DeBoer Seaview

[LOFTDRIVER]

The Beast is back

I was watching the video the other day of David Merriman building the 57 inch version of the beast and he mentioned about the clear windows ,and how to clean them after a run at the local pond.The answer that I use is more clearly showen in the photos .The idea came from a copy of SEAVIEW SOUNDINGS,a mag that was prodoced by fans of the show but only maid it to three copys in total.If you can find them then think about getting them as they are rather good to read and have some good photos of the 17 foot model.The windows on the beast are larger than the 57inch version and do get scratched because of the grit in the water and other matter and will need to be replaced from time to time.The materials used are thin clear perspex sheet and brass sheet.The bolts came from the local model shop.The photos show the first incarnation of this unit.I have upgraded it slightley in the the blots heads were removed and the attached the hull by arildite.This makes fiting/removal of the perspex sheet much easier.Enjoy the photos

loftdriver out

[LOFTDRIVER]

The Beast is back

As an udate to my last post here are some photos of the lite Beast with internal control room .The showes we some times went to as a club did not have a pool so I built the control room as a way of hiding the huge empty gap behind the windowes and make the model more intresting to the public .I have included the Attack of the Killer Bear as a bit of lght releif.

Loftdriver Out

[LOFTDRIVER]

The Beast is back

What little work that I started on the Beast last year was to make a more positive connection from the
servos to the rudder and rear planes.The links as first fitted were not up to the job and there was a fair bit of movment in the connections.This was partley down to the very limited access to the very rear of this model.As I was looking at the posts to this site from JOHN G (thank you for the inspiration John) I thought that the only way to fix the problem was to saw a hatch in the back as John had.Many days of trying to think of how best to do this followed.Sawing large holes etc into my pride and joy do not come easy.So saw in hand I dived in ,Thinking "that its only fibre glass if you muck it up it will be easy to fix,you have done this before". I am pleased to say that this dractic surgery worked.The greater access made it a bit easier to re - work the pushrods ,they now have ball and socket joints and they are split just before the rear water tight compartment.If this was not there it might have been a bit easier in the firt place.The reason for the split at this point is to make it easier to re-new the bellowes when they need to be replaced.The one thing I have learnt from model sube is if it can go wrong it will,you must make sure you can get into fix things if needed.
Enjoy the photos,and next time I will show you the work on the Gill slits

Loftdriver out

[greenman407]

Loftdriver, Where did you get those cool drawings of the Seaview? Can some be had of the Eight window version?

[LOFTDRIVER]

Hello greenman 407,
The drawings that can be seen in the photo come from a set of drawings in the S.S.R.N. SEAVIEW TECHNICAL manual.This
is writen by Frederick Barr for Time Merchant Productions.I am not sure if this is still in print or avalible .You could try serching for it on the net.These drawings also were in the Seview Sounding Mags I mentiond.There is some nice plans for the control room Flying Sub ,Mini Sub and the Diving bell.There is also a nice drawing of the deck layout.It is manly for the two window version but the sail drawings could be used for the eight window version as the only thing that changed there was the filling in of the windows.You might be able to find these drawings on line.I hope this was of help.

Loftdriver Out

[greenman407]

Thanks, Keep up the good work.

[LOFTDRIVER]

The Beast is back

Before I start with this next post may I say a BIG thank you to dennis for supplying the new gill slitts for my
boat.I can have a go at building most things but these were a bit out of my skill range at the present moment.The service from him was first class. The reason I needed new gills was the mould that a friend made for me was a bit past it.I have photos of the old ( my sad working of ) and the ones supplied by dennis . As you can see the new ones are a bit bigger than my old ones but this will only help the propulsion.The first thing I did was to make the hole a bit bigger to put the new gills in.Now there is not a
lot of surface area to glue these in or into so I made up some plastic card backing plates that look like large window frames and glued these in with 24 hr arildite (two part epoxy glue)The gills them selves were propaired by cutting out the openings and filing to shape .The backes were also given a filing to make a concave shape on the back to give the gill a more gill like shape.The photo showes the backing plate fixed into position.More to follow

Loftdriver out

[LOFTDRIVER]

The Beast is back

Winter is still with us here in the uk .As a result the loft/workshop is still on the cold side.The odd good day we have had has produced a spell of modelling that is documented here.My aim at the monent is to get the back end finished so that testing can start.
I need to do this before the weed monster infests my testing lake,also the queens wasps will soon be about making modelling an even more dangerous pursuit than normal.As this is a follow on from the last post I will carry on from were I left of.The gills had been proparaired and all the backing plates had been installed.The next job was to prime the inside of the propulsion tubes and to paint the satin black.The holes were masked of and sraying sarted.This was done with spay cans from the local car shop.As you can see my masking skills are rather primative but I did not get paint on any of the important bits.Once this had all been done the place were the glue was going was roughed up to give the glue something to key onto.This needs to be done as the joining surfaces are quite smooth.The next thing to do was to glue the parts in place.I sarted with lower gills first then did the two upper ones ,making sure they lined up.This was done with the 24 hr glue.As the photos show they are now in place ,all I need to do if fill in the gaps annd tidy it all up.Enjoy the photos

Loftdriver out

[Subculture]

Good stuff, Alan. Any progress with the ballast system?

[LOFTDRIVER]

The Beast is back

Hello Subculture,
I have decided to give your idea for a ballast system ego.The main body of the tank has
been made from 5 inch drain pipe.This will be blancked of with thick plastic sheet to give me the baffle plates to prevent water movement.Also the tank has been made in sections to make it easier to put in the hull.I will post some photos of it soon but I have car insurance etc to pay for first .Normall thing life getting in the way of the hobby? The reserve tank at the moment looks like it will be some sort of gas or
air system.I have the room in the forward water tight cylinder to fit it in but it will all boil down to testing at the lake.I want to finally get all the back end finished by next weekend,then I can start getting all the cylinders etc fitted back into the boat for testing.Just a few more things to do to get her wet again.Watch this post.

Loftdriver Out