Spitfire Seat

Isn’t that what the 1st poster quoted, it came with all the expensive bits too.

Ah,…….. now you’ve put it up in large friendly red letters, I see the error of my comment, apologise and fall on my sword.

…..no, that bl**dy hurts!, forget the sword bit, can I just apologise???….:)

thanks Bruce – n/t

n/t

Assuming the original composite seats stay in good shape, they can be re-used. They are prone to delaminate and rot in the wrong environment, but in general they are very durable.

Bruce

I’m intrigued now

Do the “composition” seats have an optimum “life”. Presumably plastics technology was in its infancy then so do the seats begin to loose their integrity or structural strength due to age or exposure to UV light or other environmental factors

or if the seat looks good and there is no apparent damage- can it get an airworthy ticket?

Start at 08.00 hours on Monday morning with the drawings, working at a modest £40 p.h. commercial rate.

Finish in six weeks time with a seat ready to fly, signed off, that the CAA are happy with.

£10,000 if you are skilful….and lucky. 🙂

Mark

Just seen this on ebay, Buy it Now £10k; seems good value….

Went to the Ex-Mil event at Stafford today

Saw a composition/impregnated fibre/bakelite (call it what you will) seat from a later mark Spitfire (no signal cartridge rack along front) with the adjustable mounting frame and leather back cushion. Some damage to one side of the seat

I’m confused now.

Isn’t that what’s this thread is about? There was no mention of the expensive bit/s.

Baz

Isn’t that what the 1st poster quoted, it came with all the expensive bits too.

No, its any of them.

Forget the bit you sit in for a moment

Bruce

I’m confused now.

Isn’t that what’s this thread is about? There was no mention of the expensive bit/s.

Baz

Thanks for clarifiying that Bruce.

No, its any of them.

Forget the bit you sit in for a moment, and think of the rest. That is one expensive bit.

If you have to make the bucket seat itself, its not a difficult job to make it in a modern composite (Kevlar, Carbon Fibre etc), but you do have to prove that it will work at least as well as the original. Factor in the cost of the paperwork, and you will see what I mean. If you make the seat in Aluminium, its still a tricky job – look at the pic above, and try and do a mental hours costing…..!

It doesnt mean the seat originally mentioned is worth 10K – it means that if you have nothing, and need a seat, it will cost you 10K to make one from scratch, AND go and fly it!

Bruce

Ah right, it’s just that the OP says ‘…composition/impregnated fibre/bakelite (call it what you will) seat from a later mark Spitfire’.
I too struggle to see how it would be worth £10,000, so basically it’s the metal seats that are expensive?
And that £300 for an old and slightly damaged composite seat might be about right?

There are different types of the ‘cardboard’ seat. There is a standard AS seat, that fits Vampire, Meteor, Vulcan, and a host of others. It looks like the Spitfire seat, but is entirely different.

The Spitfire one is specific to the aircraft, and mounts onto a fabricated frame, with a built in height rasing mechanism. Most were cardboard, but the early type was aluminium – which some restorers are going back to, as it is easier to certify than having to manufacture a modern composite seat.

Bruce

I’m slightly confused (as normal!) I thought we are talking about the cardboard resin orange/brown seats that you see about?

The tin bits are a challenge but I agree,it,s all the machined parts that add the time and money.

The seat looks deceptively simple – it isnt.

There are a lot of machined parts in the frame, and quite complicated ones too.

Coupled with a good few hours for a competent sheet metal worker, and a further good few hours to assemble it, its an expensive job indeed. If you go the composite route, and have to have your new composite seat approved by the CAA, it adds another good chunk of cash.

Oh, and you wont make a fortune out of that 10K price…!

As an aside, does anyone know what happened to the chap building this cockpit?

Suttleworth Collection kidnapped him and chained hin onto a milling machine in their machine shop 🙂

Fantastic Pictures Spitfire Man !!!!!!!!!

Is this the level of completeness of the said £10k assembly?

As an aside, does anyone know what happened to the chap building this cockpit?

Can someone break down the cost of a £10000 spitfire seat please? Seems an awful lot of money…

Thanks for the info. Spitfireman-and best of luck with the ‘109