1:1 Spitfire K9817 Cockpit Build

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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 decided today that 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....





That's all for tonight.
 
Cheers Terry.



Oh well......


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 jo for the door:







Will it never end???????
 
Thanks Hugh and Glenn,

Disaster on two fronts last night..first the door came up a completely different colour to the rest, despite using the same paint tin...I assume the floor sealer on the outside of the cockpit has faded with time!

Second, the lathe blew up. I think it is capacitors blow but will get someone to have a look at it ASAP. It was the first time it has been used to remove large amounts of mild steel and I think it loaded up more than the capcitors liked. I will get much higher voltage, stronger capacitors to replace them.
 
Thanks Wayne!

I did some checks that a mate advised and came up empty, so it probably isn't capcitors. If it is not a $20 relay failed then it will be $300-$400 for a new motor....good luck lugging a 400kg lathe "back to base" and the freight etc on just the motor would cost me $100 to have a "warranty" job done on it (I've had it 9 months!), replacing the cheap Chinese parts with, you guessed it.. So I will probably take my mate's advice and spring for a good quality aussie electric motor. We shall see .

I had decided that the ali claws that hold the push rods onto the handle assembly would probably not last long with the amount of tension on the springs..so I will make them in mild steel. That is what I was doing when she blew. This is as far as I got on the assemblies:

The old claw..you can see some deformation already.




The blank taking shape for the new short assembly. The "rod" is turned to diametre on the lathe (^^^*^^%%$ of a thing) and then the outside knobs will be milled into the (proper) short claws as per the original.



The long assembly :




The RSMBSoMFW lathe and the much better behaved (so far, touch wood) milling machine...




More news soon, film at eleven..
 
Thanks Wayne,

The lathe is being looked at next Monday. It looks at this stage like it will be a new motor.



Cheers Glenn,

It took me years to bite the bullet and get the two machines. Before that my set up was pretty much like yours. The mill particularly is a great bit of kit but I have quickly found that most jobs require the lathe as well at some stage.

And I really need an Ali shrinker, stretcher, guillotine, metal band saw + + + + +.....



On a brighter note, today I got the new door stencils cut (the old ones were on gasket paper and the door curve made it problematic to paint. Now I have two new ones of sticky painters paper (like we used for the Moody Blue legend) so hoping they will work much better. At least I'll get two goes!
 
Shame about the lathe Darryl, hope you're up and running again soon. As for the door and me being just a pen pusher, it looks just great.
 
Vic...

I've pushed a pen for thirty years too. Honestly, the one thing this all proves is that any idiot can do this stuff (and this one has ) It just takes some patience and a good few disasterous tries.

I am grateful at the moment as I have been assured that I did not break the lathe...the amount of material I was taking off, although much deeper than I have tried before at a time, was still only 1/5 to 1/3 of what the lathe should be capable of.
A good book, some good friends (such as here) to offer advice on things and time, money and patience are all that is required.

I am sure that when I get to the Airfix 1:24, Museum 1:16 Camel and the three Tamiya 1:32 Spitfires that I need to do when I finish all this foolish 1:1 stuff, you will have plenty of great advice to stop me throwing them accross the room!!
 
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