Japanese Class A 1/16

[MFR1964]

Uploading went fast this time, phew, as you will see it is working the same as with the type XXIII, only with some more parts, enjoy

https://youtu.be/dryDDMjzKcE

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Finally all magnets are glued down with epoxy glue, tested the hull and found me a solution to keep the SD kiss inside the hull, pictures



Those little gritters are strong enough to lift part of the hull with attached tower.



On one side the magnet sticks through the hull, the one inside the tower is glued down inside a little tube.



A peek inside the tunnel, at the end you can see the five magnets i used to keep the rearpart together,



I used this pin connection as the solution to keep the SD inside, on the pins itself there is a small tube placed, simply to give me each time the same distance when placing the SD.



Added a small notch at the other side, this will prefent the SD from sliding back and fort, you also can see the other two holes at the top of the SD, which are part of locking the SD at the front side.



Added those two pins at the two shooter part, those will insert into the holes present at the SD.



Once placed, it should look like this, the two shooter part will keep the SD at the front, and the two shooter itself will kept at it's place by the frontpiece of the hull.
Also have made a vid to show how this will work in the real live, when you get the hang of it you can separate the boat within 15 seconds into four pieces, have to upload it first, be patient.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Before i started to play around with the magnets i made a vid to show how it should work in the field, talking about magnets, i'm halfway in the process, it's tedious work and my fingers are covered by superglue, once done i can switch over to the epoxy-glue, allready boggled the brain about securing the SD inside, i have a idea which should work.

https://youtu.be/DZySEn5RHZQ

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Going slow, but getting there, the magnets are arrived, so i've got my plate full.



This is the endplate i modified for holding the launchsystem, one tiny problem, in this configuration it's blocking the way of inserting the subdriver.



This hurdle was taken by making a tube and plug system, it looks like the connections i've made for connecting the hull parts, it's a snug fit, but you can pull it off by using both hands.



This reveals the opening at which the SD can be shuffed in.



When finished it should go like this.



At the back you've got the drivingshaft and all connections for the rudders, divingplanes and emergency bouy.



Yesterday those guys arrived, magnets in different sizes, i figured out at which place i can use each magnet, you guys have to wait for that, first solve some other issue's.



Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Thanks David,

Wanted to keep it as simple as possible, radial cuts is asking for troubles, but done this way all parts are pretty easy to access, not the complexe way as with the type XXIII, although it gave me the experience for this boat.
Tomorrow i'm going to order some magnets for finalising the connections of all hull parts.

Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

This is great stuff, Manfred.

David

[MFR1964]

Time to make a new update, i've cutted the hull into 4 parts, initially i wanted to make two cuts, but the conical rearpart gave me some trouble, since i have to place all moving parts into this part, and i've got big hands, i decided to make the third at the double row of rivets, giving me room to play inside the little conical part.
Next task was to make all connections for the hullparts, i seems funny, first make one hull, cut it into four parts and rebuild it back into one hull, pictures.



At the end i've got me this, working on this every day into the weekends.



The two-shooter, temporarely fixed with bolds to the forward bulkhead, still have to make the provisions for making it removable from the bulkhead.



The studs that will keep the conningtower to it's place, it will be secured with some neodyne magnets.



The frontpart can be placed without taking off the two-shooter, have to make the pin-connections on the frontpart, made this such way so you can tinker with the tubes without taking the complete model apart, no king of complexity this time.



Rearpart number one, same method as the frontpart, securing it yet again with magnets.



The last rearpart which gave me some trouble, with this configuration i can reach inside to get the moving parts working, the gearbox can be placed inside with plenty of room for the steering rods, same trick with securing it with magnets.



This was my aim, getting one hull again, for now i have to order my magnets, they will be different in strenght and sizes, i mostly need round one's, probably some rod-type one's, still have to make my wishlist, for now it's looking good, most of the components are pre-build so i can speed up the pace.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Thanks Tom,
She turned out nice, it was a bit tricky to take the saw and cut her up in three pieces, i must admit, it will be four pieces at the end.
The rearpart is not easy to access, so there will be a next cut near the double rivetline, giving me enough room to fiddle around.(think gearbox and rudder/dive planes)
She has to be reinforced first when i want to do that, the seem is now together with pure epoxy, have to add some additional strenght with glassfibre.
As for running, first solve the back together chapter, yet again i think magnets and pins, type XXIII style, another advantage will be the shortened length for transportation.

Manfred.

[trout]

Manfred, this is really coming along. Enjoyed this video and the sub running too!

[MFR1964]

Thanks Bart,
I must admit, it took some sweat and elbowgrease to get to this point, i lacked the time this summer to make a start with the hull.
For now i hace to reinforce the parts and start working to get it back in one piece.

Manfred.

[bwi 971]

you lucky you.

grtz,
Bart

[MFR1964]

I don't know about you guys, but i've got me a happy newyear gift, a very good start for 2018.

https://youtu.be/p_Px3ci1Mr8

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

No hulls yet, still working on the mold for the conningtower, when ready i'll start up the work on making a hull and conningtower.

Manfred.

[Albion]

Joins hull Q if there is one. My Koryu is 1/20 and same dive module would work here. I was fortunate enough to go diving in the Kavieng area of Papua New Guinea in 2001. One of the dives was on a WW2 era Japanese merchant wreck. About 50 m from the main shipwreck was an A class which had been on the deck of the merchant when she started to list.

[MFR1964]

Sorry for the late respons guys, it's busy in the cave, i'm pushing to get the molds ready before the low tempartures hit me.

Tom, as for more hulls, i have to see about that how the final hull will come out of the mold, from that i can see what the amount of time will be to build more.

As for the work allready done i'll give a update,




First i had to follow the drill of building a jigg to hold the plug.




Playing around with some clay to patch up the void between the jigg and the plug.




Using a simple tool to remove the clay, from this point on you have to act in one move, when finished reworking the clay i added the mold-release.




The gelcoat added to catch all the details of the plug, now you have to wait for the moment when the gelcoat becomes sticky, normally it takes half a hour, but since the temparture is lower i waited for a hour to be sure.




Added the first layer of glass and epoxy, used chopped strands to catch all sharp corners, you're out of the dangerzone when this layer has dried.



Building up the layers is pretty straight forward, it took me a full week every day to build up the mold on one side, cleaned the outer edges with the dremel.




Prepping the other side for the next run, yet again it took me a week to complete the other side.



The fun part after a few weeks, splitting the mold, due to the simple shape it came loose without any efford.



The other side also loosened, with this mold i made it with fewer layers as with the V80 and the type 17, this gave me some flex for loosening the plug, it worked out well.



As for the details, they came out well, the plug was only slightly damaged, lost some weldinglines as some rivets, but nothing what can't be replaced on the plug, one big hurdle taken.



Right now i'm in the proces of making the mold for the tower, making this jigg was a differend story, i followed the path used on the balconygerat of my type 17, stiffened the jigg with some copper rods, for now i'm playing with this, to be continued.


Manfred.