German type XVIIb

[trout]

Thanks Ken,

This was done last summer, this winter did some minor things on the boat, the rebuild of my house starts soon, so i don't think i can spent time inside the Cave, it has become a storage for all the stuff i had to remove downstairs.
At the end of May i hope to start up with building up the Cave inside the new cellar, the positive side is, my Cave will 4 times that big, finally i can give all the tools on the attic a permanent place on the workbench.

Manfred.

wow! Then the fun will begin and there will be (mostly) nothing to stop you!

[MFR1964]

So, it's type XVII time, finished up the airsystem and did some testing to ensure it is holding up the airpressure.





This i've shown before, there will be a signalside and a powerside in my boat, this will create less interference between all components, it will take some time before i've got this working.



12 V compressor is mounted and connected, to the left you can see the red airtank underneath.



Valves are in and connected, left it simple because room is a problem, just one valve for raising, and one valve for fine-tuning the dive, pretty much the same as in the Type VII.



Made a connection to the ballasttank to blow the air in to surface.



This is a selectorswitch for both the scope and schnorkelmast, to keep things simple i decided to steer them together.



Those are the lines for raising and lowering the scope and schnorkelmast, placed restrictors to handle the up and down movement, they have to raise normal and not like a rocket.



This i have done last summer, placed the contraption on the deck,did this to test if the boat was watertight, from left to right, float for managing the pressure, compressor and levelkeeper , next the float that will control the main valve of the ballasttank, scope, and schnorkelmast, the exhaust is functionable, that silicon hose is connected to the small dive valve,which allows me to trim the boat while submerged.
Still has to finish up the scope and schnorkel, have to solder down some connections, did some pressure-tests, had some connectionsleaks, repared those and did some duration tests to see if the pressure will hold, main airtank has a pressure of 5 Atm, working pressure is turned down to 2 Atm,

Next step is to build the electrical connections, get the cables of the servo's in and build up the boat in the rough, stay tuned.

Manfred.

[Monahan Steam Models]

Happy to see you back on this build. Nice progress you are making.

BTW, I knew those Bibers were small and was impressed with the work that went into them but holy hell holding one in your hand really makes you realize how small they really are.



Nick

[MFR1964]

Nick,

Yeah, those are small gritters, just to tease some pics of my micro-fleet







They really look small, question, that Biber your holding, is that a resin example?

The XVII is coming along, busy with wires and components, l'm trying to fit things in, for sure have to alter some things, not that much room as with the type VII.

Manfred.

[Monahan Steam Models]

Manfred,

Tease away. That is an impressive micro fleet for sure. I will never get tired at admiring the work and details that this fleet has put into it.

As for the resin Biber, it is the Verlinden 1/35 scale set. I also have the Verlinden Resin Seehund kit as well as the Bronco plastic Seehund kit.

Nick

[MFR1964]

Working on the wires which will bring the XVII to live,



Placed the cables for controlling the servo's in, placed a 40 Mhz PCM receiver, and connected them, still have to program the transmittor to my needs, that servo with the microswitches eats too much room, have to rebuild that with the help of the lathe, those switches will be used for both activating the valves for diving,surfacing and steering of the future antenna's.



All will be make-shift connections, more to see which things will work and what i have to change, at least i need to solder a new master-relais, the old one has not as much connections which i need,
to the right you can see the water-alarm, this will be controlled by sensors allready placed inside near the keel and the inlet droplet collector used by the compressor, at the end it will steer the blow-airvalve and a buzzer to give notice of water inside the boat.

For now. i've switch her on, all channels work as intended, the plan is to work from front to rear solving all problems while i'm working on her, first i have to start up the lathe to change the servo arragement controlling the micro-switches from horizontal to vertical, if all goes well she will fitt in exactly.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Servo steering is done, first compartment is done, pictures



Started up the lathe and modified the servo steering, stacked all switches and made a contraption to hold them at their place, those stacked switches will control both valves and steering of the antenna.



Had to remove the watercatcher first to create me some room to insert the servo, this watercatcher is placed to catch any water which will enter the inletfloat of the compressor, it has a sensor inside to give me a warning if i catch too many water.



It slits in like this, just enough room to get it at it's place, holding it down with 2 sided tape.



Builded back all components in reverse order, connectors not yet made.



For now it's looking like this, all cables are still loose, first do some testing before i tie them down.
From left to right, 2 servo's which control the torpedodoors, that print together with a not visible masterswitch controls the opening and closing of the torpedodoors and firing of the torpedo's, a linear servo for controlling that strange wing on top of the deck, watercatcher, modified servo with switches, compressor and a still loose E motor for driving the antenna-lift,.



All components to build me the antenna arragement, antenna cable is soldered outside the boat and sealed with some 2 K epoxy-glue, remember a wire is a conduit, it will transport water, by interrupting it with a stud-connection or like i did you will stop this.



The antenna-wire is routed by using those plastick tubes, placing her this way it will give you the maximum receiving, allways use plastick tubing, brass or copper will shield the antenna.

Next compartment is on the list, together with completing the scope and schnorkelmast, stay tuned.

Manfred.

[Monahan Steam Models]

The forward space filled up very quickly. Every component has a place and the space was used efficiently. Nice work reducing the size of the servo switch assembly too. Looking really good!

[MFR1964]

Nick,

There is not that much room as inside the type VII, i also jammed in the airtank and compressorsystem, this eats space, having no compressor is a option but if i can cram it inside it will be done.
Running with compressor makes live easier, me like complex things.
It's all about the journey of building and designing.

Manfred.

[redboat219]

Manfred
would it be possible to put a similar system into the Bronco Type XXIII?

[MFR1964]

Romel,

A similar system would not be possible, but the way i build the type XXIII uses the SD as a airtank for the SAS and those neat little LPB's do the trick for both raising the boat and scope/schnorkelmast.
So in a way i've created the same, but on a much smaller scale, not with the same components i use at the type XVIi.

Manfred.

[Monahan Steam Models]

Nick,

Running with compressor makes live easier, me like complex things.
It's all about the journey of building and designing.

Manfred.

Manfred,

Yes, not a lot of room to fit all that gear but you did it! Much less room when you see your type VII in the background for comparison.

I like your builds because you also enjoy the complex and you are absolutely correct that “It's all about the journey of building and designing.”

Nick

[MFR1964]

Switches are places, more wires and i ran into a problem,





Both switches are placed, for now they function without the rubber watertight boots, left switch is the masterswitch to turn the boat on, and the right is used for the compressor, it has three positions, towards the A means automatic, middle position is neutral and towards the H means controlled by hand.





This nest of wires is still growing, have to add even more, the print is used for steering the main valve, controlling the levelkeeper, shutdown of the compressor going underwater and controlling the steering of the future antenna.



Now my problem, that strange wing on front has to be functional, now i have this as maximal output steering it, the servo is set at 120% at both directions, still not enough.



Turned to mechanics, used a small flywheel and a big one, marked the positions and connected them by using a O-ring, this is the neutral position.



Turned the big fly-wheel about 1 cm, this gave me halve a turn at the small fly-wheel, now this looks promising i'm going to build this in copper and printboard to give me a actual testbed, i have this weekend to sort those things out, stay tuned.


Manfred.

[Das Boot]

Manfred,
it’s impressive how you turn a mass of wires, a sows ear, into a silk purse. Very nice.
Casey

[MFR1964]

Thanks Casey,

First compartment was a breeze compared to the second compartment, first i have still to add more wires, i will rebuild the steering-print with connectors only to eliminate the attached wires and adding LED's, every electrical component in the boat has his own LED to show if it's under power, it will decrease searching for problems, either it will be power or mechanical.
But first solve the issue with the wing.

Manfred.