Spitfire K9817 Build

Forever, Britain's most cherished Crown Jewel
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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

Thanks Mate,

Dom did an incredible job..although I must admit, the paint surface isn't that resilient to scratching. I think i will
probably bite the bullet, strip it and get it anodised like the original was.. That way, too, over time it will take on
the same patina as the originals did.

Another extreme detail thing not immediately obvious in the panel is the needles for the gauges. All of these, on the
instruments I was able to get, were the later flat type, they are also very hard to get clean of the radium paint.
NOT having THAT, at least not unless the gauge DID have the flat, in which case I used the couple of flats that cleaned
up best. !!! So I made my own original style "tube"needles.

2mm Aluminium tube (because the original brass is a bit heavy for the FI instrument steppers) cut and filed, with a
brass centre post, turned on the lathe (about 5mm top and 3mm body) and 2mm hole drilled in top and across the
body... top to take fixing glue and body to take the needle. A delicate operation! Again, for saving weight, the
counterbalances were made (slightly different sizes for each, of course :) ) from electrical tape.

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Some paint..black white and some variable sizes of "fake
radium" tips.

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And fitted:

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Next time, the Airscrew Control (bike-pump)
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Dreamsofwings
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Dreamsofwings »

:lol: :lol: :lol: 8)
Love it! It’s that kind of ingenuity that got us through the war old bean!
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Lewis - A2A
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Lewis - A2A »

haha, awesome!!!!!! Its just airfix model making but on a 1:1 scale :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

cheers,
Lewis
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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

Lewis, it is..except that in this case you have to make all the pieces first ;)


Ok, as promised, a quintessentially Spitfire I item, the DeH 2 Position Airscrew "bike-pump" control.

I built this from the very few photos available and scaled it from nearby cockpit furniture. This was a massive amount of guess
work due to the high angle at which it is usually photographed. But again, because of contacts built up, I was contacted recently
by a guy who owns an original (in Australia by coincidence) and who saw photos of my unit. He gave me the full dimensions of it
and by some miracle I was within 1/32 of an inch on ALL dimensions, 1/64th on most and some were exact, this on a total length of 6",
so not a bad effort overall.


16mm (.63”)Aluminium tube, 14mm (.55”) U Channel ali, ½” bolt imbedded , good quality solid core car choke mechanism
(for those old enough to remember a choke :wink: ) , 18swg Aluminium mounting frame, turned knob from 60mm (2.35”) aluminium
barstock, drilled and tapped, engraved text, black painted and
white filled. 18swg Aluminium mounting frame.

The real thing in P9374.

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Mine

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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

Not mine this time but good practice for making the earlier (and VERY difficult because of the wire edge and tight bends) Spitfire I and II map boxes for myself and Tuttmeister (he's building a Spitfire II)

These are for 3 Mk V projects that are on the go at the moment...one in the Netherlands and two in Oz.


Patterning. CorelDraw has become an essential skill!

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Paper modeling at 1:1 to check fit.

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Folding the plates.
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Assembly for rivetting.

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Finishing off
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Finally, the paper patterning for the early mapbox. This was a real challenge to get right but we got there. Tuttmeister managed to get acces to a Spitfire I that has been restored to original condition (without the P9374/N3200 compromises) and got great photos. Scaling from the later GA's, the photos and the navigation item that goes in the front pocket (last 2 photos), made it all eventually come together. Now I just have to get my Jenny skills up to the task of rolling a wire edge into the main body with the roll UPWARDS so that the join is in full view (damn you pre war British "because we can" craftsman attitudes!!!)

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The Course & Height Indicator is a fully functioning copy which took a lot of research and a lot of drawing to replicate. You can just see the thumb tab of the whizz wheel sticking out of the bottom. 95 separate calculations to reverse engineer the wheel itself from the information available on the sides and the one setting in teh window of the photo I found. I've since got hold of a photo of the wheel istself which, happily, confirmed that my interpolations were spot on!
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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

(double Post deleted)
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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

A good weekend and a day off and some progress on MY stuff finally.

Firstly, my hydraulic punch and swage die set arrived and that gave me the opportunity to clean up and fix the hole saw/wooden die swages on Frame 8.
The set is easy to use and makes perfect holes and flanges every time. A very worthwhile addition as there are nearly 100 holes to do this way in the cockpit!

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So Frame 8 was pulled apart. Luckily all of the original holes were drilled smaller and then flanged to the nominated diametre on the plans. In actual fact,
they should be drilled to the diametre on the plans and the flange is extra. This meant that I could neatly use all of the original holes, saving me remaking the frame.

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I have, as you can see, also mounted the K-Gas Primer Plate and added a stiffening ring behind it on the frame.
I am not sure that the original has a stiffening ring but with the frame not being heat treated, I thought it wise to have one.

Next, the Writing Pad Holder
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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

Now THIS was a nasty little piece to build.

The pattern is quite complex to cut out and file to clean straight (with a few curved edges)

The tight area (finished dimensions are around 5 x 6 x 2 inches) means that the large hole can not be flanged once the sides are bent.
This makes it hard to secure a top clamp along the bend line once the flange is there. That in turn makes the bends harder to make "crisp" and hard not to bend the two small holes,
and the flange on the large one, out of shape. Once it is bent, the top "wings" need to be turned down, the catch spring riveted on and the rear needs to be angled to match the curve of the aircraft skin, onto
which it is mounted.

Then, when that is all done, then the centre divider must be bent to match exactly with the side walls of the unit. Next, the ordering of the rivets becomes important as you need to be
able to retain access to the bottom and the sides for finishing. I ended up riveting the bottom flaps and flanges first using the full sized bucking bar and then did the side rivets that
hold the centre divider. Fiddly, frustrating work and glad to have them finished (one for me and one for Tuttmeister's Spitfire II that he is building).

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Lewis - A2A
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Lewis - A2A »

Nice progress KR. It was interesting as I read your post and looked at the images how that Green can make all the difference. Also not sure if its just the photos but it looks like you got the green shade matched to a tea! It just screams WW2 green hehe :mrgreen: And on a similar vein, nice finish too, none of the bumps or uneven I myself suffer from whenever I get close to a spray can :lol: :mrgreen:

Oh and do you mean Chris the yoke man is building a Spit pit too?

cheers,
Lewis
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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

Thanks Lewis,

Yes Chris is the very same "yoke man". Building a IIb ASR (or IIC if you prefer).

The paint is a good match for post Spitfire I aircraft. It is called Pale Eucalypt. A little dark perhaps unless in glaring sunlight. It fits well with "worn" looks.
Unfortunately I can't use it for K9817, I will have to get a special mix of Eau D'Nil done up and put in spray cans (not looking forward to the cost!!) to match the very early apple colour.

Spraying is the bane of my existence. This piece came out beautifully because I had the self dicipline to do 3 costs of primer and 5 coats of green. This took an entire day and then needed another full day drying before being touched. Fiddling in the interim to fix small blemishes is the trap. This time I managed to leave it alone and fixed the one small problem after drying and then gave one very light finishing coat. I can't claim to have had this patience with my OWN pieces but feel obliged when making stuff for others. I wish I could always get it that good!

I'm also doing a mapbox, starter button and Welsh hat, Coffman Starter Breech Control, Oxy Bayonet Mount, full set of gauges, full set of placards, a Height & Airspeed Computor Holder and a fuel plate for Chris, amongst other things.

Today, unfortunately, I am making mapbox lids for other projects (Mk V's) but tomorrow I hope to be back on mine and Chris' stuff and finish off both H&ASC Holders. I can then send off the first package to Chris!
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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

A good roundup of the overall progress so far. What it doesn't show is the hundreds and hundreds of hours of research and Coreldraw drawing that have gone into the project. I have been stunned by the amount of research I've still had to to, even after 40 odd years of general Spitfire research and the intense effort on the A2a Spitfire I & II. When you get down to a very specific level on the very early Spitfires, there is much that has just been "lost" unless you dig into multiple sources and cross index them.

A perfect example is the light blue radiator temperature gauge. No colour pictures of the early cockpit exist and all later Spitfires have green or dark blue as standard. (overwhelmingly green until the advent of the later electric gauges). Now interpreting colour from B&W photos is a slippery slope (as I am often reminded by a couple of my more artistic friends) but having said that, next to the known yellow oil temp, this never looked dark green to me :

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I had noticed that the gauge layout was slightly different and getting a really good copy of a couple of photos (including this one ) and blowing them up, it turned out it was scaled in tens from 40 to 90 and then standard for the rest up to 140, unlike later gauges. I found the reference number in a large volume of RAAF "conversion from RAF Reference Numbers" listing that scale but no mention of colour. The answer was provided, by chance, when looking through an RAF 1936 Instrument Repair Manual which had that gauge in it and, of ALL the instruments in the book it was the only one, they mentioned the colour light blue. After some casting around I eventually found two examples, one for sale and one in a museum and got colour photos. An hour in the workshop and matching paint had been mixed. The gauge ring was given 3 or 4 coats and voila. Another hour or so drawing and a trip to see my laser cutting mate and I had a correctly scaled, correctly coloured, correctly serial numbered 1936 vintage Radiator Temperature Gauge. The fact that two or three experts have told me the gauge should be green and I've been able to correct them, is just "gravy" :lol:

So, after all that... the current state of play:

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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

HASC Holder recently finished.

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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

The lower longerons have also arrived and await assembly (hundreds of rivets!)
The bottom photo shows where they fit at the base of the frames. The next job is to replace my temporary mock up Upper Longerons with properly folded
16SWG units, quite a serious folding and bending challenge over a 7 foot length!


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Killratio
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Killratio »

Also complete, the instrument panel hoop, which defines the angles of the upper structure forward of the pilot.
A far from simple uneven "T" structure with two curves, the aft section .05" proud of the forward section. The hoop
is fitted with 17 x 2BA floating anchors, each requiring alignment of two rivet and one main bolt hole.
This took nearly 20 hours to finish and required use of both the shrinker and the stretcher to maintain matching curves.

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Lewis - A2A
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Re: Spitfire K9817 Build

Post by Lewis - A2A »

Love that panel! Shiney man toys! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

cheers,
Lewis
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