Daily submarine picture

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

what a challenge to those wishing to capture the tiles on this beast

[Von Hilde]

Unseen are you active duty RN? If you are you should know, but I did some reserch on bitumen coating steel ships. Bitumen is a anti corrosive base coat for steel, and must be painted over to protect it from ultraviolet rays if used externally. some American "weathering" on a USMC FA18 over the Radar absorbent Gull Grey base coat

[Von Hilde]

Painting the appearance of tiles ist that dificult. Time consuming it is. Using friskit paper is the easiest way. Grid the paper and cut squares proportionally to scale, in random patterns. Its wise to pencil the grid so when you change colors you can line up the squares after rotating or flipping the mask depending on personal preferance. The hardest thing is cutting the squares to scale. Ive seen hole punchers in office max that were small square holes, altho I wasnt thinking scale while I was there so they may not be apporpriate for smaller scale boats or airplanes. Ive watched the FA18s in the paint shop at the Naval Air Station here when the new digi pat was authorised for aircraft. Basiclly they have a bunch of square stencils with the grids in thin masking tape and they shoot one or two sections at a time with each color. It takes 3 guys about 8 hours to do a Super Hornet, after the base coat.

[greenman407]

Notice the flat area of the bow in contrast to the more glossy areas behind

[Roddersuk]

Reddevil, the Brit Boomer crew are dressed like that because it is rather cold up in Scotland where they are based. Down under it is rather warm so the Okkers wear tropical dress.

[unseen]

Active in the RN the answer is no. However, being once a photographer for the Royal Navy Submarine Museum and restoration consultant of HMS/m Ocelot laying at Chatham some years ago prior to a heart attack I photgraphed many boats under sailing orders, contruction and while in dry dock during refit. Low sheen bitumen was used to paint the boats prior to leaving dock. The anti slip coating on the casing was again with the use of bitumen paint and sharp sand and recovered with matt. This of course would not apply to boats with glass fibre after casing where the anti slip surface was built in the gel coat. Bitumen reacts to salt water, but look at the boat from a distance it appears to be black, close up they look grey with patches. Considering a Royal Navy bomber (and not boomer this is an American term) only surfaces once and that is in the Clyde on return from patrol there is no need for camo. Consider also, the defence cuts in this country of mine, do you really think that the Government would allow the expence of the boat being painted various shades of grey after being painted black.

[Von Hilde]

Funny you should say that about the government money and paint. By the end of the 80s The US Navy, up untill that time, authorised colorful graphix on various equipment, Aircraft, Ships,Viehicles ect. Some even to the extreem, such as the gloss black Emron paint on an F14 with a large white Playboy bunnie on the tail, or individual squadron markings of various colors, not unlike Richtofen's flying circus. When the military cut backs started, they started trimming the fat. Colored paint other than basic black white and shades of grey, was one of the first to take the ax. The cost of the custom paint for one f-14, by the way was $60kUSD, back then, comperable to the price a hi end 911 Porsche of the day.

[Subculture]

They paint the anechoic tiles in bitumen- really? I'd have imagined they're already pigmented black, so what is the advantage in sloshing that over them too.

[unseen]

The tiles are basically glued with a thick bitumen adhesive, the tiles are applied in several layers using this material. Machinery and engineering spaces would have more layers of tiles, this can be seen when looking at photographs of the boats on roll out. The tiles are infact really untidy to look as if one studies the photographs available for which I have in the thousands, one can see. The paint is however used to seal and protect the tiles from the elements, but we all know that tiles do fall off. The first photo is of Repulse newly painted with bitumen paint at Faslane prior to sailing orders and the other a well known photo not taken by me of Turbs with missing tiles on upper casing. One point to add Torbay did however sail Devonport painted blue and not black for a deployment in the Med

[Von Hilde]

anechoic tiles were first used sucessfully on the U boats. The Japanese also use them on their big subs as well. As for the bitumen application, it is used as an anticorrosive for the steel and adhesive for the tile. Tiles are a synthetic rubber type compound initially designed to absorb radar and sonar signals. They are over painted to protect the material from ultraviolet rays, wuich cause decomposition of rubber and plastics. They are not painted with lead base paints but acrylac radar absorbent paint. This type of paint has no color pigments, just hues of white grey black. The paint that is used by the military has a top secret composition. The tiles serve one other sensor inhibitor quality which is the faceted refraction of the numerous angles. In other words, it brakes up the return. Simple annology is, picture a chrome ball outside next to a relitively same size disco ball. The light source being a radar signal, the balls being a target. I dont think the USN started using tiles extensively untill the late 70s or early 80s.

[greenman407]

Ahoy on deck thar mates.

[greenman407]

Collins Underwater

[greenman407]

Anyone for Chinese?

[greenman407]

Nice drawing.

[greenman407]

Museum sub in France, I hear.