Hi All,

Firstly apologies for the previous 2/3 posts.

Photobucket decided to play silly games.

Anyway it`s update time as I received my second delivery today.



So here goes.

Received my freebie Messerschmitt Bf109 F4 (Pic 1)


The previous issues left one end of the frame open awaiting an intermediary frame to be inserted and then the end frame needed closing.

A further end frame is then inserted. (Pic 2)

It was at this point, that while things were setting I had a thought.
(Rare, but they do happen )

Bob`s build ended up with the tail end twisted (hope you`ve managed to sort it Bob), so before proceeding I went for a total dry fit of the tail end .

a: To see how things went together.
b: To work out the best method of clamping it all together.
c: To give a final check to see if the top stringer would fit in all the
relevant notches in the frames.

The dry fit:(Pic 3)


Then the check for straightness (all dry fit at moment)(Pic 4)


and it all appears straight (Pic 5)


Well that`s all for today.

There`s more to follow when this lot is all finally glued together, so will update soon.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Hi Alan,

Thanks for looking in.

Lots of checking and double checking on this one, as it`s not a case of adding a strip of wood.

If things go out of shape early on, the aluminium plates just won`t line
up and you can`t add bits.

At the moment all looks tickety.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Hi Andy,

Firstly thanks for your kind comments.

The truth is that I have one former at the rear of the centre fuselage out of place, and a radial twist of about ten degrees at the front of the centre fuselage.

The problems me thinks will only be cured by stripping it back to it`s component parts and looking for what has caused the issues, as everything was checked for square and clamped in place as per the instructions.

Now as for the little coloured clamps, they were actually clothes pegs for a camping washing line I bought in a pound shop .

Don`t know if you will be able to find them sorry.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Hi All,

Well It`s been a little while for an update on this one.

Hit a major snag or so I thought.

At last look, I had a curve of sorts between the centre fuselage and tail section and a radial twist within the centre fuselage section.


I was looking at the time of the last post, that I would need a complete strip back to the beginning.

My decision to take a step away from this build for a time proved to be a blessing in disguise.

Having finished my cannon dio build a couple of days ago, I returned to the Spitfire.

The result was quick and well worth the delay.

I very carefully removed the centre fuselage from the tail section, then removed the frame number 5 at the point they joined together.

What I found next was a real eye opener.

The major side slots of frame 5 were not straight.

The solution turned out to be as follows:

Flatten the side slots of frame 5, little by little and clamp things back together as a dry fit.

To start with things didn`t seem to change, then suddenly hit a point where things took a change.

After several dry clampings I found that things seemed to have straightened out in both areas that I had a problem.


This is the end result after glueing and a final clamp session that was then given 36 hours to set.(See pics below)


This issue over I am now looking forward to getting back to this build.


The major thing I`ve learnt is that it sometimes pays to leave things for a while and come back to them later.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Hi Trev,

Thanks for taking a look and your very welcome comments.

I was a little bit lucky that the problem was at the first point I went back to, or it could have been a lot longer story.

Still, now it`s onwards and upwards between all the other things I`ve got on the go.

Thanks again,

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Hi Steve,

Back on track, yes.

Through intuition, luck or a combination of both?

Well I`m not sure

Good thing is that the issue I had appears to have gone.

As for build space I have to move things around even with a spare 24x12 room, that is until I clear a lot of stuff I no longer need,

Biggest problem will be when the spitfire is finished

Where oh where to display it.

That`s a problem for another day, some time in the future

Thanks for looking in

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Hi Alan,

Thanks for looking in,

Did have a few scary moments during the taking apart bit, but all for the good.

Now have three days off work so, gun port lining and wing building to do and catching up on other things going on, could be a diverse few days and then you can add to that lots of fish tanks to clean.



Happy building all,

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Hi All,

Well, with the fuselage issues resolved I`ve moved onto the right wing.

I have numerous parts stashed and with the amount of parts and their close proximity to each other, I have gone for a complete dry fit.

This has already shown up some very minor issues of tight and loose fitting components,so will be jigging and clamping these parts very carefully when it comes to finally glueing.

I can see it being a nightmare if you had to disassemble this part of the build.

That said, below are a few pics of the dry fit.(Pics 1-3)


It was at this point I thought (instant headache ), wonder what it looks like with the fuselage in place?

The answer !! (Pic 4)


Well that`s it for know folks

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Cracking job Derek, look forward to seeing the wing with some glue added...... .. Looking fab....

Regards

Alan

Hi Trev,

Thanks for looking in, with the nasty bit over I`m now looking forward in a better frame of mind.

As for your itchy finger issue, I don`t have an answer

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)