1:1 Spitfire K9817 Cockpit Build

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Cheers Hugh and Terry!

A small job today. I replaced the leather stirrups on the single step rudder pedals after finally finding a suitable fire hose material alternative. The silver primer was put on a while back. Today I swapped over the stirrups and distressed the pedals for an aged look with a old machine oil, the rubber sole of an old shoe and finally, a wood rasp! Very pleased with the "used" look achieved. The material will also do for the tabs on the two Mapbox tabs I am building, (one for me, one for a Spitfire II build I'm doing some parts for)but will not be big enough to do the two Height and Airspeed Computor holders I'm making. I'll have to find something different for those.
 
Thanks Gents!

It certainly does take some commitment and money but I look at it in terms of building "pieces", each piece only really being equivalent (if that) to a nice kit you guys make and detail.
 
An after work drink with Chris and the finishing touches on the throttle. The very early Spitfire throttle had a legend on the indicator down light switch.

K9942 this throttle was modified in service for the CSU and will be much more familiar to you in looks.



BBMF spare throttle originally taken from an early Spitfire I and closeup of the painted over legend





U/C Down Light Circuit switch housing.



Completed, "soldered" and painted.




Final engraving done:



 
Thanks Terry, Geo and Andy!

Andy, we use a few different methods:

1. Prime metal then give it four good coats of white paint, followed by two of black, then engrave with laser through the black, exposing the white. (that is how the downlight circuit switch legend above was done.


2. Black over white acrylic printers sheets laser engraved to expose white. Can be colour filled.



3. Laser used to shallow etch metal then colour fill engraving (only really practical if natural metal finish with colour filled engrave)


4. Old fashioned machine engraved metal then painted and colour fill engraving.



5. Old fashioned engraving with metal then colour filled with enamel powder then baked (only really suitable for natural finish with coloured engraving)



6. Black anodised thin metal with the anodising lasered off to make printing which is then either filled with white paint or not, depending on how it looks when finished. Usually left "natural" unless, like the red triangle, another colour is needed.



7. Metal powder coated and then laser engraved and engraving filled with white paint.




8. Sometimes it is just easiest with 3mm lettering to use the stamp set I have.




 
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Great info Darryl thanks. I'm looking for someone who can either restore or make new placards for our Mosquito. When you say "we", do you mean yourself or is there a company or friend that you have that does them for you?
 
Thank Geo, Hugh and Andy.

Andy, my next door mate, Chris, runs a Laser Engraving business. I do the research on the fonts, dimensions, colours etc then draw up the template in CorelDraw. With the exception of old fashioned machine engraving, the Corel file is used to engrave. Chris sets it all up in the lasers and provides most materials. For the machine engraver he imports it to other software and makes any changes necessary for that format. Once that is done he does the enamel baking or I do the painting/colour filling etc. For "engrave off the paint" items, I paint them and then take them in for engraving.
For powder coated items, I have that done by an external business and then take them in to Chris for engraving before I do the paint fill.

For many items Chris has another laser which will cut the plates but for materials that won't cut in that laser, I hand cut them (aluminum)
The andoised plates on thin ali are cut in a guillotine and Chris has a little punch like machine that does the corners and another which punches any mounting holes needed.

Most times black over white or white over black acrylic is ready to go with no attention but I use a "parchment" coloured paint to fill any numbers that used Radium. That is slightly off white and gives a nice effect. It is quite labour intensive though!

Depending on the materials, drawing times and time to engrave, the plates work out from cheap to quite expensive. A Stainless Steal plate that needs cutting to size, mounting holes and baked enamel filling is an expensive prospect. A simple plate like the Height and Airspeed Computor (above with teh Radiator legends) is ready to go off the presses and even though metal, works out quite cheap.

The largest time commitment for me is the research into dimensions, fonts and gauge faces, correct wording etc.

Below are examples of the gauges I've done to replace the original faces and remove all of the radium. (Cleanup is not for the careless or faint hearted but Richard, the guy I helped with the Boultbee Flight Simulator at Goodwood) was a Nuclear Tech and he gave me all of the precautions and safety levels etc. All of my gauges are down to "background".
 
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While we are on gauges, I've also made the early style needles to replace all of the later type in the gauges I have.

The centre posts were made on the lathe. They were centre drilled for a mounting hole and then the top is filled with super glue to secure the needles. The cross holes were manually drilled. The one in the first picture below was a reject but shows the method.

The needles themselves are 2mm aluminium tubing (the brass on the originals is unnecessarily heavy on the computer gauge mechanisms) and the counter weights (for looks only on computer gauges) are actually electrical tape!

Each needle is a copy of an original type and the black/white margins have been varied to mimic different production runs/suppliers etc.

In the second last picture you can see the replication of the radium paint with its uneven edges.

Last photo is an ASI needle mounted in a 480 gauge I did for Bruce Gordon.

 
One last question Darryl: When you fill the engraved letters with paint:

1) What paint do you use?
2) Is the paint thinned and allowed to run into and fill the engraved parts or is it allowed to dry then wiped away somehow (not sure how this our be done with white lettering on black background).

I guess that's two questions...
 
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