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#3270144 - 04/14/11 08:11 PM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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maclean525 Offline
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It really doesn't get much better than that.

Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#3270215 - 04/14/11 09:17 PM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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The Netherlands
thumbsup

#3270404 - 04/15/11 01:04 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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DarrylH Offline
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Thanks Gents!


And...I left out the photo of the completed Slipper Tank Control....the sim and the real thing (just painting to go now.






Have just put her all back together after having a running battle with the rudder freezing up(now won I hope) so this weekend there will be pics of her at the current stage, assembled. The conversion to Mk V is almost complete and the PRU gear should be fitted within weeks, Camera Selector by right foot, Type 35 Controller where the gunsight would go and even a Mudflap Release Lever by the right shoulder.

The only thing holding "finished" up now is the door mechanism which I am having a delay in getting the last parts for.



Last edited by DarrylH; 04/15/11 01:05 AM.

PRU Spitfires..alone, fast and stealthy.
In memory of Flt Lt Tony Hill who, on 5 December 1941, at the request of Doctor R V Jones, successfully photographed a small "Würzburg radar" at Bruneval on the French coast. This from a height of only 200 ft, at high speed, under fire and from a camera mounted obliquely behind the cockpit.
#3336099 - 07/06/11 06:31 PM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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RAF74_Raptor Offline
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TN
That is a Beautiful pit Congrats


Ahh CLOD never in the history of Simming has so much been promised and so little given.

However I want to thank Team Fusion for keeping the Dream Alive.
#3787423 - 05/25/13 04:27 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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DarrylH Offline
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WARNING......long, many pictures


OK, a two yearly!!! update for anybody interested who hasn't been following on the ww2aircraft


Vent Control added under starboard coaming, Oxygen Stopc ock added, (also added a "Cockpit Heat" control which actually controls oxygen flow height) and an undercarriage warning horn cancell switch...all functional. The wires for these are all hidden in the pipework so everything mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic or cabled appears to work like that and not by electrical toggles, pots, encoders or limit switches as they actually do.

Relasered some gauges (notably the AH) , added all the pipework (mostly from aluminium but some polyethelene and some brass), added proper gun button (thanks again Tony!!) all to tighten up on the details...

Added a couple of PRU specific items (mudflap release on starboard , Amp and OAT gauges next Landing Lamp Control)


And also some general tidy up work, fuse boxes and the start of the Mk V modifications..(fuel pump switch, Oil Dilution Pushbutton and guard)

I have a ground/air switch here but I am still trying to confirm whether they were actually on the Mk V originally or have been added to the modern restorations.

Anyway, enjoy...





























Also awaiting the final work on the door mechanism (hopefully soon) so that I can build the door and finish the whole thing.

I wanted to maintain the "constantly upgraded/converted" theme and so I have left the Landing Lamp control in place, along with the Reflector sight switch and labels....but the sight is gone (impossible to see the reticle against a bright screen anyhow) whilst retaining the gunsight bulbs. Also, I added a gun camera footage unit as yet another "left behind" item. This gives the feel that a quick bit of work turns her into a fighter recon.

Now added are a fake seat adjustment handle (right of seat), Gwyn's marvellous Drop Tank Valve/Release unit, the heavey silver braided radio control (TR 1143) cable.

The lights are all now functioning...Undecarriage, Low Volts, Fuel Pressure Warning and the PRU control lights...2 on the Type 35 and 3 on the Camera Selector. (unfortunately most are too hard to see in the photo as the flash washed them out) The Type 35 has also moved forward to the more "traditional" upfront mounting.

Another real item has been received, this time a Magneto Switch pair.






Two views of the whole thing. Camera Selector Box prominant low and left.







The view "in the door"





The view from the pilot's seat:





Left wall froward from the seat.







Low on the panel, the twin "deviation" cards (with slipper tank and without) and the compass which now has a whisky compass inset ... at some stage I may hack this up to build a better representation of a P8 but lots to do first.






The Type 35 in place:








Camera Selector





The Drop Tank Control (and a good idea of as close as I could get to the seat colour)








Right, right rear and seat









Left rear, Seat and Fuse Boxes





Fake Seat adjustment handle and right wall detail.





Finally, the dual scale ASI. (and the altimeter and new Gyro laser cut) This took some serious brainwork and gearing by Gwyn but with 944 steps on the stepper motor, there was adequate room to add a second 290 degrees to give the second revolution. The gauge now functions exactly as the real thing, outside circle read the first revolution and then as you pass into the second revolution, you read the inside circle of numbers. It takes a little getting used to, particularly diving from altuitude when you are not always sure which "lap" you are on





The compass. The spider is mounted on a stepper motor and board hacked from a Flight illusion cessna compass that used to just be mounted in the main compass body. That compass was a whisky type and so the spider needed to be made to fit on top and the compass card had to be removed altogether.

The outer ring rotates to set course, the stepper turns the spider and it all works just like the original...which is NO compliment, I assure you!!!



Cockpit and new screen also the extra Navigation Panel with ADF and the "second engine" panel on the right (detachable for when just flying as the Spitfire.






A nice aquisition , the rare and, in this case still fully functional, Harness Recoil Reel. This will make the Sutton Harness fully functional and allow for the extra cockpit check on takeoff and landing.






A small detail but it all helps..the Cabin heat label now on (this encoder actually controls oxygen flow altitude/rate)




The Primer mechanism...a slide pot which will use FSUIPC to send "open", "pump" and "close" codes to the sim via FSUIPC at different points on the axis. (now ditched in favour of a magnetic proximity switch which will send a signal when pump handle is pulled out.)




The hardest job so far, really, the door latch. The latch handle and rods were made for me (swapped for some laser work) but I've finished them from the rough blanks. The latches themselves were a lathe/mill combination job,my very first!!! with the square hole of the latch guide being hand finished. The claws are made from round and square steel stock and threaded together (saving me using an independant 4 jaw chuck to turn them and mill them from a single square piece.

I'm quite happy for a first try at "fitting". Making things "mate" is not at all easy

The whole assembly so far:




The (front) claw and guide assembled... square holes are fun!! The finish is reasonable but not perfect..it does look a bit better "in person", the light of the flash does emphasise the ares that are not perfectly smooth....still, no excuses.






The claw of the rear latch..the second guide is still to be machined when I get some time.





Some very rough work on the door. This has proved to be a real challenge in that the factory drawings were inaccurate in the cockpit area so the whole sim is an inch too long. I have managed to "make" the door latch stretch but the proportions look a little off..never mind.

The real door is quite a work of art, very thin and strong and with a beautiful piano hinge base that pivots the whole thing out. It also fits snuggly into a designed recess, which was beyond me whilst using a wooden frame and plastic skin. It took me a wasted wooden blank, a small sheet of ali and about an hour to work out I was NEVER going to get it made like it really is!! So I settled on an "outside" fit of the skin, along the edge of the door "hole" in the sim and will use two or three ordinary door hinges. I wanted the door to "look" thin from the inside of the cockpit, so I made it thick enough to be strong but then made an inner skin which makes the whole thing LOOK thin when viewed from each side (and also gave me a useful cavity to hide all my dodgy joins, crossbraces and gluing!!)


I also found that to "look" square, the thing actually had to be made "out of plum" which was REALLY annoying until the outside skin went on and then it all LOOKED square...amazing and I can't explain it...just don't put a set square near it!! smile


So....The door itself, outside view.





And inside.





The Door latch, now attached to the top spar and complete except for fitting the aft latch claw and guide. The latch claw is made but the guide is this weekend's problem (hopefully).











The way it works..pivot point in the centre and rotates away, retracting the claw.










The door with more detail and the bottom rail and hinge fitted. Tomorrow I will paint it after finishing the last latch guide.




Why I haven't finished the last latch guide...

Not sure whether it is "completion anxiety" or attention to detail (let's call it attention to detail, eh??) but I decided today that I didn't like the nice chromed head nuts that I had used on 1/4 bolts to secure the links in the door latch...so I spent the time available designing making and installing four brass cotter pins, as per the original.


These are 20mm long, to fit 4.6mm diameter hole and the end hole for the split pin is 2mm!! Obviously I am not going to win any machining contests just yet but I am pleased with the way they came up and all four are machined pretty much identical specs.








Temp fitted....






Oh well......


I guess I will just have to admit it is "completion anxiety" after all. After a late night and, um, a single drink (or maybe two) which went to my head I couldn't face the guide today....

But I DID notice that the cupscrew that is the axle for the door latch did not look right...so I turned a faux locking cap for the axle and it came up quite well.
I did manage to break my parting tool in the process (on aluminium no more/less!!) but that was not wholey uexpected as it was never quite "right" for my lathe. I will now search for a new one.







The real thing:




And a quick start to the paint jo for the door:







Will it never end???????


Alright, anybody who has done a million metalwork jobs, gets bored easily or thinks I just like to hear myself type, tune out now....long post, large number of pictures alert!!!

Having said that...I have now finished the door, its associated locks and the door pier and slots for the fitting. I confess that until recently (last year) I really ahd NO idea how solid chunks of metal became"things". I guess there are not THAT many people who have been living under rocks or exclusively in an office, (like I have) for 30- 40 years but for those who have, I thought I would post somee shots of the door latch guide making process.

To start I drilled the 16mm hole in the end of the bar stock, which hole will eventually become the square hole in
the guide.I did this first as last time I learned that the cut down guide is not very stable in the vice, after
large portions of material have been removed. Then I began to carve away the centre of the latch guide.

You can just see the edge of the hole in the right of the picture as the cutting beins.








As material "disappears" the shape starts to look vaguely familiar.







The first (front) side finished, now time to start carving out the rear part.








(The middle swathe will be taken out last. On the front latch guide I used a 20mm cutter twice which caused some
vibration etc..so this time I used a 16mm with a slower speed and that worked better..but meant three sections had
to be cut instead of two. Time vs tool vs material..there is quite a bit to get your head around with this milling lark!!)












The job starts to look even more like a latch guide. (about an hour and a half to here with setting up, measuring and cutting)


Next, testing size, position and general comparison to the front guide.






Domed rear end of guide started (at this point there is still over 1mm finishing cut to be taken off one side, you
can see the hole is not central) This just fit with the bar stock size and not having to trim BOTH sides of the
bar (another simple thing I had to learn LAST time!!)




The small cutter machining and fine hand filing begin to convert the round 16mm hole into an 18mm x 16mm rectangular hole with squared corners.




An hour, some fine hand filing and two broken 4mm cutters later, the claw starts to get close to fitting into the
(only now) "squaring" hole.




Finished, fitted and painted. The door on half lock.




And full...




A very snug (MUCH to my relief!) fitting door and latch.




And the view from afar....








(if you don't mention that the door is a different colour, even though from the same tin of paint, due to the main body floor seal coating fading over time, then I won't..

A lot has been happening here, none of it really sim related..but I did get some time a couple of weeks ago to start the Throttle Upgrade.
This will be the last major work on the Spitfire, bringing her up to full Mk I/II converted to Mk V converted to PR IV "ish" standard.

All of the bits made so far, fitted and ready to wire and paint.





The throttle grip:



This has an integral switch (camera button) which took a bit of brainwork for a non tradie such as me!! It was turned on the lathe in three parts..main body, end cap, recessed to take and retain button..and the button itself. Having had a bit of a play now, I decided to make the button concave to accept the finger endand this turned out OK.









The undercarriage warning horn switching unit:

Tony's (Rocketeer) marvellous casting milled out to accept the switches and buttons. The milling is a little untidy as I was getting used to the resin..very different to metal or plastic.






The switch and buttons. The top button was made in the lathe, the horn cancel button on the milling machine





And finally, the first coat on the main throttle grip body.It should finish up with a high gloss black sheen.



I put back on the original mixture lever handle Gwyn made me as well..looks better with the black throttle than my wood one I made to match the wooden handle ..the old ones;










The next job will take more time as I need to remove the throttle altogether from the wall and pull it apart to add Tony's Chassis Indicator Horn Control unit to a newly made bracket and I will need to remake the UC Indicator switch housing to the fore as well.







The real thing, it will look like this eventually but with the black PRU throttle grip I've just made.




Last edited by DarrylH; 05/25/13 04:53 AM.

PRU Spitfires..alone, fast and stealthy.
In memory of Flt Lt Tony Hill who, on 5 December 1941, at the request of Doctor R V Jones, successfully photographed a small "Würzburg radar" at Bruneval on the French coast. This from a height of only 200 ft, at high speed, under fire and from a camera mounted obliquely behind the cockpit.
#3787461 - 05/25/13 10:31 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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Henk Offline
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Strijen, the Netherlands
Amazing! Museun quality.

#3787788 - 05/26/13 07:11 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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DarrylH Offline
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DarrylH  Offline
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Thank you Henk!!!


PRU Spitfires..alone, fast and stealthy.
In memory of Flt Lt Tony Hill who, on 5 December 1941, at the request of Doctor R V Jones, successfully photographed a small "Würzburg radar" at Bruneval on the French coast. This from a height of only 200 ft, at high speed, under fire and from a camera mounted obliquely behind the cockpit.
#3787790 - 05/26/13 07:22 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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Brandano Offline
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Caput Mundi (well, it used to ...
That is a really impressive work. Have you ever considered restoring an actual one?

#3787829 - 05/26/13 10:34 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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weisse13 Offline
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Germany
It´s brilliant ...fantastic and stunning....my deeply respect.... very very very good work...
Hammerhart genial und einfach unglaublich smile

#3787847 - 05/26/13 12:05 PM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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531 Ghost Offline
USMC
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Veteran

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Elizabeth City NC
This is one of those times SimHQ needs a drooling smiley! Beautiful work!


Originally Posted by Abraham Lincoln
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.


#3788131 - 05/27/13 08:14 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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DarrylH Offline
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Thanks for the great comments guys!

I wouldn't trust my workmanship on the real thing but she has been a blast to build. I'm almost sorry to be nearly finished..but teh f-16 needs a heap to finish it off, so I am sure I won't get bored any time soon. I'm looking forward to working on something more modern again too.

cheers

Darryl


PRU Spitfires..alone, fast and stealthy.
In memory of Flt Lt Tony Hill who, on 5 December 1941, at the request of Doctor R V Jones, successfully photographed a small "Würzburg radar" at Bruneval on the French coast. This from a height of only 200 ft, at high speed, under fire and from a camera mounted obliquely behind the cockpit.
#3788145 - 05/27/13 08:59 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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453Raafspitty Offline
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Australia,Sandstone Point
When are you going to build the rest of it smile

#3788471 - 05/28/13 02:46 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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DarrylH Offline
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DarrylH  Offline
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I'd love to..but it wouldn't fit in the computer room!

salute


PRU Spitfires..alone, fast and stealthy.
In memory of Flt Lt Tony Hill who, on 5 December 1941, at the request of Doctor R V Jones, successfully photographed a small "Würzburg radar" at Bruneval on the French coast. This from a height of only 200 ft, at high speed, under fire and from a camera mounted obliquely behind the cockpit.
#3788639 - 05/28/13 02:52 PM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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VO101MMaister Offline
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Haugesund, Norway
Wow, I absolutely admire your skills and work! Thank you for sharing this. How much of the instrumentation and controlls are actually working and interacting with the computer?

#3789029 - 05/29/13 06:18 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
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DarrylH Offline
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DarrylH  Offline
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Thank you Sir!

The main panel is almost completely live. The only guages that do not work are the rectangular oil pressure gauge (there is a small round, non scale, dual fuel and oil pressure gauge mounted above it) and the oxygen regulator gauge.
All other gauges and indicators function as per the original.

The switches are all live (some that are not functional, like the gunsight power switch, can be used for other functions.) as are all the flying controls. The emergency gear bottle and oxygen tap are both functional, as is the deice panel. On the left wall all the trims and the throttle functions work.

The radiator shutter lever works on a pot. I plan to put an encoder on teh seat raise handle to simulate raising/lowering the seat.

Basically the whole flight from startup to shutdown can be made from the cockpit without a keyboard or mouse.

regards


Darryl


PRU Spitfires..alone, fast and stealthy.
In memory of Flt Lt Tony Hill who, on 5 December 1941, at the request of Doctor R V Jones, successfully photographed a small "Würzburg radar" at Bruneval on the French coast. This from a height of only 200 ft, at high speed, under fire and from a camera mounted obliquely behind the cockpit.
#3789031 - 05/29/13 06:22 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 46
DarrylH Offline
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DarrylH  Offline
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Posts: 46
To demonstrate the kind of fun that can be had with this...here is a repost of an eventful flight a while back involving a gear failure.......please skip if you've read it elsewhere.

For those who are not familiar with A2A's Accu-Sim concept...it takes the engine and some other calcs out of FSX, redoes them and then forces FSX to use the outside figures. This delivers an incredible level of realism and means that the aircraft MUST be flown properly or you are in for trouble. Random failures also happen but rarely.


I believe that one of the most valuable possessions (if you like) that a pilot has is his "currency".

If you are not "current" in general or "on type" you are already one step behind the
play. That can, in real life, cost you that life but thankfully in a Sim, it usually just
leaves you red faced. Accu-Sim brings this all in to play.

And so to the whole sad story.......

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday 12th July 2011.

The previous flight in the Spitfire Mk II had been low level aerobatics and I had run
her hard...but she seemed to be in good shape nonetheless (Factor 1). I managed to implement Alex Henshaw's technique and can now roll at hanger height, using the fuselage as an extra "wing area" for parts of the roll. Great fun but stressfull for the normally aspirated Merlin. One feature of Accu-Sim is that the aircraft are "persistent " that is, next time you load up, the aircraft is in exactly the same state as you left it last flight, mechanically, fuel, setup, damage, wear etc.

After a lay off of a few weeks, I met up with Ron for some aerobatics practice and
formation flying out of Busselton. The warm ups took longer than expected for various reasons (but all checks properly done) and so by takeoff the Radiator was right on 120C. (Factor 2). Any higher (ANY!!) and it would have required a shut down.

Ron had drawn a fair way ahead and above me, so I expedited my takeoff and went gear
up, then immediately concentrated on closing the distance whilst still keeping her at
or below max temps (Factor 3).


Despite battling with the temps the gap was closed but, unusually, I did use the
rudder trim to keep me straight in the climb, something I never do as the rudder
forces on climb are not that great anyway and only have to be used sporadically and
only in a very steep climb. (Factor 4).

When it came time to form up on Ron's starboard wing, we exchanged temps, rpm, boost
setting and airspeed, as per normal. (in this case 2300rpm at +2 and Ron had 232mph
indicated). Ron was running Radiator at 113C and I had mine down to 100C but my oil
temp was 5 or 6C higher than his and not too far south of 90C).

I quickly found that at these settings, I could not maintain formation. I put this
down to the previous low level aeros having pushed the engine a bit hard, a suspicion
that seemed to be confirmed by the RPM surging a little more than usual. Or perhaps
having strained the govenor?? Any how, Accu-sim models things differently, so my
Monday Morning Spitfire was just being difficult, obviously.

After that the formation took our attention for a while and the lower boost and cruise
speed let the temps fall back a bit. Our radiators pretty much syncronised at 100C but
my oil temp was still 5-6 higher. By this time I was watching the temps intently on a
regular basis, looking for early signs of trouble. (Factor 5).

When the fuel level dictated, we turned back to Busselton, by this time some 40-50nm
away. It was at this time that we decided on Ron forming up on me. He saw it immediately.

NOW all the pieces fell in to place: Sitting there, nicely perched about six to eight inches
from closed, was the port undercarriage leg, just open enough to disrupt the airflow into
the oil cooler!

Damn that Undercarriage Indicator "UP" Light, it shouldn't be on!!! Go to tap glass
(my standard response to any instrument problem).....it ISN'T on.

You know that sick feeling when you realise that you have done something REALLY stupid
and obviously so??.... I realised that in my haste to "get off", I had not actually
VISUALLY confirmed that the "UP" light had come on.

So, humbled, I flew back towards Busselton and thought long and hard about
undercarriage failure drills, visual indicators, the unfairness of it all and how I
was going to stop Ron broadcasting my stupidity to the world smile

In the end, we diverted to Bunbury, as that was closer and, as my home field, I am
very familiar with how everything should "look and feel" on approach. Once near the
field, I attempted to lock the wheel back up by inverting the Spitfire. No good. So
next I lowered the gear to see if it would go down and lock. The right gear deployed
normally but the left wouldn't budge. So next I tried the Emergency Undercarriage
Cylinder...no joy either. At least the right gear still retracted, that was something.
So, resigned to a belly landing, I checked the gear lever WAS in the UP position (in
case the right leg extended for some reason on approach, it would at least collapse on
landing), established a normal circuit but a couple of hundred feet high and aiming,
eventually, at 1/3 down the strip, opened the canopy and when turning onto final, shut
off the fuel and electrics, checked the Sutton was tight and disconnected the R/T
leads. At 100 feet I realised that I had been so intent on lining up for 1/3 of the
runway, that I was still aiming for the bitumen, not for the grass to the side, which
was my intended target.So I eased the nose over a bit and made a very good belly
landing (as adjudged by Ron) pulling up quickly and doing hardly any damage apart from
the airscrew and radiator.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So...what went wrong? Well, as usual, no single problem leads to an aviation
"incident", there is always a chain of events that conspire. My assessment is
below

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Whilst past events MUST be taken into account, current problems should be judged on
their merits and without preconception. (assumed substandard performance because
engine tired)

2. The lack of recent flying makes everything much more of an effort and therefore
effectively multiplies any normal workload. Should there be a problem occur (high
temps, lateness ) this can lead to "standard" procedures being skipped or missed (Not
checking U/C Light).

3. Attention needs to be paid to the WHOLE panel, not just a segment of it.
(concentrating on engine instruments on the right to "catch up" without overheating..effectively ignoring the left of the panel where the U/C Light SHOULD have been showing). The Spitfire has the U/C Light AND physical indicators in the wings and yet because my attention was on the gauges to the right, I missed the leck of UP light AND the small portion of red U/C indicator pin still protruding through the wing.

4. Currency builds consistency. The rudder trim, once dialed in, was left there, effectively concealing the drag caused by the protruding U/C leg. This went unnoticed as I "never use it".

5. Persistent unexplained rise in oil temp should have raised questions as to what other possible causes there could be, rather than an assumption of "bad day"...particularly as radiator temp was around normal. Watching for things to get worse is all very fine but it should NOT preclude further checking for the source of the problem.

What went right....?

1. Practice emergency procedures, have them burned into your brain so that they become automatic. At least once things WERE discovered, the solutions/precautions were pretty much automatic to me.

2. Know your aircraft.... glide approach speeds, where everything is in the cockpit to shut down quickly, what you can and can't turn off or the order that it should be turned off (no good shutting down electrics if your flaps are electric and you need them..etc etc).

3. Burn off fuel. Easy in this case as we were RTB because of fuel anyway...but don't belly land with full tanks.




Ron gives me the "good news"



Attempting to lower my gear.



Barely visible here but all too obvious AFTER the gear problem was found..the U/C tab extended a fraction above the wing.



The U/C leg still in jammed position after the belly landing.



Darryl

Last edited by DarrylH; 05/29/13 06:31 AM.

PRU Spitfires..alone, fast and stealthy.
In memory of Flt Lt Tony Hill who, on 5 December 1941, at the request of Doctor R V Jones, successfully photographed a small "Würzburg radar" at Bruneval on the French coast. This from a height of only 200 ft, at high speed, under fire and from a camera mounted obliquely behind the cockpit.
#3830912 - 09/03/13 05:50 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 46
DarrylH Offline
Junior Member
DarrylH  Offline
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Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 46
Fitting the sutton harness tension/recoil unit in a decidedly NON standard way. I just don't have six feet of frames behind the seat to run the cable. This meant fixing the unit to the rear bulkhead and running the cable around wheels to take up the slack. The original cable broke the first time I used it, so I sourced a motorcycle clutch cable and took the WHOLE thing apart to fit that. In the end it came up well and functions perfectly...but unfortunately it is NOT a Spitifre unit, or at least if it is, it is from the rear seat of a two seater..you can see this from the frame being welded at 90 degrees from where a normalk Spit unit is..necessitating an angled block being mounted to make the handle travel through the "normal" arc...no matter, it was still a very good pickup. Remembering to disengage the lock before leaning forward will be a task but the hard edges of the Sutton Harness are a very good reminder, cutting in as they do to near the collar bone and leaving bruises when you forget (ask me how I know!! frown )


The real "run"




The main unit fitted and the home turned rollers to guide the cable.




The roller unit made from scratch with 3mm aluminium, bent in the vice, a turned brass axle and turned roller. For the first time my wife, on seeing this, asked where I found it and how much it cost!!! My machine work must have improved!




The handle/trigger unit fitted in the cockpit. The tensioning makes it quite a job to pull it down to release the lock, just like in the real thing.



PRU Spitfires..alone, fast and stealthy.
In memory of Flt Lt Tony Hill who, on 5 December 1941, at the request of Doctor R V Jones, successfully photographed a small "Würzburg radar" at Bruneval on the French coast. This from a height of only 200 ft, at high speed, under fire and from a camera mounted obliquely behind the cockpit.
#4432465 - 08/01/18 11:46 AM Re: Another Spit pit [Re: Sokol1]  
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,942
453Raafspitty Offline
Senior Member
453Raafspitty  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,942
Australia,Sandstone Point
For some updates on Darryls Spitpit.
https://www.facebook.com/SpitfireK9817/

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