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Happy Halloween!!
Just a quick update on my Tesky PROTEUS build.
Now that my DeBoer SKIPJACK as all the bug’s worked out regarding my preferred hardware, I decided to go full bore on PROTEUS. These past four years of experiments with different methodologies on SHARK, based on my current level of expertise, has gone a long way into standardizing my builds with an acceptable (to me) level of functionality, reliability and ease of access for maintenance and repair! That’s why I’ve been modularizing my builds since the great “annular ballast tank” experiment. I’m also a real believer in “T-800 Terminator grade” quality, so over engineer I must
The PROTEUS’s final configuration has been flushed out and most of the major sub components have been fabricated and assembled. All that really needs to happen is put it all together and finalize the build. Target launch date is now spring 2020. Along with that I should be able to “squeak in” the refurbished Krick U25, and perhaps even a refurbished 1:96 GRANT SSBN 631. But one thing at a time. I also have that 1:48 LA Class USS KEY WEST SSN-722 staring at me across the room. I could ditch the GRANT for that and have her wet by GROTON. Finishing GRANT would be guaranteed, while KEY WEST would be problematic.
Here I’m setting up the main power harness that will feed the Power Distribution Box. Two 6V 7 AH SLA’s in series makes up her power plant (Yay, underway on Electrochemical power!!). I’ve always been, and always will be a 12V SLA guy. These two feed the PDB, which contains the main Circuit breaker and remote ON/OFF 433mhz remote switch. From there it leads to the Command and Control box where most of the electronic goodies reside.
Here the batteries are situated in their respective mounting frame, with the two prong automotive harness connector to starboard. Since these batteries would only need to be changed at End Of Life, I can get away with these relatively inexpensive connectors by wrapping them with silicon, self-amalgamating tape (IE: Atomic Tape) after their joined to the Power Box feed. I use these on all my “semi-permanent” connectors.
At the fwd end of the frame, you can see the 3D printed gas diffuser box with its two brass exhaust port tubes. It’s fed with air from the diaphragm pump, the object located aft of the battery frame (to your left) with the blue silicone hose coming out. The tiny brass connecter at the very front of the gas diffuser will accept the Clippard gas tubing from the gas blow solenoid.
Why the diffuser? Due to the tanks construction, it has a center rib. Even though it has cutouts top and bottom to allow water/air to freely pass athwartships, I want to insure both sides are blown equally. Location of the flood hole in relation to the vent hole does facilitate bow down dive/bow up blow, which was proven when tested. FWIW, that tank is NOT flat from port to starboard, the center has more depth to avoid air entrapment.
To surface this boat, which does not have a snorkel mast, I’ll give a short burst of gas to get the very top deck of the PROTEUS exposed above the water. Now her built in snorkel will be able to take air in via the diagram pump, filling the rest of that monstrous tank to get her to the high surface trim you see in the movie after she’s lowered into the syringe. PROTUES, like the SSRN SEAVIEW has a very high “Hollywood” surface trim, you’d a thunk they were really Russian boats!! So the goal is to get her as high as I can.
Note also the four orange 3D printed alignment stops for the Ballast Tank mounting post’s. They help quickly line up the tank when installing it. I must say, for rapid prototyping as well as practical use components, my Monoprice Voxel (rebranded Forge Adventurer III) is a valuable tool!
Back to the Ballast tank, you can see in this early assembly view from fwd the center rib. Not only does it act as its main structural support, but creates the athwartships bow aiding in preventing air entrapment.
This port, aft quarter view you can see the semicircular holes that allow water to move port to starboard. They’re mirrored along the dorsal side as well for the aie. To the right at the stern you can see one that is beneath the vent hole and allows ALL the air to escape, this was proven later in a “bathtub” test.
This is actually a close-up of the Vent Valve on SHARK. I plan to use this “wet” servo actuated vent valve design on all large boat builds. Therefore PROTEUS will be similar. In fact, now that I have my Servo waterproofing down to a science as well as the modularizing everything, after PROTEUS, I doubt any of my boats will have servo’s in the pressure hull.
Here we have the Ballast tank in process of having any cracks-n-crevices seal with 3M 5200. Testing afterwards proved her watertight and ready for assembly!
Looking at the dorsal view of the tank, you can see the 4 ABS tubes that not only act as the ballast tank’s support posts, but what the #8 Brass mounting hardware will pass through. They line up to the white pvc (AZEK) battery frame using the orange 3D printed alignment stops you saw earlier. Note also the flood hole at the upper right where the diffuser exhaust tubes line up with, the photo below shows that flood hole better.
The Ballast tank is in place, the #8 Brass hardware ready to be installed.
Finally, test fitting the batteries, ballast tank, Command & Control box, and Propel Tank proves to be aa success. All held together with 4 handmade brass #8 thumbscrews. To be honest, I’m rethinking the size and location of that propel tank. As the gas gets uses, it’s going to affect my fore and aft trim as the stern gets lighter with successive blows. Since the plan is to just get the upper deck high enough to allow the snorkel to work, making it smaller and relocating it might be wiser. It was calculated to hold enough propel for three complete blows of a 275 Cu inch monster tank. A tad over engineered one might say. I suspect it’s more of a gas waster than saver.
Well, like I said, it’s coming along now. If I can have it ready for paint by the spring, I’ll be a happy camper. Heck I’ll be happy if any of the above works….period!!
Then again my favorite saying is…..
But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
Just a quick update on my Tesky PROTEUS build.
Now that my DeBoer SKIPJACK as all the bug’s worked out regarding my preferred hardware, I decided to go full bore on PROTEUS. These past four years of experiments with different methodologies on SHARK, based on my current level of expertise, has gone a long way into standardizing my builds with an acceptable (to me) level of functionality, reliability and ease of access for maintenance and repair! That’s why I’ve been modularizing my builds since the great “annular ballast tank” experiment. I’m also a real believer in “T-800 Terminator grade” quality, so over engineer I must
The PROTEUS’s final configuration has been flushed out and most of the major sub components have been fabricated and assembled. All that really needs to happen is put it all together and finalize the build. Target launch date is now spring 2020. Along with that I should be able to “squeak in” the refurbished Krick U25, and perhaps even a refurbished 1:96 GRANT SSBN 631. But one thing at a time. I also have that 1:48 LA Class USS KEY WEST SSN-722 staring at me across the room. I could ditch the GRANT for that and have her wet by GROTON. Finishing GRANT would be guaranteed, while KEY WEST would be problematic.
Here I’m setting up the main power harness that will feed the Power Distribution Box. Two 6V 7 AH SLA’s in series makes up her power plant (Yay, underway on Electrochemical power!!). I’ve always been, and always will be a 12V SLA guy. These two feed the PDB, which contains the main Circuit breaker and remote ON/OFF 433mhz remote switch. From there it leads to the Command and Control box where most of the electronic goodies reside.
Here the batteries are situated in their respective mounting frame, with the two prong automotive harness connector to starboard. Since these batteries would only need to be changed at End Of Life, I can get away with these relatively inexpensive connectors by wrapping them with silicon, self-amalgamating tape (IE: Atomic Tape) after their joined to the Power Box feed. I use these on all my “semi-permanent” connectors.
At the fwd end of the frame, you can see the 3D printed gas diffuser box with its two brass exhaust port tubes. It’s fed with air from the diaphragm pump, the object located aft of the battery frame (to your left) with the blue silicone hose coming out. The tiny brass connecter at the very front of the gas diffuser will accept the Clippard gas tubing from the gas blow solenoid.
Why the diffuser? Due to the tanks construction, it has a center rib. Even though it has cutouts top and bottom to allow water/air to freely pass athwartships, I want to insure both sides are blown equally. Location of the flood hole in relation to the vent hole does facilitate bow down dive/bow up blow, which was proven when tested. FWIW, that tank is NOT flat from port to starboard, the center has more depth to avoid air entrapment.
To surface this boat, which does not have a snorkel mast, I’ll give a short burst of gas to get the very top deck of the PROTEUS exposed above the water. Now her built in snorkel will be able to take air in via the diagram pump, filling the rest of that monstrous tank to get her to the high surface trim you see in the movie after she’s lowered into the syringe. PROTUES, like the SSRN SEAVIEW has a very high “Hollywood” surface trim, you’d a thunk they were really Russian boats!! So the goal is to get her as high as I can.
Note also the four orange 3D printed alignment stops for the Ballast Tank mounting post’s. They help quickly line up the tank when installing it. I must say, for rapid prototyping as well as practical use components, my Monoprice Voxel (rebranded Forge Adventurer III) is a valuable tool!
Back to the Ballast tank, you can see in this early assembly view from fwd the center rib. Not only does it act as its main structural support, but creates the athwartships bow aiding in preventing air entrapment.
This port, aft quarter view you can see the semicircular holes that allow water to move port to starboard. They’re mirrored along the dorsal side as well for the aie. To the right at the stern you can see one that is beneath the vent hole and allows ALL the air to escape, this was proven later in a “bathtub” test.
This is actually a close-up of the Vent Valve on SHARK. I plan to use this “wet” servo actuated vent valve design on all large boat builds. Therefore PROTEUS will be similar. In fact, now that I have my Servo waterproofing down to a science as well as the modularizing everything, after PROTEUS, I doubt any of my boats will have servo’s in the pressure hull.
Here we have the Ballast tank in process of having any cracks-n-crevices seal with 3M 5200. Testing afterwards proved her watertight and ready for assembly!
Looking at the dorsal view of the tank, you can see the 4 ABS tubes that not only act as the ballast tank’s support posts, but what the #8 Brass mounting hardware will pass through. They line up to the white pvc (AZEK) battery frame using the orange 3D printed alignment stops you saw earlier. Note also the flood hole at the upper right where the diffuser exhaust tubes line up with, the photo below shows that flood hole better.
The Ballast tank is in place, the #8 Brass hardware ready to be installed.
Finally, test fitting the batteries, ballast tank, Command & Control box, and Propel Tank proves to be aa success. All held together with 4 handmade brass #8 thumbscrews. To be honest, I’m rethinking the size and location of that propel tank. As the gas gets uses, it’s going to affect my fore and aft trim as the stern gets lighter with successive blows. Since the plan is to just get the upper deck high enough to allow the snorkel to work, making it smaller and relocating it might be wiser. It was calculated to hold enough propel for three complete blows of a 275 Cu inch monster tank. A tad over engineered one might say. I suspect it’s more of a gas waster than saver.
Well, like I said, it’s coming along now. If I can have it ready for paint by the spring, I’ll be a happy camper. Heck I’ll be happy if any of the above works….period!!
Then again my favorite saying is…..
But, Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
Attached Files