Blue Prints/ Production Drawings

I’ve got a feeling Eye On the Sky is going to get fed up with requests, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask:

Are there any records or blueprints for the Gloster Schneider planes. Specifically the Gloster III, IV, IVB or VI?

Just a long shot….but are there any Typhoon or Tornado drawings in your collection?

Cheers
Dave

A few more pictures of a seperate drawing:

Ive also got a colour scheme for a Latvian Gladiator if anyone is interested…

Dean

Thank you for posting these. I personally would like to see more. If you have anything on the Gauntlet, I would be pleased to see it as I am working an a model at this time. Be careful how you store your Blueprints as I have just found a Supermarine drawing of the Spitfire 18 which had been stored (rolled)in semi light at the back of a garage and is now a virtual blank piece of paper.

Cheers

John

A few more pictures of a seperate drawing:

Ive also got a colour scheme for a Latvian Gladiator if anyone is interested…

Dean

I beg to differ. As an architect I have never come across a ‘small town Prontaprint’ that has the ability to print/scan/copy A0 or even A1 drawings. If only they could – it would make my life a lot easier. As it is, you need to find a specialist who has a copier/scanner big enough to deal with A0 and they are few and far between in my experience (I work mainly in central London).

As a Structural Engineer I have to agree with Mark V here, (and it’s not often you’ll find a Structural Engineer agree with an Architect:D ) and it’s certainley true for within the M25 boundary anyway. Indeed the number of large print specialists has reduced significantly over the past decade or so with more and more electronic transfer of drawings, as well as ‘scan to cad’ and ‘scan to copy’ equipment/software being more readily available and cost effective for companies to buy themselves.

Mark V

Perhaps you need to get out of London more? I am stating what I have found – I’m not making it up, why would I?

End

Mark V
The equipment used to scan A0/A1/A2 drawings is the same used to copy for printing. All the small town Prontaprint places I have used were equipped for scanning to disc. .

I beg to differ. As an architect I have never come across a ‘small town Prontaprint’ that has the ability to print/scan/copy A0 or even A1 drawings. If only they could – it would make my life a lot easier. As it is, you need to find a specialist who has a copier/scanner big enough to deal with A0 and they are few and far between in my experience (I work mainly in central London).

Maybe another option to safe money is to go to the museum, and ask them if they want a copy. If so, then they will have to scan it and while they are scanning anyway, give you a copy. I would not be surprised if the larger museums got a rather nice scanner to do that. I think this also would work best for the museum as they would get the drawings just like they want them.

To reply to the comments

Fouga23:
200 dpi was more than enough for the Swift and Pobjoy drawings. The professionals tell me it was enough and I am very pleased with the results. More dpi = larger file size.

Papa Lima
The price with the local Prontaprint that I have used was open to some bargaining. Another quote to copy drawings to disc (250 Swift drawings) was over £500 – 5 years ago! The cost to scan 40 Pobjoy drawings (A0 size) to disc was under £80. Normally a ‘set-up’ charge will make small numbers to copy more expensive than one copy/print.

Mark V
The equipment used to scan A0/A1/A2 drawings is the same used to copy for printing. All the small town Prontaprint places I have used were equipped for scanning to disc. The scan to disc option is, I think, better. Rather than take a large number of drawing to copy/print, the printer just prints from disc – and it is cheaper! Go compare the costs to scan an A0 drawing and print it against the print from file; less time = money saved. Also, drawings can and do get lost when taken to the printers for copying. Over the years a number of Swift drawing went this…I only fould this out when the originals were found and compared to the Kodatrace copies made in the 1960s.

CSheppardholediry
Very valid comments. Fragile document should be placed in a plastic cover before being put through the scanning process.

The drawing is dated 06/41 but there must be a revision as those roundels were not introduced until 05/42 !

Very interesting blueprints, Thank you for sharing.

Blue prints are terribly fragile things, especially when they are that old. Love to hear from some archivist on just how best to preserve them. Should probably handle with cotton gloves and stored in “dark” archival quality tubes to begin with.

Getting good scans/copies of each should be done carefully so they are not damaged in the process. Make sure the service doing the work are aware of their age and value. They are expensive to get done. I opted out of getting a scanner attachment for my wide format printer in that they wanted $12,000 for that little option!

In response to request for more pictures here are a few, as for the Siskin etc, I shall get this done asap.

What does this Prontaprint place charge?

Prontaprint is a high street franchised photocopy/print shop. Most branches are unlikely to have the scanning capability to take large format material such as old aircraft drawaing prints. The one place I know can do this work is de Havilland Support at Duxford. As an alternative you could simply go to a drawing office plan printing company – there are one or two in most towns, and get them to photocopy the drawing full size (the can usually copy up to A0 size). The original print can then be safely archived and the modern copy used for perusing.

What does this Prontaprint place charge? Here is Sweden I had a single A3 size colour print made from a high-res scan that I supplied on CD, and it cost me the equivalent of over 30 British pounds!
I would very much like to know if that sort of work is cheaper in the UK!

I have copied many old drawings over the past few years – Swift, Pobjoy etc. Take them to the likes of Prontaprint and ask that they copy at 200 dpi or better and have then saved in TIFF format. They can then be changed to PDF or any other file type you please and copied without damaged to the originals.

When you have done this I suggest leaving the originals with the RAF Museum or the RAeS Library for safe keeping.

Copyright in UK … basically 70 years. Any CD you produce will also be copyrighted to you.

Minimum 300DPI for reprint

I have copied many old drawings over the past few years – Swift, Pobjoy etc. Take them to the likes of Prontaprint and ask that they copy at 200 dpi or better and have then saved in TIFF format. They can then be changed to PDF or any other file type you please and copied without damaged to the originals.

When you have done this I suggest leaving the originals with the RAF Museum or the RAeS Library for safe keeping.

Copyright in UK … basically 70 years. Any CD you produce will also be copyrighted to you.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
Can you post more…?

Very interested Dean – thanks for persevering and getting there.
Like Phantom Phixer I would particularly like to see those for the Siskin.
In case you are not aware old drawing prints like these are susceptible to fade with exposure to light. These may be important historic documents so keep them covered up away from any light when you can (and dry).

Roger Smith.

Apologies for dragging up an old thread, i’ve finally got round to photographing some of the items mentioned above, are people still intersted in seeing them? Below is a taster, i’ve only gone through the Gladiator stuff so far. I’ve also got some blue prints for the Grasshopper and Gnu.

All the best,

Dean

Blue prints

Hi chaps,

Thanks for all your responses, my internet connection is currently down and I hope to get it fixed ASAP. In response to questions on the Gauntlet, yes, there is a large diagram dated 1935 on how to restress the wings in the field, plus a few others.

I hope to get back online asap (currently online at a chums).

Apologies for bringing back an ‘old’ thread.

Best wishes,

Dean