German type XVIIb

[MFR1964]

Finally the tank is done, soldering went pretty good,



Had to ad some more rounded corners to the underside of the tank, giving me less tension in the copper skin.



The skin ended out like this, made the dimensions a tad smaller so it would not react as a heatsink giving troubles with soldering.



By using sandingpaper i cleaned all edges for getting a good soldering joint, decreased it before adding solderingpaste.



It took me about a full hour to get it soldered, first i made some solderingspots to keep things together, by gently using a small torch i could solder all joints, when doing this with this amount of copper you allways have to be aware of desoldering.
Showing is the static testing during a few hours to see if the joints where not leaking, i had two bad spots, resoldered them and the problem was fixed.



The final product so far, it can contain about 1100 ccm of water, more then enough for it's purpose, still have to pressure test it, to the right is the valve, with behind the relais that will power the valve due to high current it uses.



The tank placed inside the hull, now i could play around with some parts to see what the best position will be, at first i positioned the compressor as shown.



A much better place would be here, eating less room and using that space underneath the torpedotubes, for now it will be kept at this place.
Still have to order the batteries before i can make the final adjustments to the waterinlet underneath the tank, i'm getting three packs inside, one for the main power,one for my receiver and one for the compressor.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

David,

My pleasure to irritate you, wait untill i start on the pneumatics.

Tom,

Yup i'm rich, SWMBO has bought the complete stock of the supermarket, i sell those for financing the hobby.

Manfred.

[trout]

And he is wealthy too! Did you see that almost new roll of toilet paper?

Manfred as always it is a joy to watch you build. Brilliant as always sir!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

"ladies, and gentlemen! … I present to you: STEAM-PUNK Manfred!" (thunderous applause).

You cave-man, you! You got the most wonderous assembly of techno-junk I've ever seen.

I hate you!

David

[MFR1964]

Since we are still locked down i've got me a wealth of hobby time, ballasttank is cutted to size and made a new propulsion shaft,



I ended up with a calculated volume around 900 cc, i've took the cut with some slack, so my best guess will be about 1000 cc.
Soldered all screws at the inside of the tank, giving me a watertight seal for my hatch.



Shape has changed to this, i need the room underneath the tank for the batteries.



The first stage in altering the top of the tank, to the right a airbubble catcher and inlet for the pressured air.



Next stage in altering, to the left the second air bubble catcher.



Had to build some serious tailormade plumbing, this tube construction will take care of those airbubbles collected on top of the tank and will give me a stable filling of the tank.



I'm going the old familiar road for me, this is a LPG valve, used in the car business, it can stand moisture and compressed air, runs on 12V.



For now she is standing like this, bended the outerskin around the tank ready to be soldered this week.

To my surprice the shaft and prop where gone, i suspect the other activities on the Reichswerft to be the problem, found out that i used the shaft at the type XXIII and the prop was placed on the OSA II russian patrolboat.



I prefer to make my own shafts, used a 4 mm stainless steel rod as my shaft, here i'm cutting the M4 thread needed for the propellor, allways use high grade cutting oil when cutting threads, it will keep your tools sharp and will lubricate the cutted item.



When done properly you end up with this, a freshly cutted M4 thread.



It's time to place the shaft, the rudder can be removed by taking out two carbon rods.



There is not much room to get the prop on the shaft, first i installed the shaft, by turning the drive-train i could screw down the propellor and secure it by a grubscrew.



This much room is left with the prop installed, turned down the tip of the prop to get me some room.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

So, you get excited!!, well, i've got more for you from the past.



I had a bit of a issue with the rods steering the tail, had to cut a hatch underneath the boat to solve it.



Opening up the hatch by unscrewing the four screws.





It reveals my issue, there was no room to tighten up the rods from above due to lack of room, so i had to turn everything 180 degrees, ending up with the hatch underneath the boat.



Last activities this evening, piled up all the stuff located above the waterline.



The total weight is about 720 grams, so i will aim the volume from the ballasttank at 1000 ccm, probably some more due to my need of gizmo's.

Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Craft-porn! I love it!

David

[MFR1964]

It's done in the past but part of the story, i started a few years ago building on the peroscope and the antenna lift, also had made me a carboard mold for the ballasttank,





Those are the basic parts, it's going to be a double action scope, pretty much the same as on the type VII, the scopehead will be the navigation type, have to get aluminum to make the parts like the plunger and scope head.
That lower part will be fitted inside the ballasttank by a special construction, it will give me the maximum lenght of the scope.



This is my design for lifting the antenna's, by turning the threaded pully the treaded part will rise, on the picture it's fully retracted.



Extended to the full length, at this position the antenna's will be raised, yet again the lower part will be placed inside the ballasttank, same construction like the scope.



Talking about the ballasttank, i made this, a cardboard example, it can contain about 1,5 liters of water, have to weigh down the stuff above the waterline to get the exact volume.



It will be placed at this position, straight under the tower, giving me the issue with the scope and antenna-lift.





This is the work of the last few days, bended the final shape in copper and added a maintenance hatch for getting inside the tank, next step will be, adding the M3 bolds for securing the hatch and take some final measurements to get the tank in the final shape/volume.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Bob,
Yes, she stands tall, scale is 1:30, lenght i have to measure.
I know that picture, have it inside the archives.



Looks pretty much like mine, this picture is taken some years ago when i was working on her.

David,

Agreed, into the snake-pitt with those suckers!!!

As for the tail, i tackled that issue allready, i've got me a fully functional tail with pushrods.





These pictures where taking during the cladding with aluminum foil, done this to get rivets on the plates, only have to fabricate the covers for hiding the rods to the divingplanes and rudder.

Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

May photobucket rot in flaming hell!!!!!

Type-17b! Could you possibly have found a more difficult to build model submarine???

Those stern control surfaces, linkages and stabilizers alone are a marvel of mechanics, You nut-ball!

MORE!!!!!

David

[RCSubGuy]

That looks like a MONSTER! Certainly not a lot of models of that subject around that I know of. I'd love to see it in the water!

[MFR1964]

Now the Ko Hyoteki is on hold i took the XVII from the attic, she became the victim of building the 212, type XXIII, reviving the type VII and building the Ko Hyoteki.



I allmost forgot how big she stands, had stuffed all parts inside the boat for storage.



Started to glue the bulkheads on the outside, the inside was allready done.



Next part to glue will be inside this narrow space, this will be fun!!



This pile of stuff was hiding inside the boat, have to sort it out and get my brains together which part belongs where.

I know i started a thread before about this boat, but the guys from photobuckett locked my account unless i pay them to unlock it for me, i'm typical dutch, so sorry guys, no money, if there are requests about certain parts of the boat previus made i can upload them.

Manfred.