Winter time

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

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

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..

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

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!!!

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

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..