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Who is John Galt? -
I've always loved the XXIII. Single screw, offspring of the mighty XXI, easy to build, but it still has some of the cool details (railings, snorkel, UZO, etc.) that add spark to the model. Also, only 2 tubes to worry about if you want to do torpedoes, just like the real boat. I always thought that giant conning tower had ample space if you wanted to do a camera as well. I may still buy another one of these kits just to be able to create a static model... As much as the 32nd Parallel from Simon and Sheila was popular, having this in styrene beats the hell out of trying to add all the details on that ABS hull.
Great stuff on the latest photos, David. Are you going to start work on the torpedo system right away for the model as well, or is the first order of business just to get the fittings and ballast system done?
-SamComment
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Sam,
First, I complete the fittings kit and SD for this kit, then move on to backed up chores -- things I promised some of the guys, take care of some outstanding PO's, and work to update the Caswell catalog (a never ending chore, but vital to sales). 1/35 torpedo system is way off in the distance me thinks.
DavidWho is John Galt?Comment
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Time had come to open some flood-drain holes in the bottom of the keel. I have no authority -- document wise -- but the few holes in the bottom of the hull built into the kit are not enough. That fact brought home during todays initial trim trials. So, I broke out an old scribing stencil and worked out those hole locations and opened them up. I employed scribing during the hole layout process. I never throw a stencil away!
The upper four limber holes near the upper bow are deformed owing to the tools inability to fill completely in those areas. High draft angle. I fixed these by building up the upper edges of the limber holes with a baking soda-CA adhesive filler and then working that mess back with tools until I had achieved the correct limber hole size and shape.
And I'm starting out with about twenty-ounces of fixed lead ballast. I'll trim the beast out tomorrow morning.
Who is John Galt?Comment
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David-
If I recall correctly (don't have the references in front of me) the flood holes you repaired in the bow of the boat are actually offset from one another from one side to the other. In other words, on the port side, the first free flood hole is between the two on the starboard side (or vice versa). Bronco got it wrong on the model. I'm relatively certain they shouldn't mirror their location from port side to starboard side.
On my OTW XXIII, I had to drill a few small spaced holes under the wooden decking forward of the conning tower to let out the trapped air bubbles, too.
The model looks great. I can't wait to see how it performs for you in the water.
-SamComment
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I'm assembling this kit as a vanilla flavored unit; no specific boat is being represented here -- I'm doing a generic Type-23. Good enough to blow my skirt up, Sam
Are you sure there were no units of this class that had symmetrically arrayed limber holes, Sam?
Unless I'm doing a commission where the client wants to do a specific boat I don't let myself get bogged down in such petty-any stuff. Who cares!
Detail freaks typically can't get their butts away from the reference books and Goggle-search sessions; they are strangers to the shop. Those guys -- with chests puffed out -- will spend all their time arguing amongst themselves over details few give a ****-about; details that have no bearing on the overall presentation or operation of the r/c model submarine. These all-show-no-go-types embrace stagnation as a group, and tend to be insufferable bores, more interested in club rules and maintenance of decorum than the Craft they pretend to practice. Example? See: SubCommittee.
Real Model-Builders, and Masters like me, tend to be a bit pragmatic with the production build/assembly jobs. The result is that we who don't loose sleep over limber hole locations/numbers/battle-bars/size tend to get more models into the water than the arm-chair Admirals who sweat how many angels they can get to dance on the head of a ****ing pin!
DavidWho is John Galt?Comment
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Well said David. From my research, some of these boats had only four floud holes in the bow, some six and others eight. Many where an mirror image and some were not. It just comes down to which boat your going to build. And most or all, just have fun with it!
By the way David, love your boat, she's a beauty, eh!:wink:
Cheers!
MurrayComment
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Ha!
Ah David, I've missed your sweet talking ways.... lol
That just happened to be a detail I remembered, because I cut my fore and aft upper hull separations on my OTW boat in about the same place you did with your saw, and I had to cut through one of the limber holes, because of the offset.
I understand that you're doing a representative model of the class. I also know that every boat had it's own mods, so unless you have photos of a specific boat after it was underway, it's all speculation...
I continue to be impressed with all the detail that Bronco did put on this model. I can't wait to see yours float and sink and float and sink...(repeatedly...)
cheers!
-SamComment
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You're running fast David, how does she behave in the water?, nice solution those hidden drainholes at the keel, must copy that.
To please you ever more, i know it's a bad picture, but you get the idea, it's taken from one of those Uboot im Focus books.
Wether you do this or not it's all up to the builder, i allready plugged up the symmetrical floodholes and cutted some a-symmetrical one's, you know me, love the details.
Manfred.I went undergroundComment
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LOL. Sam, I love ya, pal!
(for you slobs looking over our shoulders: Sam and I go waaaaay back. Sam is one of the nicest guys on the planet AND he actually finishes his projects and gets them in the water. I bet the moment he hit the 'enter' key he cringed, realizing that he just opened the gates of hell, cautioning ME about some obscure prototype detail -- I never miss a chance to rant. And he knows that! Toss me a floater and you had better jump into a hole.)
And I agree with you 100% Sam about the great job Bronco's done with this kit. Other than the vertical hull split, there is not a thing I would re-engineer about this kit -- it's almost designed for r/c conversion.
Had the thing in the water last night and this morning. I'm in the "where the hell does the foam go now!??? phase of trimming. Pictures tonight/early morning, guys. The SD's ballast tank seems to be the right size, but won't be sure till I put all the little above-waterline detail parts aboard for the final trim outings. If all goes well, I'll have this thing in the lake tomorrow.
DavidWho is John Galt?Comment
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That shot makes Sam's point. Good catch, Manfred. You, sir are that very rare bird: Historical nit-picker of the first-order, detail-freak AND prolific Model-Builder.You're running fast David, how does she behave in the water?, nice solution those hidden drainholes at the keel, must copy that.
To please you ever more, i know it's a bad picture, but you get the idea, it's taken from one of those Uboot im Focus books.
Wether you do this or not it's all up to the builder, i allready plugged up the symmetrical floodholes and cutted some a-symmetrical one's, you know me, love the details.
Manfred.
DavidWho is John Galt?Comment
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Here is a reference
Circled in yellow, you can see (I hope) the far side is outlined in dashes.If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
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Good stuff, Tom. Thanks
As to the need of venting the upper hull so I don't catch bubbles of air during the dive, I punched a lot of holes atop the deck. These holes hidden under the eventual planked deck pieces, but right now right out in the open. When I do the final trim, I'll have to stick all pieces in place to get the actual displacement, but right now it's good enough to leave these fragile (read: breakable) pieces off-model till I'm done with it. also punched holes into the stern to insure the quick and sure escape of bubbles as the hull goes under.
I needed to verify that the rudder linkage could be made up without need of cutting the hatch I've done on this model. The ideal is to push the rudder operating shaft up from the bottom, first up through the lower rudder support, through the rudder, up into the upper rudder support and into the bell-crank bore, then slipping an Allen wrench in there to tighten up the rudder bell crank to the upper end of the rudder operating shaft. The operating shaft made fast to the rudder proper by a set-screw set into the rudders port face. A 1/8" diameter vent hole atop the upper rudder support permits observation as the bell-crank is set into the rudder operating shaft. It worked!
Got the gross trim in (no detail parts added yet, so displacement will go up a few ounces later), and the boat was surprisingly easy to dial in. As is my practice, I started with the ballast tank full and once submerged trim was achieved, I emptied the tank, and moved foam vertically to get the proper surfaced trim.
To my relief I find that I've put more than enough ballast tank in the SD to pull the detailed model down beneath the waves. When I calculated total displacement of the kits above waterline portions I designed the ballast tank to hold about 120% of that weight, and it seems I'm well within that ball-park after todays trip to the kiddie-pool.
The SAS worked fine, but only after I added more weight to the snorkel float in order to insure it's pulled down off the induction nipple when up in the air, yet subject to a partially evacuated cylinder. Now, when the boat surfaces I can hear the 'pop' of the weighted out-of-water snorkel float falling away, opening the valve, immediately issuing a 'whoosh' sound as the cylinder gulps in air to break the partial vacuum created when the LPB took a suction on the SD's interior. All these little adjustments are noted and will be incorporated into the production parts.
Who is John Galt?Comment
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Looking good! Will you post a video of a run, David? It looks great sitting at waterline...Comment
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I don't know how to get video out on the Net. I'll take stills though, Sam.
David
Change that: Tom said he'll help me get the video out on the net. Stay tuned, sports fans.Last edited by He Who Shall Not Be Named; 03-27-2013, 12:03 AM.Who is John Galt?Comment
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