1:72 Los Angeles

[spankey]

So I'm late, but better late than never...

Photos of the towed sonar array fairing. Having to build up the fairing was a pain, just to ensure that there were no irregularities in the shape of the fairing down the hull. I was also filling the cracks in the edges of the fairing. Still working on the shape of that.

Also included are a couple shots of the local rat.

[jlday1256]

I am in the same quandary. Images I see, with anechoic tiles, it is slightly more shiny than flat but less than gloss. I am trying a satin black, using flat black for the nose and anti skid area. I still may eventually go with sea goop and poop.

[spankey]

I should have a few more pics up tonight of a semi-finished towed array fairing. What a pain in the neck to build up... Thats been keeping me for the better part of two weeks now.

I do have a few questions though...

For LA class boats, what color represents the most accurate color of anti-fouling red paint for the lower half of the hull? The upper hull I assume could be a fairly generic flat black..?
Confession: As you've seen, I'm not a real master with first-time scribing (but I'm learning). I'm also not a Pro when it comes to detailing stuff....Just not my specialty. My goal is to have a boat that looks like a boat would have looked like BEFORE it went to sea, and got too soiled by saltwater and gull poop.

I saw the advice on the Oscar thread about a flat clearcoat. Maybe that answers my final paint-coat questions.

...So bear with me as you will probably see this thing get abused, then stripped, and repainted a couple times while I try to get this right.

The next question is fairly specific....Mr Merriman, do you think that a substitution could be made on an order of one of your 3.5" Subdrivers to employ the "twin motor-to-single shaft" end cap?

Thanks all, More pictures should follow tonight!!!

[spankey]

Here is another set. I am working on the towed array storage fairing still. Used cheerio cardboard box cuttings superglued to the hull to model the shape of the fairing. Kind of a bother to sand it all, cause the bondo filled the trough flat, even though I was in there with a putty knife trying to contour it, so I used a dremel to speed up the process. Still filling little things here and there on it, but it is actually starting to resemble a towed array fairing now.

Too bad this wasn't molded into the hull...


Daniel-

[spankey]

Next batch. You should be able to see the initial supergluing of the 'thrust bulkhead' to the lower hull.
Also, you can see the masking of the lower hull before I filled it with resin and glasscloth.

Next batch shows some of the scribing I did tonight, and a portion of clay that is being used to model the towed array storage tube/area. I made a dam around the curved portion of the clay that you can see, then filled the area with evercoat 'bondo' and on top of the bondo is fiberglass resin.

...I should add, that this block will become a sanding block so that when I use bondo to make the towed array storage tube, I can accurately sand it and shape it. Unfortunately this was not modeled into the fiberglass hull I purchased.

I borrowed the idea of the sanding block built around the clay (with the clay as the curvature of the towed array tube as a variation) from Mr. Joel Stadnick. Thanks!

[spankey]

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...


I'm working on the tailshaft again. This time, I'm adjusting the size of the Dumas brass shaft coupler by drilling the center of it out, and necking the shaft down so that the two will fit together reasonably tightly.

Not easily visible is a flat section of the shaft that I filed down so that the setscrew in the Dumas coupler will have a flat surface to seat against.

Also, you can see that I added a stainless steel washer between the tailshaft and the Dumas coupler. The reason for this is so that when I throw the boat into a crash astern, the tailshaft actually has something to 'pull' against, so that it doesnt go spinning out of the back of the boat. It will be pushing against the brass/bronze oilite bearing that is visible in the clear plexiglass. These items have not yet been secured into the stern of the boat, but that should happen later tonight.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

We rejoin our normal programming ... now in progress.

David

[spankey]

Thanks David, those things are all correct.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

You don't need much throw on the stern planes. And they stall out at about 35-degrees anyway. So, you have plenty of throw back there. Nice job.

Yeah, put a single retaining screw back aft and a retaining radial lip up forward and your hull attachment worries are over.

And your dead friend:

His life was taken by enemies of the United States, he did not give his life! His life was viscously TAKEN from him. I trust he would have much preferred to have taken the lives of our enemies. But, he was there, he stood tall, and fought as he was directed. We should nuke these *******s. The criminal slobs currently stinking up the halls of our Federal government (most who have never put themselves or their kids into harms way on behalf of this country) have been running these wars for show only; being way, way too concerned on how we look to the rest of the world rather than winning these engagements -- so many of our best have died in those sand covered meat-grinders when all that was required were a few well placed nukes. This thing should have been resolved over nine years ago! Where the hell do we, as a nation, get off thinking the rest of the world should -- or could ever be made to -- 'like' us!? I'll settle for abject fear the rest of the world would have of a resolute United States of America. The kind of fear that keeps ass-holes from flying planes into our buildings.

David

[spankey]

Just wanted to start this one out by remembering those among us who have died in the past 10 years fighting for our country. Specifically my friend, and fellow Kings Pointer, 1LT Will Donnelly, USMC, who would have been celebrating his 1 year wedding anniversary today had he not given his life for us in Afghanistan.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Lets all keep that in mind when we're out there playing, and remember what it cost to have the freedom that we do!


Now, on to the boat....

I finished the linkages for the stern planes. It took some persuading to get them to interface with the rudder linkage that was already back there. I only have like 25-30 degrees of plane operation up or down. Rudder has like 45 degrees in either direction. I think that should be ok...?

Also, I think it should be visible, but I have not yet figured out how to attach the top half of the hull to the bottom half in the stern area... I was thinking of modeling this after Mr. Merriman's joint on his 1:96 Skipjack...? Any ideas?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Go get 'em, Tiger!

[spankey]

got it, thanks. I'm working on the planes linkages now, as well as the mold for the planes.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Yeah, make the sail removable. Duh!

No. The sail planes are so closely coupled to the boats CG (for all practical purposes, the center of rotation about the pitch, yaw and roll axis) that they are useless as pitch change-control control surfaces. They are used for depth control only. You want to hook up a gizmo to them, make it a depth-keeper. Not an angle-keeper.

Stern planes are used for control of the boats pitch-angle. The sail planes/bow planes are used to effect fine depth control.





David

[spankey]

Since the sail that came with this boat was a 2 part operation, the inside is...guess what...hollow.

I wondered if it would be advisable to 'weld'..(fiberglass) into the bottom of the sail a couple of brass threaded rods that can be used to hold down the sail, so that it would be removable....basically the same way that Mr. Merriman's 1:96 Skipjack sail is held down? The goal with the sailplanes is to couple them to a leveling device so that when the boat is trimmed for periscope depth, the sailplanes are doing the depth control rather than the stern planes. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I dont even plan on having the sailplanes controllable via radio.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Don't aganize over the strength of the rudder yoke -- you soldered it together, you can re-solder it back together if you cream the bottom. Don't sweat the small ****! Good looking work there, Daniel.

David