Spitfire IX Project

[Matt Olieman]

Absolutely AMAZING Tony. WOW!!!! I agree with Joe.

Matt Olieman

[Tony Hill]

Thanks guys...

I have been doing some flying and maintenance lately, it is great to get back to actually "creating" something!!
I must say, I am happy and getting better at making alu stuff....still suffering from severe impatience when I get to painting and "is the paint still wet?...ahhhh, fingerprint" itis is a common disease!!

Darryl

[1995Dada]

Hmm, maybe you can, while paint is drying, make some high-quality parts like that for me?

[Tony Hill]

Honestly, you wouldn't be so keen if you saw some of them up close.


Some more pics in the near future. I now have the seat parachute, K Dinghy Pack and a few other things in...the parachute necessitated the seat being lowereed by 2 1/2" which was a pain, as the bearers were solid jarrah..hard as **** to cut down.

I've also just picked up a "Ground/Flight" switch, which was about the only thing I still need for the conversion to Mk V.

Darryl

[Westozy]

as the bearers were solid jarrah..hard as **** to cut down.


Darryl

Not surprised with your bandsaw!!! LOL

Gwyn

[Tony Hill]

Ok, Ok, I'll get a new blade.....

[Westozy]

Ok, Ok, I'll get a new blade.....

Make sure you count your fingers before you use it after that blade change, quick stocktake!!!

GP

[Tony Hill]

Ok, a while since I had anything concrete to show (and I have actually been doing a bit on the F-16 again in between) But here is the latest:

Vent Control added under starboard coaming, Oxygen Stopc ock added, (also added a "Cockpit Heat" control which actually controls oxygen flow height) and an undercarriage warning horn cancell switch...all functional. The wires for these are all hidden in the pipework so everything mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic or cabled appears to work like that and not by electrical toggles, pots, encoders or limit switches as they actually do.

Relasered some gauges (notably the AH) , added all the pipework (mostly from aluminium but some polyethelene and some brass), added proper gun button (thanks again Tony!!) all to tighten up on the details...

Added a couple of PRU specific items (mudflap release on starboard , Amp and OAT gauges next Landing Lamp Control)


And also some general tidy up work, fuse boxes and the start of the Mk V modifications..(fuel pump switch, Oil Dilution Pushbutton and guard)

I have a ground/air switch here but I am still trying to confirm whether they were actually on the Mk V originally or have been added to the modern restorations.

Anyway, enjoy...






























And the result of some fossicking around the traps

[Tony Hill]

The biggest news I have is the arrival of an 900cm carriage lathe and a medium sized milling machine, which have allowed me to start to build what remains of the door latch (the completion of a project that fell through..)
and to build the primer mechanism out of all brass.
A small side project replaced a cracked plastic retaining block in the radiator shutter lever with an aluminium one and replaced the plastic button with aluminium also.
Slowly I am building the skills required to finish off the sim to a standard I can be happy with and this should lift my work up another notch or two!!
After the indefinite deferral of the Spit Mk V, I am now thinking seriously about converting the cockpit back to a Mk I but with "some" updates. Actually these will be "regressions" from where I am now but will look like updates.
I plan to make "blank" covers for the second fuel gauge and button and for the flaps gauge. These will then look "deleted" even though they never actually made it to the cockpit in the first place.
The undercarriage control unit is tweaking my conscience a little....if the other upgrades were done, it is almost certain that the current powered hydraulic unit would have been fitted...but the Mk I hand pump is just SOOOOO damed cool and
I now have the gear to build it.
The real thing:




Of course it would mean relocating the slipper tank tap/release but I think that is a small price to pay. I may relocate it to where the map box should be low and left or rear right ... or I may just put it in a box next to the old U/C Unit....or sell them both.
Choices, choices, choices....of course Gwyn will throw a FIT!!!!!!

The P8.....


The compass. The spider is mounted on a stepper motor and board hacked from a Flight illusion cessna compass that used to just be mounted in the main compass body. That compass was a whisky type and so the spider needed to be made to fit on top and the compass card had to be removed altogether.
The outer ring rotates to set course, the stepper turns the spider and it all works just like the original...which is NO compliment, I assure you!!! (see earlier post)

Cockpit and new screen also the extra Navigation Panel with ADF and the "second engine" panel on the right


A small detail but it all helps..the Cabin heat label now on (this encoder actually controls oxygen flow altitude/rate)


The Primer mechanism...a slide pot which will use FSUIPC to send "open", "pump" and "close" codes to the sim via FSUIPC at different points on the axis. The brass rod is threaded so the primer lock can still be screwed closed/open. It will be tapped into the primer pump handle.


The hardest job so far, really, the door latch. The latch handle and rods were made for me (swapped for some laser work) but I've finished them from the rough blanks. The latches themselves were a lathe/mill combination job,my very first!!! with the square hole of the latch guide being hand finished. The claws are made from round and square steel stock and threaded together (saving me using an independant 4 jaw chuck to turn them and mill them from a single square piece.
I'm quite happy for a first try at "fitting". Making things "mate" is not at all easy
The whole assembly so far:


The (front) claw and guide assembled... square holes are fun!! The finish is reasonable but not perfect..it does look a bit better "in person", the light of the flash does emphasise the ares that are not perfectly smooth....still, no excuses.



The claw of the rear latch..the second guide is still to be machined when I get some time.



And finally, an aquisition from yesterday, the very rare and, in this case still fully functional, Harness Recoil Reel. This will make the Sutton Harness fully functional and allow for the extra cockpit checks on takeoff and landing.


Not much to happen over the holidays as I am off trekking over mountains again....getting too old for that, just haven't realised it yet!!!

Darryl

[Tony Hill]

Some very rough work on the door. This has proved to be a real challenge in that the factory drawings were inaccurate in the cockpit area so the whole sim is an inch too long. I have managed to "make" the door latch stretch but the proportions look a little off..never mind.
The real door is quite a work of art, very thin and strong and with a beautiful piano hinge base that pivots the whole thing out. It also fits snuggly into a designed recess, which was beyond me whilst using a wooden frame and plastic skin. It took me a wasted wooden blank, a small sheet of ali and about an hour to work out I was NEVER going to get it made like it really is!! So I settled on an "outside" fit of the skin, along the edge of the door "hole" in the sim and will use two or three ordinary door hinges. I wanted the door to "look" thin from the inside of the cockpit, so I made it thick enough to be strong but then made an inner skin which makes the whole thing LOOK thin when viewed from each side (and also gave me a useful cavity to hide all my dodgy joins, crossbraces and gluing!!)

I also found that to "look" square, the thing actually had to be made "out of plum" which was REALLY annoying until the outside skin went on and then it all LOOKED square...amazing and I can't explain it...just don't put a set square near it!!

So....The door itself, outside view.


And inside.


The Door latch, now attached to the top spar and complete except for fitting the aft latch claw and guide. The latch claw is made but the guide is this weekend's problem (hopefully).






The way it works..pivot point in the centre and rotates away, retracting the claw.