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Restoring an 88

Discussion in 'Artillery' started by Gunney, May 24, 2014.

  1. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    Hey guys, been a while since i have been here, but recently i have started volenteer work at a new military museum near my house. One of the bigger projects that we are working on right now is everyones favourite, the German 8.8cm Flak or the 88 as it is commonly refered to as.

    I will post pictures later today but some of you might be saddened to see the condition its in.

    Thats it for now and i will inform you all of the progrss of the gun same time next week.
     
    KodiakBeer likes this.
  2. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    It is never sad to look at and watch a restoration project. Iit is sad to watch a a piece of equipment rust away to nothing without being able to do anything about it.

    I look forward to seeing the "Before" photos, and moreso, to seeing the "After" ones in the future.
     
  3. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    The sad part isn't the restoration, its the state of the cannon that its in now, someone put two big cuts in either side of the barrel towards the breech with an oxy torch, two cuts in the breech its self and a cut in the left side bearing.
     
  4. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    Wow!

    Did someone go overboard when it was demilled?
     
  5. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    it was decommissioned but someone decided to go overboard with the oxy even tho a simple cut in the breech would have sufficed.
     
  6. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    Here are some of the photos that I promised, some of them show how brutal they were with the oxy torch, the counter poise's and recuperator have been removed earlier. (I didn't have my camera that day)
     
    Martin Bull likes this.
  7. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    here are some more, the flat part in the second picture is where the gauges in the third picture sit
     

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  8. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    The back of the Breech looks real bad with the cuts.
     

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  9. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    I can see what you mean.

    But I am glad to see that she has found a good home.

    Good luck in getting her restored.
     
  10. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    its not going to be easy restoring her I''ll say that much, she's putting up a fight every step of the way.

    And just out of curiosity Takao, what warship is that in your profile picture?
     
  11. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    She's the IJN Chokai, same class as the Takao. I'd been using it over on Axis History Forum since it's 1st iteration many years ago, and kept it when the board upgraded back in 2002. Decided to use it when I joined here since, there are several members on both boards.

    I never could use any of the photos I liked of the Takao since they didn't correctly scale down to fit the old limit of 125*125, as they were all 2 or 3 times longer than they were high.
     
  12. Takao

    Takao Ace

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  13. Martin Bull

    Martin Bull Acting Wg. Cdr

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    What a great project !

    Any restoration like this takes a huge amount of time, but a truly dedicated team can achieve anything !

    Do please keep us all updated.......
     
  14. Skipper

    Skipper Kommodore

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    Excellent initiative and it takes a lot of elbow grease too. Bravo.
     
  15. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    At the moment its only a group of about 5 people including me who are actualy working on it. We have two other people but they are working on the valentine which is just about finished. And surprisingly the 88 hasnt been that hard to take apart.
     
  16. LRusso216

    LRusso216 Graybeard Staff Member

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    Looks like you have your work cut out. At least she has a home now.. Do you have any estimates on how long the restoration will take?
     
  17. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    Hopefully a few weeks to just over a month depending on how quick we get things done. First off we need to weld up the cuts, replace the left hand bearing which had been cut by the oxy torch, we need to get the counter poises back together, get all the major parts and the gun its self in for soda blasting then paint it and then get it all back together. So we got a fair bit ahead of us.
     
  18. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    Here is a picture of the counter poises completely taken apart.
     

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  19. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    Could I get any help identifying this mark? its on most of the internal components in the gauges. I think its a manufacturing mark but im not sure. It looks a bit like this <N> but with a line over the top.
     

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  20. Gunney

    Gunney Member

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    Update time!! The cuts on the barrel and breech have been welded up and the counter poises have been cleaned up and have been re-installed. We are still currently working on the gauges but there its proving to be the hardest part of the restoration. Other than that, all the major pieces should be going into soda blasting very soon.

    the only bad thing is that the file size for the pictures are all too big so I can only upload one or two at a time.
     

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