Spitfire IX Project

[Michael Carter]

Sounds like a great afternoon of simming.

Hope to see it in action soon!

[Tony Hill]

Thanks Michael,

Ok, I got the camera charged and a couple of recent progress pics.

The “Danger” flap on the IFF completed:




Panel work. The temporary panel is out of 3mm hardboard. It is OK for test fitting but too weak for the final product. We will draw a detailed measured plan off this and send it for laser cutting in 3mm aluminium.

The real plan here is difficult to get cut because it is in Imperial (and everybody here speaks that metric crap these days) and the gauges from Flight Illusion are slightly different size to some of the real ones. It was a useful guide though.



And my temp:








The Blind Flying Panel cut out is also not quite right but the coreldraw plan for cutting will have it marked correctly and the BFP covers it anyway.


And finally …a very frustrating night spent masking, painting, stripping, repainting etc the gunsight buldbs….until I was ready to smash them for the untidy edges…..THEN I found a few pictures of real ones
And they have untidy edges anyway. So here they are, finished for better or worse.




This weekend is hopefully to be spent assembling and truing up the fuselage section.



Cheers


Darryl

[Tony Hill]

Hi, not much time today but thought I’d give a quick progress report:


The cast of characters..these are the port side ribs and frames (ex the top part of the actual cockpit area. Visible are the instrument panel, instrument panel spacer, instrument panel main support frame, front wall, rear “seat” wall and the U shaped ribs.







My home made jigs for truing up the framework.



The starboard side substantially put together and trued up. The only thing left to do is the front firewall needs fitting to the longerons once they are cut to final length..that is tonight’s job.









More to come. Over Easter I should be able to get the cockpit framework just about complete..that is the plan anyway.

[Tony Hill]

The weekend’s work plus 4 warning placards etc made a few weeks ago.



The first three are printed on plain paper and then glued to aluminium plates and sprayed with sealant. The last is on laserlite, black over silver, which is self adhesive
And put onto another alu plate.

More of my crap glue joins, they will be cleaned up but I wanted to avoid diagonal nails etc which will show on the finished “painted metal” look finish.This meant cutting slots for the joins and using a heap of glue which will be sanded away from all but the hollows of the joins.





The instrument panel baseline is on the datum and therefore determined the position of the top longeron.





The bottom one was placed by educated guess and a bit of extrapolation from GA drawings. It is also placed to provide a good base for the seat supports I have to build in, which will be hidden under the seat and not at all “original” or accurate.

Finally, the finish of the Easter work:





The seat back frame needs to be further shaped and this is marked but not done. Then a large triangular armour plate covers it anyway!
The hardest thing was deciding on the shape of the hollows in the frames and cutting them out. The plans only had the outside shape of the frames and the same shape on the inside (ie gave a thickness only) but that is not how a real Spitfire is shaped. A lot of pouring over drawings and photos late I "trial and errored" its ar$e until I got something I was happy with.

Next step is to build the upper cockpit walls and the door on the port side.

The other instruments from FI are “nearing completion” so hopefully not too much longer. Once I have them I can finish the IP pattern and get it properly cut out of 3mm Aluminium.




Very pleased just now

[Crescent]

It's almost flyable! Sweet. I think you probably got the thickness fairly correct from drawings I've seen, so it looks good.

What are you going to use for the armor plate on the pilots seat?

[Tony Hill]

Thanks Mate,

Yes, she will be flyable, at least to a basic level very soon. I just have to convince Gwyn that the controls have actually finished their "extensive pre-release quality assurance assessment and implementation testing phase" (read : He gets bored playing with them )



The armour will just be an MDF sheet. I am not planning on getting shot at for real!!

Darryl

[BHawthorne]

This is starting to look pretty cool. I'm interested in watching the progress of the build.

[Tony Hill]

Thanks Mate,

Last weekend I ended up RL flying and building was put off. One full day comming up this weekend which should see some major additions go on to complete the starboard structure and maybe some seat work. Port side I still have to decide how I am going to do the door.


Darryl

[geneb]

Darryl, that Spitfire is f****** awesome! Great Job! If you ever want to part with the CAD files, let me know. My 'bot 'll make quick work of them.

g.

[Westozy]

Hi Darryl,

I'll be starting the throttle quad next weekend and finishing off the flight controls soon after. Ken and I are planning on flying a C172 to Bussleton to deliver your parts and visit Darryland when it's all ready to go!


Gwyn