Building the little Kilo submarine

[trout]

I am not a big Kilo fan, but your idea as an introduction for unsuspecting and vulnerable children is brilliant! Much like how David does it or how I got hooked back into this hobby.

[MFR1964]

Romel,

Thickness is 5 mm, used 2K epoxyglue, during curing placed them in the vice, released them after 24 hrs

Manfred.

[redboat219]

Manfred, regarding your DIY endcaps, what's the thickness of the plexiglass discs and what cohesive did you use?

[MFR1964]

Tom, yeah it's the trumpeters kit, had it laying around in the stash, must be at least a decade or so.
The intension is a kind of recruiting boat, to infect more people to join the tribe.
Working on the floodholes and some other stuff.


Manfred.

[trout]

Manfred,
what model kit is this? Is this trumpeter’s 1/144 scale?

[MFR1964]

Since too many pics at once is giving problems, the next batch,




Unpacking the nose, last step is to remove the foil to see if things worked out.



This was the goal, a neodyne magnet placed on the lower part and a magnet on the upperpart, which is not visible due to the bracket.



Stole this idea from David, a small tab made at the rear of the upperpart.



It will slide into the lower part, securing the upperpart at the rear, the magnet in front will hold down the front of the upperpart.



This one is for you Romel, signed off the floodholes at the bottom, they are probably not scale but at least functional, did count in the places of the cadles inside the hull, so cutting them out will give no problems.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Made some progress on the rudder and diveplanes, also some work how to fasten the upper hull part without using tools,



Getting those things in by using tweesers and a lot of patience.



Result is moving diveplanes and rudder.



Made a dryfit with the SD to see if everything worked out as intended.



Placed the rear bulhead with the shaft and control rods for the diveplanes and rudder.



First step in getting me a way to fasten the upper part, used some foil to prefent glueing the upperpart down on the lower part.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Romel,

Floodholes are on the list, first dive-planes and rudder, doing things step by step

Manfred.

[redboat219]

No bottom flood /drain holes?

[MFR1964]

All cradles are in and glued tight, ready for the next step



Done this just like David does, used a bright light and marked the floodholes, used a dremel to bring the wall thickness down.



Due to the thinner wall you can use a X-acto blade for making the floodholes, most work was bringing the wall thickness down.



Had to make a provision to hold down the velcro strap, for now i'm going to attack the rear-diveplanes and rudder, those resin parts where included in the kit, most of the work will be prepping the hull to receive those parts.

Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

David. she's a nice little submarine, just build out of the box a good submarine to start with, hope to infect more people by letting them drive her, i will build her as simple as possible without extra gizmo's, believe me, my fingers are itching to add more things, but the main goal stays a good driveable rc sub.

Manfred.

A 'training boat'. Great recruitment tool. Go get 'em!

[MFR1964]

David. she's a nice little submarine, just build out of the box a good submarine to start with, hope to infect more people by letting them drive her, i will build her as simple as possible without extra gizmo's, believe me, my fingers are itching to add more things, but the main goal stays a good driveable rc sub.

Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

SD tested in the pool, 2 minor leaks, one near the vent and another by one of the inner bulkheads, for now she's approved, started working on the hull parts,



Upperhull is one piece, the lower consist of two pieces, applied glue and taped her together for curing, taping her this way gets the shape of all parts right, lesser seems is better.



Same story on the conningtower, made allready some parts for the scopes and other stuff i have to make.



Those two cradles will hold the SD, prepped them to glue them inside the hull.



Once glued with 2K epoxy held the hull together with some elastick bands, yet again less seems is better.



Just for fun i've made the stand which was inside the box, have to make in the future a more robust one for daily use.

Once everything is dry i can add the cradles in the upper part, and start thinking about opening those timy floodholes on the upperpart.


Manfred.

Damn you, Manfred. Now you've motivated me to assemble another one of these remarkable little kits!

David

[MFR1964]

SD tested in the pool, 2 minor leaks, one near the vent and another by one of the inner bulkheads, for now she's approved, started working on the hull parts,



Upperhull is one piece, the lower consist of two pieces, applied glue and taped her together for curing, taping her this way gets the shape of all parts right, lesser seems is better.



Same story on the conningtower, made allready some parts for the scopes and other stuff i have to make.



Those two cradles will hold the SD, prepped them to glue them inside the hull.



Once glued with 2K epoxy held the hull together with some elastick bands, yet again less seems is better.



Just for fun i've made the stand which was inside the box, have to make in the future a more robust one for daily use.

Once everything is dry i can add the cradles in the upper part, and start thinking about opening those timy floodholes on the upperpart.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

In general the SD is ready to be tested in the pool, let's see if she is watertight, if not, fix those leaks, got the box with the kilo out of the storage facility, i guess at least a decade ago got me this kit from Caswell and with a fittings kit from David.





Last step in the proces getting me a SD for the Kilo, decided to go with a servo in the frontpart for steering the front diveplanes.



Added the tubes for the antennawire and tested the SD using every function on dry land, no gremlins onboard sofar, adding the O rings will make her ready for the plunge into the test pool, curious to see if i've got leaks.



Box is opened with the content inside, made a search to see if i got me all parts.



Those are the parts from the fitting kit from David, hoped there was also a kit for all the stuff at the conningtower, bummer, not present, have to make those items myself in the future, from what i've read during research the kit parts are totally offscale, so, some lathe work for the future.
This boat will be build as basic as possible, want to use her during events, so other people can drive her, hoping to infect more to join the tribe.


Manfred.