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I've got a backlog of stuff to post probably since pre-Cohutta Re-Dux, so I'd thought I'd start with something completed. Getting ready for the Sub-Regatta in Groton, so been pushing to get this sub done. Dave has his plate full, so I'm trying to interrupt him...except to throw rocks at him to make sure he's not falling asleep at the workbench. Anyway, this Akula, as you all probably have read on the HWNSNBM postings in the general section was Dave's first RC sub back in the late '80's. Near as Dave can recall it was 1988. He'd already done one as static display for a government contractor which was becoming D&E's bread and butter to pay bills. Not sure what motivated him to go RC. Anyway, he had it and ran it for awhile and gave it to a buddy of his Ray Taylor sometime in the '90's. I'd see him with this sub whenever I'd go watch the subs at Mt. Trashmore in the early-mid 2000's. Sucker ran like a bat outta hell. The paint job was never updated, but the internals had been. The WTC had been upgraded all the way to a conventional SAS system, and luckily, we just had to verify that it worked. Our buddy Fred recently provided us with FrSky radios, and even though the 
75mhz Futaba worked great, I thought it would be a great contestant to knocking out the Ethos realm. The stern plane stablizers were broken so these were first up. Dave spent about 2 hours each (you can see it on his posting) cutting off, stalling a hunk of Renshape and filling it into shape...in about 2 hours it was ready for primer. Since this sub had been around collecting all kinds of whatevers. I took it to the bathtub and scrubbed it with cleanser, dried it, then followed that up with some Prep-Sol and steel wool. I primered it with automotive (Nason) primer, and followed that up with Tamiya flat black and a mix for hull red. I preshaded the hull red with some flat black first. Then a couple of mixes of hull red. I did a separate hull red for the sonar array. These would all be weathered later. Prior to painting the flat black upper hull, I sprayed a flat white ring around the hull and on the rudder stabilizer. Used some 1mm tape after drawing a draft mark, and it was ready to go. I wish I had done the areas where the draft marks are, but Dave showed me a different method.
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Here's some photos of the aft stabilizers when they were completely rebuilt by Daveand ready for primer.
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**** you, Jake!Who is John Galt?Comment
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The draft marks and other detailing markings are now applied. I've never masked/ un-masked/ masked...something so many times as this one. Dave gave me this tool to draw draft lines on the hull. It works, but it takes some post-cleaning and re-spraying the hull color to get right. Really wasn't painless. Dave found an even better way, so go read his post about it.Comment
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Now it's time to weather the commie sub and paint dead vegetation, and tone down the colors. Gee, again, more taping/ masking. It's done, ready to go into the box for Subregatta.Comment
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When you get the SCORPION going, post that too, please.Of the approximately 40,000 men who served on U-boats in WWII, it is estimated that around 28,000 to 30,000 lost their lives.Comment
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Fantastic paint job, but what are those white lines? They do not appear on an Akula.Comment
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Those markings can be seen on some units of the class. They come and go. The markings denote underwater projections -- bow planes, wake detectors, sonar windows, and the like. The above water line white lines are a warning for idiot harbor tug Pilots to stay away from those portions of hull during harbor push-and-pulls.Who is John Galt?Comment
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No, thats all clear, am talking about those two pairs of straight white lines on the forward deck.
I have collected all pictures and scetches, mostly from russian sites, i could find since i am going to turn my Akula II Kit into an early Northern Fleet Akula with the original floodhole-pattern but refittet inlet scoops(fin-like) and no SOKS, most likely K-461 Volk. I have not seen such marks ever.
Only personal interest...
PS i just checked those pictures. Marks appear on NERPA/ INS CHAKRA prior during training with the Indian crew:
Last edited by JHapprich; 09-09-2025, 02:08 PM.Comment
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Jorg, this is the photo I referenced. It's a rental from the Russians, so the Indian navy's driving it like they stole it (notice the Indian naval flag). I figure this is part of turnover. Most of the Akula photos I found have too many white markings on them and are probably marked up like that because of sea trials/ post shipyard availabilities as most navies do. It's not a tank, so I didn't care too much.Attached FilesComment
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