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..

New Blog page!!!

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!!!

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?

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..