The Spitfire Spares Mk IX Spitfire
Welcome to the Spitfire Spares Full
scale replica page
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Finally she starts for the first time. Here is
some video footage be sure and turn it up loud.
10 gallons of oil at £67 and 4 galloons of leaded
petrol at £1.53 a litre, yes that's £6.88 a gallon.
There is some strong
language so please don't watch if this is likely to offend. She
eventually ran beautifully with just a couple of minor leaks in the rear coolant
tank. Everything functioned perfectly, the mag switches killed her dead. The rev
counter went off the scale and this is now being switched to the correct type
for this Mk of Spitfire. The K Gass feed seems to be blocked at the engine end
and this requires some attention. This engine started without boost to the spark
and showed a healthy 60Llbs oil pressure through the wartime gauge.
Some of the files under are quite
large.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5
Video 6
Video 7
The videos actually show the engine starting for the first time. These are smaller
files,
Video 8
Video 9
Video 10
Video 11
Here are some pictures of the Cockpit progress.
The switches in the IFF destruction box seen the
the left of the oxygen supply tap operate the fuel cut off valves.
Undercarriage chassis selector re-fitted
Seat frame modified and refitted.
Blind flying panel removed to change the rev
counter and K Gass.
You can see the new rev counter fitted. This
should be calibrated to this engine.
Close up of the IFF destruction buttons, these
are wired to open and close the fuel valves, it has a spring loaded cover. They
need to have danger text on the top in Red. Close up of the emergency
undercarriage blow down bottle and the oxygen supply control valve. You can see
the de-icing pump just in front of the seat.
New K Gass pump fitted , the tubes feeding fuel
to the engine from the K Gass were blocked and caused the seals to blow on the
first pump. You can see the stains on the side panel where the fuel leaked from
the pump. You cannot take short cuts with hazards like this. The pump was
replaced and the tubes cleaned. We slightly enlarged the jets to ease the flow
and it all works safely now, not to mention making the engine allot easier to
start.
A close up of the remote contactor, Morse key,
gun priming valve, gunsight spare bulb holder, the switch selects the direction
of the fuel valves either open or closed the buttons in the IFF are then
depressed to operate the servo.
View from the fuel access panel. Top of the main
tank, the tube above the fuel tank filler is the tank filler for the K Gass. You
can just make out the rear of the rev counter.
Top View of the beast, our rev counter drive can
be seen on the rear of the left bank. Note that both sides have smooth rockers.
I will take a video from here on the next engine run.
View of the seat
A view of the seat and frame.
Two shiny new rads have replaced the old 50
gallon oil tank that used to hold the water for cooling. This gave us a limited
running time as the water was not being cooled, we just relied on a big mass of
coolant to run her for five minutes or so. Two fans cool each of the rads and
the hot air will be blown out through the tail by a third fan.
Prep works for the new paint scheme are finally
underway on the fuselage. Watch out for new video footage soon as we test the
new cooling system.
UPDATED 15/05/09
The Spitfire is just receiving
its final coat of paint and is ready to attend any suitable public or
private event. I will update pictures shortly of the completed project.
Spitfire runs again Video
click here 22/05/09
New Pictures 3/06/09
Update 9/10/09 Hydraulics
completed prop now spins from 0 to 800 RPM see page
RPMs on the prop can run from 0 to 800 RPM, it is
controlled by a valve in the cockpit
Steel plate fitted to engine mount and torque hub
and motor attached
Hydraulic tank from a Lancaster supplies the Oil
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