MK356 Progress

Hi Steve & Eddie I was on about the end of the oxygen bottle but now you said that I can see it as a oxygen bottle/tank now thanks for the informtaion 😎 Steve those two things you pointed out look like churchs bells:D is that where they normal go and wonder they are used for :confused:

James

Hi james , i’ve not seen them before on other spits so they could have been put in by the guys at the BBMF.

Steve

Apparently white paint was used to aid inspection and to reflect light to provide a brighter environment.

I recall ‘7350 was painted white (around 1988 when I saw her at BAE Warton).

Hi Steve & Eddie I was on about the end of the oxygen bottle but now you said that I can see it as a oxygen bottle/tank now thanks for the informtaion 😎 Steve those two things you pointed out look like churchs bells:D is that where they normal go and wonder they are used for :confused:

James

Apparently white paint was used to aid inspection and to reflect light to provide a brighter environment. Unfortunately all it did was to hide any problems.

Dont envy anyone who has to “get up” the fuse to apply the paint. Its a shame we hadnt painted the inside of the PR XI.

White paint

Apparently white paint was used to aid inspection and to reflect light to provide a brighter environment. Unfortunately all it did was to hide any problems.

Manston Airport – do you mean the end of the oxygen bottle?

Mackrel – I beleive the fuselage was painted white when the aircraft was rebuilt at St Athan. Certainly it isn’t a BBMF requirement as TE311 has got the fuselage painted silver.

Thanks for that Eddie,looks clean but i suggest not a practical colour ,and yes the end of the oxygen bottle does look like a bell.

Manston Airport – do you mean the end of the oxygen bottle?

Mackrel – I beleive the fuselage was painted white when the aircraft was rebuilt at St Athan. Certainly it isn’t a BBMF requirement as TE311 has got the fuselage painted silver.

The Cannon config will be kept as it is and you are correct that the wings were from another aircraft and were ‘adjusted’ to fit. Moving the cannon config is quite an expensive task and with all the other work and the fact that MK356 will be depicting something else in a few years time, it isn’t a priority. However, it isn’t at the bottom of the wish list either.

I have a budget and have to share it between the fighters for the next 5 to 7years. The re-spar takes a large chunk so other ‘nice to have’ changes have to be put on hold.

Hi jackattack, I was wondering why you have painted inside of fuselage white when current trend is to paint them silver. Or is this a BBMF requirement ?

Whats the Bell/Alarm type thing in shot two?:confused: thanks for the update jackattack and pics will be checking the BBMF website Just means you have to use one off the other spitfire’s more when the Airshow season starts next year 😀

James

Hi james, do you mean the two things that look like bells in the bottom left of the photo? If so then at a guess they are rubber mounts for some electrical gismo.
steve

Whats the Bell/Alarm type thing in shot two?:confused: thanks for the update jackattack and pics will be checking the BBMF website

it does require a re-spar which will set the project back a couple of months.

Just means you have to use one off the other spitfire’s more when the Airshow season starts next year 😀

James

re

must have been some ripe language when they found out then?

Spar replacement. Could there be confusion?

Are we talking about the ‘carry through spars’ on the fuselage or the ‘spar booms’ on the wings?

Mark

Both. Wing spars and carry through spars require replacement.

Spar replacement. Could there be confusion?

Are we talking about the ‘carry through spars’ on the fuselage or the ‘spar booms’ on the wings?

Mark

Did you like the Lancaster DVD from Coventry. They seem to be selling well.

Absolutely loved it mate- a real treat for the enthusiast, and the icing on the cake really following your brill series of updates at the start of the year.

XXX Spitfire porn…

Oooohhh,aaahhhh. 😮 .lovely stuff.With the spars being redone how is the web and rear spar condition wise.??

Wings

The Cannon config will be kept as it is and you are correct that the wings were from another aircraft and were ‘adjusted’ to fit. Moving the cannon config is quite an expensive task and with all the other work and the fact that MK356 will be depicting something else in a few years time, it isn’t a priority. However, it isn’t at the bottom of the wish list either.

I have a budget and have to share it between the fighters for the next 5 to 7years. The re-spar takes a large chunk so other ‘nice to have’ changes have to be put on hold.

As usual, thanks for the pics & update jackattack.

I think I’m correct in saying that the wings from a MKXVI (SL674 I think) were used in the restoration of MK356, so it would be fair to assume they were original spars.

I was going to ask about the perfrmance issues too, and it will be interesting to see what the exact causes were, if indeed you can get to the bottom of them!

On the subject of the wings, is the ‘e’ wing cannon configuration going to be kept, or are you going to replace them with the correct castings/cannon arrangement (per ‘c’ wing on a MKV) as fitted to her originally?

Cheers

Paul

I’ll be intrigued to know if you find out why the aircraft was deemed wonky by the pilots!

So will I. It had a high fuel burn and slow speed for recognized power settings. It could be due to the blade pitch angles, incorrect engine and lack of wing tips, all of which are being addressed during this servicing.

All will be revealed if we get to the bottom of it. Did you like the Lancaster DVD from Coventry. They seem to be selling well.

I’ll be intrigued to know if you find out why the aircraft was deemed wonky by the pilots!

Hi Jackattack,
Interesting to hear of the requirement for new spars, are the current ones ‘WW2 originals’, or ‘new’ when it got rebuilt at St Athan a few years back?

Chumpy.

It would be nice to know. They were not new when the wings were fitted at St Athan. Thats one of the reasons we are changing them.