Jeff's Type VII project

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Pull the core out the tire valve, slip a hose over the body, blow into it (holding the forward and after caps by hand so they don't unseat) and stick the whole SD underwater as you look for leaks. It it's a seal, replace it. You need spares -- let me know.

dmeriman@aol.com

David,

[fwjeff]

Next Progress (2)

Next note, hit the five picture limit! I was having some air getting trapped forward of the air bottle so I lowered it about 1/16th inch. This reduced the width of the sealing area at the top. The last two are under way. I'm still learning to control it. Getting the hang of it fairly good, at least no power dives into the pool liner or breaches with the sub flipping upside down! So far I'm running without the ADF connected. Now that it's balanced pretty good & I'm figuring out how to use the dive planes I'll turn it on pretty soon. Did find one problem today, the equipment chamber is leaking quite a bit, I think it's one of the motor shaft seals.

[fwjeff]

Next progress

More progress. Some photos of the deck details made from brass. Turned out pretty good. I'll probably change the rails along the tower to a smaller diameter wire (1/32). The picture of the bottom of the conning tower shows the tube for the snort. I made the periscope from aluminum tube & used the kit top section. There is a hole near the top of the tube for the air intake. So far it's working pretty good.

[Anuci]

Jeff, excellent trimming of the boat, sets perfectly above and below the water. looks Nice! These plastic hull boats have turned out to be quite nice for what they are. Regards, Al,

[pjdog]

good job.

Jack

[fwjeff]

Testing Photos

After some travels I'm back to work on the VII. Here are a couple of pictures in the pool. One surfaced & the other sitting about 6 inches off the bottom. So far the main controls are set up & working. Just need to plug in the ADF & set up the plumbing for the Snort. Still having some problems getting air out from under the deck. I'm putting hinges on the two deck hatchways so they can open if air is under them. Also opened up the main deck under the conning tower & the conning tower deck around the front & sides. Should help a bit. One caution I found. When connecting the radio antenna to the stud make sure it stays isolated from the motor mount. I didn't check after tightening things up & the speed control self destructed rather spectacularly! Just to be paranoid I added a 3/32 brass tube near the top of the rear bulkhead running to the aluminum bulkhead forward of the servos. Stiffened up the mounts nicely & gave a spot for the antenna well clear of all the other hardware.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

"Push the button ... Max!"

[Kazzer]

There's a Gato in Mobil Al. where the battleship Alabama is. In Mobil bay. Both are a must see. Been to both.

Jack

Bin there, dun that too! USS Drum. I even got to blow the Klaxon on it. My dad took me on HMS Sybil in Malta and I was left alone in the control room for a few minutes, feet dangling from the swivel chair, with strict instructions not to touch the red button. What does a four year old do? Next thing half of Malta thought the Germans were bombing the harbour again. Dad & I got into trouble.

When I conveyed the story to the female officer on duty on the Drum, she said I should do this one too!

[pjdog]

U505 - It's in Chicago at the museum. It's now inside. They have a real nice set up to view the sub.

There's a Gato in Mobil Al. where the battleship Alabama is. In Mobil bay. Both are a must see. Been to both.

Jack

[shamrock]

where did you find the u505 pics

[fwjeff]

U505 Photos

A few more;

[fwjeff]

Next round of photos

A few new photos. The picture of the stern shows it with the lower guard complete. I used the kit's rear bulkhead to make a mount to hold the SD level in the hull. And the start of the tower & decks. I aslo tried putting in some pictures of U505 from last week but I'll need to try again, looks like only one uploaded, stand by!

[pjdog]

Nice work Jeff. I'm jealous. The type VII is my favorite boat. Your doing a good job. Keep the pictures coming.

Jack

[fwjeff]

New Photos

More pictures. The Dive Planes & Rudders are installed & working very nicely. One close call with glue getting into the stern plane bellcrank while attaching the rudder mount. A little heat from the soldering iron fixed it. I decided to make up brass bellcranks for each, can't resist tinkering & added some .032 stainless weld wire for the outer hinge pins for the rope guards. Since the photos the guard for the bottom stern has been finished using brass rod.

[fwjeff]

Thanks! I'm trying to go slow until I know how everything fits together. I saw a shipping notice so the sub driver & parts are on their way. Figure for now I'll do things like the conning tower railings & some of the other deck detail I want to do in metal.