Page 35 – Key Publishing

chumpy

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 15 posts - 511 through 525 (of 549 total)

← 1 2 3 … 34 35 36 37 →

Author

Posts
August 25, 2007 at 10:08 pm in reply to: Magnesium rivets…. #1288447

chumpy
Participant

Rick,
Those black L36 rivets are in fact pure Aluminuim, thus very soft…great for filling up those holes that you did not mean to drill!

Chumpy.

August 25, 2007 at 7:31 am in reply to: Magnesium rivets…. #1289362

chumpy
Participant

Hi ZRX,
The purple rivets are not Mag alloyl, ‘Material 3L86’ spec as mentioned in your second post. Mag rivets are dyed green, spec no. for these DTD303.

Neither of them are Ice Box rivets just bash em in cold!

There is another thread quite near the top of the forum ‘heap’…Spitfire Aluminium that has much detail on the subject.

Cheers, Chumpy.

August 23, 2007 at 11:32 pm in reply to: SPIT aluminum #1291029

chumpy
Participant

Hi Speedy,
The usual rules apply when folding L.163 / DTD390 both much the same material. If you are going to do 2T bends the material will require solution treating. This standard practice within Supermarine and the aircraft industry in general, for most formed sheet metal items regardless of gauge / bend rad.

You might well get away with doing it cold in thin stuff, but 18swg/.050″ and over it will no doubt be very prone to cracking along the fold.

As for the Merlin con-rod bit…I have no idea. I expect Merlin Pete does!

Cheers, Chumpy.

August 20, 2007 at 7:28 pm in reply to: Beverley at Hendon – 21st March 1989 #1295704

chumpy
Participant

…Alas the sad demise, Feb 1990.

August 11, 2007 at 6:59 pm in reply to: Spitfire Replica, alternative spars, etc. #1305428

chumpy
Participant

Stuart,
In this case because of a crash, but I reckon this where it would go in the event of excesive loading etc.

Tom…The article is from Aircraft Production magazine 1942, the house mag of the British aircraft industry of the time….Yes I do have the whole thing so will get in touch via P.M’s. As for Don Campbells Spit this evetually came to the UK and rebuilt to flying conition. I beleive it is now flying in the USA, owner one Paul Allen of Microsoft fame. If this is not the case I am sure one of the other forum chaps will put me right!

Chumpy.

August 11, 2007 at 3:53 pm in reply to: Spitfire Replica, alternative spars, etc. #1305606

chumpy
Participant

….When it does let go it will look like this, nasty!

August 11, 2007 at 10:04 am in reply to: Spitfire Replica, alternative spars, etc. #1305878

chumpy
Participant

Tom,

Yes the last two photos match up with the solid root end shoot, attached is a drawing of the tubular assembly.

As for the failure of the spar mentioned by Stuart, not quite sure which one I would prefer. Progresive would probably be favourite just so long as it was slow enough to bale out or land!

Chumpy.

August 10, 2007 at 9:38 pm in reply to: Spitfire Replica, alternative spars, etc. #1306241

chumpy
Participant

Tom,
A couple more photos of the solid Spit spar showing how it reduces to Channel then Angle section, maybe some food for thought for you.

Be it tube or solid a real unique way of making a spar!!! Only advantage I can see is that it does away with the need for ‘traditional’ hefty, expensive machined root-end attach fittings. Great if you intened to build 20,000+ aircraft and tool up accordingly, on a small scale difficult and very expensive.

On a smallER scale not impossible but tricky to say the least. So maybe the more traditional method would be better, rather than trying to replicate Mr. Mitchell’s!

Chumpy.

August 9, 2007 at 11:20 pm in reply to: Spitfire Replica, alternative spars, etc. #1307372

chumpy
Participant

Tom,
Construction is just the same as for the tubular spars, i.e. bolts and rivets attaching the webs to the booms. Holes drilled straight through, no need for distance tubes in certain places due to the ‘solid’ construction. Also sharp corners rather than the radius on the tubular items.

Not exactly sure if these were machined and then bent, or milled out of a large billet to acheive the crank. Maybe some issues with grain flow if they did it by the latter method. Though I dare say there were also problems with them having to be stressed relieved / straightened, what with machining away material on one side of the boom to get it down to channel / angle section.
Picking up an earlier point of yours regarding the temper of 2014 alloys, for the most part this will be T4. Material spec in the UK is L164-T4 sometimes L166 but much the same stuff. A more forgiving material to work than 2024-T3 alloys in my opinion.

Chumpy.

August 9, 2007 at 9:17 pm in reply to: Spitfire Replica, alternative spars, etc. #1307526

chumpy
Participant

Hi Tom,
Just for your interest a shot of the root end of a solid spar and the tubular version.

Much like the tubular spars the solid reduce from square sectin at the root end, to channel section and then angle at the tip end. ‘Easier’ in principle to manufacture, but boy what a milling job..mountains of swarf etc!

Chumpy.

August 6, 2007 at 10:21 pm in reply to: Scrapyard Photos; Any More? #1311414

chumpy
Participant

Hi All,
Just to add to the ‘heap’, attached is a shot of the BKL Alloys compound at Kings Norton, to the south of Brum..circa 1948.

They melted many an airframe in their time…anybody got any memories of the place??

Cheers, Chumpy.

August 4, 2007 at 4:10 pm in reply to: Real Photographs Co…fate? #1313829

chumpy
Participant

Allan,
I would agree with Matty on the purpose of the Sunderland re. Princess power control trials. The serial though was RN297, somewhere I have a not very good quality picture of it, in the hangar at Cowes in 1949. Quite how long they had it I am not sure, the Air Britain serials book shows it as being sold in June 1953.

As for the A33, really looks like it could have done with a couple of extra struts under the fuselage. Although the wing failure was due to a heavy landing, I reckon some one got the strength calcs a bit wrong!

Quite good detail on both in the ‘Putnam’ Saunders Roe book by Peter London.

Chumpy.

August 3, 2007 at 9:04 pm in reply to: Real Photographs Co…fate? #1314535

chumpy
Participant

Hi Allan,
Yes a new avenue to follow..so thanks for your input! Tricky business regarding ownership of old photos, as you mentioned some under licence from the manufacture’s. Others perhaps taken by staff photographers from R.P….then sold on to I.A….god only knows!!!

As for the SARO archive the story as I understand it,…. as far as I know this consisted of photos only. I worked for the then British Hovercraft Corp during the 1970s/80s, the company having its own in house photographic department that held the negs and photos going back to the earliest days of Saunders Roe.
During the mid 1980s the company then part the GKN / Westland group saw much rationalization, with the photo department being ‘hived-off’ to private enterprise. As I recall it was the still the same photographer but now working outside the company, with him went the negs and photos. I would imagine though that the company still held ulitimate ‘rights’ to the images.
About five years ago the afore mentioned SARO/BHC archive was set up to cater for on-line sales of the more historic images, this a seperate business to the above. Alas as previously mentioned the archive is currently grounded, out there some-place awaiting a new custodian.

Again if it is not classified, what are you after?

Chumpy.

August 3, 2007 at 8:31 am in reply to: Spitfire Parts Questions. Fairly specific info needed.. #1315286

chumpy
Participant

Hi Tom,

Is your project going to be a flyer or a static only job?
If you do not intend it to fly best to avoid expensive and difficult to work aircraft spec materials. Softer more forgiving ‘commercial’ spec materials would suffice for the more complex curved bits, not that there are many straight bits anywhere on a Spit!
If you do not already do so, best to take up drinking beer at this stage, I find it helps the thought process no end!

Best of luck, Chumpy.

August 2, 2007 at 8:21 pm in reply to: Real Photographs Co…fate? #1315914

chumpy
Participant

Hi Matty,
No need to apologise, this is the great thing about the Forum you never know where it will lead to! I certainly got my question answered and hopefully have passed on a bit of useful info to otheres along the way.

Not that I want to end this one but, it might well be a good idea for you to start a thread of your own asking for S6b info. As no doubt those out there with the knoweledge are going to be unaware, unless they stumble across this thread by chance.

Meant to ask what are you up to?… if it is not classified!

Chumpy.
Author

Posts

Viewing 15 posts - 511 through 525 (of 549 total)

← 1 2 3 … 34 35 36 37 →