Spitfire IX Project

[Tony Hill]

The door with more detail and the bottom rail and hinge fitted. Tomorrow I will paint it after finishing the last latch guide.


Why I haven't finished the last latch guide...
Not sure whether it is "completion anxiety" or attention to detail (let's call it attention to detail, eh??) but I didn't like the nice chromed head nuts that I had used on 1/4 bolts to secure the links in the door latch...so I spent the time available designing making and installing four brass cotter pins, as per the original.

These are 20mm long, to fit 4.6mm diameter hole and the end hole for the split pin is 2mm!! Obviously I am not going to win any machining contests just yet but I am pleased with the way they came up and all four are machined pretty much identical specs.





Temp fitted....

[Tony Hill]

I guess I will just have to admit it is "completion anxiety" after all. After a late night and, um, a single drink (or maybe two) which went to my head I couldn't face the guide today....
But I DID notice that the cupscrew that is the axle for the door latch did not look right...so I turned a faux locking cap for the axle and it came up quite well.
I did manage to break my parting tool in the process (on aluminium no more/less!!) but that was not wholey uexpected as it was never quite "right" for my lathe. I will now search for a new one.




The real thing:




And a quick start to the paint job for the door:

[Tony Hill]

...I have now finished the door, its associated locks and the door pier and slots for the fitting. I confess that until recently (last year) I really ahd NO idea how solid chunks of metal became"things". I guess there are not THAT many people who have been living under rocks or exclusively in an office, (like I have) for 30- 40 years but for those who have, I thought I would post somee shots of the door latch guide making process.
I should say, I am probably BOTTOM of the heap here as far as metal work goes...but I hope someone else who is scared of the stuff will get some inspiration to try it!
To start I drilled the 16mm hole in the end of the bar stock, which hole will eventually become the square hole in the guide.I did this first as last time I learned that the cut down guide is not very stable in the vice, after large portions of material have been removed. Then I began to carve away the centre of the latch guide.
You can just see the edge of the hole in the right of the picture as the cutting beins.




As material "disappears" the shape starts to look vaguely familiar.



The first (front) side finished, now time to start carving out the rear part.




(The middle swathe will be taken out last. On the front latch guide I used a 20mm cutter twice which caused some vibration etc..so this time I used a 16mm with a slower speed and that worked better..but meant three sections had to be cut instead of two. Time vs tool vs material..there is quite a bit to get your head around with this milling lark!!)





The job starts to look even more like a latch guide. (about an hour and a half to here with setting up, measuring and cutting)

Next, testing size, position and general comparison to the front guide.



Domed rear end of guide started (at this point there is still over 1mm finishing cut to be taken off one side, you can see the hole is not central) This just fit with the bar stock size and not having to trim BOTH sides of the bar (another simple thing I had to learn LAST time!!)


The small cutter machining and fine hand filing begin to convert the round 16mm hole into an 18mm x 16mm rectangular hole with squared corners.


An hour, some fine hand filing and two broken 4mm cutters later, the claw starts to get close to fitting into the (only now) "squaring" hole.


Finished, fitted and painted. The door on half lock. Just like the original the front claw fits around the door pier on half lock. The rear claw slides into the outside hole in the seat back frame and the canopy rail (I guess that is how the real one works too, from the dimensions..but I am not sure.


And full... the front claw sits inside the door pier and the rear sits in both the holes in the frame.


A very snug (MUCH to my relief!) fitting door and latch.


And the view from afar....




(if you don't mention that the damned door is a different colour, even though from the same tin of paint, due to the main body floor seal coating fading over time, then I won't..

[Westozy]

Now Tracy can lock you in and throw away the key!!!

[Tony Hill]

[Tony Hill]

A lot has been happening here, none of it really sim related..but I did get some time a couple of weeks ago to start the Throttle Upgrade.
This will be the last major work on the Spitfire, bringing her up to full Mk I/II converted to Mk V converted to PR IV "ish" standard.

This will necessitate a complete rework of the exterior of the throttle although the main body of Gwyn's magic unit will remain.

I was lucky enough to get a casting of the original Horn Switch and this has been milled and new buttons made (finished shots to follow)

All of the bits made so far, fitted and ready to wire and paint.


The throttle grip:

This has an integral switch (camera button) which took a bit of brainwork for a non tradie such as me!! It was turned on the lathe in three parts..main body, end cap, recessed to take and retain button..and the button itself. Having had a bit of a play now, I decided to make the button concave to fit the end of the finger and this turned out OK.

[Tony Hill]

The undercarriage warning horn switching unit:
Tony's (Rocketeer) marvellous casting milled out to accept the switches and buttons. The milling is a little untidy as I was getting used to the resin..very different to metal or plastic.



The switch and buttons. The top button was made in the lathe, the horn cancel button on the milling machine



And finally, the first coat on the main throttle grip body.It should finish up with a high gloss black sheen.

[Tony Hill]

The Horn Switch finished...just the backplate and mounting bracket to make now.

[Tony Hill]

I put back on the original mixture lever handle Gwyn made me as well..looks better with the black throttle than my wood one I made to match the wooden handle ..the old ones;


The new throttle handle and Gwyn's original Mixture lever handle.






The next job will take more time as I need to remove the throttle altogether from the wall and pull it apart to add Tony's Chassis Indicator Horn Control unit to a newly made bracket and I will need to remake the UC Indicator switch housing to the fore as well.

[Tony Hill]

Next is to finish the throttle, stick a magnetic cut-offswitch on the primer so that pulling it opens sends a signal, put a cutoff switch in the "full lock" door position so that the canopy opening switch won't function unless the door is full closed (to simulate the canopy rail interference) and finally, fit the sutton harness recoil mechanism. That is the Spit finished!!

Then it is back to finish a substantial rebuild on the F-16!!