1:1 Spitfire K9817 Cockpit Build

[Tony Hill]

Oh great..."a rivet counter"

Hi mate, it is a work in progress and is yet to have the switches added and the Boost gate . The throttle's pictured are early marques and mine was originally ordered as a Mk IX, although the primary focus has now changed to an earlier marque. I gave Gwyn two GA drawings, the one I posted and another of the MK IX throttle quadrant.

Below are another couple of examples. I have reconciled myself to a bit of a "generic" Spitfire pit in that it will have the radiator levers and landing light switches of the early ones, the throttle of a Mk IX but with the older style red boost cut-out switch (because I just LOVE the look of it). I am still undecided on the supercharger switch but I will have a round gauge i place of the early fuel pressure gauge and it will have dual needles for Fuel and Oil pressure. A fake Oil Pressure gauge will be below it to give the characteristic Spitfire look with nice yellow rectangular gauge.

I do like the hand guard on the Mk IX to stop your hand slipping down and knocking the mixture lever! It will also have a 450mph IAS, but the earlier oil Temp and Radiator Temp gauges. Anyone who knows Spittys in detail will spot the inconsistencies when the finished pictures of the cockpit are eventually posted. However if you look at Spitfires now flying, they have the same range of inconsistencies and I suggest that many wartime ones had also, with servicing, repairs, upgrades etc...... But just about anyone will identify it as a Spitfire...and I guess THAT is the aim.

cheers


darryl

 

[Geedee]

This is coming along very nicely mate.

Errrr, just had a thought here...I'm wondering if your Spittie, my 51 and Tony's (Rocketeer) Mk V would count as a group build ?

 

[Airframes]

That's a darn good idea Gary! 'The 1:1 Group Build'. Beats the cr@p out of 1/72nd scale!

 

[109ROAMING]

Awesome work!

 

[Tony Hill]

Thanks guys!!


Group Build..great idea...I propose a closing date of July 2089


Darryl

 

[Nate]

Is the second photo of Glen's 1/5 spitfire? Amazing workmanship there.

Nate

 

[marek]

Thanks Darryl for the large explanation. I didn´t know that fakts and now I know. So now I can beter count a rivets
Great work anyway!

 

[Tony Hill]

@Nate,

Not sure mate, just a picture I acquired somewhere along the line. If it IS a 1/5 it is truly outstanding work!


@Marek,

cheers mate, always happy to help


Pictures of the new IP and the starbord construction should be posted tomorrow,



cheers all


darryl

 

[Tony Hill]

Ok, a little late but here goes....


The upper starboard structure (there is a u shaped hood slide that goes on top of the aft section that is still under construction)

The instrument panel was going to be plasma cut but I thought I would have a go first..if I $^(*^ it I can always get it plasma cut later...

The holes were cut by scribing the correct size circle with a compass, "gang drilling" to within 1 mm of the circle (there is never a gang drilling assembly around when you need one, so I had to do that the old fashioned way with a compass, a centre punch and a single drill bit!) , cutting out with a jigsaw and then hand finishing until the gauge surround fit snuggly into the holes. This had to be done slowly and carefully because the gauges actually poke through the holes from the back...so nothing covers any mistakes.

It is not perfect but it is close enough....only 10 instruments, two indicators, three switches, one flap valve, one oxy regulator hole and one gunsight shade slit to go....total time on the BFP and cutting the IP blank, so far, six hours!

And the wood BFP fitted with the instruments.

More soon hopefully


Darryl

 

[ausflyboy]

Nice work

 

[Wayne Little]

Great progress Darryl, looks real cool!

 

[Nate]

Darryl,

Looks great, I see you're fairing well with the coaming channel, tough part to make.
I looked through my old photos, and I'm sure that the photo is of David Glen's 1/5 spitfire. I googled it, and it truely an amazing piece of work.
Summer is my busy season, so no time for my project at present. More in the fall and winter.

Nate

 

[marek]

Great work!

 

[mudpuppy]

Excellent work you've been doing Tony!

 

[Airframes]

Great work Darryl.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That is just so fricken cool!

 

[Geedee]

Its begining to take shape rather nicely mate. You should bring it up ...or down !...to Cockpitfest next year as we cant have the jet jockeys taking all the lime-light, we need some more Warbirds there !.

This year we had my 51, Tony's Mk5 and a Hornet, so lets see you there next year...and bring your sim stuff along as well and I can guarantee you will be rushed off your feet with joe public wanting a go !

 

[Tony Hill]

Thanks guys,

Work held up on the weekend but hopefully next weekend. I have started to draw up detailed plans of the remaining instruments to get scales and surrounds cut by Chris with his laser. hopefully soon the whole panel will be finished and I can get back to the structure.



GeeDee..it is a LONG way from here to the show!!



Darryl

 

[Geedee]

GeeDee..it is a LONG way from here to the show!! Darryl

OOOPS...errrr yeah, it is kinda isnt it ! For some bizarre reason, I got it firmly locked in my pea-brain that you where in the UK. Maybe we could set up an Internet sim session and we could go head to head at the next 'Fest (or sooner once I'm up and running)?

 

[Tony Hill]

I finally decided to take a day off work yesterday and get most of the finishing touches on the panel. The Hand drilling and filing is a serious PITA but I was determined to at least have a go. All things considered I think it went quite well.

The original wood mock up.

A start on the metal versions.

The metal drilled, cut and filed to get the basic patterns.

The first test fit of some of the instruments and panel fittings. I have painted the BFP and am happy with the textured finish. Part of it didn't take well though and I tried to patch it. Not 100% successful but a strip down and re-paint will be last on the list as it isn't too noticeable and I have a lot of other fish to fry. The drilled screw holes for the instruments in the main panel still need to be cleaned up on the reverse, so none of the small stuff on that panel has been fitted yet but I don't anticipate any real problems. I also still have to get together with Chris and his laser cutter soon to cut the Oil Pressure Gauge and Ammeter dummies, the U/C Indicator and some faces for the new twin needle gauges that have now arrived. One twin will be used for Oil and Fuel Pressure (unfortunately this will be an "extra" round gauge that is not on the original panel) and the other will have two identical graduated scales marked as Brake Pressure with one needle indicating Brake Pressure and the other scaled off EGT to use for adjusting mixture on the A2A Spitfire 1A (FSX only has an overall "brake pressure" figure, not one for left and one for right).

A real panel being restored and at a similar stage.

Finally, the detail of the Blind Flying Panel stand-offs…I decided to leave the main panel as complete as possible for structural integrity so rather than cut extra volume out of the middle and use brackets, I used tabs left on the panel as mounting holes for bolts. The original uses brackets with rubber boots…mainly to cut down vibration on the six primary flying instruments which are particularly susceptible to it.

A couple of small adjustments still necessary to stop the PCBs shorting on the aluminium frame. I haven't powered it up yet for that reason.

Hopefully the next step is to get the main panel "finished" and primed for painting.



Darryl