Ray Mason Nautilus Build

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Preparing for the future. Spent some time this morning mixing up various rust mixes with acrylics. Need about 4-6 shades, and I thought I had it until I double-checked and took the samples out into real sunlight, swapped some colors and I think I'm ready for end of July when hopefully Nautilus will be ready for final painting when I get back from a trip.

In support of your planned late July painting frenzy, I just completed getting the N's SubDriver fully operational. Now it's time for my hideous nap. After which a leak and SAS ballast sub-system test and validation. Following that, if there is still sun-light out there, I'll give your boat a ruthless dunking in the test-tank until it submits to my will and behaves properly in submerged and surface trim. Maybe next week I'll drag its sorry butt off to the JCC pool to see if all this madness has paid-off or not. If not, into the nearest dumpster it goes!

Stand by, Tank-Boy!

David

[Davjacva]

Preparing for the future. Spent some time this morning mixing up various rust mixes with acrylics. Need about 4-6 shades, and I thought I had it until I double-checked and took the samples out into real sunlight, swapped some colors and I think I'm ready for end of July when hopefully Nautilus will be ready for final painting when I get back from a trip.

[Davjacva]

Okay Boys and Girls, this is what happens when you support people that are going to turn you into Soylent Green and get carried away with the 'Foam It'. More to follow keep reading of this week's festivities and Flail-Ex's. The first part is going to 'Plan-C' after the first two Plans failed to achieve success, this was going with green construction foam and Lock-Tite construction foam, the first took up too much space, even though the correct surface/ submerged trims were achieved, and the next was incompatible with our application as it was open-cell, and just too spongy. So most of the week was laying 3 applications of 'Foam-It' and for those curious, it's No.5 (density). It's urethane and if you've ever messed repairing surfboards, it's the same inner core stuff (the glassing class is on another post), now you all can be shapers like Robert August et al. So you're looking at photos of applying the foam and our defeated efforts of keeping it out of areas you don't want it, hence the aluminum foil, wax paper, etc. Then some of the aluminum foil won't come of so we acid etched it off...outside. We then proceed to shape it over the next few days, and then Dave breaks out some awesome tools and gets it to where he finally wants it. Then it's lead melting/ forming time, and Dave demonstrates not buring down the house or blowing crap up, spraying hot white metal on your wife...okay a lot of things bad right? Okay, so it comes off without a hitch and the new lead bars are formed. Look awesome, right? Lastly, get to mess around with the WTC...because there's always something to be check on that prior to dunking it into the tank. Dave statement rings true, spend about 3 hours of maintenance for every hour of lake time.

[Davjacva]

So the details, after the aforementioned placement of green foam and lead we're finally on the right track and get it dialed in nicely...but it still all impermanent. Make a speed run to Lowe's get some spray expanding foam and start installing it. Rain check time and will have to re-proceed on Monday... So Saturday night I finishe all the spray foam at home, and the next morning Dave e-mails me that the stuff is crap and will compress, and I'm thinking, 'Damn, I guess we're going deeper that 5', maybe all the way to 1300' so we can crush those little styro cups in the line locker. Ordered the new closed-cell stuff that's supposed to be here tonight. So enjoy the photos, they're the ones that were allowed to be kept. Hope you all had a happy Father's Day.

[Davjacva]

So we do a rough gestimate of where our surface/ submerged trim really is and it came out close. Boys and Girls, you always know the pain comes in the details...that is when you haven't sliced a body part subsequently super-gluing aforementioned body part (that was a different day).

[Davjacva]

Here's the photos of the WTC test-phase. Pay attention to the rubber tube that hooks up to the schraeder-valve (without the core installed) in order to pressure the two end compartments.

[Davjacva]

So, Saturday morning began as a very cool mid-60's, sunny awesome morning...with coffee with the day's mission to dunk the Nautilus and get the electronics dialed in and surface and submerged trim established in order to create more permanent apportionment of lead and flotation strategically placed around the vessel so a proper metacentric height is established along the god-like axis of a CB/ CG...oh forget it, if you want to know what we did it's in the Dive Manual or Bob's book. Remember the part about the electronics? It's that roundy-thingy with all the gizmos in it and there's about a bazzilion in Merriman's shop. We can't find it. After more coffee we figure out to open the Nautilus in order to see what size we're actually looking for...3" okay, it's 3-incher roundy-thingy. Found it next to the floor, Mr. Cat must've put it there, and no end-cap. This is beginning to look like an order at a McDonald's drive-in...after you drive away. So we get it and get all the wiring reconnected and protocols established...and away we go to the dunk tank...found the first leak at the battery compartment, fix that, back in the tank, another leak, battery bulkhead, fixed that, didnt work, try, try again, okay that worked...wait ANOTHER leak, fixed that and we're good to go. All the rabbits on the hillside are doing the WAVE in celebration.

[Davjacva]

'WELL CRAP!!!! THAT WASNT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!! WE SUNK THE NAUTILUS, CALL THAT MERRIMAN DIVER GUY, OH WAIT...'

This wasn't how Saturday morning began...and 'What happens in Merriman's shop stays in Merriman's Shop' for the never-ending comedy of those involved!!

[Davjacva]

The Nautilus new constuction phase is completed with the completion of the last parts. I had to make the closed chock and bollards, so I did them out of brass. Made about 16 bollards and picked the two that looked the best, whereas the chocks were more laborious, yet more care/ detail could be put into each, picked the one I liked and chucked the other. Dave was kind enough to cast me a mess of them, so there's spares if somehow they're knocked off. He asked which I wanted them in and I said white metal. I then acid-treated them and then primered them and the next day glued them down. So this weekend Dave and I are going to dunk it and trim it out. To modelers, there's aspects of each you enjoy, and for me it's the build, so while I'm happy that this phase is over, I've really enjoyed this build. One for the awesome subject, and it's been sitting waiting to be next for a long while, and the next is all the incredibly new things I learned on this build. I'd really like to thank Dave as he pulled me out of fire quite a few times on this one (only to give me the boot to get back in the fight :)). Ray Mason gave some great input to, and also the great story that went along with it. The rest is blah, blah, blah.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

The last item to do was get the raker arch installed and Dave said he had a plan, and it took him about an hour to mount six magnets for retainers and that was that. The last thing was to stand in the former space of 'Ellie's Polynesian Resort' and Dave took some photos. Yeah, we had coffee and were really enthused...enjoy.

LOL. At one point she had four outfitted front-yard Gazebos'. All that gal needed to complete the atmosphere was monkeys, coconut trees, and invading Japanese troops.

(She was a baby when her mom and grandma grabbed her and the other kids and headed for the hills for a delightful and most 'interesting' three-year camp-out away from the Nipon 'liberation' of the islands).

David

[Davjacva]

Continuing with the 'Flail...', I stripped the sub down of components, painted with primer to tell-tale where the flaws and gaps were, took care of those, taped up the windows, sprayed the rest of the sub, put it back together, removed the tape from the windows, put all the components back on (rudder, screw, and planes), stood back and admired model...found more Fu&%$*$ flaws...thought for a moment how the world will stop if I don't fix them...realized I'm going to be painting the model again and sent it over to Dave's Saturday morning. The last item to do was get the raker arch installed and Dave said he had a plan, and it took him about an hour to mount six magnets for retainers and that was that. The last thing was to stand in the former space of 'Ellie's Polynesian Resort' and Dave took some photos. Yeah, we had coffee and were really enthused...enjoy.

[Davjacva]

So, for this week's 'Flail-Ex', I mounted the totally awesome screw speed log that Dave massively helped me to create last weekend. Not that it was hard to mount, it just took longer to mount than it was to make it. It was that stupid-easy to make.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Wow! Now, that is one well protected model, Jake. Excellent work; a perfect box to protect the perfect model submarine.

David

[Davjacva]

Finished the storage box this week. All that is left is to glue the upper foam assembly to the lid and that's going to happen tonight. I'm going to use Tightbond III. I did a test shot of it last night and it really holds well. I had used a glue gun when gluing foam to foam which keeps the work going fast, and it's strong enough. A lot of glues that are reported to work well, don't, but Tightbond III is the deal. The last foam I put in was at the rear, an indexing plate, so the person doesn't have to jack with the foam being off-position to seat. Got the stencils online.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

The forward hatch needed the most work as the wheelhouse is going to be removeable, I didn't want the hatch coming off, so the hinge mount is mounted to the wheelhouse, and the hatch is mounted to the hull, but made so that the wheelhouse can be removed without removing the hatch. Have more cleanup and of course re-create the detail that was lost. Getting down to brass tacks with this project, I think there's 5 things left prior to painting.

Good work on that hatch. Lawn-boy!

No paint till that thing is trimmed here and worked out at the JCC. Only after all that BS do you paint this critter! WHAT DID I TEACH YOU!!!????.....

And work out a clear sheet rudder cheat -- this monster will need it!

David
Task Master