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Last edited by bwi 971; 08-05-2017, 03:44 PM.Practical wisdom is only to be learned in the school of experience.
"Samuel Smiles" -
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Hello all,
It's been another busy week and have managed to squeeze some model time in in the evenings. There is a big model show coming up in Newcastle in Early September. It's mainly a big model train show with some model boat guys and some random other stuff. I went last year and had my mike get blown sideways by the wake turbulence of the King George V Battleship I was shadowing.. I want to have Borei in the water for this show.
Anyway, the tail section as mentioned previously is the are of the boat that will take up the most time and effort getting right. Next step was to spray and get detail on the stern planes. I decided to spray the anechoic tiles on the stern planes, just like the sail/fin. So I sprayed the parts with the Satin black that I have been using as the base and then masked over with thin strip of masking tape and then fire up the compressor and spray it with the dark grey that I have been using to get the tile pattern. Let it dry and then peel off the tape. I think the results have been pretty good..
Anyway after the spray the parts simply need their Servo clevice horns. I cut out a small rectangular piece of brass and drill a hole in one end big enough for the clevice to fit in one end and a tiny rectangular slot for the slot profile that I filed into the end of the brass rotating shaft of the stern planes. Once this is done I can then solder the two brass fittings together. Once I get the solder hot enough I could get a good flow and the joint was solid. This would then allow me pretty quickly to install the stern planes. I just needed to make sure that they were aligned along the shaft axis and would both sit level and at a proper right angle to the hull. I made up a simple jig that allowed the two planes to sit level whilst being glued. Some dabs of super glue to initially hold then some resin thickened with talc and some light weave.
Now I looked at the top section. The Top rudder section and the lower section would need their own control linkages and once again I fashioned a thin brass strip to fit like a "C" shape that would allow both top and bottom rudders to be connected yet also move around the prop shaft that would pass right through the middle. In order to work out alignment I would need to cut off the stern upper hull section that I would be joining to the lower hull anyway. So I marked out and cut this upper stern hull section just in front of the Rudder. Once cut I could work out precise alignment of the top and bottom rudders. I also needed to work out the lower edge of the upper hull and make sure that it fits neatly around where the horizontal planes interface with the sides of the hull. any adjustments would be minute but if out would make the movements of the upper and lower rudders stiff and prone to binding. Once the alignment was good I could then slip the brass bracket onto the brass shaft of the top rudder as it extends down into the top of the hull. Hold it in position and solder it. This bracket is quite easily bendable so getting the hole on the bottom to line up with the lower hull wasn't an issue . I just had to make sure that they were parallel with one exactly on top of the other.
Meanwhile I decided to continue on with the tiling effort on the main hull. This would mean a couple of hours cutting strips of really fine tape and applying. The result with the sail and the stern planes and rudders was simply too good to ignore. I would do the whole boat.
Enough for now,
Till next time.
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Onward, tape Meister!Comment
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Hello all,
So after spending a couple of hours laying down strip tape over the whole, I was ready for spraying. Saturday morning and the sun was out. Just right conditions for spraying. I had a batch of the dark grey that I had been using from the stern planes and the fin and so started with a coating about 100mm out from the hull. This little spray brush is fantastic as it is really hard to over spray and get dribble. I'm finding it quite easy to do I think ,a reasonable job. Anyway after spraying the rear of the hull from about halfway along the missile deck I could see a distinct difference between the dark grey and the satin black undercoat that was put down earlier.
I could pend hours making sure that each little tile was absolutely the same size as those around it. I could also wonder and worry about how the tiles converge over surfaces that converge or deviate apart but my thinking has been that these tiles should only just be noticeable and very subtle. They should not be glaring. As you can see from the green tape there is irregularities but I believe the finished job vindicates this approach.
Once I had the entire top hull sprayed I would look at doing the joint between the top and bottom hull. The stern top section had already been joined but now it was time to have the lower bow section glued to the upper bow hull. the "Z' cut coming just after where the forward planes are situated. I sanded the mating edges where the two front sections top and bottom would be glued together. At this point I would loose and couple of mm in length of patterned tile section, that could easily be re-done.
Placing tape across the lower hull at the bow section I outlined the area where the separation cut would be made that would cross underneath where the aluminium screw plate would hold the two hulls together. This aluminium plate had a hole drilled then threaded for a small screw to go up underneath to allow the two hull sections to be screwed together. I placed the top hull down so the registering lips would align the top and bottom hulls together then used tape to hold the two sections together. I roughed up this are a bit further and applies some thin weave cloth and some resin.
Once this had dried I would easily make the cut along the tape line that would separate the lower bow section now glues to the bow top section and then resin inside, and sand the outside and make look neat. Some filler and further sanding.
Till next time....
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Hello all,
The joint line between top and bottom has turned out well. I have also glued lips on the inside of the font of the hull along the Z cut and also under the stern cut along the top of the rear hull. Having glued the rear upper hull section to the lower stern, I then needed to make sure that the rear propulsor shroud support ring would attach to the rear of the hull. The moulding featured a reduced radius at the back where the support slides over and is then flush with the rear section of hull. This means that the unit sits flush in line with the hull just before. After sanding around and in between the four supports it was then time to spray with the black undercoat and preparing the section between stern fins for the dark grey spray that will extend the tiled pattern back to the extreme stern. I then masked off the section of the very stern in between the top rudder fin section and the horizontal planes. It was at this point that I realised I must have dropped the top fin, as at some time the top of the stern plane with the round towed sonar array outlet had broken off. I'd have to cut off part from another If I couldn't find this tiny bit lying on the floor somewhere.
After ordering a M4 metric 300mm long prop shaft from Cornwall model boats, I resined up the stern area where the shaft would exit the hull. Adding a thickened mix then drilling it out would seat the rear of the shaft in snug.
The pumpjet comprises two shrouds, a forward one that covers over the main propulsor (screw) and the one attached behind that houses the fixed stator unit. There is a lip on the inside of the rear of the forward shroud in which the latter shroud fits over. I had spent some time sanding, filling and sanding again to get all these parts just right. Coats of primer and then a black spray coat outside and in. I have decided not to tile the propulsor unit as I haven seen any good photos to indicated that the pumpjet on the Borei is tiled. Once I was confident with the stern ring I glued in the stator just inside, fitting the five arms into the small slots designed into the front of the rear shroud. The centre hub of this shroud aligning with the back of the propulsor as it turns. I spent a good amount of time making sure that the prop would free wheel and not scrape against the inside of the shroud. I also did some final sanding, filling and adjustment of the prop.
I masked off the horizontal area along the side of the shrouds and then sprayed the lower section of the shrouds to match in line with the lower hull anti-foul red. I am guessing that the Borei class has the anti foul extending along the lower half of the propulsor. once this was done I could look at attaching the whole assembly to the support ring that was already attached. I Glued the forward shroud on and then inserted and screwed on the propulsor. Making sure that the prop was securely on and free spinning would then clear the way for the rear shroud to be glued onto the lip at the back of the front ring. Once this was done I would not easily get access to the prop as it was enclosed by the stern stator and the hull in front. The rear shroud has only been held on by a couple of points of superglue. If I do need to get further access the to the prop then It shouldn't be too big a deal to lightly break the rear shroud off.
I am after a year of development I'm finally in the home straight.
Until next time...
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Hello all,
I ordered some 3/32nd rod or 2.38mm for those of us in the real.. err I mean metric world. These rods would make up the pushrods for the rear control surfaces. I also ordered some brass threaded plugs from DU-BRO that could simply be soldered on the ends and then clip onto the yokes inside the very rear hull for the control surfaces. Initially the holes in these brass plugs did not fit the brass rod, so I simply placed the drilled end in the lathe and attached the appropriate drill piece to a live centre at the other end of the lathe and drilled out the right sized hole. Nice fit, a bit of solder and good to go. Attach the rear connections and then make sure the rod extends and overlaps the brass rod coming out the rear of the subdriver. I made a shorted bent length to attach to the other side of the Horizontal yoke and then soldered it to the other side as it made it's way to the subdriver rod for the horizontal stabiliser. I then spent an afternoon cutting out drainage holes in the bottom of the hull.
I also glued a new towed sonar array piece on the top of the rudder. I couldn't find the original so I partially moulded a whole new top rudder piece and then cut it off at the right point and attached it.
I have started ballasting and balancing the boat. Borei is about 150mm longer than Resolution and just a fraction wider. I have decided to use the Same subdriver cylinder that is used in Resolution and mike. In the Borei it looks a little small. The reason for this is that at the moment It's the only cylinder that I have that's operational. My old cylinders of home design have a similar capacity anyway. I had a hunch that this cylinder would only just do the job. That Ideally a cylinder that is slightly larger in terms of ballast tank capacity would be ideal. I would like that but have had to stick with this one. There would probably need to be compromise in surfaced trim. Russian boats sit really high in the water. they tend to have a very high reserve buoyancy compared to US boats. A fact to do with the double hull arrangement. With the tank that I have, I guessed that to have the Boat sit at full scale trim, high in the water would create soo much extra buoyancy for this tank to overcome that she would barely dive. As it turns out this was the case.
As a result I have had to bring her surface trim down to virtually in line with the bottom ridge of where the missile deck deviates from the hull and heads vertical. No huge drama for the moment. To achieve this however I still had to use large amounts of lead sinker and even bigger chunks of surfboard foam to bring her to trim. I then had to carefully start drilling holes in the top hull to get the air out for diving.
She looks good in the water. I think....
Although once again, the images don't come up the right size.....
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Great looking boat Dave.Comment
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Very nice looking sub!
If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
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Hello All,
Just got back from the Sub Regatta in Gosford. This is the once in two year event and is a great time to catch up with people I just don't get to see very often.
Anyway Got Borei up and running and for the first time really got to get some speed and see how she manoeuvres.
Anyway here are some pics.
Enjoy,
David H
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Borei's big new backside.
I was surfing the net just the other day and looking for some pics of Papa project 661 in the vain hope that there maybe some new pictures available. no such luck. However I got onto some Russian defence websites and came across some photos of Project 955 Borei. Then I saw some photos of Borei that looked abit out of place and realised that these pic's are of the latest variation to the 955 Design. The first Project 955A was launched last month and names Prince Vladimir, or "Kynaz Vladimir".
The main differences seem to be in the rear end as can be seen from these photographs, although I do have a grainy photo showing an modified fin without the forward rake.
The new modifications to create the 955A look to me, quite western. The endplates on the stern planes look reminiscent of those on the Ohio. Is this the first time a Russian boat has had its towed sonar array housing protrude from a horizontal plane rather than a vertical rudder? There is a curve along the leading edge of the stern planes also.
In this photo a flank array is very clear. To me this is also a very western feature? Comments please. I'm curious as to why the Russians have decided to go with very 'western' features for their latest SSBN. I didn't expect this. There are some other vents and features on the side of the hull just forward of the stern planes.
Regards,
David H
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Hello all.
Video of "Yuri Dolgoruki" above and below.
My pool aint big enough..
David HComment
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What diameter subdriver are you using?Make it simple, make strong, make it work!Comment
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Hello Redboat,
I used to use a 2 inch subdriver however I have replaced that with my own custom design. The reason for that is that although the 2 inch could dive the boat it was barely enough to do it. I now have a
80mm diametre dive module with a separate PVC ballast tank. It runs on the Sheerline pump system that I have been using quite reliably for many years.
I dont have pics of Borei's set up as such ( I really should) however I do have some pics from Resolution and Papa that show the set up.
I hope this helps.
David HComment
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It's been a couple of hot days and a previously unrecorded biologic decides to drop in on proceedings..
My 12 year old son Noah.
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