The Hood is Good!

I mentioned in an earlier post last week that we potentially had some good news on the Malcolm Hood. Typically these are made in the UK by specialist firms. A quote I received in July of last year amounted to GBP850 (US$1130). It was therefore important to find a means of making these considerably cheaper for our simulator.

The Malcolm Hood is just such an important part of the look of the Spitfire, we had to get it right.

The good news is that we have manufactured a batch of six of these locally. It still needs to be shown that we can manufacture them consistently with good quality. It remains more of an art than a science. If we can, we will be offering them at a significantly lower price point (read less than half).

We have manufactured ours from 3mm clear Plexiglass. This is the common thickness used for gliders and general aviation aircraft. The Spitfire typically uses 5mm but is subjected to considerably more force (500mph wind?!!) than our simulator!

I am therefore happy and proud to share a few pics of the hoods, including one which has been loosely placed on our prototype build. Looks rather handsome, methinks…..