Relic MG81Z (L) Top Cover / Belt Feed Mechanism

[peregrinvs]

Not strictly speaking an ordnance item, but I thought you might find this ongoing restoration project interesting.

 

[peregrinvs]

Purchased at the Stoneleigh Militaria Fair in January and a bit of a last minute whim purchase. I didn’t even know it was for an MG81 until I got it home. A combination of Sodium Citrate (poor man’s Evaporust), electrolysis, penetrating oil and a plastic hammer has been gradually getting it apart.

 

[peregrinvs]

Made by Wagner u. Co. GmbH of Mühlhausen (gal) and it’s from the left hand gun in a Zwilling (twin) mount. Sadly no date marking, although I believe the Zwilling version was made from 1942 onwards. In a nice bit of synchronicity, the first flight of the Boeing 747 was in 1969.

 

[flak18]

Made by Wagner u. Co. GmbH of Mühlhausen (gal) and it’s from the left hand gun in a Zwilling (twin) mount. Sadly no date marking, although I believe the Zwilling version was made from 1942 onwards. In a nice bit of synchronicity, the first flight of the Boeing 747 was in 1969.

Excellent job....so nice to see items like this come back to life. Keep up the good work

 

[peregrinvs]

Further progress. I have got the ejector assembly apart. Pretty good condition for something that has been in the ground for 80 years.

 

[peregrinvs]

Finished.

Everything has been cleaned, reblued, oiled and reassembled. All the moving parts only require finger pressure to move - quite a contrast to January when everything was completely frozen with corrosion.

Well almost finished. A final icing on the cake would be highlighting the well preserved markings with white paint. (Well why not? It’s only ever going to be a display piece) Unfortunately I don’t have a steady enough hand and the pitting means you can’t just dab it on and wipe away the excess.