Spitfire Project A58-27

Rivetting play!!

2011-04-17T02:49:00.000-07:00

Problem with putting holes in things is plugging them up again..Work continues on rivetting up the cockpit section.Spend mornings in the office and after lunch sneak out to belt some rivets in..Like meditation :)Breathe deep,rivet..Brrrrrp....Touch Brp.....Next!!!
Aerial bracing is continuing with pieces being nailed together finally.There are a lot of small gussets holding it all together so a slow process.
Also work has started on making up internal fitting brackets for the various cockpit parts and controls.First is putting the IFF Remote contactor.This is the first version of IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) ever to come out in a fighter aircraft.it works as a clockwork mechanism in a waterproof box sends out a radio signal 15 seconds in every minute,warning home radar not to scramble on you..
Also is restoration work on our original bits and pieces with sandblasting and repainting..

Lots more to come!!Onto the pics..

Busy bees..

2011-04-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

Large crowd today with the most volunteers we have had..ever with 8 guys and gals all hammering away together..A huuuge thank you for turning up :)
With the month of May being "Displays month" we have thrown all efforts into finishing off the cockpit section.This requires a huge amount of rivetting and finishing off various components.We are going to give this Pit an ID so will keep this a secret of which one it will be.
Also the Tropical Box is 99% finished so will be given to the Museum as a display piece when finished.Just awaiting on some info on RAF Canteens.
Simon our Machining slave,errr awsome worker continues on punching out precision tooling and small Spitfire parts..
On the jig our frames are being removed for straightening and are to be sent off for heat treatment to bring them up to proper T3 hardness.
The Aerial brace assembly Mk21,876,356,345,353 is about ready to assemble with all parts being "correctly" made now.It,s the simple things in life.
Another area that is making leaps and bounds is our restoration arm with the sandblaster running hot removing decades of rust and dirt to reclaim a viable spitfire part.Thank you to Tracey for putting in the hard yards in writing up a program to keep accounts of all our parts and keep us organised.
Also many thanks to Robert and Lauren who are now our official First Aid and OH&S people..They will keep track of our health and safety in the workshop so we all go home with all limbs attached.Lauren also makes a mean cake ;)
Is starting to cool off now here so a resergence of energy coming into Winter is helping..

onto the pics..

More Shiney bits

2011-04-06T05:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some more bits that we have been working on..Frame 6,Frame 7 and the control box diaphragms and Tropical ration box.

Is it nearly Easter?

2011-04-03T01:48:00.000-07:00

Can,t believe it is four months into the year already.Where to begin..At the beginning will be good ;)
Start date was pushed back this year due to asbestos removal onsite so a bit of reorganising was done to start off the year.With all the rear frames finished other than straightening and heat treating the plan was to continue forward on the frontal frames up to the Firewall.At this stage we are 99% there with just a few lightening holes to be formed.This is due to having the correct size dies being machined.
We were having a lot of drama with the aerial brace not fitting up and not looking the best so the decision was to remake a lot of it.With that nearing completion again and the forming up of the control box diaphragms we will soon be looking at skinning the fuse.
Also nearing completion is the pilots Tropical Emergency Ration box.The search for an original will be on for an original Canteen will begin soon.
Soon we will have the parts needed for our bottom fuel tank,engine saddle and horizontal stabiliser from the Waterjetters to begin construction.Also our Spine Longeron is in the process of being bent up in preperation to be curved to suit the Spitfires top profile.This means new rollers will have to be machined up.
Also the new year has bought us new volunteers so training them up to be proper little metal mashers is in the pipeline.
Design wise a lot of small stuff is being finished off and still awaiting a drawing or two to finish off the vertical Stabiliser.Also to be done is the radio compartment rails.

Anyway here are some pics of our shiney bits...

Xmas time

2010-12-14T23:43:00.000-08:00

Yes it,s that time of year again where thoughts turn to more relaxed tasks like Bbq,s pressies and alcahol consumption...Maybe not in that order..
Firstly I would thank the MAAF,Army History Unit,Oakey Army base personel,our loveable WO,s,Board Members,volunteers and well wishers for putting up with us for another year.Personally has been an up and down affair for progress but we have made forward steps.We all forget the huge task we are undertaking sometimes,the hours spent making one part or tooling,the endless discussions on how is the best way to make something.Every small part is a challenge but things are getting easier.
Up to the end we were in the process of skinning one side of the cockpit section.It is now over in the main museum down in the corner with two seats,one an early metal seat and the second a plastic seat on loan to us from Sir Bill.Our big news is the push to get our replica fibreglass wings from England.These have been purchased to hasten up the build time and to give us a more accurate understanding of the wing skins.The condition is fantastic and detail would make any model maker envious.A plan of attack is underway to get them tidied up and ready for display..More next year...
From moi and the Spitty Crew,MAAF,Army Aviation centre and anyone else who has helped..A Merry Xmas to you all and a safe holiday period where ever you may go..

Photo essay

2010-10-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

Work is continuing on the seat with Nathan drilling off and rivetting up the bottom stiffeners.With the thin material of the seat the countersunk rivets are dimpled into the sheet.Also the seat frames are being drilled off as the parts slowly come together to be assembled.The tropical "Lunchbox" is continued with all edges cleaned up and polished.With the paint tin out decided to restore the original radio tray we have been loaned.It has been bead blasted and now in it,s undercoat.Also gave me a chance to take some detailed pics to share with you of the lord mounts,latches and pins etc.Also the bolt detail with centrepopped nut locking.Anyway enjoy the pics..

Afterglow

2010-10-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Well the 2010 MAAF Flyin has come and gone..Thank you to all that came and said hello..
Back in the hangar now with the seat progressing well for a first attempt.Getting wire edging done on such a compound shape has proved challenging.
also with the seat underway I guess it would be an idea to start getting the framework together for it.Pics show the main seat frame members in primer.

Also a new volunteer started so got him making the stowage for the Tropical survival rations etc.

Sittn down

2010-09-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

A few pics of the WIP seat assembly that we are attempting.Things have been hectic as I have been away with work a fair bit so spending time banging out Spit parts have been a challenge.The projecte missed out on attending Watts Bridge at the last minute but I drove up for an amazing event on my own.Anyway here are the good bits..

Half a day

2010-08-15T03:37:00.000-07:00

Never enough time to finish anything..Continuing on from last week is the priming and placing of the lower firewall gussets.Drilled off the two coaming angles and placed on the gunsight mount..The seat assembly is progressing with the sides being formed up.First is the bump to hold the harness buckle.

Off for a couple of weeks due to work but things are progressing..

Back to basics

2010-08-08T01:14:00.000-07:00

Just one of those days where you just want to sit down and bash metal.All this high tech stuff with CAD,Waterjet cutting etc is great but every once in a while you just want to take things back to basics.
Nathan is continuing on the seat assembly with the side pieces cut out and tooling made up to form the side relief.A test piece was hammered up on a piece of scrap to try the technique and also a strip bent up to make sure the seat pan will bend up ok.Looking promising so far...
With only a couple guys there today gave me a chance to get on and make up the firewall lower gussets that are mainly seen on the later series Spitfires.The cockpit section looks more like a MkVIII than a MkV with F8 and F11 so a MkVIII engine frame is being restored for it to go out on displays.
Back to basics I could have drawn the gusset up in CAD,got it waterjet cut then drilled off and cleaned up in two shakes of a dogs tail.But seeing we had a template already made and sitting in our templates drawer I decided to do it all by hand.Using the template I drew 4 copies onto the sheet,then using the guillo and tinsnips cut them out to a rough shape.The holes where centre popped and drilled with a Number 40 drill bit.The "blanks" were skin pinned together and drilled off,including all the radius holes etc.The blanks were seperated and the cutout removed using a shap chisel and vice as a cutting edge.Yes can imagine the woodworkers howling in disgust using a woodchisel on metal but we have a chisel special for the job and it was a Woodworking teacher who showed us the technique :)
With the gussets packed back together the cutout is cleaned up with a "file",yes the metal rods with the ridges,not the Computer thing that goes into folders,errr hangon.....Thats not the sheetmetal folding machine...ohhh stuff it,you know what I,m talking about...Actually brings back memories of file terminollagy...The call of "OK WHERE'S THE FLAT BASTARD" usually gets a reply of "WHO YOU CALLING A FAT BASTARD!!!!!!"

Anyway after file finishing and cleaning up the gussets are fitted up to the firewall and drilled off,skinpinning in place (The sheetmetal workers best friend).Then all to do is remove,clean up holes and prime gussets,ready to be riveted together...next week....maybe.....Anyway bored yet so here are the pics...

Is it spring time yet?

2010-08-01T03:36:00.000-07:00

Another warmish today after a Saturday of wet stuff.
Progress is coming along well on all fronts with the seat developments being worked out off the MkI drawing.Going to be a great achievement with its wire beaded edging.

Also on the go is the display cockpit with the coaming angle and ribs being made and positioned.The MkVIII engine frame continues to undo itself,with a bit of help from Mick the sheety.Also the cutaway Merlins new prop cover continues to be assembled and looking good.Thanks to all the guys and gals who continue to support and make sure bits keep getting made..Anyway onto the pics...

Weekend over already?

2010-07-18T03:21:00.000-07:00

Back to work tomorrow..Damn,why can,t we have 3 day weekends :(
A good day as we reorganised a bit and moving forward.Nathan is continuing on his tinbashery skills by making the port side cockpit coaming angle.Mick our new sheety has started doing a pull apart of our MkVIII engine frame to do a corrosion assesment on it,s internals.This will be rebuilt as a static to go on our display cockpit but want to arrest the corrosion and save it for future generations of spitfires.
I,ve sneaked back onto the jig where I have started working out where F19 will sit as being the tail seperation point it is most critical to be accurate.Problem is it doesn,t sit at 90 up from the datum line but layed back several degrees off square.The top and bottom points have to be spot on for assembly or the tail wont fit.More working out needed.
Geoff has been working tirelessly on the cutaway Merlins prop cover and should be back doing normal work soon.Got a nice sheetmetal job all lined up for him :)Enjoy the piccies..

Skinned alive

2010-06-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

A busy day today.Guys were great getting motivated and learning all about the gentle art of skinning an aircraft.Problem is keeping the frames square and in line.Unless you want a line of rivets that looks like a worm down the aircraft.Trick I found was to draw the rivet centrelines on the skin to match up with the frames flange rivet centrelines.Just line up the lines through the holes and drill,skin pin and repeat.
another job we were umming and ahhing about was the cockpit coaming angle that goes around the windscreen opening.After looking at factory drawings and mucking around with 3d designs we bit the bullet and worked it out by hand.The shape is cut out to the s shape and the flanges hammerformed.The stretchers,shrinkers were then used to match the shape up under the coaming skin.Just hope the windscreen matches ..Eeek...
Well next weekend is QAM Open Cockpit weekend up at Caloundra so we will have a display up there.Not sure if I will be due to work but if you see the crew there say hello.We do have some nice stuff for sale...

Switch of plans.

2010-06-21T04:23:00.000-07:00

Only a couple of weeks to go till the QAM Open Cockpit day so thought we would spruce up the cockpit ready for the event.Even though we are missing a couple of frames I thought having some more skin on the plane would make things more attractive.The side skins are going over the coaming skins and at a later stage the belly skin will overlap the side skin.Being a MkV only the datum longeron rivets are countersunk.
Also some more machining is being done on the cockpit door latch assembly.Also I took a quick piccie of the fuselage frames in the jig now they are all in place.More stuff to do yet :)

Another day..

2010-06-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

Continuing on from last week is the positioning of the frames on the jig.Today was frames 16,17 and 18,s turn to be located onto the datum angles.No pics as I wasnt there but thanks to Neale for getting the job done.Also in progress is a guard to place over the cutaway Merlins propellor for safety and servacability.For some reason the clutch disengages on the supercharger and we think kids are pulling on the prop causing it to unload the assembly.See how it goes and this is being made by Geoff.Next week hopefully we can start on the restoration of the MkVIII engine frame...Watch this space..

Math make head hurt..

2010-06-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

The numbers go round my head nurse....Was a quiet day at the hangar so a good time to put the brain (scotch deadened) into gear and start working through the numbers.With a lot of toing and froing between a Pc screen,a calculator and a pen and pad I started working out the frame positions in regard to the jig datum and centreline.
Continuing on from last week we continue to setup the jig in preparation for the frames.Frames back to frame 14 have a cutout for the datum longeron and from frame 14 back there is an intercostal.Using CAD we have worked out the rivet holes for these brackets and using those we have transfered them onto the angles from the centre point.This means the frames will be level with the angles and on the centre of the aircraft.Don,t want a bannana shaped Spitfire do we :)These frames are pinned to the angles using 3/32" skin pins. Here are some pics of the operation.Many thanks to one of our SuperCAD guys Neale for working out the rivet holes and brackets in 3D for us..

Bit to the left...

2010-06-02T03:17:00.000-07:00

A busy day today.Dragged out the lazer levelling equipment for a realignment of the jig.Have been quite worried about the main beam not being straight enough for to be used as a datum plane through the um,errr plane :)Step one level F5 datum,step two level F19 datum.Hmmm the beam is twisted.Oh sh1t!!!Step three,shim F19 so datum is level with F5.Ahh now we are cooking.Step 4 use lazer gear to level beam,it should be same measurement front to back,hmmm 40mm difference...Bl00dy floor!!Step 5,use blocks of wood,shims and adjusters to bring both ends level.Then check beam along length for beam sag.Cool only a couple of mill drop.A screw jack will prop it level...
Sweet now where to next.Step 6,every frame station has to be level with F5 and F19,oh thats right..The twisted beam....Every angle leveled and shimmed so datum plane is level now..
Next week is getting the frame datum angles parallel to F5 which should be 90 degrees to the beam centreline.The F11 formers are being reserected as a straight face to measure and build the skeleton back to the tail.This will allow us to get everyting solid and drilled off so skinning can commence.
Small stuff is the manufacture of the lower longeron brackets.These are now being drilled off the frame rivet patterns.
Homework is to locate the intercostal bracket holes to be drilled accurately on the jig datum angles for each frame.Hmm need scotch..Anyway here is a couple pics..

Busy,busy,busy

2010-05-19T17:59:00.000-07:00

Quite a few weeks between breaks with a couple of weekend displays we have been involved in.First was at the marvelous David Hack day at Aerotech in Toowoomba.Second was the Emu Gully Air,Land and sea Spectacular.
going out of the Hangar we had the oppurtunity to clean and service the cutaway Merlin engine in the Main museum.
Parts wise the lower rear longeron brackets continue to be made,also the fabrication of F10,s parts.The cockpit door latch is slowly taking shape.
With the arrival of our stretcher/shrinker set the straightening of frames can start,then the jig aligned before the longerons added and drilled off.That will give us a huge start on the skeleton construction.More to come soon.

I,m baack

2010-04-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

An amazing trip and one I will do again I feel but back to real life :(
A good day with a good compliment of troops onboard.Frame 10 is progressing well with the webs being joined and holes being drilled off.A new set of coaming skins have been cut (thanks Steve and John Mark)and put aside.Also lengths of bracket material for the lower longerons have been cut and getting ready for bending.They will be then trimmed to length for each individual frame.
Also arriving is photocopies of the spitfires placards from a mate over in Perth (Darryl your the man!).These are being cutout by Neil and Tarryn.No pics today,camera still recovering from overuse in NZ :)Might have to retire her.But a few 3D Design screenies might take away the pain..
Till next time.

Wanaka

2010-04-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

Just some pics from Fridays practice here at Wanaka...

Quick one.

2010-03-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Was a slow day out at the museum so only a little bit to add.Had a new volunteer start so spent some time showing him the ropes.Welcome mate to our madness :)Work continues on the aerial mast cross bracing and a little bit of work goes on with Frame10.Off to NZ next week so might be a couple of weeks before I get back on.If anyone sees a lost looking Aussie over at Wanaka,yeah well thats me !!!

Is it me or is it cold in here??

2010-03-14T04:32:00.000-07:00

A wet day today so a good way to keep dry and warm is make Spitfire parts :)
F11 is progressing with the fabrication of the datum line brace brackets.This brace is important as the seat hangs off it and the armour plate as well.
Also the next frame forward has started being constructed.This is frame 10 and sits under the pilots seat.A perfect time to show two of our new volunteers the art of hammerforming.
Nearing completion is the aerial cross bracing with all the parts being folded and the start of it all being drilled off and assembled accurately.Anyway onto the pics :)

Still alive..just

2010-03-07T01:52:00.000-08:00

A week back to work after a nasty bug dropped me quicker than my last girlfriend.
Work is progressing well on the forward fuselage area at F11 being butted together.If you look closely in different pics you can see it is a bit different to the cockpit version.This is because of the difference in Spitfire versions.The cockpit section is more MkVIII but the one on the jig is pure early spit.You can tell by the internal top curve.The later versions had an internal "C" channel going up underneath the rollover structure (the top triangle shape) from lower down near the datum longeron giving the squarish curve seen.The early uses a smaller version and only goes down to the Frame shoulder coamings.Also note F8 has the horns cut off on the cockpit section,this again is more a MkVIII Frame.On the jig is the correct horney version.Think it has something to do with fuel tanks,fireproof bulkhead or instrument panel.More research needed.
Also Nathan has taken the blacksmithing route and fabbed up this marvelous pilots door crowbar.In 3 pieces with Steel ends and Monel (steel) rivets.
Another job which starts but isn,t finished was the aerial crossbracing between F12 and F13.Well on the way good and all.Channel is 2" and Lightening holes are 1.25".This has been designed off the GA drawing and one diagonal member drawing (thanks Geoff).The flattish parts are the templates,Cad drawings printed off full size and glued onto bits of tin.
Anyway getting late,real life work tomorrow :(

I gotta stop drinking caffeine...

2010-02-14T02:52:00.000-08:00

Well Happy Valentines day everyone and hoping you gave your better half a wonderful day.Being single does have it,s advantages but days like today bring things into perspective.
Ok onto the big girl I date just about every Sunday..
Work continues on the intercostals and brackets and F14 being well on the way to being finished.Also one of the other leeeeetle jobs to be done was F18a,s Spine Longeron cutout.This was one frame we had very little info on and only struck it lucky with a true gentleman (Oscar Duck your a legend)letting us trace his MkXIV Spits formers.Only recently we received a F18a drawing from another contact in Germany of all places..Thanks Helmut!!!
Still undergoing a parts stocktake and going through our parts keeping process and recording of work,going to take a while but making good headway.Anyway here are the todays pics..

New Blog page!!!

2010-02-11T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hi all just a quick update to link everyone to the new blog i have started.Well it,s pretty much explainitory and hopefully will show the design of all the parts in detail that goes into the plane.Well here is the link..!!
http://3dspitfires.blogspot.com/

Need more coffee!!!

2010-02-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

Continuing on from last week is the addition of the fuselage intercostals.It is a slow job but progressing well.Lot of finishing off still has to be done to the frames.The flange that rivets to the skin having to be "bumped" to the right angle to let the skin flow nicely down the fuselage.Great for aerodynamics but a pain to build.Also got frustrated with the hole where F14 sits so used the T3 ones as templates and traced them onto a nice bit of annealed 2024 Aircarft grade ally.Got one formed up and will finish the other one off next weekend.When all the parts are done it will be time to get accurate and lazer level off the jig beam,set up everything up right,straighten the frames and start drilling.Till next week.
Now where,s me Coke??>>>>>>>

Yawn is it time to get up already?

2010-01-30T23:43:00.000-08:00

Rolling into the hangar ready for the new year.Hmmm what am I missing..Oh yes..Caffeine!!!
First job is "stocktaking,YAY!!!"#@#*^#@".,.*^##$@ Hooray!!!
Honestly the amount of small parts a Spitfire holds is staggering.We no way have them all but a system has to be worked out to keep track of it all.That is why an excell spreadsheet has been created to log all our parts,old,and new have to be entered into it.Also a photo library is kept of all of it to keep track of what the part looks like as not everyone is up to date with the name of parts.Getting blank looks after asking on the whereabouts for the longeron to bottom spar tie bracket gets old real quick.
Only way to get up to date is to study the inside of a Spit and all it,s components.Names might not be the same but knowing the shape and size of a part in relation to where it is located is a start.I think I have about 3 to 4 gigs of photos of Spitfire guts taken off the net or taken off various airframes.
Ok to the fun stuff of the creation of bits !!!Nathan has painstakenly gone through and worked out the lengths for 90% of the Spits intercostals.Why painstaking?Well they aren,t straight to begin with,they are different angles,they taper in following the curve of the fuselage and in some cases drop in height.Also where they meet a frame flange the end has to be joggled so the outside edge sits flush.
At the moment these will be dummied in until the frames are straightened,an unfortunate side effect from hammerforming.And then locked in place. Anyway enjoy the pics..

End of year madness

2009-12-20T17:51:00.000-08:00

Some pics and vid of the cockpit section that we got done for the museum where it is now on display over the xmas period.Very much a WIP!!!:)

Overtime

2009-12-12T03:41:00.000-08:00

Couple of pics from a busy morning in at the workshop,Nathan,Neale and I under Wattos supervision just finishing off loose ends so the cockpit section can be displayed in at the museum over the xmas period.Working on the door ribs and coaming reinforcing frames..Will be riveting the rest together tomorrow..We hope.Also the finished F11 bellcrank brackets..

2009-12-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

Well the year is almost at an end.Not the best of years by any stretch of the imagination but hopefully a better one ahead.On the firewall all the washers and mounts for the top fuel tank armour plate have been made and pinned up.Also the pilots seat armour plate has been made off an original scrapped example.Fitment of the instrument panel to the display cockpit section has been started but need instruments in any condition to finish it off.Also a chance loan has netted us an original throttle quadrant that will be carefully dissasembled and redrawn up.Then it will be restored and returned to it,s owner.
On the fuselage jig nearly all the frames are on now and the fitment of the intercostal brackets has commenced.With the lower longerons with us now these to will be joined up to the frames to give a skeleton finally.
Work on the cockpit door has continued to finish it off with the forward zed section being worked out as the curve at the instrument panel is different to the curve at frame 11 where the rear of the door sits.Nothing simple.Same as the coaming angles which reinforce the skin under the front windscreen.these have been especially tricky to make and hats off to the original tinbashers.
Also at the back of frame 11 is the brackets which hold the elevator bellcrank.This has been assembled and put in place.
Sorry about the biiiig delay in updates but hopefully things will settle down over the holiday and i can get on with a "normal" life...

Approaching burnout..

2009-08-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Yeah getting tired.With other things going on behind the scenes starting to lose faith in it all again..Fine line between obsession and passion.Here are a couple of pics of the major components completed..

F18..

2009-08-06T00:11:00.000-07:00

A quick update.Managed to hammerform F18 up today.Just have to flare the lightening holes and fit up the Buttstraps..

Bits and pieces.

2009-07-26T02:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one today.Progressed on finishing off frame 12,seat frame parts and F11 bracing.Focusing on the seatframe so we can hang the seat as soon as it is repaired.Also rebuilding the brake valve relay that works off the rudderbar.As it was apart gave Neale a chance to draw up all the parts..A huge undertaking considering the small parts involved.Also the voltage regulator got a good spruce up with a new lick of paint.The back plate is nearly relay then it will be mounted to the back of F11.

Cockpit section

2009-07-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Just some pics of the cockpit section so far.Internally we have frame 9 to complete as well as the F6 and F7 hatsections.Also the internal ribs for the cockpit coaming including the canopy rails need to be made.Then we can start fitting her out.This cockpit section will be then presented to the museum to be displayed in the main Hangar.Work can then continue on the full fuselage in the jig.

Hungover

2009-07-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

Well not quite.Getting the cockpit ready for Caloundra was a huge undertaking and a lot of thanks goes to the volunteers from the Wednesday and Thursday group.Thanks for taking time off the other projects to give me a hand and also to the Army trainees who were between courses.Most were given a crash course literally on aircraft sheetmetal work.I think the results speak from their professional attitude.
Work continues on filling out the cockpit with sorting out what needs to be finished off with the rudderbar and seatframe assemblies.More work is progressing on the drafting side as thanks to the QAM at Caloundra we got to sit in the MkV,MkVIII Spitfire there and hurridly got some much needed pics and measurements.
Our final lot of formers arrived from Murray at Australian Waterjet in Brisbane and the work is fantastic.Also in the stash was the first couple of Instrument panels,BFP,s and a whole lot of blanks to machine up all the lightening hole tools.
Also from Caloundra we got to meet up with fellow restorer Chris (Aka Ausflyboy) who has a Boomerang project at Bribie Island.He has a nice little furnace setup to replicate castings etc so he took on the job of doing a gunsite mount for us.Many thanks also to Geoff who supplied us his to use as a master pattern.
Chris is hoping to do a complete set of castings for the Spitfire in time so watch this space.

Still not at work yet...

2009-06-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Working flat out on the Spit though as we have totally blown the cockpit section apart and have cleaned up,primed and currently assembling all the frames.Lots of fiddly riveting going on but feels good to be able to finish things off.Also have just got a big package in the mail containing our main canopy.Is uncut and looks great.Sheetmetal wise working on the cockpit door and coaming skins that sit above the datum longeron.Hope to have everything back together by the end of next week.

Few more piccies!!!

2009-06-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Just a few I couldn,t fit on the other post :D

Winter time

2009-06-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for a break in updates but due to losing my job and moving house have only just got things back on track,well as much as I can.The front fuselage section has been fitted up to a trolley frame so movement around the workshop is now possible.Firewall has progressed with channels and stiffeners going on as with a set of dummy stub spars made out of wood.Have no idea how many people that have mistaken them for the real thing.A good indication that we are on the right track.Also we have started rivetting together some of the frames and control box in the cockpit.The search for instruments has begun as the panel has been painted up and fitted to the F8 hoop.The panel doesn,t actually sit on frame 8 but in a hoop of ally angle that rivets to the datum longeron.The Blind Flying Panel is suspended off two brackets on F8 and one off the instrument panel.The F8 coaming channel has been rolled and drilled off and note to self,don,t use old aluminium as it has taken a few weeks just getting the perished plastic covering off the parts.If anyone knows an easy way please let me know.
3D wise have worked out the fuel tank bracing using a couple of ends dug up as patterns.Awaiting some tracings off original coaming skins to start working out the area around the windscreen down to the datum longeron.Also a lot of smaller bits and bobs being made.Hope you enjoy the pics.

Progress from a chilly workshop..brrrrrrrr

2009-04-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Autumn is in full swing here now with things cooling down considerably but the action in the hangar is heating up.Bits and brackets still taking time to be fabricated and added to the cockpit section.But with a couple of displays coming up we got the front fuselage together enough to temporarily remove it from the jig for the events.Also the cage has been started to be sorted out with all the parts being dumped on the floor and placed into bags for easier locating at a later date.Some resto work has commenced with a couple of parts being rebuilt.These include our gunsite and a P51 Instrument panel I had laying around.
Design wise we are working on the cockpit coaming and canopy rails to finish off the cockpit.
Events this weekend are the David Hack Classic FlyIn on Sunday at Toowoomba Airport and the Air,Land and Sea spectacular down at Emu Gully just down the range at the Helidon Spa.If your down there drop in and say Gday!!

Bits and brackets

2009-03-23T02:18:00.000-07:00

Work is plodding along with all the "fun" little jobs being done.These are the countless little brackets that hold a Spitfire together.Not terribly exciting but they all do a valuable job.Longeron brackets are relatively straight forward ,just a triangular gusset for the datum longeron and angles for the bottom.The real "fun' ones are the intercostal brackets as they are a triangular bracket,port and starboard handed,forward and aft handed and with the curvature of the fuselage different angles above and beneath the datum point .Drove Nathan the draftie nuts figuring it all out.
Other news is Frames are progressing well with Frames11,13,16,17,18a and half of 12 being completed.Thats flanges formed and holes flared with buttstraps holding them together.Will soon be looking at cutting our lengths of intercostal material to length for each section.
Our longeron material has been sent to Brisvegas and a test fold has been done for the lower rear Longerons.The cross section is a "W" but the tricky thing is the angles change over its length of 12 feet.Nothing major you ask but the change is in something of 25 degrees from front to back.
A few sets of formers await to be cut to finish off the fuselage so time is being spent on reorganising the project.A flow chart has been drawn up to help smooth and speedup the workload and also new shelving and parts storage ID system being put into place.All our 3D drawings have been updated to their latest issue so we can start filling in gaps on what needs to be done to finish off sub assemblies.
Also our Cincinatti miller has been bought back to life thanks to the sparky guys out on base.A BIIIIIIG thank you to them.Also a huge thank you to the Boeing guys out there who have lent a helping hand in getting some of the more technical jobs out of the way.We are in your debt guys..Anyway onto the pretty pics...

Firewall started..

2009-02-16T01:01:00.000-08:00

Couple of pics of the Spitfires Firewall starting to be marked out.Also of our completed Frame 16.

2009..a new year and worldwide project

2009-01-29T23:19:00.000-08:00

First off the blocks as we are well rested and eager to get back into it.Well I am after a full on working holiday doing stuff around the place that I don,t get done usually.
Even though things havent been done in hangar for the last five weeks doesn,t mean we stop..Our drafties have been burning out their Pc,s getting things drawn over the holiday period.With the explosion of Cad software and 3D programs a talented group of guys have been in contact with us to share the knowledge of Spitfire engineering.
Firstly I give huge thanks to Dave (aka falcon24)of Simhardware fame here http://www.simhardware.org/index.html and his Spitfire cockpit project who gave us the confidence to start such a project.Next is Jeremy from Canada and his Spitfire replica..webpage is here... http://www.fighterwerks.com/index.htm who is using the latest design programs along with CNC machinery to create his plane.
One we are internally greatful is Justin who has been drawing a Spit from the inside out using Rhino.He has drawn up a solid model wing for us using the original drawings.His website is here..
http://www.spitfire3d.com/
Another guy who is helping us out is Anthony from the USA.He is teaching school kids Solidworks at school and we are helping each other out design wise.His classes work can be seen above...
Other guys who who have found us are well into their designs and adding more info in keeping the Spitfire soul alive.To finish off here is the Spit today as we start off the new year..thanks to all that have been in contact ,we are eternally greatful.
Regards Ross and the team

YouTubed!!!

2008-12-18T02:54:00.000-08:00

In keeping up with the trend we have made a quick video of some action in the hangar.
Youtube
The young guy is John Mark our resident coke fueled volunteer who is learning the ropes doing everything from sheetmetal work to restoring or dissasembling old parts.Also good for getting bored quickly and finding him doing things we didn,t know existed.Anyway he is young and special thanks to his dad Steve for bringing up such a great lad.He also is a great volunteer and although a lot quieter does great work and his attention to detail is a great inspiration to us all..

More hammering

2008-12-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

yep another frame and a half done..Frame 13 done and half of frame 12.Unfortunately some of the frames that were waterjet cut are done in T3 temper which means they are bloody difficult to work around the formers and lead to cracking issues.So making up the easy ones first..only one more weekend for us till we break for a much needed rest over the new year.Will keep up updates as we go..

hammerforming

2008-11-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

A quick one as it,s late.Had a big day by getting the frames started to be cleaned up,meaning all edges polished with fine wet and dry to prevent stress raisers.Then set out the formers,assemble and start hammering..

MERLIN ARRIVES

2008-10-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well the fly In flew past with a pace that took my breath away.will take me a while to get over it...BIG NEWS!!! Is that our Rolls Royce Merlin has arrived from down south.It is on long term loan and will be a big feature for the project.Big thanks to Ross Pay for lending of part of his late fathers collection.Also the long awaited arrival of all our Spit frames from the waterjet cutters.These will now be cleaned up and hammerformed to put on the jig.Any problems will be logged and corrected in CAD to be updated in the waterjet production files.

Countdown to FlyIn

2008-10-15T02:26:00.000-07:00

Only two days to go till our annual FlyIn.Have been working feverishly to have something on display as with the jig all levelled up we are very hesitant to move it.So instead we will have a some of our more easily moved pieces on display and a nice write up on our aircrafts history.We will also be having sheetmetal demonstrations throughout the weekend to entice the handymen.
Fuselage wise we are in the process of pulling things apart ready for priming and assembly and the goal is to have the forward fuselage together in one piece soon.
Also the waterjetters have cut most of our frames so we can get our frames started finally.With the rivet holes already in position the fuselage will come together very quickly.
Also a Merlin 25 has been greatfully loaned to the project and will create much interest in time.
So if you are here for the Fly In please drop in and say hello...Till next time...

Researching our history

2008-09-28T04:21:00.000-07:00

One part of the reproduction not many people know about is the history of the aircraft.We only know bits and pieces from RAAF movement cards,British records and other bits and pieces.We found the Squadron (54 Sqd RAF) the pilot who caused (directly or indirectly)the aircraft to come down from Darwin to 6AD oakey but one thing eluded us.Well two things.First was the aircrafts Radio Code.Second was the camouflage she served with.
A mate I am helping with other research swapped some info with one of his contacts and now we know that the code was DL-V and the paint she wore was most likely to have been British Dark Earth and Foliage Green uppers, with Sky or Azure lowers,and at that time she still wore the British code Br484..
Thank you to Buzz and to Mr.G,Birkett for the hard work in helping us out.

Lonely ole night.....

2008-09-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

A very quiet weekend with very little happening.Scored a few more designs off one of our drafties,and started sandblasting a few of our original parts for restoration...Just a little bit left to do...Anyone like to sandblast???

Quick update

2008-09-13T04:43:00.000-07:00

A quick mini update to say there are more pics added to the 3D and Workshop folders in the gallery.

Welcome to my nightmare

2008-09-08T00:14:00.000-07:00

Well hopefully this will make it easier to view what we have been up to week to week.Plus it will give everyone on our team to interact with questions etc on the scratchbuilding of our Spitfire.
Yes this is no restoration,well a large part of our parts haul are original but the main aircraft structure is all new material,designed off the original plans as closely as we can to factory for a MkVc Trop.
Ok time to let you on what we have been up to scince our last update.Our webbie has been on holiday,a working holiday as part of the team recovering fallen Australian soldiers from WW1 Belgium battlefields.See his webpage in the links section.
Our crew have been pretty slack with real life commitments taking priority (no passion to the cause) but small gains have been made.The rollers have been working overtime churning out the remaining channels for Frames 8 and 10 and a great degree of skill is needed to make sure they fit tight to the frames.We are using 2024-0 for ease of shaping as the forces involved work harden T3 very quicly so cracks etc form ruining the part.
Lower front longerons are being drilled off so the frames at the front can be situated.
With so many jobs started we decided it was time to start finishing them off so we are going through the parts manual to see where we are going.A flow chart can then be made to see
Design wise the fuselage is pretty much complete with just the coaming and canopy rails causing us some dramas.Also all the intercostal brackets have been designed up and what a mongrel of a job that was.Also the top fuel tank is being reversed engineered off a welded MkVIII and a Riveted MkXIV tank to hopefuly give us a correct MkV tropical one.
The waterjet company (Thanks Ross and Murray) have the updated final set of Cad drawings off us and awaiting a free stretch in their work commitments.The set we have on the jig are a test set done in commercial grade to check the lines and longeron cutouts for position.The set we are getting is in 2024-0 and will have all lightening,intercostal bracket,buttstrap and longeron bracket rivet holes centred.Also some heavier shapes for castings are being cut to ease the machining process.Our formers are back from the Lazer cutters (thanks Mick from Dalby sheetmetalworks) and just need to radius the forming edges to give a nice neat hammerformed fold.
Lathewise our mad machinest has been finishing off the odd jobs we seem to find to make him crazier.As a drafty as well he does pretty good work and has a good attention to achieve the highest finish.When he needs a break he gets on the miller abd plays around and the current job is the dimmer screen for the Gunsite that bolts off the back of the Gunsite mount.
Anyway more stuff to get on with so welcome to the updates page,blog,questionair nightmare that is this project..
Cheers...
Ross

Welcome to the Spitfire Projects Website Blog

2008-09-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Spitfire Project A58-27 wbsite blog!
There are many people around the world interested in the progress of our current project, and we will post status updates here, so please check back often.

Thanks for taking time out in visiting our website, and please include any coments in our blog...

Thanks
The Project Team