Building the Zero Bubble Model Design 1/120 Mike SSN

[The Boattrainman]

Hi Jorg,

This is heroic stuff, I wouldn't tackle such a rough kit myself, will be following your build to see how it all works out!

Rob

[Davidh]

Hello all,

Jorg is doing a fantastic job building the Mike. Everyone here is capable of building it yet seem easily scared.. Here is Mitch Gibb’s version.




It’s not that scary.....

[JHapprich]

Exactly thats what i intended to point out here...

[JHapprich]

Hi all! Its been a while now, last weeks were busy as we bought a new house so i had only little time for my hobby. So whats new : i continued work on the stern planes. I cut small bushings from 3mm brass tube and widened the holes for the plane axis with files. The bases of the stabalizers had to be matched to the stern outline, what took quite some time. I still have a small gap, but that will be filled when final glueing is done. I made 2 new templates for the assembly from wood for maintaining the correct alignment of the parts and for keeping the l/r plane parallel. I decided on using the auxillary thruster housing on the outer plane edge as reference, though the planes will need further fillung and sanding to final symmetric shape after glueing. For that purpose i switched to my workmate. My projekt 665 whiskey long bin was rigged there so it would receive a new display stand first. I then installed the hull and fitted the plane parts, took final measures, checked back with the blueprints, tuned a bit here and there, checked again... you know the drill. Time-consumpting. When i was finally happy i applied some CA dots on the port plane and let it cure. Looking perfect. Same to starbord. Looking awful. Separated the misplaced plane and glued again.still bad. Oh come on... found my error then, i assumed the parts to be symmetric, but they are not. Adjusted my templates accordingly and did the job. Planes wont be perfectly parallely angled to each other but are symmetric to their position on the stern.i can live with that 1 degree difference. Will repeat the whole procedure ob the rudder, but i believe that to be easier with the installed diveplanes. Keep you posted!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Very good assembly jig design and use. Most instructive.

David

[JHapprich]

Thanks David!its a simple solution but combined with the ability to individually adjust the hight level of the model's hull on the Workmate it is very helpful.i have used that method on most of my models.
Jörg

[JHapprich]

I recently installed the rudder parts. Tricky as on my kit, the pieces are not 100% symmetric and need finework plus the rudderbases modeled on the stern to help identify the correct position for the rudder were a bit off the centerline. At first i attached 2 provisional indexing lips to support the upper piece of the stern to create a seamless fit.i then taped these parts to stay in place. As described the work on the diveplanes before, the rudder parts were modified accordingly. I used my templates and the Workmate to align the hull and measure/mark the correct position for the rudder axis. Put the parts to shape by step-by-step filing to make sure everything would fit nicely after glueing. Final testing and then attached the lower rudder with CA, afterwards the upper one. Did a mockup with a 5-blade brass prop to get an impression of the overall look. 3rd last picture showing the rudder levers milled from a 7mm square brass rod. Second last one showing the rudder axis looking through the diveplane axis.hor/vert planes now meet at perfect 90 deg angle!

[JHapprich]

Been very busy lately, so progress has been slow. That's new: 1. Stern parts have been assembled with resin. Afterwards, and i believe the reason was shrinking of the polyester resin, i noticed a slight upward pulling of the starbord horizontal plane when i put the axis back in. I fixed that with a rubber band that forced the plane back until the resin was entirely cured.left that for 2 days.worked well.
2. I did some finework on the sail, ca ed it in place and market the centerlines of the scribed floodholes before i wanted to put the hull in the mill to cut out those floodholes. Doing so i noticed they were not fully symmetric what made me check the model's symmetrie again. Noticed the stern is bit off when you compare the plane axes with the deck looking bow to stern BUT not when looking from stern to bow AND i wouldn't see that i daylight so i left it for now. Maybe ill have my eyes checked...
3. I turned my attention to the bow planes. First i measured, marked and drilled the holes for a rigid plane axe that would allow diveplane operation with the planes in extende position. Then remembered i once took couldnt keep my big mouth shut when chatting with David H and mentioned a hydraulically driven pivot mechanism.well..
Here we go.
First solution is to copy the well-known Engel system, but a lot smaller. Should that not work, i invented another solution that would involve thicker shafts and no soldering. So much to version no2 as the common style turned out quite nicely and represents an already proven solution.no need to re-invent the wheel. I almost finished that but ill stick to the usual 2-servo assembly, no hydraulics. Maybe a motor solution for extenting the planes slowly(i have an engel rme unit for controling the mechanism). BUT if there is space inside the wtc i will install extensible masts adapting a technique bob martin used on his bigscale XXI'. But no pump, one syringe inside pushing a nother syringe outside via wheel brake oil, powered by a servo. Ps bow planes are not finished yet, i know...

[trout]

Nice work on the bow retract! This is a fun build to watch.

[RCSubGuy]

Excellent work. I'm enjoying following along!


Bob

[JHapprich]

Greetings, fellow modellers! After a neglectable pause of about 2 years ( family business etc.) i am resuming my report on ASSEMBLING (Mr.Merriman, thats for you!) the Komsomolets. There are two major changes on how i am setting up that boat:

1. I tried and played around making the retract mechanism for the bow planes for more that a year, having troble with fitting it into the hull without making it too tiny. Very unsatisfying, so i decided to drop it and go for working planes on a rigid axis. I.e. I had them running, but with the material tuned so thin it would have surely broken by collisions. I am running my models in lakes, not pools, and had damaged planes in the past. I do think one special effect is not worth the trouble at that model scale.



2. While i was tinkering around, DavidH made not only more Kits available but also started his work on his cylinders and i will use one for my Mike as i want to try the sheerline dive system.

Let`s start with how the bowplanes look. Past the last entry from 2018, i cut the openings for the planes and test fitted the mechanism.

[JHapprich]

Short story: It did not work properly at first, so i made the parts smaller. hmm... I then got a new set of plans and made big copies from it, did some measuring ( ask DavidH about it - i REALLY like measuring and complaining about " all the details beeing 1mm off "). The planes sit higher towards the deck. almost no space on top. dropping the issue and back to start. I marked the correct positions and drilled the holes for the brass bushings. also cast a new set of bow planes with permission of DavidH.







Next i had to close the shutter openings :








finally some filling and it looked like this:

[JHapprich]

With the bow planes done, i turned my attention towards another issue i noticed after studiing the new plans and photos: the shape of the stern planes and rudder. I marked the correct edges and took my Proxxon and ...







I recently corrected the tail edge of the Rudder fin that deviated to port :



Still waiting to filled and sanded.

Also did minor changes to the top of the sail:



And i changed the shape of the torpedotube`s outer doors:

[Davidh]

Nice work Jorg,

You don’t need my permission for anything. I am so looking forward to seeing this boat complete, then the Papa and the Delta...

DavidH

[JHapprich]

Some further work on the hull was done. Opening the floodholes. Adding some details like sail windows, position lights ( they`ll look about right after proper painting ), installing the 4 small fins sternwards of the sail that i suspect beeing some sort of sensors. Those were made from flattened brass tubin with a brass pin soldered into it. Also made 4 new inlet scoops from a modified original part of DavidH. I changed the transition to the hull and added an intake grill. Coolant outlets were added as well. Finally i installed the stainless cylinder-hex hull locking screw and aluminum baseplate. opened up a new can of fibre-enhanced polyester filler of really ugly green. bah!