Thanks Ed,
I hope so, yes. Funnily enough, when I started this rebuild, I wanted metal but was looking to shortcut a lot of the building.
But it worked out that, in the main, the original techniques were actually quicker and better than my "fudges". They just required learning new skills.
I knew all along that I was not happy using pop rivets where they could be seen. The skin for example, has no interior walls in the Spit...so pop rivets would have shown the
broken off mandrel and squashed tail everywhere in the cockpit. Once aircraft rivets were decided upon and the technique practiced, most other "compromises"
were harder to do...
One example is the first attempt to make a frame by kerfing metal tube, then strapping the joins, then car bogging the gaps. That took ages, was not very effective.
So a bit of basic panel beating study later....proper frames. Now I have given up and will pretty much make everything "kosher'.
Not that that doesn't come with disadvantages when you are a pedant
... for example...my beautiful new rudder pedals:
They will need stripping because the originals were bare metal sealed with a silver/grey protective coat. I'm also torn but haven't made a final decision yet, on the fact that first ones (my aircraft was only the 31st Spitfire ever built) actually used fire hose, cut up and rivetted on, for the "stirrups", not leather as these repos have. Don't you just LOVE trying to do things accurately.
There will be some compromises though. The skin will all be 1.6mm except for the fuel tank cover.. not the (variously) 0.9, 1.0, 1.2 that the real thing has. This will give a stronger skin, harder to dent AND add strength where you put your weight on the sides to climb in, at the cost of a little extra weight...not an issue for a simulator.
I am still however agonising over whether to make all the rear frames the same width as frame 8, as planned, or whether to give in and do that properly too..and deal with the compound curves etc that generates when skinning. I suspect I know what will happen ..
More time chewed up before flying....
i look at photos of mine when it was flying and photos of your P-51 now..and I am very jealous!!!
Darryl