The plane enthusiasts thread

[Punkawallah]

Right hurricane it is...

Back later......

Some chaps up in Scotland are building a Sopwith 1 & 1/2 Strutter in a (admittedly large) shed.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Spitfire replicas;
DIY build; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-63116639

Build your own?; https://supermarineaircraft.biz/

 

[Illaveago]

It also helps that Spitfires are hugely less complex than Vulcans or Concorde.
Not that you'd build a Spitfire in your shed - a Hurricane would be easier.

They are a lot more complex than they seem!

 

[Badger_Boom]

Not that you'd build a Spitfire in your shed...

Peter Arnold says 'hold my beer'.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

If anyone is interested there seems to be a B52 currently on a nice trip from Fairford out over the Baltic and has done a big loop around Kaliningrad

Wonder if Vlad has noticed??

 

[Punkawallah]

Probably looking for one of the atomic bombs the USAF have lost :-)

 

[Drago]

Probably looking for one of the atomic bombs the USAF have lost :-)

They must really have lost track off them, seeing they were mislaid near Rota.

 

[Jameshow]

If anyone is interested there seems to be a B52 currently on a nice trip from Fairford out over the Baltic and has done a big loop around Kaliningrad

Wonder if Vlad has noticed??

On flight radar?

 

[classic33]

If anyone is interested there seems to be a B52 currently on a nice trip from Fairford out over the Baltic and has done a big loop around Kaliningrad

Wonder if Vlad has noticed??

This one?

 

[TheDoctor]

They are a lot more complex than they seem!

Agreed, but if you can overhaul a car engine you could probably do a Merlin. The bits are bigger and there's more of them, but it's just a petrol engine. Now try dealing with four jets.
Control cables for the flight surfaces are easier than fly-by-wire systems.
And so on. It's not like building an Ikea bookcase, sure, but it's fundamentally doable.
Anyway, we're OT so I'll stop before I have to threadban myself.

 

[Illaveago]

Agreed, but if you can overhaul a car engine you could probably do a Merlin. The bits are bigger and there's more of them, but it's just a petrol engine. Now try dealing with four jets.
Control cables for the flight surfaces are easier than fly-by-wire systems.
And so on. It's not like building an Ikea bookcase, sure, but it's fundamentally doable.
Anyway, we're OT so I'll stop before I have to threadban myself.

What I was referring to was the Hurricane airframe. " Not all of the fuselage tubes are the same dimensions making mass production hard". I was quoting from a book on the Hurricane. All of the tubes would then be bolted together using fishplates.

 

[gbb]

Agreed, but if you can overhaul a car engine you could probably do a Merlin. The bits are bigger and there's more of them, but it's just a petrol engine. Now try dealing with four jets.
Control cables for the flight surfaces are easier than fly-by-wire systems.
And so on. It's not like building an Ikea bookcase, sure, but it's fundamentally doable.
Anyway, we're OT so I'll stop before I have to threadban myself.

Dad was airframes on Vulcans and as a kid, he took me inside one (decommissioned training airframe on a quiet airfield)
As I scanned inside, I asked...how on earth does everyone know how to fix it all ?
He talked about something like a 7 part bible...engines, avionics, airframes etc etc...everything is documented, tells you exactly what you need to do and how to do it.
I'd assume this '7 part bible'...would be a whole library of manuals and documents.

 

[TheDoctor]

It would, but the lack of documentation isn't what has grounded Vulcans.
It's a lack of traceable and certified parts and consumables, a lack of design authority support, and the resulting lack of CAA certification. Amongst many other things.
Sadly, all this and more applies to Concorde.