Thanks Graham, the side cowlings are original,I did have a pair that sold on ebay a few years ago,and were finally collected a few months ago! they went to P Earthey.

R.e the trailer, you probably have it worked out , but putting the plane on backwards will put the majority of the weight aft (note correct use of word) of the wheels, and drastically increase the likelyhood of trailer snake (not to be confused with trouser snake); I had a car trailer almost sideways on the M11 a good few years ago, not a good feeling!

That horrible feeling of the trailer overtaking you is not nice at all. Yes i have thought about that although the CG on my Spit is well aft compared to the original. I am going to have a bracket which surports the fusilarge mounted over the twin axles. Once loaded the bracket which be jacked and locked into position reducing weight on main wheels and transfering the majority of weight onto the axles. Thats the theory anyway:D
Although I have used allot of steel I beleive my replica will still be allot lighter than an original Spit due to its lack or armanent, less fuel tanks, armour, systems etc. Shame I didnt see those cowlings, the heat from the stubs is causing me some worries.

Just my two penneth, the early seafires folded aft of rib 7, I believe the later ones folded further out ,but even at rib 7 the span is over 10ft, and would require a police (or otherwise authorised) escort every time you take it out on the road.

As I am currently building the stub wings, I have settled on the join aft of rib 6 which comes in just under 10ft, but I do know of somebody who has set the join at rib 5.

Hello Stuart

Thanks for the info. My wings do not have ribs like the original so they can fold exactly where i need them too.
I am aware of the police restrictions and our wings will fold up much closer in, the wing will then fold double to keep the height as low as possible. We are building a purpose built trailer so it can be towed with my truck..

Yike- that drum full of coolant is going to weigh 400-450lbs full..? How is it mounted? Did your reinforcing programme take account of it?

Good luck can’t wait to see it running somewhere.

Dave

The tank is mounted on a massice steel RSJ so no need to worry.Mecanical Work Should be completed in about six weeks. Then paint.

Enterprising and difficult project.. I might even say ground breaking!

Clearly you know what you are doing, but my comments for what they are worth-

Your steering tailwheel idea seems the only way of getting any control– also you have the advantage of being able to move the C of G to a position aft that would be suicidal on ‘the real thing’. Thiis should give you some stability, some steering and enable you to actually use the car brakes you are grafting onto the u/c legs. Are you putting some ballast in the tail?

Liability insurance will still be tricky, but if i can assist with locating suitable specialist brokers i will do. (i am in the industry)

A chap local to me does static runs with a contra prop ex shackleton griffon, (blades cropped to diam of around 20′, set at fully fine) and he may be able to help on lubrication and cooling ideas.

Dave

Hello Dave

And thanks for the advise. I am hoping i wont have two much trouble with insurance as i am able to disengage the prop, therefore it should’nt be any more dangerous than running a stationary engine. We have plenty of weight in the tail due to the cooling tank. Even when empty she is very tail heavy and cannot be lifted off the ground manually, so once that tank is full she should stay firmly on her tail. Due to the fuel consumption I don’t intend to run for more than 5 minutes, cooling should be ok. It has been a difficult project but finally we are making good progress. The engine is ready to fire. Heat from the stubs is an issue and we will be running without the cowlings and taking some temperature readings where the cowl fits. I am hoping we can figure this out if not i’ll have to replace then with metal.

Ploughing on trouble with repro parts

Making good progress. The cooling system finally has its rad neck and cap in place Thanks for all the help i got on that. The trottle is fitted with a working linkage, it don’t look pretty but it robust and works very well, nice and smooth with hardly any play. Fitted a floor and the stick, the rudder pedal assembly should be finished tomorrow, watch this space. A word to the wise pedals we are using are alloy repros, when they were test fitted to the rudder bars the circular bracket cracked, good job it happened now and not taxing:dev2: , obviously repro alloy parts have to be treated with extreme caution if you want them to function. Have replaced the stem and bracket with steel. Thats the great thing about a replica weights not a huge issue so the majority of the fabrication is steel. The stick was fitted using a fabricated plate so no damage was caused to the original.:)

Graham

Surely looking at all the parts you have made on your web site, one of these people could do it for you?

You can knock that out on a milling macine in half an hour, so it would not cost much if somebody you already knew did the job.

Pete

Pete

I wish it was that easy, it’s so hard for me to get bits made, costs a fortune and takes weeks. People just won’t do small numbers; most of the new bits are from many different sources. I have managed to get a brass neck complete with cap from a UK Rally Car part dealer, he had two left. Next week we should have everything in place, Oil, fuel, coolant.Going to post a short video of it running (hopefully) on the website. Working on the throttle linkage, going to use a P47 throttle. Can’t wait to get started on the Cockpit all those years of collecting will finally come together. Still need a wiring diagram of the fuel sender to gauge and a plug to fit the tank sender. I also surprisingly need a tail wheel. The one I had was to far gone for use, they usually appear on eBay every week but now I want one they have all disappeared. The last one I bought turned out to be a Hurricane, it was a bad picture. LOL will post some pics of progress soon. Help and advice always gratefully received. 🙂