Vol 2 All the Spitfire questions here

[Ray_W]

6 minutes ago, Crimea River said:

That's exactly what it is. The lines from the tank run to the landing gear hand pump.

Fantastic! I had seen those lines and suspected that was the case. We now have an easy way to pick whether a Spitfire Mk. I has manual pump operated undercarriage  or not.  If you can see the top of the tank on the starboard side behind the pilot you know.

 

Only one problem, as always, very inconsiderate that they did not put it on the side most photos are taken from - the boarding or port side! 😁

 

I see the hydraulic tank for the motorised pump circuit went into the engine bay giving a shorter hydraulic circuit length for this type of installation.

 

Ray

[Johnson]

6 hours ago, Ray_W said:

Well it's a start - Item 19. I have more. Just need to dig them out.

Thanks Ray for your (much better than mine) research!

 

5 hours ago, DonH said:

Here is a drawing. A bit grainy, but I hope it helps. Bottom left is what I think you are after.

Most helpful Don. Great drawings, do you have the full set?

 

3 hours ago, Crimea River said:

That's exactly what it is. The lines from the tank run to the landing gear hand pump.

Thanks - I think we're unraveling this, or maybe I'm just unraveling? 

 

I really must get away from this laptop and actually get on with the bloody kit!

 

Cheers everyone,

[Ray_W]

1 minute ago, Johnson said:

I really must get away from this laptop and actually get on with the bloody kit!

It can be a problem 😁  

[DonH]

10 hours ago, Johnson said:

Most helpful Don. Great drawings, do you have the full set?

Hi, yes, I have a comprehensive set of Spitfire drawings (all marks). Not complete, but good enough for most things.

 

One thing is for sure, the more I find out, the less I know.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Does anyone have any Specifics or possibly a history for Spitfire Mk.IXe PL316 ? Did it have standard or clipped wings, which factory was it produced at and was the camouflage on the cowling different near the intake ? Or was that only an difference on some Mk.VIII’s ? I know its listed as being with 132 Squadron when shot down, however did it have any differences from other standard IX’s visually ? Does anyone know codes  for it ? They would have bee FF* something. The pilot was Flt.Sgt. James Hyde so would the “H” be correct ? 

[alt-92]

PL316 LFIX CBAF M66 33MU 6-6-44 AST 23-6-44 132S 'FF-S' 27-7-44 Shot down by Bf109s nr Nijmegen 25-9-44 W/O J J Hyde killed

 

Being Castle Bromwich, I'd expect a standard DFS pattern camo.

Maybe this helps?

 

 

 

[franky boy]

Hello chaps

 

Just planning on building a Mk xix using the Airfix 1/48 scale kit. This a/c was unpressurised so I know I should be removing the air intake on the port side cowling under the exhaust but my question is would an unpressurised aircraft carry the solid bulkhead behind the cockpit. My gut feeling is that it should but I’m just after a bit of confirmation. 

 

Thanks 

 

James

[Johnson]

James

 

I don't think so. The first 22 were unpressurised based on standard Mk.XIV fuselage. Here's a couple of threads that may be useful;

 

 

 

Best regards,

[franky boy]

10 hours ago, Johnson said:

James

 

I don't think so. The first 22 were unpressurised based on standard Mk.XIV fuselage. Here's a couple of threads that may be useful;

 

 

 

Best regards,

Thanks Charlie

 

Those threads, particularly the first one were interesting reads. Looks like it’s out with the scriber!

 

James

[opus999]

I'm working on a Spitfire VII (MD120, "Spirit of Kent") and have a couple questions about Mk. VIIs.

1. I noticed that other models of MD120 don't have the tear drop shaped bulges on the upper wing to accommodate larger tires.  I did some research and found a thread elsewhere about Mk.IX teardrop bulges.  That website stated that they were installed in the field if needed. Here on Britmodeller (post #627) it talks about these bulges: "The much bigger teardrop-shaped bulge was a 1945 addition when the u/c tracking was changed, but only on the Merlin-engined IX & XVI; the XIV had a much smaller "lump" added, which is very difficult to see."  It doesn't mention the Mk. VII, or the Mk. VII (which means my Hasagawa Mk.VIII is wrong?).  My guess is I will need to sand these down, but I'd like to confirm this first.
2. Hasagawa doesn't have the wing tank filler caps on the upper wing.  I still haven't completely determined if they were on the Mk. VII, but I think they were.  Spitfiresite.com's guide to spitfire wing types shows a drawing of the C wing "as fitted to the Mk. VIII". It goes on to say "The leading edge fuel tank was peculiar to this mark and was not mounted on Spitfires Mk. V and  IX." Which implies that the Mk.VII didn't have the fuel filler cap on top, Other model manufacturers make Mk. VII models both with and without the filler caps. None of the pictures I've found of the real MD120 don't show the upper wing.  The NASM Mk. VII, though, has red circles on the upper wing where the filler caps would be.
3. Underwing navigation lights: According to spitfiresite.com/Vol 2 All the spitfire questions here (post 1279): "this item was deleted in the Mk. VII & VIII production, by modification No. 746 issued on 1 May 1943", but it also says here on britmodeller (post #3): "According to Vickers's ledger, the lights were reintroduced, on the VII, 15-11-44". A quick search of http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p061.html says the first flight of MD120 was Dec. 12, 1943. So can I assume that MD120 didn't have navigation lights? I don't know if it took 7 months to build a Spitfire

Thanks for any insights you may have.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

ON the later Merlin Spitfires such as the Mk.VIII’s, Mk.IX’s, and XVI’s. Is the centerline rack the same for bombs or cigar shaped tanks ?  If not is there a clear photo of the centerline bomb rack ? 

[Magpie22]

3 hours ago, opus999 said:

I'm working on a Spitfire VII (MD120, "Spirit of Kent") and have a couple questions about Mk. VIIs.

1. I noticed that other models of MD120 don't have the tear drop shaped bulges on the upper wing to accommodate larger tires.  I did some research and found a thread elsewhere about Mk.IX teardrop bulges.  That website stated that they were installed in the field if needed. Here on Britmodeller (post #627) it talks about these bulges: "The much bigger teardrop-shaped bulge was a 1945 addition when the u/c tracking was changed, but only on the Merlin-engined IX & XVI; the XIV had a much smaller "lump" added, which is very difficult to see."  It doesn't mention the Mk. VII, or the Mk. VII (which means my Hasagawa Mk.VIII is wrong?).  My guess is I will need to sand these down, but I'd like to confirm this first.
2. Hasagawa doesn't have the wing tank filler caps on the upper wing.  I still haven't completely determined if they were on the Mk. VII, but I think they were.  Spitfiresite.com's guide to spitfire wing types shows a drawing of the C wing "as fitted to the Mk. VIII". It goes on to say "The leading edge fuel tank was peculiar to this mark and was not mounted on Spitfires Mk. V and  IX." Which implies that the Mk.VII didn't have the fuel filler cap on top, Other model manufacturers make Mk. VII models both with and without the filler caps. None of the pictures I've found of the real MD120 don't show the upper wing.  The NASM Mk. VII, though, has red circles on the upper wing where the filler caps would be.
3. Underwing navigation lights: According to spitfiresite.com/Vol 2 All the spitfire questions here (post 1279): "this item was deleted in the Mk. VII & VIII production, by modification No. 746 issued on 1 May 1943", but it also says here on britmodeller (post #3): "According to Vickers's ledger, the lights were reintroduced, on the VII, 15-11-44". A quick search of http://www.airhistory.org.uk/spitfire/p061.html says the first flight of MD120 was Dec. 12, 1943. So can I assume that MD120 didn't have navigation lights? I don't know if it took 7 months to build a Spitfire

Thanks for any insights you may have.

1 and 2. The Mk.VII and MK.VIII utilised basically the same wing - both had leading edge fuel tanks and no bulge over the wheel.

 

3. Based on my researches on the Spitfire Mk.VIII, aircraft in the MD serial range had a coloured signalling light, (also called identification light), under each wing and under the rear fuselage. Early aircraft had a single unit, containing a rotatable disc with all three colour tranparencies, under the starboard wing only.  On the shot below of MD813, the ID light lenses can be seen uner each wing just outboard of the roundels. The lens under the fuselage is harder to see, but it can just be discererned on the fuselage CL, level with the aft edge of the fuselage roundel.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter Malone

 

[Magpie22]

5 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

ON the later Merlin Spitfires such as the Mk.VIII’s, Mk.IX’s, and XVI’s. Is the centerline rack the same for bombs or cigar shaped tanks ?  If not is there a clear photo of the centerline bomb rack ? 

The short answer is that the bomb rack installation is different to that for carrying the cylindical drop tank.

 

For bomb carriage, a Mark III bomb carrier is fitted to an adaptor which, in turn, mounts to the standard two 'hooks' front attachments and the spigot 'hole' rear attachment, used for carrying the slipper type tanks.

 

The cylindical tank was fitted with its own adaptor, which mated with those slipper type tank attachment fittings. I understand that the use on the cylindrical type tank, (aka Hurricane 44 gall tank), in Normandy had something to do with these tanks being held in stock for use by Typoons.

 

Back on 17 October 2010, Daniel Cox asked about the cylindrical tank mounting.  I don't know how to give a ref to this post - perhaps  @Troy Smith can oblige.

 

These two pics were incuded in the answers in this post:

 

 

It's amazing what one can find on Britmodeller!!

Peter Malone

 

[Troy Smith]

5 hours ago, Magpie22 said:

I don't know how to give a ref to this post - perhaps  @Troy Smith can oblige.

in the top right of a post, there is a icon like  <  which on a computer, if you hover the pointer over, it says "share this post" just copy and paste in that link.

HTH

 

[Magpie22]

Ta Troy,

I'm too old for all this new fangled malarky. Started on computers when we wrote programs by hand and then they were entered on punched cards. None of this 'click on icon' stuff. Back then, we had to type out long command strings - one error and the whole lot was kaput!

Cheers,

Peter

 

[Dave Fleming]

9 hours ago, Magpie22 said:

Back then, we had to type out long command strings - one error and the whole lot was kaput!

 

 

 

 

yeah, that still happens!

[opus999]

19 hours ago, Magpie22 said:

1 and 2. The Mk.VII and MK.VIII utilised basically the same wing - both had leading edge fuel tanks and no bulge over the wheel.

 

3. Based on my researches on the Spitfire Mk.VIII, aircraft in the MD serial range had a coloured signalling light, (also called identification light), under each wing and under the rear fuselage. Early aircraft had a single unit, containing a rotatable disc with all three colour tranparencies, under the starboard wing only.  On the shot below of MD813, the ID light lenses can be seen uner each wing just outboard of the roundels. The lens under the fuselage is harder to see, but it can just be discererned on the fuselage CL, level with the aft edge of the fuselage roundel.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter Malone

Thanks for the help! Glad to know I was on the right track with 1 & 2!  #3... not so much... thanks for getting me corrected on that.

[Chuck1945]

14 hours ago, Magpie22 said:

Ta Troy,

I'm too old for all this new fangled malarky. Started on computers when we wrote programs by hand and then they were entered on punched cards...

Cheers,

Peter

 

To continue this thread hijack, when I started to learn COBOL after FORTRAN, I forgot each ‘sentence’ needed to end with a period and the key punch operator just typed what was on the coding sheet. The compiler generated error messages for every line in my program 😳

[Magpie22]

Yeah,

Know what that's like. Algol was my first language, then Fortran II, Fortran IV, Fortran 77, various machine languages and moved on to Plus etc. One of our very early machines reqired that we had to enter the  coded program in octal using yes/no switches. That was fun!   

[alt-92]

19 hours ago, Dave Fleming said:

yeah, that still happens!

The more things change.... debugging a Powershell oneliner with 340 characters, lots of ', " , {._ () and | . 
Miss one and it's mayhem.

[MrEmeralds]

I'm interested in the Airfix FR Mk. XIV and would like to use the Otaki kit's dorsal spine for a standard Mk. XIV.  Since it's lower wing's the most obvious shape error, I want to know how accurate the Otaki kit's fuselage is.

[Kallisti]

On 8/27/2020 at 7:32 AM, Magpie22 said:

Yeah,

Know what that's like. Algol was my first language, then Fortran II, Fortran IV, Fortran 77, various machine languages and moved on to Plus etc. One of our very early machines reqired that we had to enter the  coded program in octal using yes/no switches. That was fun!   

 

Youth of today don't know when they are lucky! I'm still a software developer after 37 years and the kids are clueless  Started on Fortran and gone through the gamut of languages to end up on PHP and Javascript - except its all bloody frameworks nowadays which just over complicate things for the sake of conformity. Get off my lawn!!!

[WV908]

Hi again all,

  Hopefully a quick one this.

 

What prop blades and spinners do the BBMF's P7350 and AB910 have and is the quickboost 1/32 V.b prop and spinner set close enough to the units these two Spits have fitted?

 

Cheers,

  WV908

 

Edit; Also does someone have a HobbyBoss 1/32 Mk.V to hand to measure the diameter of the spinner base please? I'll need to know if the quickboost replacement will fit the Revell Mk.II

[Rolls-Royce]

On 8/26/2020 at 7:22 AM, Magpie22 said:

Ta Troy,

I'm too old for all this new fangled malarky. Started on computers when we wrote programs by hand and then they were entered on punched cards. None of this 'click on icon' stuff. Back then, we had to type out long command strings - one error and the whole lot was kaput!

Cheers,

Peter

 

Boy, howdy. My junior college Fortran class back in 71 was like that. I never completed it. To my instructor, Fortran was like breathing, but she couldn't help me make the leap to understand what I needed to do. After punching card after card, waiting several days, only to see "Syntax Error" after "Syntax Error", I gave up and have never tried programming again.

[Modelraynz]

Hiya!

Ive been reading  about post war xivs doing leaflet  drops before strafing- were these just thrown out of the plane or dispensed in some other fashion?

Cheers!