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Scaleships Akula II
I got home from work on Friday to discover that a very long package had arrived from Belarus.
Woo! the 1:96 scaleships Akula II hull of the Vepr had arrived.
Add this to a recently acquired mtroniks ESC and things are really moving along nicely for my first sub.
The kit is well detailed and very thorough, I'm sure I've started this hobby the right way with this bad boy. All the scribing is crisp and clear, the drawings are great, and there are only a few locations which need some filler. (What filler do you gents personally recommend?)
There is a bit of spring back in the halves, which will hopefully be taken care of by the plywood ribs that will hold the sub driver in place.
On this topic, how do you create the profile for the ribs so they open the hull out to the correct shape? I was thinking I'd make a template in MDF for the outside of the hull (diameter based off the drawing), then clamp the hull to this and use gap filling resin to attach a roughly shaped rib inside.
The masts and periscopes deserve special mention. As I've said before, I'm new to all this, but the attention to detail and workmanship for the masts in my opinion is second to none.
I seem to be missing the search and attack periscopes and I think the snorkel mast, but I've sent off an email to Vladimir so hopefully that will be cleared up soon.
I was really keen to get working on the hull so started out by removing most of the flash from the lower hull leaving a little lip to even out once I get the 2 halves trued up and mated together.
The first hole was also made, opening up a limber hole in the bottom hull, ready for the attachment of the brass photoetch parts.
As you can see, I got a little over zealous with the flat needle file and scratched the darn thing. Another candidate for some filler and 600 grit.
So that's where I am up to, looking forward to some quality time opening up more limber holes tomorrow.
And as soon as I get my invoice form Caswellplating, I'll add an SD 3.5 to the mix and fill up the rest of my workbench with putting that kit together as well. ;)
Thanks again to everyone for the help getting to this stage, as always all input / advice is welcome.
Cheers,
CT.
Woo! the 1:96 scaleships Akula II hull of the Vepr had arrived.
Add this to a recently acquired mtroniks ESC and things are really moving along nicely for my first sub.
The kit is well detailed and very thorough, I'm sure I've started this hobby the right way with this bad boy. All the scribing is crisp and clear, the drawings are great, and there are only a few locations which need some filler. (What filler do you gents personally recommend?)
There is a bit of spring back in the halves, which will hopefully be taken care of by the plywood ribs that will hold the sub driver in place.
On this topic, how do you create the profile for the ribs so they open the hull out to the correct shape? I was thinking I'd make a template in MDF for the outside of the hull (diameter based off the drawing), then clamp the hull to this and use gap filling resin to attach a roughly shaped rib inside.
The masts and periscopes deserve special mention. As I've said before, I'm new to all this, but the attention to detail and workmanship for the masts in my opinion is second to none.
I seem to be missing the search and attack periscopes and I think the snorkel mast, but I've sent off an email to Vladimir so hopefully that will be cleared up soon.
I was really keen to get working on the hull so started out by removing most of the flash from the lower hull leaving a little lip to even out once I get the 2 halves trued up and mated together.
The first hole was also made, opening up a limber hole in the bottom hull, ready for the attachment of the brass photoetch parts.
As you can see, I got a little over zealous with the flat needle file and scratched the darn thing. Another candidate for some filler and 600 grit.
So that's where I am up to, looking forward to some quality time opening up more limber holes tomorrow.
And as soon as I get my invoice form Caswellplating, I'll add an SD 3.5 to the mix and fill up the rest of my workbench with putting that kit together as well. ;)
Thanks again to everyone for the help getting to this stage, as always all input / advice is welcome.
Cheers,
CT.
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