DH 110 WG236 'Coal hole' glazing

[John R]

Were the original windows flush with the fuselage?

John

[71chally]

Unless I'm miss understanding the question, the hatch and side windows appear to be flush with the fuselage skin.

Do you reason to think they may not have been?

 

[canberra kid]

Like James I too are unsure what you mean but does this photo help?

 

John

[John R]

The Sea Vixen hatches/windows are not flush with the fuselage and I could not confirm from the pictures whether the same applied to the prototype. I have the Whirlykits vac form to build next and some bulged windows are supplied, causing confusion.

I have seen the picture above and I wanted confirmation that they are indeed flush. That is that they do not go above the lines of the fuselage.

Hope this makes it clear 

John

 

[71chally]

The Sea Vixen windows are flush with the skin, certainly on my own FAW.1 cockpit section and looking at other cockpits & aircraft, it would cause all sorts of airflow disturbance issues if they weren't.

The perspex panels are milled around their outer edges to meet the thickness of the metal work.

The Vixen obs side window is openable, so maybe it is this that you have seen?

 

I have fairly extensive photos of the 110s and tech notes from the time, but none indicate anything different from the normal flush set up.

 

I have the ProjectX kit, but haven't noticed buldged windows in that.

Edited November 7, 2016 by 71chally

[John R]

Thanks

John

[71chally]

I did a double check on this with my cockpit last night.

The observers glazing is essentially flush with the skin, there are very small variances with this as on mine the hatch glazing was about 1 mm (at most) proud and the side glazing a 1 mm below the surrounding skin, I would put these differences down to gasket/sealing compound thicknesses.

One thing I hadn't appreciated is just how much these windows were designed to follow the fuselage contours, both are very slightly curved to follow the fuselage curvature, ie not just flat perspex panels.

 

Just had a look at the ProjectX DH110, unsure if it's the same kit as the Whirlybirds one, but I can see how the glazing parts might be seen as bulged.

I think it's partly down to how the glazing is designed to fit within the window apertures in the fuselage and the limitations of vac-forming such small items - I would interpret them as per the original aircraft, to fit flush and follow the shape of the fuselage.

 

Hope this helps.