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Speed Spitfire N 17, 1/32


Pascal

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I'm wondering if it's possible to do a conversion of a Revell Mk I/II or a Hase Mk Vb.

Filling or sanding the panellines, modify the radiators, propellor and tailwheel. Finding somebody that can vacuform the canopy...

But I've read somewhere that the shape of the wings is different. Does anybody have more info on that ?

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I think the mod to the wing involved shortening the wingtips a little rather than altering the main planform of the wing , so you should be able to reshape the wingtips to suit .

Here's a link to a set of plans , which you may find helpful .

http://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/modernplanes/modern-su-sz/18733/view/supermarine_high_speed_spitfire/

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Those drawings have to be wrong. The span of the High speed spitfire was 33.67 feet (33'.8.04") which leaves a bare 7" after the normal wing tip break on which to put a reasonable radius. I suggest that the wing was re-designed outboard of the wheel bay and it had no normal tip break rib.

John

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Hmm, you've got me wondering, John.

The Spec for the Mk.III ("Improved Spitfire") proposes the same wing shape as the Speed Spit, and gives the span as 33' 8" and (gross) wing area of 231 sq ft. It says this:

3. Wing surface

The wing area is slightly reduced without interfering with the main structural members, except at the tip where the area is removed.

(It specifically links the reduced wing to the Speed Spit, and elsewhere:)

The High Speed Development Spitfire incorporates a reduction in wing area which can be easily applied to production aircraft.

That's a little vague, but seems to suggest that it does not affect the main wing structure. Also, if the change came farther inboard than the tip, it would immediately affect the aileron, and I am not aware that the aileron is any different in size on the Speed Spit. However, in the interest of confirming the aileron point, I looked at pictures, and now that I look it appears that the leading edge may start "rounding off" sooner than the normal Spit wing shape. This could also be interpreted to fit the description above! Also, it seems to me that there probably was some reason they could not stick a normal wingtip back on, or it likely would have been done.

Egads, another assumption called into question; another direction for further investigation... I shoulda stuck to studying the Farleigh Fruitbat!

bob

p.s. This may be too amateur for usefulness, but I tried to get a side-by-side comparison. Flipped and scaled, but no proportions were harmed in the making of this picture...

attempt.jpg

Note how when the wingtip is cropped at (hopefully) about the right place on the top, the curve seems less dramatic, while on the lower one it seems more "curvy" on the Speed Spit.

Edited by gingerbob
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This is interesting. One of my favourite aircraft subjects, probably the top one. About two years ago I finally (after many pretty crude attempts in 1/72 as a young kid in the early 70's...) pulled myself together and built the Speed Spitfire in 1/24 scale, using Trumpeter's MkVb as a base. Yes, it took a lot of modifications and studying to pull it through...

Anyway, about the wing. When reducing the wing to correct span, I found it impossible to get a shape that looked even remotely correct if I only reworked the tips. I did some sketching with a pen first, but a reasonable curvature was simply not obtainable that way. Then I did some photo comparison similar to gingerbob's above and decided I had to start the reshaping further inward, also slightly affecting the ailerons. That's when it started to look right, probably not 100% though, I should have rounded even a little more inside of the tips. So I too think a larger part of the wing than only the tips was affected.

ss9.jpg

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Those drawings have to be wrong. The span of the High speed spitfire was 33.67 feet (33'.8.04") which leaves a bare 7" after the normal wing tip break on which to put a reasonable radius. I suggest that the wing was re-designed outboard of the wheel bay and it had no normal tip break rib.

John

I believe John is quite right here in his suggestion of the wing re-design. From the Minutes of a meeting held at Eastleigh on 7th september 1937, chaired by E H Mansbridge,

" The question of wing area was raised and it was agreed that the easiest way of reducing area would be to use a standard wing from the fuselage out to the wheel housings , leaving the chassis and glycol cooling system untouched . A new wing tip would be designed .It was estimated that maximum speed could be increased by 10-15 mph by such a reduction. " [ source Spitfire the History ].

It would also appear that only the starboard flap was shortened by the removal of the inboard section, due to the larger coolant radiator, because the removed section was close the the aircraft centre line, no serious rolling problem was expected when the flaps were lowered due to asymmetry.

Andrew

Edited by Andrew Jones
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K9834.jpgJörgen, your model is stunning !

I wonder what kind of paints was used for this so smooth glossy finish ?????

I have no pic of this N17 in my collection today and it is certainly a big lack....but I have the K9834 :

cheers

Olivier

Edited by JOAN
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  • 1 month later...

Does anybody have more pictures of this aircraft whe she was displayed in Brussels ? Like this one :

1-N17-01-001.jpg

Or pictures of N17 with the prop that's on the picture ?

Sincerely

Pascal

Edited by Pascal
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  • 1 month later...

Well it seems that pictures of the Speed Spitfire at the Brussels Airshow are very hard to find. Did she fly with the 3-bladed prop that's on the picture above ? And would the colour of the prop-blades have been black ?

 

Sincerely

 

Pascal

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I believe she flew with the propeller shown above as Spitfire the History mentions the aircraft flying with the DH propeller, and the one in the picture is a DH propeller modified with metal fairings at the spinner (the 4-blade prop was a Fairey Reed)

Edited by Giorgio N
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