Spitfire IX Project

[Tony Hill]

Great news for me today, half the FI order arrived. Todays package included a controller card, AH, DG, ASI, T&S, Oil Temp, Radiator Temp, Boost.




An idea of the quality of the gauges :






They are so thin, it is amazing, yet they are heavy and feel very business-like.

The old style T&S is great to have. I want to make the instruments as "period" as possible.





The three engine gauges so far. Each of these has been beautifully rendered by FI from Photo's I sent them. The gauge casing were left black at my request, the actual gauges come in a few different colours and i still haven't decided which colours will look best yet. The Boost will, of course, be Fire Engine Red, as were all the Spitfire boost gauges I have ever seen.




Hopefully the rest will now not be far away!!


Other than these beauties I have ordered from SpitfireSpares a gunsight holder frame, an Oxygen Regulator (the radio will now be shifted to either the left cockpit wall, or if I decided to get a Type 3 selector, the radio will go in the Map Box to the left of the seat and that selector will go in the correct place just for show, I actually favour this arrangement as it hides the LED display on the B737 radio control), a Ki-Gas Pump and mounting kit (total extravagance but hey....) and just won a couple of Dimmer Switches off Ebay.

I also prised the U/C Lever away from Gwyn and have spent a couple of weeks playing with it, (to no particular end, just the odd undercarriage comming up noise when no-one is around ). I have started a little bit of the detailing work on it, fitting bits which will join it to the aircraft and a piston housing that was not on the phots and plans I gave to Gwyn.


All the wood was purchased last weekend and a detailed plan of how I will cut and place the ribs and Instrument panel is taking shape. The instrument panel will now be in three pieces (just like the later Spitfire marks) left, right and Blind Flying Panel.


I can't wait to get into it this weekend!!







.

[Crescent]

Tony, those look real good. Where did you get them? I"m not sure who FI is. Thanks. Oh, and what type of wood are you using for your panel?

[Tony Hill]

Hi,

FI is : http://www.flightillusion.com/

Beautifully put together gauges. They are solid and don't have that "toy" feeling that some I have seen have (including the multi thousand dollar simulator at out aeroclub).

The wood for the panel...well my test bed is blackboard masonite. The final panel will however be laser cut 2mm acrylic strengthened by wood frame. That is, of course, unless I can get a plasma cut aluminium panel at a good price.






.

[Tony Hill]

Some more progress.

The gauges are all attched and functioning except for the AI which appears to be faulty (EDIT: the "zero" trigger was not long enough to pass completely through the sensor..a bit of heatshrink tube fixed it) .


The Turn & Slip indicator was a challnge to get calibrated but it is up and going now.

The rest of the gauges need calibrating still.

Some more parts arrived too. KiGas Primer and mounting kit.






Gunsight Mount







Oxygen Regulator



More on the way. The gunsight mounting gives me the pattern and curve for the cockpit coaming, so I can start the structure soon hopefully.




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[Tony Hill]

More toys: http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14655 ,thanks Gwyn.


I spent the weekend getting the rest of the gauges I have received to work. Despite promises of help from RealAir, I haven't been able to get them to reply to my emails..no matter, I am not really happy with the way the oil temp and radiator interact anyway.

Most accounts tell of difficulties on the ground with keeping coolant cool and getting oil warm enough, or keeping them both cool enough and the mismatch between the two, which varies on different days or rather at different outside temps. The Realair oil temp seems to jump straight up to 60 on engine startup and then doesn't increase until takeoff power.

The radiator doesn't seem to actually do anything in the sim anyway (appears to be linked to oil pressure of all things!) so I played around with values until I got the radiator gauge running to the Pilot's Manual and the first hand accounts I have read. I used a different offset (an FS2004 one) and had no trouble setting it up to mimic the real behaviour.

Now you can not afford to waist time on the ground or the radiator heats up rapidly, especially at high OATs. It is a challenge to get all the checks done and take a long taxi before reaching the 100-110deg limit. One takeoff it had climbed to 125deg by the time I got the gear up and out of the radiator inlets!
Whilst that still left 10deg before absolute max, the OAT was only 30C. A really hot day would give you interesting times. As soon as airborne, the radiator cools down unless you flog the Merlin.

Then I turned to the oil temp. Again, it seems to reflect 60 at startup or normal cruising temperatures unless you really flog the engine, then it increases suddenly in the VC not much in between. So I tweaked the CHT value and based it on that instead. The oil temp now heats much more slowly in the lower ranges and much quicker at high temperatures. The actual "critical" level is similar in the VC and the external gauges (so you can monitor whether you are stressing the engine) but the gauge now continues to climb if you mistreat the engine, rather than just sitting around 100, 105. You can reach the 115deg emergency allowable limit and provided you don't hold it there for more than 5 minutes, you don't blow up.

The only small disadvantage of doing it this way is that the gauges drop temperature far too quickly once the engine is switched off. A small compromise because either A: your flight is over and so gauges don't matter, or B: you've blown the engine in which case it is far better to worry about where to land than to watch temp gauges!

So total count is now AI, DG, Oil Temp, Radiator Temp, Boost Gauge and ASI working. Next job is to cut the temporary instrument panel and get them mounted. Next weekend I start on the actual structure of the cockpit.....



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[Kennair]

Darryl you're definitely up there with Mike with your attention to detail. Great stuff and I look forward to seeing it one day.

BTW I saw one of the 2/3 scale Spitfires flying down at Jandakot some time ago. I wouldn't mind a spin in one of those!

Ken.

[Tony Hill]

Hi Ken,

Any time, I'm but a heartbeat away (once the wonderful new highway ACTUALLY opens..).

I have only ever seen the Mustang but I would love to see a real or a 2/3 Spitty. We provincial types are disadvantaged

Attention to detail...yes, well I passed up the chance to fly a Spitfire once and have always regreted it. (long story) So I am hoping to make this as close as. With Gwyn's help (the man is a maniac!!) it all seems to be getting there fast now. I am hoping for a 12 month total build but we will see.

I have to come up to Gwyn again shortly, hopefully the three of us can meet up then,

best


Darryl

[Michael Carter]

Tony those gauges are fantastic! That was a custom order was it?

How many red X's did you have to mark off of the calender for those?

If they could design a gauge with an off-set drive and electronics card I might get some flap gauges after all.

[Tony Hill]

Tony those gauges are fantastic! That was a custom order was it?

How many red X's did you have to mark off of the calender for those?

If they could design a gauge with an off-set drive and electronics card I might get some flap gauges after all.

Hi Michael,

Yes, the Spitfire gauges were custom made, the T&S and ASI along with the Fuel Gauge and RPM were done a while back for another guy, so the artwork was already there. The VSI, Boost, Oil & Radiator Temps were done up by Mark off photos I sent him. The AI was done a while back for a BF 109 project but fits the Spitty perfectly.

As to "red X's" well, let's just put it this way...Henry Kissenger had started to negotiate for my release.... and I am still waiting for about half the order (promise by end of Feb/early March).


Can you email me a photo of the 727 flap gauge? I have a couple of ideas.


cheers


Darryl

[Kennair]

Attention to detail...yes, well I passed up the chance to fly a Spitfire once and have always regreted it. (long story)

I have to come up to Gwyn again shortly, hopefully the three of us can meet up then,

best


Darryl

You must have had 3 broken legs and severe concussion to pass up that chance! But hey we've all got a story to tell.

I haven't seen the scale Mustang and it's probably my favorite warbird next to the Spitfire. They had the 2/3 spitty's on display at Pearce's last airshow in 2006, around $30,000 in kit form if I remember correctly. I'm off to Avalon in a couple of weeks so maybe they'll have them on display.

Let me know when you're planning your next visit and hopefully I can coordinate my work schedule to suit.

Ken.