Busy,busy,busy

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

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

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

Quick one.

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??

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

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...

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..