I have great news for you Graham – the last one sold for £1,000,000 only last week! 🙂

Mark

Wow I missed that one was it on ebay LOL Bargain;) . I was going on info from a chap who is rebuilding a Hurricane(Flyer) came to see me last week. He said there is a 15 Year waiting list for Spitfire’s at Duxford but you could jump the queue for £2,000,000 with a zero timed Spit thats kicking about at the moment. My effort is breaking the bank on a weekly basis as it is:(

Graham.

I’m no engineer so much of what has been written has gone sailing over my head, however, there are a number of things I don’t understand here. Probably my lack of knowledge about things mechanical so bear with me.

Hello Kev

Thankyou for the post I do not tend to go into to much detail on the forum about H&S and some of the other points you have raised as I may run the risk of boring you all to death, having been given the opurtunity I will try to allay some of your concerns.;)

1. You say that the cowlings are likely to catch fire and may need replacing with metal ones. You also state that the engine is expected to run for no more than 5 minutes at a time. Wouldn’t/shouldn’t the heat issue have been considered much earlier during the design and build process?

This comment was pretty tonque in cheek, the only significant risk of the cowlings burning come from the exhaust. We have increased the gaps around the exhaust stubs and they are protected with special heat proof paint used by racing cars. In addition we will be fitting deflector plates to the cowlings along with special heat proof mats also used by racing and drag cars. Now that the stubbs have been realigned there should’t be a problem. Remember many high performance cars are made of fibreglass you can some really good tips watching late night custom car programs.

2. The folding wing means that the model/replica will effectively be neither fish nor fowl, neither a Spitfire or a Seafire. Do you believe that alterations such as this to the design of the Spitfire will detract from the model’s appearance meaning there is less likelihood of people booking you for displays?

Our replica has been designed for ease of transport, she will be able to access places no other Spitfire real or replica could hope to achieve without big transport costs. Once the wings are folded down you really wont be able to tell they do fold so its not really an issue. The original replica was made from molds taken from an original MKVIII and every rivet and detail is replicated, so even die hard Spitfire experts should be reasonably pleased with the finished result. We have made some mods that very slightly change her external appearance but we are working to minimise these.

3. The front page of the replica website has the following as a headline….

“Climb into the Cockpit and Taxi a MK VIII SPITFIRE”

Whilst ignoring the fact that it is not a Spitfire of any type, just a drastically altered model, what safety procedures would be put into place to allow anyone just to taxy this model around? What H&S procedures and practices will cover such actions and will any specialist Company actually insure such a project? Particularly if this is being offered at a busy airshow venue?

Having spent my career working for an international civil engineering company for the last five years as a project manager I know H&S law, preparing risk assesments (safety procedures) comes as easily to me as writing posts on this forum come to you. The fact is not just anyone will be able to taxi around. The prop can be completely dissengaged while the engine runs and this is how she will be operated at shows. In this format its the same risk as running a stationary engine and no problem to get public liability reasonable cheaply. I would imagine people like Merlin Pete who run engines with props have a bigger problem. You see the Meteor unlike the Merlin is perfectly happy to run without load. Taxi runs will be private events for friends way from the public. Of coarse the great thing with a statoinary prop is you will be able to get right up close when she runs something you cannot do with a real Spit.

4. What is the actual point of the project as it stands at the moment? It has changed so much since its inception, are you still portraying a MKVIII Spitfire despite the two bladed propelloe, odd exhausts and non standard wing fold?

Your last point is the most interesting and you would probably have to ask that question of all the people that report on thier projects on this forum. Many people more skilled than eye spend hours recreating cockpits and the like. In my case I love Spitfire’s but cannot afford the £2,000,000 pricetag. Having bought a static replica I wanted to climb in start the engine and taxi around. Having had the idea i set about making it happen on a budget, hence the website etc. I intend to take her to the smaller shows like Popham who have surported me in the past, who cannot afford the real deal. Big shows like Duxford have plenty of Spits and my modest effort would’nt be of interest.
I also intend to do some local fund raising events for the local schools my children attend. At the same time educating the next generations about their brave ancestors. I believe it will bring allot of pleasure to allot of people who may never have the chance to sit in and start a Spitfire, recreating that experiance as closely as possible at the minimum cost. Finally it gives me inmeasureable pleasure in creating something from scratch, something you will only understand if you try creating a project yourself.:)

As I’ve said, I’ve no engineering knowledge at all and can only praise you for getting this far, just wondering what the model will look like at the end of the project (Spitfire? Seafire?) and just exactly how it will be displayed at shows.

Regards,

kev35

Happy Days 🙂

It is looking good Graham,keep me posted as to availibilty for June next year,even if means it being displayed as a static.

Come hell or high water she will be at full spec by end of jan 2008. 🙂

A bit more progress made, we hope to start the engine on the 5th November.

http://www.spitfirespares.com/SpitfireSpares.com/Pages/Spitfire%20MkVIII%20Replica%20page%202.html