| I did some more detailing on the sail today including one of the periscopes and the thing at the back. (Whatever it is?) The scope can be manually moved up and down for transport etc. |
| More sail detail work. There certainly is a lot of gear on the BB's sail aye?!!! I notice on a pic of the real one (below left) that it seems to have some kind of windshield on the front of the cockpit. None of the models of it do though, so it may just be for the museum purposes. I won't add anything there unless I know it's really there. Yes the scopes are crocheting hooks. The real ones are that same shape, so why not? My detail isn't perfect, but should look OK painted and from a few metres away in the lake. (I hope!) Jason |
| A bit more work. I fitted the sailplanes and the tower attachments today. I also added a simulated stern light on the back part of the sail and fitted the tail cone plug. |
| Today I finished off the tower detail and painted it. |
| Today I did work on the assembly of the 3 hull sections |
| I cut out the hatch today |
| Today I did some reinforcing of the inside of the hull joins and fitted a latch index thingy to hold the front of the deck/hatch in place 4 ways. |
| I did some filling and sanding today and started attaching the sail. |
| Not much done today. Just some priming and putyying. |
| The rod is just in temporarily to align the planes while the glue goes off. The inner end will have a short rod glued into the fin and the other end will have a servo horn type do-dad with a rod attached on each side and the 2 rods will come together up near the WTC and bend in around the prop shaft. The outer ends are having the pictured collets glued in and the bolts will go through the end plates (counter sunk and temporarily filled) and through a Tube then into the collets. The tube sleeves will be the bearing surface and the bolts will allow the fins to be fitted and removed for maintenance. |
| Some work on the appendages today |
| A bit more work on the dive planes and end plates. |
| A bit more work on the dive planes today. |
| Today I finished off the dive planes and rudder controls and fitted a removable half buikhead to support the front of the drive shaft tube and control rods. i can't do much more to the boat until I get the WTC gear from USA so I'll now go on with the detailing and paint etc. |
| I made an extension for my hex key to do the bolts up on the running gear. |
| Today I finished fairing the boat and coated all the filler with epoxy as I always do to strengthen and seal it from osmosis. I also did some of the detail scribing and fitted an open torp tube in the middle of the bow. The other 5 are just scribed in. The tube will also act as a free flood port for diving. |
| Today I did detailing. I put doors on the other 5 torpedo hatches and made fore and aft escape hatches. The aft one is hinged (not scale hinge) so I can open it to access the switch control without removing the decking. |
| A bit more detailing today and some more primer |
| I finished most of the detailing and routed out the free flood vents under the hull. Once that's painted (touched up), it's just a matter of waiting for the WTC parts and give her life! |
| I used my new lazer level to mark the water mark line and antifoul line. |
| I finished off the detailing today and painted the free flood vents underneath too. She's being put to rest now until the parts arrive for the WTC. |
| WTC Build |
| Today I made the control rods for the back cap seals and started preparing the Hull frames for the WTC tubes to fit. |
| I set up the control rods with attachments and started mounting the WTC parts in the boat. |
| A bit more WTC work today. I hooked up the prop shaft coupling and gave her a bench test too! |
| I glued the end caps today and hooked up all the electrics for a test. I also planned where I'm putting everything and test fitted the parts. All's well! |
| I test assembled it all today (except the bladder ring-forgot it) and drilled out the end caps etc. It just needs the battery to finish it off now. I'm waiting for it on back order at H Store. They rightly don't keep them in stock so you don't get one that's died on the shelf- (unlike some hobby shops!) |
| I also made a clip on prop protector for use with the Scope clients. The Dave Merriman scale prop is too vulnerable out back and a bump into the wall will trash it. The rods clip into tiny holes in the top rudder and sonar array plates. |
| A bit more wiring work today. |
| The wires are sealed into the aft section cap with RTV. |
| I started trimming her today using a lead weight that simulates the battery that hasn't arrived yet. I put some foam in the bow (pic) and stern and tried different lead pieces in the hull builge. It'll need a bit to counter the weight of the sail and raised deck. On first dunking, she rolled straight over. Once I get her to sit up straight like a good girl and float just under with the sail only above water, I'll experiment with inflating the air bag and see if she stays level. I'll also need to test her in the lake to see how well she static dives and dynamic dives etc. If she's anything like my U-boat, she'll either nose dive or butt down sink and need more foam above the floating waterline in one end or the other. It should sink on a fairly even keel when I vent the air. (Should!!) |
| Foam stuck under deck with clear plumbers silicone. (It doesn't disolve styrene and is removable) |
| Trimming in the tub! Still waiting for the battery. I trimmed her with 100g of lead in the battery bay which is the right weight. |
| I reworked the ballast setup since yesterdays testing in the dog bath. |
| The dirty bath water pic has red marks showing the dive ready water level on the sail. |
| I attached all the weights and floatation foam with RTV1 silicone which is secure enough, but makes them removable for adjustment. |
| The end result that looks fairly scale (I think). |
| Building Fourteen |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 36" USS Blueback Submarine. I ordered the hull kit on www.subpirates.com It's a new kit by Steve Neill USA Steve makes great kits and sends them world wide |
| The first kit BB finished 25 June 06. CLICK HERE for the video |
| The kit arrived!!! Here's the parts |
| Like my new sub shoes? Just being silly |
| I trimmed the waste off the hull parts with my trusty Dremmel and cleaned them up. |
| I ordered most of the necessary electrics from Subtech. (Pandam Models UK) I still need the ESC and the ballast air pump and bladder for the RCABS system. They'll come from Dave Welch USA with the tubes and end caps for my WTC |
Abbreviations:
|
| I won't put dates on this build so you readers won't know when I was slacking off! |
| I've glued the hull pieces together and the frames are in. I'm now working on the sail details. The cockpit is formed from a wooden plug in from the top and a wall of clay to dam up the resin and mould a floor and sides etc. I also molded the rim to surround the front periscope and drilled out the hatch way for the tower. |
| Just taped together |
| Flat clear sprayed on then heat dried to leave pourous surface. (Wet in pic) |
| In this pic the hatch is reversed to show the latch I fitted. |
| She's tiny compared to my U-boat! |
| The sail/tower isn't attached in these pics. Just sat it on. It'll be straight when done. |
| I started on the WTC today. I made up a bracket out of square plastic to support the Subtech motor- belt drive combo and the 2 servos for the rudder and dive planes. The pics tell the story. |
| I used a Water Tight Compartment from BD Designs in USA (Dave Welch) |
| I put lumps of epoxy putty under the back of the tube to bed it in and set the FWD-AFT position. I covered the tube with tape to prevent adhesion. |
| I used 'Deans' plugs for the power switch and charge jack. The wire in my hand is the switch for positive through the fuse to the circuit.. The other side is direct to the battery for charging. The negative is connected permanently. The battery connects through a 'Deans' plug inside the tube. |
| Lead and steel weights RTVd in place |
| Initial Shakedown Cruise! |
| The trim was pretty good if I pushed her under initiallt to rid her od trapped air up front. She needs bigger vents in the bow deck. |
| The rudder and dive servos weren't up to the task and I'll need to get hi torque ones for them. I set the rudder halfway to one side for the tests so she'd circle around. It worked well. The boat settles down to a depth that has the top of the sail out up to the sail planes. It should dive easily from there once the servos are equel to the task. I set her up with the longer WTC tube aft which accommodates the Subtech belt drive unit. The plan says to have it forward for more air reserve for the RCABS to static dive the boat. I'm happy with it like it is and it shouldn't get lost easily. Once I fix the servo problem, I'll post some more pics and video. I've ordered a pair of HT81s for her which are 2.6kg torque rated. The existing ones are 1.1kg. I hope these will do. ($40 each) Click Here for today's video and slide show. (5 minutes) |
| I got the new H81 servos and found there's just not enough room for them side by side, so I made a new bracket and mounted the dive plane servo infront of the drive unit with a longer pushrod. Incase you're wondering how the rods don't bend when the horns rotate, the servo horns have slotted holes so the rod pins can slide along to allow for the ark. |
| 28 Sept 2006 She's pretty well done. The trim still needs work as she's listing to starboard and diving stern first. Otherwise not too bad. She goes down and comes back up! |
| I bumped the bottom on the trial run and stripped a gear in the micro servo, so I've reorganised the aft compartment and fitted a standard size servo for the steering. |
| 3rd sea trials. She's getting close. A little bit more foam adjustment for trim and she'll be spot on. |
| Final trials went well today! She dives, comes back up and steers!!!! |
