the hobbler
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Looking through a selection of books for sale at a car show, I found a copy of the RR publication regarding the Crecy---it didn't stay for sale for very long!
practically all the people I know of 'building' Spitfires will NOT build you a NEW one---you have to provide enough of an original Spitfire for them to 'build onto'---it is then a 're-build/restoration'
https://www.spitfireclub.co.uk/everything-spitfire
Many many replicas about, probably some you’d not even realise if you saw them.
This kit used a Chevrolet V8 LS2 engine there are quite a few companies in the USA who do aviation conversion kits for this engine
Whilst I admire what they have done and although only 10% size different, it does not look right to me. Its a bit like buying a diamond versus buying a lab created diamond. People will always want the real thing. Saying that, its a lot, lot cheaper!
Like any replica, they’re never going to be perfect.
The attention to detail that goes into restoring authentic aircraft is to such an extent they’re restored even better than they were new, bearing in mind they used to build these planes in the middle of the war with limited tooling and unskilled workers in poor light in cold and draughty factories. They take years to restore a plane that would have only taken weeks to build
The 'replicas' may look and fly like the REAL Spitfire, but they do not have one very important 'thing'---the sound! The sound of a Merlin at full chat is something that you never forget--ever!
I love WW2 aviation history. Interestingly I read an article here:-
https://www.rsc.org/news-events/articles/2009/05-may/spitfire-fuel/
Thanks to a French scientist fleeing France, meant we had 100 octane fuel. Gaving the Spitfire even more of an edge equating to a 34mph boost at 10,000ft.
The Mosquito and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning ran two engines, because the increased power gave increased speed and range. The redundancy was good to have but the purpose was speed.
Interesting read. I'm no engineer (clearly) but I'm interested to know how the higher rated fuel gave the engine more performance. The V12 Merlin is quite low RPM and compression ratio of 6:1. I appreciate the higher octane is more stable and will not knock but if the engines were not tuned to take advantage of the new fuel then where did the gains come from?
I could be mistaken but the Spitfire revisions from that particular timeframe were using the supercharged variant of the merlin engine. So yes, low base compression, however forced induction. We all know how much force induction engines like high octane :devil: :slayer:
The Merlin WAS the supercharged engine---the non-supercharged version (as used in tanks etc) was, I believe, called the Meteor.
The Merlin WAS the supercharged engine---the non-supercharged version (as used in tanks etc) was, I believe, called the Meteor.