Spitfire fixings
 

Having watched 'Guy Martin's Spitfire', I've 3 questions re: the fastenings used.
a. How are the different coloured 'place holders'(?) used and what is the significance of the different colours?
b. I noticed that the rivets used were similar to ones I found amongst my grandfather's* tools, they appeared to be of anodised metal and different colours. Were the colours linked to the above?
c. I understood what the definition of "FT" is when securing the propeller :)but did 'they' use torque settings for the building of the aircraft apart from the maintenance of the Merlin?


Any comments gratefully welcome!
FZ


* My grandfather was a General Manager of a firm building Halifax wings and engine nascelles(sp?) in WW2.

The place holders are skin pins. The different colours are for different sizes. 3/8 5/16 1/4 etc.

The colouring of rivets is related to the type of material. (and heat treatment in some cases I think)

Torque settings of all major component nuts and bolts would be normal procedure.

Cough cough... Turin your sizes are a tad out..

The common ones are (skin pins are the same as gripper pins)

The red gripper pins are 3/32 in size
The yellow gripper pins are 1/8 in size
The blue ones are 5/32 in size
The black ones are 3/16 in size

There are also 7/64 which is brown, 7/32 which is green and 1/4 which is white.

You also have cleco pins that do the same thing but are anodised, see

http://www.skinpins.com/catalog/prod...leco-type-p-19
:)

Basically you drill your rivet holes to the sizes mentioned above, the pins slot through and is used to pull the skins together and hold it while drilling other holes, you then use it to hold the skins while rivetting it together, it consists of two legs that add up to the diameter of the hole, one leg which is longer moves up and down in the middle and has a knurled nut on to tighten it, it also has a bulge on the other end, so when you pull that leg through and tighten it, it increases the diameter along with the other leg, so grips the skins together, does that make sense?



Rivet colours see

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showt...gnesium-rivets


.

Turin & NutLoose

That's excellent. Thanks very much indeed for the info. ... it's something that has niggled me for years - oh! how sad!!!

Nutloose. Absolutely. :O
I must have had a brainfart. A 5/16 skin pin would be a handful!:ok: