Building the little Kilo submarine

[trout]

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

[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.

[redboat219]

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

[MFR1964]

Romel,

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

Manfred.

[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.

[redboat219]

That DIY WTC of yours will likely fit in the Trumpeter 1/144 Japanese Soryu.

Screen grab from a Thai modeler's FB post.

[redboat219]

Did you encounter the same thinned out or under cast resin dive planes?

[MFR1964]

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.

The Kilo is a bit small for my taste, but ideal to hook up interested people, especially during poolruns, due to the size it's a nice boat to keep your skills sharp, i' ve got me the XXI for more victims.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Did you encounter the same thinned out or under cast resin dive planes?

No problems with thin casted resin parts, those things are a bit tiny and have to be handled with care.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Floodholes are done, made the provision for steering the front dive-planes and a dryfitt of the hull parts,



By using a metal rule as a guide, i made the floodholes with the Dremel



Cleaned up the floodholes with the X-acto knive and some sandpaper.



Made this contraption for steering the front dive-planes, it will be connected magneticly to the steeringrod on the SD.



Made a proper stand for the boat, compared to the stand delivered with the model it's more beefy.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Made some studs near the middle part of the hull to get it less flexing at that point.



A dryfitt of both hull parts, for now it seems to be looking good, next step will be, replacing the plastick railing by 1 mm copper, those plastick rails is asking for trouble, even by looking at them they will break.

Manfred.

[redboat219]

Will you be fixing the sail to the deck or make it removable?

[MFR1964]

A permanent fix to the upperdeck is not what ik have in mind, i like to have things removable for maintenance or transport.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Railings are done, next step, building the scope and antenna stuf, unfortunally i don't have the kit to build one, but i do have enough pictures to start up the lathe to get me some.



This set of railings is included in the kit itself, unpractical to handle since they are plastick and so prone to break, but they do offer a nice mold to reproduce them in copper.



The two small one's didn't give any problems, made a template from tape and secured everything to be soldered in one try.



The other side with the long railing, ended up using 1 mm as studs and the railing itself from 0,5 mm copper rod.

Next step will be, opening the front windows and make all the stuf needed on top, i allready have some small diameter stainless steel tubing in the stash, just have to turn the top-ends on the lathe.


Manfred.

[Das Boot]

I’m going to bring one that’s unopened to Subfest as a raffle prize. Matter of fact, I’ve still got it in the shipping box.