Albacore phase II

[Slats]

Congruent with my Permit class build, I have commenced work on an Albacore.

The hull is the plastic vac formed version, although I have ordered from David new dive planes / rudders / sail / appendages and other equipment which will be used in place of the vac formed ones.

The hull I purchased a while back from Mikes Sub Works as a "hull only" kit. Most would know that the vac formed Albacore was a standard product line from Skip Assay, and many RC submariners either cut their teeth on this boat as an entry to the hobby or at some stage gravitated to this well thought out kit.

Shortly after I entered the hobby I toyed with the idea of buying this kit, but never got around to getting one. The subject of the Albacore to me is a must have boat. As a nerd for history and technology this boat was in my view pretty much the ultimate test bed for taking submarines into the modern age.

Ok here you can see the vac formed pieces of the hull kit.




Next note the value of the Subdrivers Website and the genius of David Merriman (one of the finest engineers the hobby has). You'll see I have made a shop copy of key photos of how David put his latest Albacore together - combining the Vac formed hull and his custom made upgrade parts. I won't be using the exact same methodology as David, but there are some techniques and tips that I'd be silly not to adhere too.

[Slats]

Next you see the plan that comes with the hull kit. It's pretty basic but allows the assembler of this kit a good insight as to where most of the hull features are.
An issue for me that was apparent from the outset, is that for some reason my plan was around 4" too long. I have sought some reference point information from David to assist with this.

Its important to note that the vac formed hull is devoid of details such as hatches etc and these will need to be modeled by the assembler. David and I have different techniques in this regard.





The first order of business is to give the hull pieces a good sand down.

Next, the upper hull piece needs to have it's sides trimmed. The upper vac formed hull has a line indicating where the hull needs to be trimmed. I make this visible by emphasising it with a marker. I then initially trim close to this line but not down to it, using a dremel.



Then I create a flat sanding area at least the length of the hull piece. I then sand the entire upper piece hull sides. For this I use a corse grit 60 sand paper and the papers are tacked down in positions with nails that can be easily removed.





As you sand this carefully you'll find the paper can glog with the vac formed ABS.


Here you see a must and my no.1 shop tool. Its an industrial type vac. I call it Judy. It can suck a golf ball through 40 ft of garden hose.


Periodically clean the paper and your shop benches with a small vac head.

[Slats]

With the upper hull sides trimmed, I affixed the bow cap vac formed piece with CA glue.
Note that I have elevated the upper hull to sit on a timber board. The board allows right angle alignment of the bow piece to the upper hull and the upper hull's alignment to be perfectly perpendicular along the board can be checked.



As discussed in David's excellent work " a day in the cave", you must fill the gap between the bow cap and upper hull. A combination of filler such as bondo and CA glued is used with the CA glue penetrating the filler.

[Slats]

The lower hull's initial work involves the location of the many drain holes and cutting these out.

I first needed to locate the centre line, then draw up a template of the position and size of these holes. Initially drilling of the holes is then done, and manually finishing them off with a square type hand files. Hot and sweaty work in Australia's summer.

[greenman407]

Good Show John! Yep my first sub was the Subtek Albacore. After a perilous flaunt with its dive system I have since removed the "Subtek" part. I have played with and modified it many times. Its now the Phase IV duoprop. Whats next? I dont know, what about auto deploy central dive brakes?

[Slats]

Good Show John! Yep my first sub was the Subtek Albacore. After a perilous flaunt with its dive system I have since removed the "Subtek" part. I have played with and modified it many times. Its now the Phase IV duoprop. Whats next? I dont know, what about auto deploy central dive brakes?

Thanks Mark
yep Skip built a fine kit as an entry level boat.

Mine will feature the new 3" SD with SAS. I'm keen to test a lego pnuematic valve operated by servo and push rod in place of the snorkel head float valve, but I'll be using David's snorkel head valve initially.

Cheers

John

[trout]

John,
Fantastic presentation and I like the solution to the hot Summer heat.
Peace and cheers,
tom

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Some recent work on my 'plastic' ALBACORE assembly:

[redboat219]

Mine will feature the new 3" SD with SAS. I'm keen to test a lego pnuematic valve operated by servo and push rod in place of the snorkel head float valve, but I'll be using David's snorkel head valve initially.

Cheers

John

Interesting plan.
Can you show a diagram (rough pencil sketch)

[crazygary]

She appears to be a pretty decent sized sub!!

The vac-formed parts look to be really well done! Nice job!!

Also, I went to junior college with a girl named Judy!! We used to call her the "North Wind"
and was, also, capable of sucking a golf ball through a garden hose, but I digress......(LOL)

Looking forward to following your build, John!!

crazygary

[greenman407]

Dave, I especially like your scribing detail on the hull. You must have some good drawings.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I do, I got a set from the old SubTech ALBACORE kit. Whoever rendered those two-views was a master! He obviously did a lot of research. Excellent draftsmanship.

M

[Slats]

I do, I got a set from the old SubTech ALBACORE kit. Whoever rendered those two-views was a master! He obviously did a lot of research. Excellent draftsmanship.

M

When you market the GRP kit - please include drawings David.
Oh and finish the dam kit.

J

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

When you market the GRP kit - please include drawings David.
Oh and finish the dam kit.

J

That's easy, I'll just copy the one's in Skip's kit. I don't think the originator will mind.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

When you market the GRP kit - please include drawings David.
Oh and finish the dam kit.

J

That's easy, I'll just copy the one's in Skip's kit. I don't think the originator will mind.

M