scale brass propeller

[mustangbob51]

Mr. Merriman sir, if you were going to create a metal prop for a 1/48 scale L A class flight 2 submarine, how would you go about it?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Mr. Merriman sir, if you were going to create a metal prop for a 1/48 scale L A class flight 2 submarine, how would you go about it?

Did that 20 years ago, got the T-shirt, wrote the book. Took the bows.

Did the master, tooling, and parts for the kits wheel of the eventual DeBoer 1/48 LA. These are the only shots I could find after a cursory look through my files.

First made the master from seven cast white metal blades; assembled them on a jig to a RenShape hub. Add glue, and a spritz of Unicorn pee and the 1/48 LA propeller master was done.

Used that propeller master to make a rubber tool (capable of both resin and low-temp. metal casting).

From that tool we pressure casted carbon impregnated polyurethane resin to form the kit propellers.

If a metal propeller was needed, the tool was outfitted with an eight-inch-tall stand-pipe -- to produce a positive pressure head at the tool's cavities, insuring a quick, complete pour -- and molten white metal ladled in the sprue.

Nothing to it.

Below is a test-shot to afirm tightness of the tool. After that, production propellers were reenforced with carbon strands.


The 1/48 LA propeller was a monster!


I built up one of Dennis' LA's for a studio that used it in a Navy PSA commercial.



Geez! Digging up the photos of that prop also reminded me: I'm the guy who built the masters for Dennis' 1/48 LA kit. He did the tooling for everything but the propeller.


















David
Damn... I'm good!

[Subculture]

I'm pretty sure that Simon at Prop Shop did the prop for the 1/40th scale LA that Sheerline produced years back. He does a range of scimitar props up to 5" diameter investment cast in Silicone Bronze, which looks like brass but is much stronger. He can also provide props in stainless steel and aluminium. Won't be cheap at that size, but quality is excellent.

https://www.prop-shop.co.uk/products.php?cat=modern-submarine

[SubSteve]

Did that 20 years ago, got the T-shirt, wrote the book. Took the bows.

Did the master, tooling, and parts for the kits wheel of the eventual DeBoer 1/48 LA. These are the only shots I could find after a cursory look through my files.

First made the master from seven cast white metal blades; assembled them on a jig to a RenShape hub. Add glue, and a spritz of Unicorn pee and the 1/48 LA propeller master was done.

Used that propeller master to make a rubber tool (capable of both resin and low-temp. metal casting).

From that tool we pressure casted carbon impregnated polyurethane resin to form the kit propellers.

If a metal propeller was needed, the tool was outfitted with an eight-inch-tall stand-pipe -- to produce a positive pressure head at the tool's cavities, insuring a quick, complete pour -- and molten white metal ladled in the sprue.

Nothing to it.


David
Damn... I'm good!

Proof-positive that if you say it fast enough it sounds easy!

[mustangbob51]

so it sounds like the quick and easy is to get a prop from England and save myself a lot of headache. thanks Dave

[Das Boot]

The man who never smiles. Should be a western character, like the Man with no Name.