and I am trying to decide whether it is original or not. My guess would be that it is unlikely that they would have worried about a base coat at all?
 
Rockteer said:
Hi, Yes I agree I think this may be the only option and at the end of the day it preserves the tail assembly as is. It would have been nice to have done a permanent restoration but then again you can only do what is practical. Unless another tail assembly turns up then I think this is the best solution. I am guessing that a complete unit will be hard to come by. I guess many suffered a lot more damage than this example. One should be grateful for what I have! I have now stripped off that awful paint job and will post pics soon. Still seems to have a base coat of red oxide, and I am trying to decide whether it is original or not. My guess would be that it is unlikely that they would have worried about a base coat at all?
Click to expand...

Some bombs were just painted one colour as they came out of the factory.
I think red oxide or the similar colour was an applied coating which i have seen some SD2s done in.
This would have looked like base coat but would have been actually the finish coat.

What i have seen in some of the deepest nooks and crannys in my bombs
is top coat only which in those days would have been oil based or as we no today synthetic finish.

chances are that the coating you have uncovered would have been it,but for the authentic colour you want RAL6006 olive grey green.
80% matt 20% gloss,with 1k etch primer for the fins.

Best phil
 
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