Ian Lawrence---RIP

[RonP-UK]

It is with great regret that I have to tell you that Ian Lawrence died on Jan 17th. For those that did not know him Ian was a modeller of extraordinary talent and was the man who designed the artwork and built the masters for what is now the OTW Type VII U-Boat. Ian was never satisfied with the boat and pointed out many errors that he had made due to lack of knowledge. We then set out together, over ten years ago, to build a couple of type IXb subs that would pass any scrutiny by any expert. Trips out to look at the real thing and badgering Blomme and Voss as well as collecting photos,drawings and just about any bit of info we could. We spoke to people that had served on them and watched hours of film in a dozen different languages to get what we ended up with. It now falls to me to finish the journey on my own. I have attached a just a couple of the etched nickel silver parts that Ian had drawn up, they speak for themselves. Rest in peace old friend until we meet again and it is my sincerest hope that there will be a decent workshop with a good lathe waiting.
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[Kazzer]

Sorry to hear about your friend Ian. He certainly looked like a master of the craft looking at the etch work. is there any reason you chose nickel silver?

Are you going to make the molds/ Are you going to market the VII? Sounds like one helluva project Ron. I haven't seen you on Skype lately.

[RonP-UK]

No it was never going to be a kit Mike
, just a joint cooperation thing with two boats being built, one for me and one for Ian. To be honest it would be too expensive as a kit, there are 29 full sheets of photoetch making up the deck, bridge, hull sides, lower deck, loads of hatches, hinges,handholds, torpedo supports under hatches,baffle plates and god knows what else. The construction was to be based around a scale pressure hull with the bulk of the casing made up of photoetched scale panels to be formed and secured on frames around the pressure hull (as per prototype).5 minutes ago · LikeUnlike

[Subculture]

I can understand the price must be steep, several hundred pounds I expect even at cost price. I think some people will pay the price, if they want it badly enough. I'm thinking that one of the benefits of the way it's produced, is that with the artwork done, you can do very small low batch production, and farm the work out to an etching company, so they could be produced to order.

I think the biggest obstacle would be the skill required by the builder to stitch this thing together, and that rather than price would limit sales. If one was built up, and then used as a master to make a GRP tool from, with say an etched deck, like the Type VII kit, that would certainly be a popular, as there is no other Type IX on the market with this level of detail.

[RonP-UK]

I must say it would be tempting to look at simplifying the construction of the model, Ian did some moulds for the hull but discarded them as he was not satisfied with the result. I have the moulds and I have to say I can't find a damn thing wrong, the rivet detail is EXACTLY to scale (diameter and crs of rivets) as is the panel detail but this is a BIG boat, it is 32nd scale and my type VII will easily fit inside. The hull is over 8ft long and has a beam of around 8". There is still a lot of work to be done, the bridge has to be made although I do have the cigarette deck in etch and the vanes, rudders, "A" frames and deck guns (105mm front, 37mm aft and 20mm for bridge)are yet to be constructed. On top of all that of course a suitable diving module has to be made and that is not simple, around a gallon of water must be displaced to bring the thing up to correct surface trim (that wide flat deck is a bugger) but maybe a limited run could be done as a one off of say 10 boats only, we will have to see.

[Subculture]

How about someone like Bob Dimmack at OTW taking it on, it would sit well with the Type VII and S-class. A gallon displacement is a big tank(s), what's the plan, four piston tanks mounted fore and aft?

[Kazzer]

How about someone like Bob Dimmack at OTW taking it on, it would sit well with the Type VII and S-class.

Wash your mouth out with soap & a flannel, Andy :-)

How about making me one first? Just the thing for the Erie Canal! Yes! Yes! Yes!

http://www.moonrakers.com/camera.php

[Subculture]

Have you fixed that X-craft yet?

[Kazzer]

Have you fixed that X-craft yet?

Almost fixed. I've made new molds for all the dive planes and rudder. I merely have to install them. It shouldn't take too long to do, but I'm more concerned with the T Class and getting my first decent pull off my molds. I'm not a fiberglass expert so it's a learning curve, and I've been in Florida cleaning up my condo after evicting a bum tenant. (Bloody annoying!). Maybe this coming week, I can get both boats done!

[Subculture]

I noticed you used cloth for the T-class hull. Working with cloth has always looked a bit tricky to me, especially if you haven't done much glasswork, and the T-class isn't the easiest of shapes. My own laminates have always used CSM combined with polyester resin. I think that combination produces perfectly decent results, and it's pretty straightforward to work with.

Haven't done much work with epoxy, but what I have done suggests to me it's even easier than polyester resin to work with, as it tends to be thinner, so consolidates easier, and you get a nice long pot life leaving you plenty of time to correct any cock-ups. One other advantage of CSM over cloth- I find the hulls tend to be a little stiffer, which I think is down to the random direction of all the chopped fibre.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Good stuff from Andy -- the voice of experience. And did you get that X-craft quote for repairs I sent a while back?

David

[Subculture]

I just pass on what works for me. Cloth laminates look very tidy, but I think it takes a lot of practice to get really excellent results.

[Kazzer]

I just pass on what works for me. Cloth laminates look very tidy, but I think it takes a lot of practice to get really excellent results.

Aha! I've been led up the garden path! Where is that darned wizard?

I'll try some CSM tomorrow!

[Subculture]

I'm sure you already know this, but make sure it's powder bound CSM if you're working with epoxy, as styrene bound CSM won't conform like it does with polyester resin, and you'll be cursing me.

Not sure how you chaps work with epoxy, but with polyester I always apply a couple of coats of coloured gelcoat, let that set for a few hours until I can't dent it with my fingernail, then I mix up some laminating resin, brush that in and apply a layer of glass tissue and two or three layers of 300 gram (1oz sq ft.) CSM. I stipple more resin in with a short cropped brush until the matt is throughly wetted out,then consolidate with a washer roller. The latter tool is one I made myself- I found the ones supplied commercially were small in diameter but far too wide for laminating model hulls. I made the handle from an old bicycle spoke and turned the roller from 1/2" aluminium stock. Works great, as I can get into the tightest of spots with that.

You don't need to use tissue in the first layer, but it does prevent voids between the gelcoat and CSM, so I find it's worth the trouble. I was once told that gelcoat was for softies, but personally I'd be concerned about print-through if I didn't use it. From what little I know about epoxy resin use, you don't use a special air inhibited gelcoat resin like polyester, but add a thixo additive to the resin to prevent it pooling or sagging.