A U-Boat In Ireland

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  • The Boattrainman
    Commander
    • Mar 2016
    • 443

    #61
    Next up is the horizontal flood/drain holes in the forward section, after the nightmare of the ones around the torpedo doors these were a doddle.

    The slot is opened up to take the masks with the holes.

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    The only issue here is that the kit wants them aligned with the upward slope of the bow, this is wrong, they should be in line with the central drain slot. They have to be glued at an angle and trimmed when set. The marked area in the photo is where the central drain area will have to be extended forward thus making both port and starboard side asymmetrical.

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    There's more holes on the starboard side than port side, so I removed some holes for the port side mask, but caught a break with the starboard side, by simple removing three from the lower row and adding them to the end of the upper row,it gave me the exact right number of holes for U557 on that side on both upper and lower rows, lucky.

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    A comparison of photo six and photo three gives an indication of how the number of flood/drain holes affected the length of the central drain slot, with the additional slots on the starboard side going back beyond the fix point of forward and middle hull sections (the vertical line of filler).

    The only issue here is the masks had to be set a bit high, it was not possible to set the masks lower as it would mean removing a huge section of the hull and also having a mismatch at the top where I want a clean finish to hide the removeable deck section, a compromise I have to live with.

    I wonder why there was this difference in port/starboard sides?

    The Boattrainman

    Last edited by The Boattrainman; 10-08-2017, 02:46 PM.
    ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

    Comment

    • The Boattrainman
      Commander
      • Mar 2016
      • 443

      #62
      Thanks to DrS I got my work buddy to make a large 3 X 1.5 foot blueprint set on plastic, much easier to take measurements and see details.

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      The slot masks continue to be added. Here the flooding holes at the hull break are modified adding more and moving the single one on the top to the right place, the hull is cut to accept the final mask.

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      Great care was taken to ensure both parts of the hull where the holes are match carefully.

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      There are small flood holes on the bow, seldom modelled correctly (the Revell kit and most others are wrong), there are three on the port side and two on the starboard side. God help anyone who has to drill multiple holes in their kits, these five holes took a whole night of measuring and filing/sanding!


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      The Boattrainman
      Last edited by The Boattrainman; 10-25-2017, 04:55 PM.
      ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

      Comment

      • The Boattrainman
        Commander
        • Mar 2016
        • 443

        #63
        More flood holes are added by drilling and filing, the three on the rear of the saddle tanks.......

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        The eighteen in an arc pattern on each side under where the deck gun will be mounted........

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        Finally starting to look less like a generic boat, have to take a break from drilling holes, will start on the decks next.

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        The Baottrainman

        ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

        Comment

        • The Boattrainman
          Commander
          • Mar 2016
          • 443

          #64
          My modelling time is severly limited in the months up to Xmas as they are my busiest time at work.

          Now the fuss is all over I can get back to the boat, and I've decided to use the holidays to have a go at the 88mm deck gun.

          Here is a well known photo of one........................and a fairly good computer drawing.


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          Accurate Armour have a decent 1/35 kit for this which I have made before, but it was a bit flimsy, so I'm going to modify the kit part.

          Specializing in military model kits, including tanks, trucks, submarines, rockets, and larger scale AFV's.




          Unfortunately, this is what comes in the kit......

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          .......it has numerous issues, but is a good place to start.

          I've broken it down to three main parts. The deck mount was easy to make from four washers, with a row of plasticard bolts on the bottom washer

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          The gun mount had all the mouldings cut off, and a new floor and rear made from thick plasticard (grey parts are originals, new parts in white)

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          The gun itself is a reasonable length and width, so I've made a new recoil mechanism and sighting apparatus, and drilled out the solid pastic wheel.

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          Starting to look a lot better, once I get the larger modifications finished, I'll move to the smaller items.

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          The Boattrainman
          Last edited by The Boattrainman; 12-29-2017, 04:29 PM.
          ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

          Comment

          • bianco64squalo
            Ensign
            • Apr 2017
            • 94

            #65
            Good work....at 1/35 scale improvements and superdetailing are a must...
            Cheers

            Comment

            • The Boattrainman
              Commander
              • Mar 2016
              • 443

              #66
              Hi friend, it's a matter of how much detail to add, this sub will be a working model and the deck gun needs to be robust enough to take the odd whack from weeds etc.

              The gun mount gets arms from brass tubes around a 1.5mm brass bar for strength.

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              Plasticard is used to simulate mounting plates

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              The kit supplied wheels and grips are added to the various soldered brass arms, the C-shaped grips are to hold the gun crew in place in rough seas.

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              The gun, gun mount and deck mount are all united.

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              A couple of items still need to be added, but I think this is as much as I can do before it starts to get too fragile.

              Rob
              ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

              Comment

              • bianco64squalo
                Ensign
                • Apr 2017
                • 94

                #67
                Fantastic work, Rob.....
                I look at your model with great interest....

                Comment

                • The Boattrainman
                  Commander
                  • Mar 2016
                  • 443

                  #68
                  I made a working muzzle plug (Tampion), first by drilling the gun barrel to 2.5mm.

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                  The plug is a 2.5mm short piece of brass bar with a plastic collar the same diameter as the gun.

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                  Final details are added including the optics for the sighting mechanism from plasticard rod (hard to see as they are all white), and the hooks to hold the Tampion wire when the gun is being used.

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                  That's it sorted, looks to be in good proportion to the conning tower......

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                  ..........fairly robust too, I dropped it a few times and it didn't break....

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                  ........rear shot, looks to be all square................

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                  Enjoyable few nights work, but have to get back to the dreaded flooding drain holes soon!

                  The Boattrainman


                  ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

                  Comment

                  • The Boattrainman
                    Commander
                    • Mar 2016
                    • 443

                    #69
                    The aft section gets support pieces, they are not as secure as the other sections as there is no WTC here and the whole aft deck has to be removeable to maintain the drive mechanisms.

                    This cross brace shows how the aft hull has to be pulled into shape.

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                    To support this piece, I've used a method I've used before for inaccessible weird shaped spaces, I stuffed a small cotton ball (end of a Q-tip), into the space under the hull edge.

                    Here it is being rolled into the area........

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                    ....... and that's it wedged into the corner, then I drop very thin Superglue onto the cotton ball making it rock solid and it adheres to the walls.

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                    Sounds a bit daft, a cotton ball used for strength, but it works.


                    This is the aft deck piece that must be removable........

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                    ....... I have to trim the hull edges right back in places so that there is empty space under the vents on the deck.

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                    This has made the hull sides very wobbly, will sort that next.

                    The Boattrainman
                    Last edited by The Boattrainman; 01-04-2018, 07:09 PM.
                    ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

                    Comment

                    • DrSchmidt
                      Captain
                      • Apr 2014
                      • 919

                      #70
                      Cotton flakes are standard reinforcement for epoxy resins. So what you did is quite appropriate and a widespread approach, just with the difference, that the cotton ball is better to handle than flakes.

                      Comment

                      • The Boattrainman
                        Commander
                        • Mar 2016
                        • 443

                        #71
                        Thanks Dr S, I got the idea from using epoxy resin with GRP strips, same principle just different scales.

                        Rob
                        ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

                        Comment

                        • trout
                          Admiral
                          • Jul 2011
                          • 3545

                          #72
                          i will have to play with cotton!
                          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

                          • The Boattrainman
                            Commander
                            • Mar 2016
                            • 443

                            #73
                            Now that the rear section is strengthened, I can configure the connection point at the hull break to carry the servo throw forward.

                            I cut two strong magnets off a name tag and stuck 2mm styrene to each side, then sanded them round.


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                            A hole is drilled in the styrene, and each magnet is glued to the inner end of the Bowden cable which has been cut in two at the hull break.

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                            The hull will have to twist by 40mm to release both halves, the magnets separate sideways, but stay together when in line.

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                            The rear section with the cable leading to the mechanism that reverses the servo throw out of the back of the WTC..........

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                            ..........and the forward section leading to the front dive planes.

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                            Ok, so thanks to this forum (esp David M) who gave me the magnet idea!

                            The Boattrainman
                            Last edited by The Boattrainman; 01-06-2018, 06:21 PM.
                            ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

                            Comment

                            • The Boattrainman
                              Commander
                              • Mar 2016
                              • 443

                              #74
                              The other item that needs to pass from the rear hull section to the forward section is 12V power for the lights and accessories.

                              I used automotive connectors before, but they are too bulky for the small join area, so a scratchbuilt plug and socket is required.

                              Two 1.5mm holes are drilled in the face of the forward hull join to take two small hollow tubes 7mm long.

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                              On the inner side, two wires are soldered to the tubes and a plastic surround is added, which is then filled with epoxy for a full seal, that's the socket sorted.

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                              The plug is made from 2 X 1mm wire and plastic surround which is again filled with epoxy.

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                              This is how the hull break looks from above with decks on............

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                              ...........decks off (only the rear one with be removeable), plug and socket on the left, magnetic coupler for forward dive planes on the right. The connection bolt is only temporary, when the aft section is finally sealed to the rear bayonet cap, it will be redundant.

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                              Here is the setup ready for the hull to be separated, plug removed, magnetic join disconnected.....

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                              The plug passes through a hole in the rear hull support bracket and is just big enough for the small space.

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                              Given this is a big model, it's ironic so much has to happen in the smallest space in the hull, a lot to be said for round hulls and z-joints.

                              The Boattrainman
                              Last edited by The Boattrainman; 01-09-2018, 06:59 PM.
                              ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

                              Comment

                              • The Boattrainman
                                Commander
                                • Mar 2016
                                • 443

                                #75
                                Thanks to Dave's suggestion not to either mechanically or electronically link the front and aft dives planes (elementary mistake on my behalf!), there's no need for the complicated mechanism in the front section to reverse the throw.

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                                So instead the Bowden cable is extended directly to the front dive plane connector bar, and a fitting is made to attach to the horizontal support already in place........

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                                There's a bit of rotation possible using a bolt in the hole on the left to align the cable with the arm on the connector bar.

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                                So here is the total mechanism to bring the servo throw from rear to forward dive planes, a servo rod will come out of the rear of the WTC onto the bottom of the throw reverse arm............

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                                ..........the Bowden cable carries it forward through the magnet connectors at the hull break.......

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                                ............up to under the conning tower, where there is a connection to the next piece of cable, had to have two pieces as it's well over a meter long (will bond both inner sleeves later with a brass outer tube crimped and glued in place)..........

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                                ..............and on to the forward fitting to bend the cable towards the front dive planes..........

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                                The Bowden cable makes the connection smooth and friction free.

                                The Boattrainman
                                Last edited by The Boattrainman; 01-12-2018, 06:14 PM.
                                ''We're after men, and I wish to God I was with them........!''

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