One Man Comic Submarine

[MFR1964]

Enjoyed some weeks off, and starting to get me the molds, pictures





Gave the plug some paint and let her cure for a few weeks.



She will be placed inside the moldtable i made before.



Made some reinforcement rings to keep her at the right place, when using the clay you tend to push the plug down.



Used a bright led to find the weak spots in the clay, this way you won't have lekkage during the making of the mold.


First i place the clay in the rough giving this as the result, the seem is closed by the clay.



Cleaned up the clay all around, next few days i've got me a window of some good weather, so making the mold will follow up soon,

Manfred.

[Albacore 569]

Hanna Barbara makes German Molch subs!

[MFR1964]

The Mold is taking shape, had a good week with good tempartures to get me some progress,


First the gelcoat, you have to wait untill it turns sticky, this is the moment to get the first layer with epoxy on



I had allready cutted some pieces of cloth as preparation, this way you can work fast.


Building up the layers, for this mold about 12, it has to be strong enough to handle some mechanical force.



Cutted the rim for the next phase of the other half.



The other side is pretty much the same story, don't forget PVA spray to ease the opening of the mold.



When all layers are done i will let her cure for a few days, after that i will split the mold to see what the result is.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Molds are splitted, this week i can start with making the actual hull, did some work on the techrack wich i want to use,

Before i splitted the mold i drilled some holes in the flange, this way you have only one way to fit them together, when both hull halves are made i can use epoxy to bond them by turning the mold around.


Since laying up the mold is done in 1 hour a day i found me some time to build up the techrack i want to use, ordered some ESC's so i can finish it up, even found some room to add a levelkeeper, had a spare Wyfly receiver which fitted in.
When all things are done i can do some benchtesting, not sure if that tube at the end will do it's job of steering, that will be a thing for later.

For now i can start this week to lay up the hull, if all goes well i have a hull at the end of this week.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Building up the hull, still a few layers hope to bring both hullparts together this weekend,



First step, getting in the gelcoat to catch every detail, same story as with the mold, once sticky you can start with adding the layers of glasscloth.



First layers in, when the material is still green i cut it level to the flange of the mold, less sanding to get everything even with the flange, when all layers are done i can extract the hull parts and prep them for fusing them together, when doing this i allways add some more hardener with the expoy, close the mold up and start rotating along the seem untill it is enough, let her cure for a day and split the mold to get my hull out.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

I made some progress, hull is extracted from the mold and i started to cut it into pieces,


This is how the hull came out of the mold after fusing both halves together, the positions of the dive-planes and thrusters where allready marked on the hull, drilling some holes was easy, this way i could made a dryfitt to see if all worked out.


After the first cut i've got me two parts, this is the front part, everything nicely fused together, the rest of the expoxy got into the nose as intended.


Rearpart pretty much the same story.


First step to get me those slits in the rearpart, want to use them to suck up the water to expel it from the rear.


First batch done, still had to repeat this with the other side.


Yet again used sticky tape to get the hull together for a test fit, made some scores for the frontcover before i cutted it free.



Frontpart cutted free, in the end it will be used for creating the glass dome, allready ordered some clear Vivak sheets of differend thickness for the future.

Now all this is done i can turn my attention to the technical parts, first want to finish the rack with all gizmo's, then start to build up the model.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Did some work on the rack and i think solved a problem,

Since driving forward is not a issue due to the intakes, you have a problem with reverse, water sucked up at the rear won't leave the rear-end, hence my solution,


Made a cone from styrodure with some collars to keep it at the desired position.


You can place it on the shaft tube and secure it with the collars, giving you this as the result.


Made a dryfitt on the hull to see if everything is placed without any obstructions.


Got the rear-end with the slits placed to see if it all fitts, the idea is, when using reverse you suck up the water from the rear and it will be guided by the cone out of the slits, hope to get enough thrust to get reverse, that will be a thing to see if it works when i can start testing in the tub.


I made all provisions on the rack to get me the steering of the front dive-planes, made a contraption which can be activaded by the rod which steers the dive-planes


Full down


Full up, there is not that much movement, i hope it will be enough to give me some depth control, what i do know from the past, too much reflection and the dive-planes will act as a break.


This will be the rudder, made from lexan, when in the water you will hardly notice it, for now i'm busy to connect the rudder in a way it will not be visible from the outside, stay tuned

Manfred.

[redboat219]

Rotating cone in a moving fluid - interesting fluid mechanics.

[MFR1964]

Romel,

The cone is static, fastened on the tube which is containing the propulsion shaft, i have no intension of making it difficult for myself, KISS is the magic word.

Manfred.

[redboat219]

Romel,

The cone is static, fastened on the tube which is containing the propulsion shaft, i have no intension of making it difficult for myself, KISS is the magic word.

Manfred.

Oh okey. I get it. Initial impression was it was attached to driveshaft. Maybe use a funnel but the foam is bouyant.

[MFR1964]

Romel,
The funnel is a idea, but now i get two in one, guiding the water out and some needed bouyency, in the end i will protect it with a layer of epoxy because foam itself is too fragile

Manfred

[MFR1964]

Cone is modified, connection to the rudder is made and started glueing up the flanges of the rack,


Firstly made some room for the connection to the rudder, grinded away some of the cone to make this possible.


First i glued up the tube which will guide the control rod.


Since i don't have that much arms i opted for using those handy devices i have, this way you can stabilise everything on it's place untill it is dried.


This is the result of the operation, a nylon rod which is guided through a small tube, it is done this way because i have to keep eveything free from the propellor.


Connected the rod to the rudder, that small spec you see, is a hole which i use for thightening the grubscrew by means of a very small allen key


I'm now in the proces of glueing all external parts of the rack, since i want to do that on both sides as well inside as outside, it will take some time, each addition of glue is followed by a 24 hr period to dry and harden.
This will give me the time to alter a Spirou figure into a diver and do some work on the bed which will hold the figure.

Manfred.

[redboat219]

Manfred is this a dry hull or is there a separate wtc that slides into the hull?

[MFR1964]

Romel,

It is a dryhull, the rack will slide in from the back and will be secured with some bolts to get it watertight.

Manfred.

[redboat219]

Just saw this on FB.
Made by Andre Drevet-Bertrand
The thruster pods are articulated opposite the front dive planes.