1:1 Spitfire K9817 Cockpit Build

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Sorry for the delay in replies, I have been away in PNG for a while. Mountainous jungle, heat, wet season, escaped murderers and bank robbers, lost baggage, borrowed gear, exploding bussesl, 14500ft flights unpressurised and wthout oxygen and all...NEVER dull up there.

Thanks all, I will have an update next weekend which should be fairly significant.



Darryl


PS, been watching A58-27..fantastic stuff. I hope to see her in the flesh some day!
 
Tony Hill said:
Sorry for the delay in replies, I have been away in PNG for a while. Mountainous jungle, heat, wet season, escaped murderers and bank robbers, lost baggage, borrowed gear, exploding bussesl, 14500ft flights unpressurised and wthout oxygen and all...NEVER dull up there.

Thanks all, I will have an update next weekend which should be fairly significant.

Darryl

PS, been watching A58-27..fantastic stuff. I hope to see her in the flesh some day!
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So a pretty uneventful trip then...:D
 
Wayne Little said:
So a pretty uneventful trip then...:D
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Funnily enough Wayne, yes.

You should have been on the last one. Broken bridges with a trek leader nearly being swept away, a serious leg injury to another guy, dysentery and jungle rot for everyone, a heart attack and a 24 hour wait to be evacuated with the guy being kept alive with aspirin only by an emergency nurse who happened to be on the trek (Ronnie survived and has recovered well), torrential rain for four days that turned the track to knee deep mud which even the Nationals couldn't keep upright in and a 10 meter slide down a razor back ridge.

As stated..NEVER dull up there! 8)


D
 
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Sliding down the seat is obviously the go but I will have to strengthen some stategic points on the framework for holding whilst you do that. The plumbing covers will be more useful for pushing up to get out by getting your feet up onto the seat. It is more a problem when instructing others on getting in an out. I can get a hoist for you Old Timer visitors given enough notice
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Way I did it in QAM,s Spitty is right foot on seat,using mirror mount as grab point,slide left foot over.Then slide down right leg then left onto heel boards as you slide down seat.Getting out is reverse proceedure,not forgetting to unhook oxygen and Mike lead.If on fire do so "QUICKLY!!!"
 
Spits said:
Way I did it in QAM,s Spitty is right foot on seat,using mirror mount as grab point,slide left foot over.Then slide down right leg then left onto heel boards as you slide down seat.Getting out is reverse proceedure,not forgetting to unhook oxygen and Mike lead.If on fire do so "QUICKLY!!!"
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Sounds good, unfortunately for "Mirror Mount" substitute "Computer Monitor" and the plan does not work quite so well!

I have now worked out an almost identical way but using a hand back on the seat frame rather than forward on the mirror mount. A little uncomfortable but workable. In the near future I will strengthen the right cockpit rim to be able to be grabbed and used in a similar fasion. The left will of course be the door and unable to be used.

This weekend i finish bending the left forward cockpit rim where the gunsight attaches and back to the door lock. I finished the seat, except for a couple of decorative side plates, just before I went to the jungle, and am quite pleased. It isn't concave (beyond my talents) but looks OK and the problem of the rolled aluminium edge was neatly solved when I stepped on a bit of black poly pipe and thought "I can slit that and slip it over the edges of the thin wood..and it worked a treat. All this and more in the next photo update


Darryl


Oh, and I PLAN not to be on fire at any stage! But I do keep and extiguisher by each sim..just in case.
 
Sounds good mate. Did you know (Michael Caine voice again!), when they filmed the Battle of Britain movie, not only did the actors have to learn to get in and out of the Spits (in particular) in a convincing fashion, as 'real' pilots of the period would have, they also had to learn how to get in and out without getting either caught up in ther 'plumbing' or injuring themselves!
It's something 'we' don't consider when we see the aircraft in movies or at air displays, but there is a certain art to getting in and out of a Spit !!
 
Well, a long while between posts..a lot of jungle, some bad luck, some carelessness and some challenges in between.....but I made it here at last.
This weekend has been spent almost entirely on the Spitfire, so some fair progress made. The upper structure (save for the door) is complete. The cockpit coaming was a terror but didn't finish up too bad I think. I also put all the labels on the main panel and temp fitted the gun sight.
fromseat.gif

front.gif


I also finally got the compass finished and while it is not functional, it does look pretty good and unless I put the real one beside it, it is hard to tell the difference.
left.gif

forwarddown.gif

compassetc-Copy.gif

compas-Copy.gif

fromseat-Copy.gif

The position behind the stick and well forward makes it quite hard to see and the parallax error is huge so navigation on the compass alone must have been a nightmare.

Last of all I did up a couple of templates for the skin. I am still undecided on material but the plastic I used for the templates is pretty durable and if glued onto the formers looks like it would be quite strong. It is not too bad to work with and I may just get some more, cut better pieces and use it as the final skin. I will have to test paint some to see how well it takes. The structure may need a couple of extra longerons if I go that route, as the monocoque effect is not great with the plastic skin.
right2-1.gif

right-Copy.gif

right3.gif


Lastly, before I went away, I almost finished the seat
seat2-1.gif

seat3-2.gif

seat1.gif

Once the skin is done there will only be the wiring and some detailing to do in the pit itself and the computer box and monitor tray to build (plus rearrange my whole office to cut down the desk and fit the pit in......



More soon with any luck.
 
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Bloody marvelous!! All of it!! Tamiya and Hasegawa, for that matter, all of the major model makers should hire you as their consultant. Most excellent work, Darryl. Kudos!!:!:
 
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Thanks mate,

I think they might notice the faults and the shoddy work in patches and sack me!! Mind you, some of the kits I have made over the years.....


Oh, and Terry shouldn't hold you calling him an Aussie against you, too much, ...


cheers again,

Darryl
 
Aussie? Bl**dy Aussie!!??!! I'm a Geordie man, from North East England, although I now reside in the quaint County of Cheshire, having moved here in order to give the locals some culture and finesse....cough!
Bl**dy marvellous job Darryl, really looks the dog's mate.
Just an idea for the skinning. Have a word with a local printer, and see if you can get some scrap litho plates. These will be relatively thin and easy to work, depending which gauge he uses, and have to be re-cycled anyway, at cost to him sometimes. He'll probably either let you have a few, or sell them very cheap. They can be bent and cut easily, and pinned and glued, rivetted or screwwed in place. They're normally anodised, so a quick primer then the the paint and the job's a good 'un!
 
Airframes said:
Aussie? Bl**dy Aussie!!??!! I'm a Geordie man, from North East England, although I now reside in the quaint County of Cheshire, having moved here in order to give the locals some culture and finesse....cough!]

Sorry about that, Terry. :oops: The way you were carrying on there, I could have sworn you were from the land down under. I think you Brits are great, too. My wife and daughter did a tour back when my daughter was in the Girl Scouts (she payed her own way with money she raised). I've been jealous for years, and have been promised a trip.
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