Scratch Build Soviet Project 667 BDRM Delta IV SSBN K-18 "Karelia" Scale 1/140

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  • trout
    Admiral
    • Jul 2011
    • 3545

    Not sure what you are seeing, but no green on my end. This whole forum is using vbulletin as the operating system.
    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

    • He Who Shall Not Be Named
      Moderator
      • Aug 2008
      • 12254

      Yeah, all I see is 'green' and no pictures from Dave's last post.

      David
      Who is John Galt?

      Comment

      • Davidh
        Captain
        • Nov 2010
        • 719

        Hello all,

        I don't know what has been happening with my pics of late. They are showing up for me with a green background, I know they are not showing up for some people.

        Anyway back to it.

        So after pulling off the top silicon mould and a careful inspection revealed only minor issues of trapped air bubbles in the surface. There was no major undulation in the hull and the rims are straight. I'm pretty darn happy about that. I left it a couple of days to pull the plug out of the lower mould. I simply did'nt have the time as I have been flat out with end of year reports for school kiddies and the like.

        So I carefully pryed the plug out of the lower hull, pulling the flanges gently away from each other to break the seal between the pva release agent and the plug and mould. Eventually after enough wiggling and prying and pressing there is a crack sound and the whole plug is free. I was particularly concerned that it may take some of the detail from the profiles on the sides of the scoops with the plug.

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        As you can see from the first image the detail for the reactor scoops and exit doors is intact. the draft angles were not too steep and no gel coat came away with the plug. Really happy about that.
        The rest of the detail is fantastic. The limber hole detail has come out well and the flat bottomed middle section underneath the missile bay has turned out nicely. The deep recess section featuring the
        rear lower rudder has also pulled out without any loss of gel coat.

        Pretty soon after cleaning out the rigid hard lower hull mould I rinsed it with hot water and cleaned out any residual PVA. Then after drying I put down the first coat of PVA and let dry. Meanwhile I put down a coat of PVA around the wider outer flange of the silicon top hull mould. After a couple more coats of PVA on the bottom hull and around both sets of flanges I was ready to lay up a coat of Gelcoat. I mixed some grey pigment in as I like my hulls grey to match the primer that I use.

        I then poured this gelcoat into both hull halves and mixed it around. then waited for it to set. I then mixed up a batch of resin and cut out light 4 oz weave that I usually lay down first. The lower hull is easier to lay as it is generally a simpler shape with only the flat missile section in the middle creating the only real deviation to round. The top silicon hull mold is something different, with complex curves and the big missile deck sticking up I laid down a light weave first in sections and made my way around the hull reinforcing the subtle curves at the base of the missile deck lower slot and the front of the missile deck where it abruptly drops down to where the sail meets. I also make sure that there is at least one layer of weave that runs around the rim just to give more reinforcement and make sure that when I sand back the hull at the equator there is plenty of hard material to grind back and give a nice clean straight part line.

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        Once all this was dries I then laid up a layer of chopped strand and gave it heaps of resin as this stuff acts like a sponge. Once all this has dried it is time to pull the hull halves out of the mould.


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        Of course the silicon mould just peels away from the fibreglass part. So easy, the lower hull needs some tapping and prying but eventually comes loose. Then finally two weeks worth of mould making , siliconning and fibreglassing comes down to the first hull parts out out of the mould. There is a heck of a lot of rear hull crazing and air pockets in the surface, that's a bit dissapointing, that comes down to the
        way I lay up the glass. I am going to have to pay more attention to the undercuts along the missle deck slot that runs along mear the bottom of the hull below the missile deck. Nothing filler can't fix.

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        However although this don't look great, the hull is absolutely consistent in its curve and the missile deck is flat. the lower rims are straight ! the crazing towards the rear is simply the Gelcoat not sticking properly, As far as I can tell it comes down to the way I lay up my glass in future. It may also be possible chemicals on the silicon? the deck detail has come out superbly, The two hulls align really well.

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        The hull after getting the rims trimmed with a Dremel tool. A fair bit of filling and sanding!




        David H





        Comment

        • He Who Shall Not Be Named
          Moderator
          • Aug 2008
          • 12254

          Lay down a properly mixed gel-coat. That will give you a bubble-free 'skin'. And start the laminates with cloth, not matt. And make it light-weight cloth, David! Just slamming matt in there and hitting it with resin ain't get'n it done, pal.

          Don't make me come over there!!!!!

          David
          Who is John Galt?

          Comment

          • Davidh
            Captain
            • Nov 2010
            • 719

            Hello all,

            For HWSNBN, As said before, we have great Beaches, warm weather and lots of bushfire smoke. Why would'nt you want to come over here?

            I have since laid up a second hull with much greater attention to how I have laid up cloth. This second hull came out much nicer... Getting back to the build, There has been a fair amount of filling and sanding because of the layup of the first parts to come out of the mould. There have been a fair amount of air pockets and weak points around where the limber holes are moulded. This has taken a fair amount of time to get right however as said previously the hull is straight and the curves are consistent.

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            This picture shows a Borei and a Delta top hull halves. Busy getting the Borei ready for a customer. The hull detail in the bow of the 667 has turned up nicely. After getting the hull halves filled, sanded and sprayed over with primer, I then cut out the drainage and limber holes. This has been a right pain in the neck in some places due to as mentioned air pockets and resin inconsistencies in the original layup. The cluster of limber holes down the back of the boat is the biggest challenge as they are very close to each other and it does'nt take much for a file to break through a thin separation between the two and become a big long rectangular hole that isn't correct.

            I drilled holes where the scoops are located on their raised profiles. These holes allow the scoops and exit doors to be mounted with a little extra strength as these parts can easily be broken off otherwise. After drilling out the holes I filed them back and this allowed me to check the fit of the all the parts hanging below the waterline. They have been a tight fit which is good. The next major processes to get through are to do with how the hull halves are secured to each other. The cut that I do is sometimes referred to as the "Z" cut. The stern of the top hull is glued to the bottom and the bow lower hull is attached to the top bow section. This makes the front part line between the two hulls run underneath the bow where it is not seen, The stern separation is made just in front of the rudders just below water line so is often masked by this. Firstly I cut the top back section of the hull just in front of the rudders. I mark off and tape the edge I'm going to cut.

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            AS you can see i have left all the scoops on. I will take them off and finalize them. This shows the stern top hull part cut and cleaned up. Having this separate will make fitting of all the control mechanisms, shafts and flotation foam soo much easier. I don't glue this down to the lower hull until everything is fitted and working, interference free.

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            Twin shafts allow a central rudder shaft that can run all the way through. This makes life soo much less complicated than having everything center right where the shaft is! This is also the case with the
            horizontal planes. With the 667 this shaft is not aligned with the shafts, it is slight raised. Yay! This makes installation so much more straightforward.

            I then work out how to secure the front hull. I have one screw that holds the two hulls together. This screw fits up undeneath the front of the hull and is out of the way. To secure the screw I take a rectangular piece of aluminium. ( Al-you min ee-um) to us in oz. and tap a thread in one end of it. I then drill several smaller holes along the length of the piece. Once with is done I then mark out where it is going to sit along the bottom of the lower hull. This piece will straddle across the cut line that separates the lower bow and top section. I then fibreglass it to the rear lower section, the extra holes have glass strand wrapped around and then covered in resin. This makes it really secure. (It's probably over engineered) I wrap tape over the threaded end to stop resin gluing this section down. Once glued in I drill a hole through it and through the spot where the screw will rotate upwards from underneath..

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            Bow assembly next week....


            David H



            Comment

            • JHapprich
              Captain
              • Oct 2017
              • 714

              David, that new hull looks really thin and light! Will you use the 661' cylinder and a new balast tank, or are you planning something different this time?

              Regards, Jörg

              Comment

              • Davidh
                Captain
                • Nov 2010
                • 719

                Hello all,

                After drilling the hole for the forward screw that fits up underneath it was time to align and glue the two hull halves at the bow. This meant using tape to strap down the top, minus the very rear and the lower hull making sure that they were registering where I needed them to. Once the top and bottom where in the right position I simple needed to tape around the joint line where the two halves meet at the bow. this tape runs about 5mm above and below the joint. It means that I can lay up some light strip of cloth along the outside of the hull, joining along the part line and i wont get any more resin running blow this area. Makes it easier to clean up.

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                At this point I do not have registering lips along the inside of the lower hull. These will come later. The vertical running tape marks where the vertical cut will be that
                will align with the screw fixture underneath.

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                As can be seen, light cloth has been laid up. I only need a thin layer as I will do most of the reinforcing from the inside. Don't sand more than you need to..
                Once this is secure you make a cut along the vertical tape line making sure that it coincides just in front of the hole for the screw fitting underneath.

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                Peel back the tape around the outside top and bottom and then sand back the join. In the meantime add more resin and cloth on the inside. Pull the tape off the aluminium bar around the screw hole.

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                Not the hole in the bottom should line up with the Aluminium bar and hole so that the screw can secure the whole bottom and top halves. The top is secured at the rear by a lip that runs underneath the underside of the top stern section, just in front of the rudders. Next I will be laying up some resin and weave in a sheet to create the registering lips that run down the sides of the the lower hull and allow the top hull to spring onto the lower hull


                Next time..

                David H


                Comment

                • Robbert de Rouw
                  Ensign
                  • Dec 2019
                  • 3

                  What an amazing piece of craftsmanship!

                  Comment

                  • Davidh
                    Captain
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 719

                    Hello all,

                    Thank you Robbert,

                    Usually I do my write ups on Friday afternoon after work and am pretty consistent doing so. However I have finished 667 and this write up is several weeks behind so I thought that being Christmas holidays and all I would accelerate the write up and get this thread to the point where she is in the water. I already have finished pics on my website and am almost ready to take orders.

                    So after lots of sanding of the front end and smoothing back , filler then lots of sanding back the front end looks pretty good. I have had to re-scribe some lines that were taken out with the laying up of resin and sanding back, but not a lot in the overall scheme of things.


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                    I mentioned last week that I would look at how I did the register lips along the side of the hull, however I realized after looking over the pictures that that came after the work on the twin shaft arrangement at the back. So I will discuss how these prop shafts have been set up.

                    Weeks earlier I ordered two sets of shafts from Cornwall model boats over the in the UK. These two thin 200 mm long shafts 4 mm with outer tube of 6 mm dia. They arrived with plenty of time for me to install. Beautifully made smooth stainless steel shafts that will do nicely. I also ordered the required couplings and brass inserts to hook up to the motor shaft outputs from the twin cylinder.
                    One of the lessons learnt from the PAPA is to make sure that there is some buoyancy foam as far back in the boat as possible. So I will be packing some foam in around the shafts and then pushrod pivots. Its going to get crowded but should certainly help achieve a nice surface trim when the boat hits the water, eager to avoid having the rear end sit too low.

                    I started by shaping some blocks of foam with a hole in them to take the shafts right through realizing that the space in the twin booms was fair game for some flotation foam. Shaped it up pushed shafts through and glued down. This also has the added advantage of being a vibration dampener of sorts.

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                    The next work to do was to mount the front end of the shafts to align up exactly with the motor outputs. The motor shaft and shafts would be connected via your standard red couplings, They only have one pivot. I haven't used the two joint dog leg style so you have to make sure that there is only one change in direction relative to the center axis. If you have more than one you will have binding and friction.

                    I did this by cutting out some fiberglass brackets that after having a hole drilled in them big enough to accommodate the shafts. I then slid the brackets over the shafts, then coupled them up to the motor outputs and marked where the brackets aligned up with the side of the hull. This is the best way to ensure that the shafts are as aligned as possible. Once the position has located super glue was used to initially secure the position of the brackets and then I applied resin and glass.

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                    I reinforced the brackets with a triangular gusset to give it some extra strength. After the rear shaft supports were installed and the shafts pretty much in place, I started work on the registering lip. To do this I created curved fiberglass strip. I took a piece of 90 mm PVC pipe that had been cut in half length wise. I then poured in some gel coat with grey pigment along the inside and let it set. After a couple of hours I came back and laid up a couple of layers of 8 oz weave and let that set. Then a simply lifted the hardened glass sheet off the PVC pipe. Hey presto, a curved sheet of fiberglass sheet that can be used as register lip.

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                    This picture shows the curved fibre glass sheet with marker lines showing the strip to be cut to make up the register lip.
                    Two of these will be made, one either side.

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                    Once the strips have been cut I roughed up half of each strip lengthwise to key in with the fibre glass resin and mate really well to the inside of the lower hull. I took the dremel tool and used the grinder to rough just below the edge along the length of the hull. Then once this is done placed some masking tape along the upper outer rim of the hull to make sure that no mixed up resin works up the side and over the outer edge of the hull. I mixed up some resin and applied to the outside of the strip and inside of the top rim of the hull. then pressed the lip inside the hull and pegged off with clothes pegs for a couple of hours, wiping away excess..

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                    Any ideas, suggestions, comments, welcome..

                    David H



                    Comment

                    • Davidh
                      Captain
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 719

                      Hello all,

                      Once I have glued in the register lips around the insides of the lower hull I get a small flat file and run it along the rim that has been created, filing off any excess resin that will push the top hull out of the recess created by the lip. I also go over it with a bit of sandpaper.

                      The most labour intensive part of any submarine is the rear end. There is so much going on in what can be such a small space. It is even more tricky when it is a single screw modern type with all the control surfaces all going through the same small area. I am fortunate in this in that a twin screw boat gives you a little more breathing space. Also the Soviet thing of having the axis line for the horizontal planes slightly above the shafts axis is pure genius. It means that I don't need a yoke for them, and as the vertical rudder passes through between the shafts I also don't need one for this either. Score!

                      The horizontal planes are attached the to the cut off stern upper hull section. I can make this and assemble it all together then once all done and ready to go just glue in place. Yay!

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                      As can be seen a little more filling has been needed around parts of the stern has there have been a few little pockets that need filling in. The stern planes integrate well however will still need a little further work on the plane fillet roots where they butt up against the hull. One of the things that I do is an old Merriman trick with wrapping some wet 'n' dry around the curve of the front of the movable plane, assembling the plane unit and wiggling it back and forth to grind a smooth curve that will allow these surfaces to move really lightly and not bind.


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                      The project 667 has 'fences' along the sides of the movable planes. I don't know of any other Soviet boats that have this, (maybe the Yankee class.) I have found that will the casting process on the moulds for these that I have had to add an extra venting flue along one point in the fence of one of the parts and air bubbles have been trapped and I have needed to use filler. One little spot each time. After a small amount of sanding the parts move freely. I just don't know how effective they will be as these planes are tiny compared to the overall size of the boat.


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                      Once everything lines up with the the planes I ground down the ends of the brass shafts to make them fit a little better inside the planes. This will also help the superglue key into the shaft when I am gluing the planes to the shaft. I drill a small hole along the front edge of the plane that goes through to the shaft hole for the rod. This is used to superglue the planes to the rod and are drilled at and angle that means most of the time the hole is hidden inside the curve of the fixed plane.


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                      You can see the hole drilled along the front of the movable plane. Only revealed when the plane is angled a fair bit. It will be hidden during most operation. Once the parts fit and are aligned I then solder an brass horn that I made for the plastic control rod clevices that I use. I won't glue the planes in place until I have put down a primer coat on the stern upper hull and even given the base black coat.


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                      These pics show how the rear will generally look when completed. I wont actually glue the top rear hull down until I've painted it first. The reason for this is that I
                      intend to do a pattern that shows a subtle anechoic tile look. Subtle but noticeable. It will be easier to do this paint job before gluing the whole thing down. The Top rudder will
                      also have its own paint job before being fixed down. I then applied filler into the gaps between the planes and the roots. then lots of sanding, sanding, sanding.

                      I then need to look at doing the rudders. This is a little more complex as the rudder has to fit over both the top and bottom hull. It is not confined to just one. A lot of the alignment comes down to how well the top and bottom align. This will easily throw out a dead vertical rudder shaft. I had to spend time with protractors and marker pens marking notches that need to align up with each other.

                      A primer coat is applied to the upper stern section. Note that the planes haven't been attached, this will happen after the black base coat is applied.


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                      The movable planes are taped off and given their colours top and bottom before assembly. Red anti-foul on the bottom and black base coat on the top. The crazed effect is unintended but looks cool.


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                      Now the base black coat is on I can angle the planes so they are both aligned exactly with the hole on each exposed and the brass horn in the corresponding position that it needs to be in and superglue the planes. 10 minutes later I check the movement and that they both move in synchronous with each other. The holes beneath the brass horn on the underside of the hull top are the holes for the rudder pivot and also the register point on the fixed vertical fin.

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                      Tape is used to keep the filler in a narrow corridor. It is also used to keep the planes exactly aligned with each other when gluing.
                      Anyway enough for now, I can smell the bushfires 100 kms away.

                      David H








                      Comment

                      • Davidh
                        Captain
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 719

                        Hello all,


                        Christmas Day and Boxing Day over.

                        I got given a copy of the DVD "Kursk" for Christmas. The back Cover explanation of the film is lame. It describes the Kursk as a "Kursky Submarine". Seriously HOW HARD IS IT TO CALL IT AN OSCAR!!!.
                        Why can't they get it right? HWSNBN style rant over...

                        Anyway back to the build. I also taped off and prayed the underside of the rear fixed planes with the anti-foul red. Also shown in some of the buoyancy foam that I've squeezed into the very back end of the boat. As mentioned previously I also had to at this point spend a fair amount of time making sure that the rudder assembly both top and bottom would fit and align up correctly.

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                        Here I check that the brass vertical rod is vertical in all axis. Protractors and marked points and lots of eyeballing to get this one right. The horn used on this brass rod is just the same as that used on the horizontal planes. It is just a thin brass rectangle with two holes drilled. One for the brass rod and the other for a Clevice. I tend to use the plastic ones. The vertical rudders haven had the primer grey yet.

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ID:	135641 I will be squaring the round drilled vent holes bit later on. There will also be some filler added in order to get the surfaces absolutely smooth and right. The edges between the shaft booms will also be sanded level and straight.

                        After giving the stern top section of coat of black base I started the process of cutting up and laying the strip of masking tape across the top of the part. This is a long and tedious prpocess but I am really happy with the result. It is designed to simulate the Anechoic tiles and although the joint lines are probably bigger than they should be and the consistency across the tiles is not great, it tends to give a beautifully subtle yet slightly noticeable look to the surface.

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                        Here the sail has already been given the treatment with the taped lines. I have also done the same with one of the sail mounted planes. Once these are all done I give them a spray of a very dark grey, that is just noticeable above the black base coat. Here you notice that the tape has been sprayed over on the planes. I carefully peel back a tiny amount of the tape just to see how the result looks. I only need a couple of minutes for the paint to dry and the tape to be fully peeled off. You can make out the pattern on the sail that has already had its tape removed.

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                        Tape being peeled off. You can see where tape was over tape.

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                        Here the top stern section has been placed over the lower hull. You can see the Anechoic tile pattern that I was aiming for. I am really happy with it. Subtle but noticeable. It is actually more noticeable in the water strangely enough. The rudder is just placed on top , its not glued in. Once again getting alignment just right.

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                        I haven't even touched the props yet. They will be sanded back and given a nice bronze theme..

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                        The sail has been given the same Anechoic tile business and with the planes is ready to be assembled as one unit. However I will probable glue the planes on as the last thing I do. I have never had working fore-planes on any of my models. In the mike kit, I have included fore-planes which are extendable for anyone who wants to utilize them, however on my boat I haven't even included them. Mike just gets around on its rear planes.

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                        I make all my sails so they are detachable. This hasn't before as the sail would sit cleanly on the hull, however with the 667 the rear of the sail angles up and along the top of the missile deck. This transition is quite noticeably filled with a distinct curve. I would then by using filler pretty much glue down the sail and render it distinctly non-detachable. I will however give it the stainless steel bolt treatment I give all my other boats anyway and come to a decision later....

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                        Anyway, enough for now. I hope you all had a Good Christmas. It was hot enough to have a swim here...

                        David H






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                        Comment

                        • Davidh
                          Captain
                          • Nov 2010
                          • 719

                          Hello all,

                          So now that the rudders have been aligned with the rear upper hull assembly is was time to glue down the top to bottom. However before the final close out I once again created a brass horn for the clevice that attaches to the pushrod for the rudder. Once this was in place and aligned up the closeout with the top and bottom could be done. Before hand I also squeezed in some more foam at the back, making sure that It would not get in the way of the movement and travel of all the pushrods and horns and all.

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                          In this pick below you can see how I glued the two halves together. It turns out that using the weight of a clamp across the back of the boat did the job nicely. All checks for square done, then left for the resin to cure.

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                          After an hour or so, pretty quick at is is a nice balmy 30 degrees here, the two halves were set and I could go about sanding and filling the imperfections. This would mean that some of the spray patter would be lost lower down where the top hull meets the lower, I would simply go back over this by applying further tape to a small area, masking off the rest and going through the same procedure as before.
                          However I really wanted the two halves to be able to "close out" and attach so I started on making the lip that would fit on the underside back edge of the forward top hull and would slip under just forward of the upper rudder to secure the two hulls. Ultimately the securing would be done by the single bolt up the front.

                          The lip was created by taking the top silicon mould and simply laying up a small area of gelcoat and resin in an area that was just forward of the rudder. I then peeled this off the mould and had a small copy of this back section are of the top hull. I then cut this to a rectangular pattern and roughly followed the contours of the back edge and sanded it smooth. I then ground out the detail such as the escape hatch, ground along the underside of the forward hull to give it a good surface to grip to and and glued it underneath the underside rear edge of the forward hull section. Taping off just forward to avoid splatter and excess resin squishing up and forward along the deck.

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                          Once this was done I lightly ground out the underside of the rear upper section just in front of the Rudders to give an smooth slide underneath the rear section. Then sanding smooth the lip to make sure that it fit well. Once this was done I followed the HWSNBN's method of closing out the back section and giving it a smooth fine part line. This involved putting masking tape over the top edges of both surfaces where the meet each other. Then rubbing some vaseline or in my case lanolin along the underside of the rear section and pasting some filler on top of the lip, fitting the whole hull together and pressing the lip up underneath the rear edge. Excess filler squished out and is wiped away. Then left to harden.

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                          Once this edge was down it was fine sanding down and smoothing, being careful not to take material of from the lip even though it looks rough it means a really precise part line, or at least tha'ts the idea.
                          Eventually working my way down to wet and dry then a shot of black base.

                          Once this section was down I could them cover the whole top hull with tape strips, just like what had been done to the rear end and the sail .This was the biggest part to get the treatment and would involve me sitting down around the dinner table and vaguely watching something on TV whilst cutting strip after strip and laying them down vertically and horizontally. This takes hour and hours. I did it over three nights of crap TV.

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                          Once this was complete the dark grey could be sprayed over.

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                          Here the entire top hull has been sprayed with the dark grey spray. All that has to be done now it to peel off the thing strips of masking tape to reveal the pattern of the dark grid making up the
                          profile of the tiles.


                          David H

                          Comment

                          • reddevil
                            Commander
                            • Jun 2009
                            • 346

                            Impressive. Only a quote: According to their blades, I think you have propellers changed of side

                            Comment

                            • Davidh
                              Captain
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 719

                              Hello all,

                              Yes Reddevil. I do need to swap out the propellers.

                              I do hope everyone had a good new years eve. I spent the evening watching a Bushfire that came within 2 kms of our house. Car packed up with stuff to evacuate. Fortunately the southerly change blew it back on itself. Phew!

                              So after I sprayed the whole top hull and peeled back the masking tape strips revealing the anechoic tile pattern, I marked out the position of the waterline that on Soviet and Russian subs is marked with a distinctive white line that wraps it's way around the hull. This required placing the hull on my marking board and attaching a pencil to a block and moving it around to get a level line all the way around. Then using masking tape above and below the line with newspaper covering further for the spray. Then I mix up a slightly off white in my little spray gun and go around the hull. I am pretty happy with the results.

                              I stopped short of doing the line around the stern section, awaiting until I had got the vertical rudders on and done the anechoic patterns for that.

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                              You can only just make out the patterns on the hull if you look closely. In the water it is actually amplified. Here I have marked off the joint area between the Rudder and the stern section.

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                              In the meantime I needed to further prepare the lower hull. The Anti-foul red would need to be re-sprayed after I put down an initial coat. Now was the time to apply all the scoops and outlets. The 667 have at least four of each, so eight. In order to get these down I sanded the outline fillets that they would be attached to and then glued them down by applying filler to the base. The small dowel like protrusion giving a lot of the anchoring effect needed. The filler would then upon pressure, squish out the sides and be wiped up and around the edges creating a transitioning fillet.

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                              As can be seen there is still an need for further sanding so, yes the initial anti-foul probably was premature. This gets sanded back with wet and dry. Its a bit tricky to get under the front of the forward scoops to sand away the excess.

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                              I have a confession, I haven't cut out all the drainage slots even though they are all marked out in the mould. It's a bad habit over lots of models. You can clearly see the forward facing scoops and the rearward facing outlets. I have had a really hard time getting close up photo's of either of these parts.

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                              The gloss look disappears as the paint dries. The next step is to apply the weathering under the waterline. I have looked at lots of photo's of these boats out of the water. I could have just dispensed with the anti-foul red and just painted her underside with a beige /tan colour as these boats after years in the Atlantic look like that. I have seen photo's that show what looks like coral reef growing all over the thing. You can just make out where the propeller are.

                              I decided to give a scum line that it not too strong. Designed to simulate the boat after being in the water from, I'm guessing 6 months to a year or so? I don't actually know the rate of Algae and barnacle growth in the Barents, North sea and Atlantic. So I taped off the white waterline mark from above and attached the two hull halves together.

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                              I decided to use two shades of tan, a slightly darker one that I would spray on around the waterline and then fade off with a lighter one from lower down. As I worked down the hull I would spray further out so that the spray would cover a wider area.

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                              I completed the white waterline as it wraps around the stern section and around the back of the rudder. This took a little time to get nice and straight. I then had to mask off above the waterline here to and make sure that the newspaper was covering everything above before spraying.

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                              After the scum line weathering was done I then applied the white lines around the top of the hull. At this point I could also paint and attach the masts.
                              I like how this boat is coming along..

                              Next stop ballast tanks and cylinders. Then water and I will finally close this thread after a year and a half!


                              David h


                              Comment

                              • trout
                                Admiral
                                • Jul 2011
                                • 3545

                                The boat looks nice on that table. The two tone scum line is a nice touch.
                                If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.

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