Modifying the Top Flite Spitfire I accidentaly bought on ebay.

[Jon H]

57 minutes ago, kevin b said:

I don't start a new model until I have finished with what I am doing with the last one

 

Thats it, get out. I cant be dealing with someone that sensible 😛 

 

Although in fairness to myself, i have ended up in this situation by not having ay room to finish models off. So i do each a part of the way to keep busy. The problem is i now have half a dozen that are nearly ready and no room at the inn 😞 

[kevin b]

When I said I don't start a new model I meant on the forum.

Not in the workshop !!!!

🤣

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

10 hours ago, Jon - Laser Engines said:

Bit of a question for the masses and for the mods. 

 

I have been working on Spitfire 3 and am soon to return to the original TF project, but have also started working on my Yellow Spit again as well as it and the TF are likely to be finished together with Spitfire 3 going into hibernation once its robust enough to survive. Now the Yellow Spit has its own thread the moment but it has been un touched in a while. 

 

So my question is do we want/are we able to merge the two threads? Keeping the Yellow Spitfire stuff at the beginning given its chronology, or would it be best to just leave them separated as they are? My worry about a merge is the story of a given model being somewhat lost along the way and it might get very muddled with 4 eventual projects covered under one thread. but is having a thread for each cluttering up the joint? 

 

 

 

 

 

Threads can be merged, but forums here for you to use, threads aren't clutter, I would go as is personally.

[Jon H]

Well you all asked for more Spitfires so here we go

 

The FL Spitfire (no3) has had its wings well and truly seen to now with two layers of 100gsm cloth on the top and a single layer on the bottom.

 

I do not have any photos of this work as it was quite a challenge getting a piece of 2.2x.5m glass cloth to behave. I had to do it outside due to space constraints and the wind was unhelpful. I wanted to do it in one piece to really guarantee tip to tip continuous load path's through the cloth and not rely on overlapped joints. Would it have been fine with overlaps? probably, but i wanted to do it this way and it worked out fine. 

 

My only photo is of the wing glistening in the front room

 

 

 

This has toughened it up substantially but i still have to add the 2nd layer of 100g under the wing once the undercarriage are installed, which is the next task. 

 

My set of retracts were only 90 degree and so i set about modifying them to 95. This was done by moving the cylinder a bit to allow more travel on the unit. 

 

 

The next job was hacking, gluing, more hacking, and spending the day looking like a snowman. But, the deed was done. 

 

 

 

 

 

I am now in the process of making some longer oleos as the ones i have are too short. I have a little video of my lathe in action but its too large for the forum so you will just have to dream. 

 

Once the oleos and wheel wells are all sorted out i will fit some thin fibreglass sheet round the wheel well openings to give a crisp edge and add strength. This has worked very well on the TF Spit so i will copy it here. Once that is done, and all of the extra strengthening pieces are in around the retracts, the under side of the wing will get, sanded, filled, and then its 2nd layer of 100gsm cloth to bring it into line with the top side. 

 

After that may slap a layer of 24gsm over both sides as well for a nice finish and extra strength. I am keeping an eye on the weight, and this will dictate the final choice. I think it is going to be fine though as the wing is only 6lbs 9oz with the retracts and my airworthy DB Hurricane wing of the same span is just over 9lbs. If i can finish the wing at 8lbs i have 12 available for the fuselage to hit my target weight. 

 

So that is the plan, and once the glass is all done FL Spit will go into hibernation and TF Spit will come out again for finishing along with the Yellow (YA) Spit as i plan to get as much painting done as i can while all the equipment is out. 

 

Now, to update the Yellow thread...

 

Edited October 11, 2023 by Jon - Laser Engines