Everybody needs a hobby: Build a Spitfire.

[Tiki Tom]

I like guys who think big. (Even though, in this case, its only 60% of actual size.)

Quote: "Like every true Brit I wanted to fly a Spitfire,” said Mr James. “Five years ago you could only get a flight in one if you enrolled in a two-day course.

"It cost £5,000 and you only got 40 minutes flying the Spitfire. So I thought about it and realised I could spend that money on building one."
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...husiast-builds-replica-fighter-plane-reading/

Well done, Mr. James! Now I will have to think about my own WWII project for 2017. Nothing so ambitious, I'm sure. "Visit Normandy beaches" is definitely on my bucket list. Anyone else have WWII-related projects that you're working on?

 

[Stearmen]

We had a guy at our local small airport, who built a scale P-40 that he flew around. From a distance, it was hard to tell from a real one in flight! He was a real nice guy, tragically he was killed in it! I miss him, I used to kid him about how slow it was by saying, do you get to log your down wind approach as cross country time?

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

Cool, oh I just need the spare money and more so the time, but what fun.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Got some spare time (and money)? Build this...

 

[Stearmen]

Forget about 80%, what about full size?

 

[GHT]

First World War plane flown by a real-life 'Biggles' is lovingly restored by its pilot's grandsons at a cost of £100,000 and has FLOWN again
Bristol Scout biplane was flown by Frances 'Bunnie' Bremner during WW1
After serving in Gallipoli he told family he hoped to see the plane fly again
Grandsons found craft's remains in Bremner's shed when he died in 1983
Pair scoured globe to find parts and have now fulfilled grandfather's wish.
Read the full story.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Full scale size requires a full scale budget. A 3/4 scale P-51 will run 200K plus. That extra 25% will set you back 1 million plus. Ask me how I know...

Operating costs for a typical warbird (P-51) is $1300 - $1400 per hour. A Mustang, Spitfire, or P-40 Warhawk will burn one gallon of 100 octane per minute. If you are doing aerobatic work, or you are at altitude in high blower, figure two gallons per minute.

That homebuilt Spitfire is way cool. But, I would be curious to know how much help he had, and what the final cost was. The real Spit had a Rolls-Royce engine. The labor charge to re-build an Allison V12 is $40,000+. That does not include the engine, or any parts. It takes 8 weeks, depending on how busy the shop is.

 

[Stearmen]

Full scale size requires a full scale budget. A 3/4 scale P-51 will run 200K plus. That extra 25% will set you back 1 million plus. Ask me how I know...

Operating costs for a typical warbird (P-51) is $1300 - $1400 per hour. A Mustang, Spitfire, or P-40 Warhawk will burn one gallon of 100 octane per minute. If you are doing aerobatic work, or you are at altitude in high blower, figure two gallons per minute.

That homebuilt Spitfire is way cool. But, I would be curious to know how much help he had, and what the final cost was. The real Spit had a Rolls-Royce engine. The labor charge to re-build an Allison V12 is $40,000+. That does not include the engine, or any parts. It takes 8 weeks, depending on how busy the shop is.

Trust me, I know all about operating full size warbirds, that was my sole means of support for over a decade! The Alison is a great motor, at cruise it will burn more like 50 to 60 GPH. It also will use little oil. TBO is over 1000 hours now days, never saw a Merlin come close! A P&W R-2800, will burn 70-100 GPH and acceptable oil consumption is five GPH, but TBO is 1500 hours. Our PV2D Harpoon got down to less then one gallon of oil and Hour per side! Like we said, as long as it's a stream of oil over the wing and not a river, every thing is all right! A Merlin is one our of ground work per flight hour. The R-2800 is .25 hours.

 

[Stearmen]

One thing I have noticed over the last 40 years is, the scale warbirds do not have a very good safety record. I wounder if pilot skill or lack of funds leading to cutting corners on maintenance, are contributing to fatal accidents?

 

[TXFlyGuy]

One thing I have noticed over the last 40 years is, the scale warbirds do not have a very good safety record. I wounder if pilot skill or lack of funds leading to cutting corners on maintenance, are contributing to fatal accidents?

What scale? 100%, 3/4, or something else?

 

[David Conwill]

If I were going to build a scale replica of a vintage aircraft, it would certainly be an Isaacs Fury. I'd probably skip the RAF markings in favor of something appropriate to a mid-1930s sport plane.

 

[Stearmen]

What scale? 100%, 3/4, or something else?

100% is full size, any thing smaller is scale.

 

[Stearmen]

Kind of sad news, the most economical way to get into a WWII fighter plane, the YAK 3 family has took a pretty good jump in prices. They are all over $400,000 now, they were under that during the Great Recession. I took a look at a YAK 3U a few years back, that's the modified YAK 11 with a P&W R-1830 or 2000. Still a lot of bang for the buck, and it will out run a stock P-51D on the deck!

 

[TXFlyGuy]

One thing I have noticed over the last 40 years is, the scale warbirds do not have a very good safety record. I wounder if pilot skill or lack of funds leading to cutting corners on maintenance, are contributing to fatal accidents?

I am familiar with one fatal accident involving a 2/3 scale Mustang about 2 years ago. But I think it was a case of an airplane that was beyond the capability of the pilot.

There have been several P-51 Mustang crashes in the last couple years, all fatal. The most recent was in Phoenix, AZ (Big Beautiful Doll, 2-5-16). Before that one, a P-51 went into Galveston Bay (10-23-13). And the Reno Air Races (9-16-11).

And don't forget the P-47 that crashed into the Hudson last year, killing the pilot.

 

[Stearmen]

I am familiar with one fatal accident involving a 2/3 scale Mustang about 2 years ago. But I think it was a case of an airplane that was beyond the capability of the pilot.

There have been several P-51 Mustang crashes in the last couple years, all fatal. The most recent was in Phoenix, AZ (Big Beautiful Doll, 2-5-16). Before that one, a P-51 went into Galveston Bay (10-23-13). And the Reno Air Races (9-16-11).

And don't forget the P-47 that crashed into the Hudson last year, killing the pilot.

Sadly, I have known to many killed in Warbirds. Earl Ketchen, flying P-51 Habu. For the life of me, I can not figure out why he decided to do a second loop? Another senseless accident was Howard Pardue, in his F8F-1 Bearcat. Art Vance in a F6F Hellcat. The irony is, he had to bail out of a F4U Corsair when the accessory case blew up a few years earlier. Ironically, I was promised rides in five different P-51s, the last was Art in Million Dollar Baby at Eagle Colorado. He said, "if the news guy doesn't show up, your in!" He didn't, so we turned the prop over by hand a few times, new rebuild, and I was ready to mount up when the clouds moved in and that was that! Oh well, can't complain, I flew or flew in a lot of cool Warbirds.