German type XVIIb

[MFR1964]

Yeah, that man had a gift for building insane mechanical things, i was lucky enough to learn the trick of the trades from him, made a simular type VII myself, learning each step in the process from my mentor, he never builded something for me, he simply said, you know how it works, you've seen it working, now, build it yourself.
At the end i had a working type VII, his best comment was, that looks like a nice type VII, i told you that you can build submarines.

Manfred.

[Monahan Steam Models]

Manfred, Thanks for sharing the great background history of your VII. It has a lot of special meaning to it. Very neat. I ran across the videos you made some time ago about bringing it back to operational running. The working features on that submarine are amazing. Your friend was also super talented!

Nick

[MFR1964]

I can not say it enough, really great work! Your craftsmanship and attention to detail is amazing. By the way, your type VII looks awesome in the background. Can’t wait to see you get this new boat in the water!

Nick, i've gained my craftmanship during the years by falling and standing up, being teased by David in the good sense, still hate him, the type VII is a special one, build by my mentor, which has reached roomtemparture, i decided to take it over with the intension to get it back in working order as a tribute to him.
Scale is 1:35, giving a length of about 2 meters and a weight of 17 kg, fully fuctional with 5 torps and all other moving stuff.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Manfred, love your work and documentation. Thank you!

Thanks Tom, as long everybody takes the time to document their build with the good and the bad we can learn from each other.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Fantastic work Manfred !!!

Thanks my friend, don't forget about yourself, i've seen your excelllent work with my own eyes.

[Monahan Steam Models]

I can not say it enough, really great work! Your craftsmanship and attention to detail is amazing. By the way, your type VII looks awesome in the background. Can’t wait to see you get this new boat in the water!

[trout]

Manfred, love your work and documentation. Thank you!

[bassplayer1]

Fantastic work Manfred !!!

[MFR1964]

Thanks, it is still a lot of work, but i have high hopes she will see water within a few weeks, that is, testing if she is watertight.

Manfred.

[Monahan Steam Models]

Very nice! Awesome work!

[MFR1964]

I had a small delay last few weeks, SWMBO wanted a new kitchen, she barricaded the cave, finished up this project a few days ago, so finally some more progress on the hatches,



Brass M3 screws and stainless steel nuts to fasten the hatch.



Made the screws pointy, more as a experiment to see if i can push them through the rubber seal at the deck, most work is cleaning all screwheads with the dremel to get a good surface for glueing.





All hatches are done in one move, the pointy experiment prove to be useless, used a small drill to prepare the holes, much easier.



Finally i could place all components which will be placed underneath the tower, for now i have to glue down both the scope and the schnorkel, this will be tricky, everything has to be in line and square.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Turned the holders for both floats.





The deck is done, glued on both sides, added RTV on top of the glue to protect it on the long term against UV, it tends to make the glue brittle.



The floatholders are glued in place, added some threaded holes to secure the floats.





For now i started to add the rubber seals, next step will be adding all the M3 screws to keep the lexan hatches tight to the rubber seals.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Tom, you're right with the function of the magnetic switch, in the end it will act as the main controller for shutting down the compressor when diving, activating the levelkeeper, and shutting down the main valve on the ballastttank.

Manfred.

[trout]

Manfred, you magnificent engineer, the float’s magnet when it get close to the switch will be the safety to turn on or off the pump?

[MFR1964]

One side of the deck is glued down, started with the inside, made my needed floats during glueing.



This side is done, have to repeat the process on the inside to get a secure connection between the hull and deck.



Used a tool to get the lipseals inside, used some vaseline to ease the job.



Before i glued down the last things on the outside i inserted the lipseals into their holders.



While glueing i started with the floats needed for my boat, the left one is for the compressor and leveling the pressure inside the boat, the right one is for sealing off the main valve of the ballasttank.
That black thing is a magnetic switch complete with the magnet which will activate it,



Glued down the magnet inside the underside of the main float.





I stole David's idea of the safety float from the SAS system, ehhh, only half of it to be more precise, inside you can see the seat which will be closed by the float itself.



Both floats with rubber seals and the construction to keep them inside the tube like structures.



I need free access to get the air inside, decided to drill holes all around and on top of the tube.



Had to make a slight modification to the main float, to prefent wobbling around, glued down some styrene strips to get a better fit.



The finished products, made a mistake with the height of the ballast valve float, still have to solder a longer tube to it to bring it to proper height.



Adjusting the magnetic switch to the proper height and position with a multimeter, i can secure it by tightening up a screw.

For now i have to turn the feedthroughs for placing the floats on the deck, this will be done during my second glueing session.


Manfred.