1/48 scale Type VIIC U-201 build

[MFR1964]

Nick,

Nice work on splitting the WTC, what you really need is instand connect waterproof connectors, really don't know if they are availible in the market.
All that work to split the WTC has paid off, in the near future you can work much more easely at your electric modules.


Manfred.

[Monahan Steam Models]

Manfred,

Thank you. Yes waterproof instant connections would be a great addition but I have not found anything on the market I like so far. The connections I’m using now are waterproof but still require physically disconnecting them. I am already enjoying the new split WTC as I can work on each compartment section with much more ease.

Nick

[Monahan Steam Models]

Had a couple hours today to focus on finishing up the aft WTC upper equipment shelf. The last wiring connection that needed to optimized was the main 3 wire power connection to the rear end cap. I took the opportunity to slightly modify the design and remake the aft equipment upper shelf. The new design features a hole in the upper shelf for the 3 wire power connection to pass through as well as short vertical 3mm thick walls added at the outer edges of the shelf to help keep the overall surface flat and ridged. Keeping the upper shelf flat is important because it is parallel to the keel and waterline and secured to it is the main gyro and pitch controller for the stern planes. Early in the WTC design I opted to remove any deflection or vibration causing devices from equipment shelf as it would effect the accuracy of the gyro and pitch controller.

Okay now onto the actual work that was done today.



Okay here’s the new upper equipment shelf already populated with the same old junk you’ve seen a million times. The last 3 power wires trimmed back waiting to be united with the appropriate plug.



New plug soldered into place.



The overall view of the finished assembly.

Nick

[rwtdiver]

Had a couple hours today to focus on finishing up the aft WTC upper equipment shelf. The last wiring connection that needed to optimized was the main 3 wire power connection to the rear end cap. I took the opportunity to slightly modify the design and remake the aft equipment upper shelf. The new design features a hole in the upper shelf for the 3 wire power connection to pass through as well as short vertical 3mm thick walls added at the outer edges of the shelf to help keep the overall surface flat and ridged. Keeping the upper shelf flat is important because it is parallel to the keel and waterline and secured to it is the main gyro and pitch controller for the stern planes. Early in the WTC design I opted to remove any deflection or vibration causing devices from equipment shelf as it would effect the accuracy of the gyro and pitch controller.

Okay now onto the actual work that was done today.



Okay here’s the new upper equipment shelf already populated with the same old junk you’ve seen a million times. The last 3 power wires trimmed back waiting to be united with the appropriate plug.



New plug soldered into place.



The overall view of the finished assembly.

Nick

Very nice Nick!

Your work is so clean and organized. Your education and understanding engineering concepts sure dose show up in your surface boat building, steam powered systems, and for sure submarine techknowledge! I look at your work and only wish I could understand let alone be able to reach your level of expertise. Your Type VllC is a masterpiece for sure.

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"

[Monahan Steam Models]

Very nice Nick!

Your work is so clean and organized. Your education and understanding engineering concepts sure dose show up in your surface boat building, steam powered systems, and for sure submarine techknowledge! I look at your work and only wish I could understand let alone be able to reach your level of expertise. Your Type VllC is a masterpiece for sure.

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"

Thank you for your kind compliments Rob!

The design of these things is really driven by the components, the space available and the desired function in the end. Once all the needed components are well known for the desired function, work begins to find the optimal grouping and placement in the space that is available. Sometimes the process is quick and straightforward. Other times the process takes many unsuccessful mock ups before discovering the optimal placement.

The aft lower equipment shelf is an example of experimenting many times with component placement mock ups before arriving at what was finally built. I always try to kill as many birds with one stone so to speak when grouping components or designing something but with every design there will almost always be a compromise. It’s just finding the design compromise you can accept the most.

As far as the type VII being a masterpiece, thank you but let’s see if I can do it justice when it comes to the cosmetic portion of the build!

Nick

[Monahan Steam Models]

With the aft compartment wiring sorted out I spent some free time today focusing on getting the forward compartment wiring sorted out. This mainly involved modifying the internal main power cable to work with the new waterproof bulkhead connection on the forward end cap. The other part of the task was wiring up the new 17 position waterproof data cable bulkhead connection also on the forward end cap.



Here is the 8 wire ribbon cable connection that was used in the original WTC design to send the data signals back and forth between the forward compartment and the aft compartment. The ribbon cable passed through a conduit in the central ballast tank.



Here I’m starting the process of solving each of the color coded 26 gauge wires to their respective pins. It’s easiest to start in the center and work your way around to finally the outermost pins.



Here’s the finished solder up bulkhead connection.



Silicon tubing comes in handy for creating wire looms when dealing with a lot of wires in this small size gauge. The group of nine wires to the left replace the 8 wire ribbon cable with one other going to the signal output side of the ballast control module . Of the seven wires in the center loom, six of those are for the five torpedo tube solenoids with one extra unused wire. The last pink wire to the right connects to the output signal side of the forward bow plane depth controller.



The finished result with the ribbon cable replaced with the new data wires. The TCP or torpedo controller hooked back up as well as the servo signal outputs wires for the bow planes and ballast tank.



Earlier I had made up the new connection for the main power cable but the photos I took did not save. Here you can just make out the yellow plug inside the forward module.



The underside of the forward module is a lot less busy by removing the 3 wire main power cable connection.

I’ll need to choose what the next battle of this build I take on will be. I still need to finish up the work on the external data and power cable harness as well as the water proofing final work to both the forward and aft end caps. But hey, pretty soon I’ll be right back to where I was months ago having a functional WTC before I decided to split everything up into separate modules….. Face palm.

As much as I liked the original design, I do like this design better for a number of reasons. Looking forward to testing it in the tank. The dive times should be be greatly improved. The current draw from the servos should be much less and the ease of working on everything is already paying off.

Nick

[Monahan Steam Models]

With the bow plane, stern plane and rudder servos in the wet and recently swapped out for the waterproof IP67 micro versions, the last servo in the wet that needed to be swapped out was the main ballast tank servo. Just like swapping out the other three sub-micro SG90 servos for the IP67 rated micro servos, this called for a redesign of the original equipment. The main ballast tank servo probably had the least forgiving area to work within for redesigning the conversion to the slightly larger servos.



This was the original Sg90 servo design for the main ballast tank. Was fairly happy with the layout of components and their functionality. The recent water proofing experimenting of the Sg90 servos and their current draw measurements made me want to formulate a plan B for their use.



Here is the result of the redesign that now uses the IP67 rated larger micro servo for the main ballast tank. It fits within the original design and works well. Happy with the results so far.

Nick

[SubDude]

What's the latest on this Nick? Looking forward to an update?

[Monahan Steam Models]

Hoping to provide some progress updates very soon. Been deep down the rabbit hole lately of designing parts. Working closer to having something worth sharing.

[rwtdiver]

Hi Nick,

I have a question on the ARKMODEL Type VII building sequence? Would you suggest I use the build manual that came with the kit as to the actual building sequence? The manual for the most part makes sense as to how everything would go together in order!

Thanks Nick,

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"

[goshawk823]

Hi Nick,

I have a question on the ARKMODEL Type VII building sequence? Would you suggest I use the build manual that came with the kit as to the actual building sequence? The manual for the most part makes sense as to how everything would go together in order!

Thanks Nick,

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"

Rob- I followed it for the most part, but I'm going to do what Nick has done, and abandon the removal of the aft section and go with a waterline cut. In my opinion, there's too much slop in not making the sections permanently bonded together and held with a couple of cheap screws.

[Monahan Steam Models]

Hi Nick,

I have a question on the ARKMODEL Type VII building sequence? Would you suggest I use the build manual that came with the kit as to the actual building sequence? The manual for the most part makes sense as to how everything would go together in order!

Thanks Nick,

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"

Hi Rob,

Just saw your question. I cannot speak from experience of following the build manual. I have studied it a few times but I took a completely different course with the model I’m assembling. I have dry assembled the hull many times to study how everything fits. To this day, I have still not glued the lower hull halves together as I am still mocking up the working gear. The above waterline hull sections and deck are mostly permanently bonded together now.

As Sam has mentioned above he followed the steps for the most part with good results. The way Bob M split the hull using the aft section and removable deck in his videos works well. Especially if you’re keeping the build relatively simple. I split my build at the waterline to allow more access to the inside of the hull mainly because of the additional features like the torpedo launchers and so on. The water line split also slightly reduces the chances of damaging the smaller details like the handrails and other bits.

Nick

[rwtdiver]

Hi Rob,

Just saw your question. I cannot speak from experience of following the build manual. I have studied it a few times but I took a completely different course with the model I’m assembling. I have dry assembled the hull many times to study how everything fits. To this day, I have still not glued the lower hull halves together as I am still mocking up the working gear. The above waterline hull sections and deck are mostly permanently bonded together now.

As Sam has mentioned above he followed the steps for the most part with good results. The way Bob M split the hull using the aft section and removable deck in his videos works well. Especially if you’re keeping the build relatively simple. I split my build at the waterline to allow more access to the inside of the hull mainly because of the additional features like the torpedo launchers and so on. The water line split also slightly reduces the chances of damaging the smaller details like the handrails and other bits.

Nick

Thank you Nick and Sam,

My skill level at this time (mind, sight, and hands) working together to do a waterline cut is just not going to work for me. I have put the hull together as Nick suggested at onetime and installed the WTC, and at this point I did not see a problem with the way the sections came apart, or any problem with access to the controls (push rods, drive shafts, or electronics) the WTC slides right out the aft section with no problem.

As to your response to the original question. I will use the manual as a guide point and use it as a step by step guide to putting the boat together. And of course, as always make some modifications to linkages and such as I move along.

Thank you both very much for your help and advice.

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"

[Monahan Steam Models]

Been distracted by other things consuming my attention lately but here’s a small snapshot of where things are with the central ballast tank module.

A foundation has been started that locates into the type VII hull the main ballast tank and also which carries the power, data, LPB circuitry, and many other systems.

Nick

[rwtdiver]

Thanks Steve! I’m very happy with the way the splitting of the hull has gone.

Check out all that access now!



By far the single best modification that I could’ve done to this build.

Nick

Hi Nick,

I have a question about the top deck on the Arkmodel VII!

Does the deck fit on top of the hull, or fit down flush with the deck? The manual does not rally say. It looks in your photo that you fit it down inside the hull so that it is flush?!.

Thanks Nick! As always I appreciate your help!

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat"