Scratch build Soviet Project 661 Anchar "Papa" Class SSGN K-222 1/120 Scale.

[Davidh]

Hi Scott,


Yes, if the lines are long enough I will use a tiny hobby saw that reminds me of the larger Japanese woodworking saws but with a finer blade and kerf less.I will even angle one of these blades in an already scribed groove and work it further. It does work quite well, you just need to make sure that the line is already established so that the blade wont wander.

I haven't been able to do too much on Papa at the moment, as mentioned previously side tracked by trying to get Resolution re-tooled and up and running. This is slowly getting there, I've created the silicon moulds for the revised larger and wider stern planes for Resolution and they are looking the part.

I intend to get back to some more Papa soon, however I have continues with the etching and scribing along the hull. As can be seen I scribed along to about the location of where the fin starts, scribing the Cruise missile doors around both sides of the forward hull. I still have more detail to work on as there are some free flooding vent beneath the missile hatches that I have yet to do. However once again I marked out the location of the hatches and detail to the rear of the fin, then got out the Dremel and started grinding out the channels needed for a layer of filler that would go on soon enough. Once again a mix of working with PVC pipe which is really easy to scribe in and the pine that requires the special treatment.

There are several drawings available of Papa and like the Mike, there is some variation between them when it comes to deck detail and safety lines. I simply had to pick one that looked like it would best conform to the images I have of Papa, which is frustratingly limited. As mentioned previously, this boat was about for 30 years, Didn't anyone think of taking more photos than just the few available? Seriously.
This has meant a little bit of interpretation when it comes to deck detail and also some looking over features that would be commonly "Russian' like escape hatches and the like.

I have scribed most of the stern section of the boat , just forward of the stern rudders however I haven't touched the stern escape hatch that is just in front of the vertical fin.

[Scott T]

Since your burring out the lines would it work to put a cut off saw blade in your dremel and trace the
lines with it. It might not wonder across the surface as much as it moves more linear compared to a
rotation of the bit.
Or razor saw the straight lines.

[Davidh]

Hello All,

Thankyou Trout, Much appreciated.

I have had a busy schedule with model building over the last couple of months. I have about 3 jobs on the go all at once. I am re-tooling the hull and sail/fin of Resolution, finally getting the overall hull shape right. Then I will start the construction of a new cylinder that will better serve the re-tooled Resolution and also the Borei. This cylinder will be almost the same design as the twin shaft design for the Papa but will only be a single shaft. They will all use a separate PVC pressurised tank and a battery up forward. Also produced another hull of borei to add to the stock and will also punch out a Resolution hull.

I haven't spent a huge amount of time lately on Papa. I would like to but did manage to get some scribing done on the forward hull. Once again I have a wooden tuned bow section that is pretty straightforward and a stern section which is where all the fun is at. The turned pine as a grain that will easily sidetrack the best of scribing efforts. So once again like Borei I marked out the location of the hatched and scribably detail I then took to the Pine surface with a dremel to cut out the are where I will be scribing. The turned bow section is not all that long and not far back so soon you are scribing into the grainless smooth material of the PVC pipe. Taking the dremel and cutting along the lines marked down for the scribable detail. The dremel can sometimes wobble a little as you move along. I light sanding over the top of the dremelled area removes any burrs and neatens the area.

Then get the filler and mix up a batch to smooth into the grooves. Slightly overfilling in order to sand down. I have found that when you dremel a lot in a small area, fill and then sand back you tend to get a slight undulating effect over the surface that kind of gives a character a bit like oil canning, but more like slight undulation in panels that don't follow a predictable, up and down pattern. Still in the right light It looks "Russian'. Well, I think so...

Sanding involves rough, down to smooth, I go down to 1200. Then I grab my scribing tool which is a fine pointed fine file.







David H

[trout]

David, You are doing an amazing job on this, especially when I see the technical challenges with aft planes and drive shaft. Amazing.! I also appreciate your desire to get it right.

[Davidh]

Hello all,


After creating the fillets for the top and bottom profile, I then went around the profiles with fine 400 grit just to get the fillets to match the fins. As mentioned they are recessed lower than the profile of the section between the booms as they extend outwards. I ground out the valley to make sure that the profiles would sit reasonably flat and so make well with the epoxy applied to them.

I mixed up some filler and applied around the fillet profile. This made for some tight corners around the sides as the curved sides of the booms comes up level with the top of the fillet. Once applied and dries I used some 80 then 240 and 400 grit to get these curves fillets smooth. A shot of grey primer helps to highlight the imperfections. As can be seen by the photos of the horizontal planes the root fillets on one side are not wide enough to extend to the trailing edge of the moving surface. This is one of several small filler jobs I will need to do around the stern end of the model.






I will also have to cut one of the booms and slightly re-align as the two booms although very close are slightly out of alignment according to a centre line if drawn that extends down the middle of the hull and out past the booms. The booms also taper just a little too far and the diameter at the point where the props meet. It is a bit small. I will need to increase the diameter at this point it make the shafts of the kit fit inside the diameter at the extreme aft ends.

David H

[Davidh]

Hi Robb,

Thanks for the comments. I had the good fortune of meeting Charlie Duke about 25 years ago. Great speaker. Yes I have some of those Haines books and the one on the Saturn V is one I'm aiming for..


So after creating the fillet profile for the sides and getting them in shape it was time to look at the Top and bottom rudder mounts. I have always though that the double lower rudder sections that are apparent on the Oscar would have looked good on the Papa. Oh well its only a single rudder. Still the fact that this is a twin shaft boat means that the vertical rudders with be connected with a shaft that runs straight down. No need for a bend to get around the prop shafts. So once again I followed the same procedure for making the mounts / fillets for the top and bottom rudder as I have done for the side fillet that protrude out the side of the hull.

I took a small piece of scrap Renshape and cut out the rough profile of the base of the top rudder both the fixed part and movable surface. I then had to look at the side of the fillet and make some further cuts. The Hull slopes away as It heads towards the stern and the printed fixed rudder piece follows that curve until it meets the movable rudder the base of which is pretty much horizontal. The renshape fillet would have to follow this curve. Once I had the overall shape of the profile lightly sanded and looking good I then market out and cut the subtle V shape that would occur when the base of the top rudder section meets the fillet. I then drilled the hole for the shaft and also cut out the rectangular slot for the sprue on the underside of the vertical fins.

As with the horizontal plane fillets I spent some time working through and aligning the holes for the drill both top and bottom. It is very easy to get this misaligned. Once done I drilled these holes and made sure that they were square in both axis. As can be seen by some of the lower photos, I didn't get it right first time, however it really didn't matter because the fillets would got over the top and only the correct hole needed to align with the hole in the renshape fillet the would fit over the top and bottom of the hull.

I also needed to do some grinding. because the rear hull transforms into two booms that evolve their shape as they move towards the back, `This has created a Valley in between where the booms, right where the profile has to fit. I decided not to round the lower edges of the fillet to conform to the shape of the valley side as they run down and diverge as they move towards the tip. I simply decided that I would grind out a section of the sides and level them to fit the profiles as they fit in the centre. This is shown in the images with the exposed pine in between the booms. after enough grounding was done I could sit the fillet in flush with the hull surface and align it up with the correct drill hole, and lines drawn to get the profiles to sit exactly in line with the centreline To align the holes I used a brass rod. using brass rods through both ends. Once these were lined up I would simply glue it down and then squeeze filler around the sides of the profile and curving up abruptly to continue the valley sides and they run along the booms. Repeat process top and bottom.


Anyway, enough for now, as always comments and suggestions are appreciated..


David H

[The Boattrainman]

Ha ha, Scott, you caught me there, I actually looked that one up!!!!!!

Up there with the glass hammer and left handed wrench.

Rob

[HardRock]

Hey Rob. I've got a turbo encabulator manual that might interest you. Scott

[The Boattrainman]

Hi David

Following you work, your scratch-building is amazing.

Funny you should mention the Apollo programme, it's another interest of mine (being the greatest achievement in human history, in my view).

I'm re-reading the Haynes Saturn V Manual.............





..............great primer on a fantastic machine (or machines).



John Watts is in this incredible book on the remaining Apollo astronauts............. one of the best (and saddest in some ways) books, as the author tries to make sense of the whole programme and the surviving guys view of themselves.




Anyway, keep up the super model work.

Rob

[Davidh]

Hello All,

Yes, David, the back end is going to consume a fair amount of time getting right.

As mentioned previously I have been spending time creating the stern filler profiles for the horizontal planes. I will be moulding the registration points for where these parts will fit into the sides of the hull. This detail will easily register into the top mould that will be my usual silicon RTV mould, however the bottom will be a hard shell fibreglass mould. The detail on the lower hull transfer to the fibreglass mould but I find that its less consistent and as reliable as the silicon mould. This fillet profile however will be quite noticeable.

I started by taking the time to line up where the holes would go for the pivot shaft for the movable stern planes. I had to make sure that the alignment meant that the drill hole would be absolutely horizontal and also 90 degrees to the vertical plane. Lots of measuring and lots of eyeballing. Once this hole was drilled and proved accurate I then had a reference point for making sure for the rest of the fillet to follow.

The fillet was mainly made out of the Ren shape that I have. This profile was taken by tracing around the root profile of the stern plane and then cutting and sanding. Once done, I would then drill a hole for the shaft to go through. This made it easier to make sure that the profile was located level and evenly on both sides and according to the centreline that runs around the equator of the boat. I also drilled a shallow hull that I could then sand out to make the insert recess for the rectangular block that protrudes out from the root end of the stern planes. This will act as a sprue and also reinforcing piece that will give the stern plane extra strength as it sits inside the fillet profile on the side of the hull. Added strength for when running around the side of the pool and bumping into a nozzle or underwater light. Once this was done the profile would be glued on and then given a blob of filler than was then smoothed around the profile to create the fillet that is required to create the smooth transition between the hull and the fillets that mate with the stern planes.







On another note another Apollo moonwalker has left us. These guys are all my heroes. Of course it was only briefly mentioned on the news because the Cricket was more important. One of the three fastest men in history (Apollo 10) Only Tom Stafford left...

RIP John Watts Young (1930-2018) Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1 , STS-9

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Looking good. The stern is a real hand-full!

David

[Davidh]

I just spent an hour writing up a detail of how I did the stern planes only to have this page, delete it!

Anyway here are some pics of the stern planes. I used Renshape to get the profile right for the plane fillet and also created a cut out for the rectangular protrusion that makes up the sprue on the mould. this will slot into a recess on the side of the hull mould when eventually made. Had to spend a fair amount of time make sure that the shaft hole either side was aligned both vertically and horizontally.






Any comments and suggestions appreciated...

David H

[Davidh]

Hello All,


I have spent a fair bit of time working on the cylinder design that I have made for the Papa. I have tried to make the cylinder as small as possible so that it would sit as far back as possible in the boat so that the PVC ballast tank would be as close as possible to the centre of gravity as possible. This has meant that all the systems assembled in the unit are vying for space. The biggest challenge for me was developing the twin shaft end cap. I had never built a twin shaft boat before and had to spend a fair amount of time making this work and watertight. I have always built my cylinders with end caps that screw on towards each other so that I could pressurise the cylinder by blowing air into it and testing leaks. The screw threads simply ensure that the end caps don't pop out.





As can be seen by the pics, The motors are at the end. then next to them is the two small metal geared servos mounted on either side that will pushrod out to the rudder and hydroplane. After that in the middle of the acrylic tray is the where I have mounted all the electronics, the ESC, the failsafe, and underneath on a smaller tray the Rx and the voltage regulator. Towards the front of the cylinder is the roller arm servo that pinches a silicon tube that controls the water pump mounted on the outside. The threads that tension the unit run through holes at the back end cap. They are mounted one above the other and they are fixed onto the front end cap as there is no way to secure with wing nuts right where the pump would be mounted. The pump is a standard sealed windscreen washer pump. they are waterproof, all I needed to do was create a mounting for the pump and all the connections for the pump, a line going in and one going out for the water to be pumped into the loop where the pinch servo is mounted then past that and back out to the separate and external ballast tank. then two electrical connections as that unit would be running off a 12 volt SLA. The front end cap is really crowded. there is also a valve to pressurise the cylinder.

I have test the cylinder numerous times in the pool and it works really well. I may get a drop of water from one of the shafts. I will work on that.

Turning back to the masters I have been further sanding down the overall hull. Using templates to make sure that the gradual curve of the hull at the side slowly and subtly curves the way it needs to, evenly and on both sides. I also drilled two small holes in the back end where the props will go so that I could mount the props on brass shafts to get an idea of how they will look. I think, pretty good so far....


David H

[Davidh]

Back again,

I had originally made a fin out of pine. This was before I got hold of the pink machine able board. I made the two sides and then drilled holes to screw them together from underneath in order to align them and make sure that everything done to them would be to both sides at the same time. Once I got the Labelite I cut two sides and then quickly reduced them down to the basic shape needed for the overall profile of either side. On the belt sander this stuff reduces very quickly and in no time I managed to get a good symmetrical shape for the fin. I haven't yet managed to do any fine detail on the fin/ sail just yet however that will hopefully come along soon.

As mentioned I had laid down a channel of filler along the gap that exists between the outer layers of PVC pipe. Overfilling the channel then sanding back till smooth created the main flat deck section. I then had to sand further up the bow where the wooden turned bow section came up slightly higher than the flat deck I sanded down and got level. The next major job would be creating the section around the fin where the flat deck bulges sideways to give crew access around the fin. In order to get this right I made a profile out of plastic that was taken off the top view of the drawings I have available. I would take this profile and glue it lightly to the edge of the flat section of deck so that the profile sticks out slightly around the side of the hull. The idea being simply to mix up some filler and then squeeze it underneath the profile, pushing it in underneath and then rubbing a finger around the profile to get the filler to conform and create the shape of the bulged section. Once hardened I pryed the plastic profile off and there would be the overall profile of the bulged deck section. There were small air pockets which were then filled over and sanded back.










Once again after using the profile on both sides I needed to make sure that they were symmetrical would result in some careful sanding. I also needed to make sure that the widened deck was level and smooth.
I also took sandpaper and carefully sanded so that the rim would coincide with the edge of the flat deck section as it moved forward towards the bow or sternwards.

David H

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Once you use that stuff you'll never go back to wood, David. I can assure you of that. Welcome to the 21st Century, pal.

David