Piet

Hey John, where are the harpoons?? Inquiring minds want to know I know, it's tedious work but someone has to do it - - - and you are it Cheers,

Hoi Freek, Looking nice, she's beginning to take shape now. "Klemmetjes" would be clamps in English It's great that I still understand Dutch If you are covering the hull with glass and epoxy anyhow why not use small brass nails instead of clamps? I did the same with the O 19 but did remove the nails after the glue was dry - - - I think. Cheers,

Tanks to all who dropped in and your "like" votes. Hello Wacko Joe and John (Lad), ah yes, sheet metal work on aircraft is a little different, much bigger to start with and big tools and equipment. I had stretchers and crimpers but at this scale that's impossible. Here I have double compound curves to make that would be easy in an autoclave sort of devise. John, a piece of cake? - - - more like hard tack My first attempt I rejected, didn't like the outcome. First of all, the top piece was too short and the lower piece as well. The shrinking of the forward part of the lower piece gave me some trouble. So, I started with a second try. Let's see how this develops. I will leave the aft end of the left lower piece open for water drainage, lessens my work and worry for that dreaded ball shaped end. This'll probably be the most difficult and troublesome part of the build. It sure is a challenge though and may wind up with a third try. Well, here is only one pic I took late this afternoon. It's still in the beginning and rough stage. At least the hole is now all squared away and finished to my liking.. So far this begins to look like something I can work with. There is obviously much more to do with this thing. Cheers,

Hi Remco, Congrats on the completion of the lower deck, everything looks superb! Nice work on the forgotten mortises, they came out great. And now onward with the next deck. Cheers,

First of all, thank you all for visiting and your like votes. @ Ian, thanks for the input. Yes, I'm aware of K&S products but not everyone stock the sizes I need. Remco is mailing me a small piece of 0.5 mm tubing and a fitting rod. One of our local hardware stores carry a few K&S tubes and flat stock but when they run out they wont reorder. So far I seem to be the only customer who have bought a few things. @ John (texxn5), good to hear that you have found a local outlet for the brass shim stock. A tad thicker then 0.1 mm is good too. Today was a day of rest for me, thus no work was accomplished in the boatyard. I have been thinking about the side anchor cowls though. I think that I'll try making it from brass sheet stock. The 0.1 mm thickness is a little too thin so I'll be looking for about 0.2 mm. That'll be less flimsy and shapes easier with a hammer on a wooden form. I did find a few pics that show that cowl a little better sooooooh - - - we are going to apply my old trade, sheet metal mech/former Just hope I haven't lost my touch. Cheers,

Hello all y'all and thanks for visiting my log and your like votes, it means a lot to me. @ John (Lad), thanks John, and I'll try staying clear of those sharp teeth @ John (texnn5), thank you for your compliments! Good luck with the hobby store. I have found that all three within reasonable driving range for us are not helpful at all as far as this kind of stuff is concerned. Even with the internet and many suppliers for brass sheet and tubing of the really thin and small sizes are difficult to find. These local stores are mainly craft oriented, bummer. I did some more on the anchor hole this morning. I made it a tad wider and also lowered it some to meet the hull curve. I installed a piece of veneer in the back of the hole to act as the anchor stock slide and also a small narrow piece on the bottom where the anchor will rest on. It looks a lot nicer and finished now, ready for the dark grey paint! Been struggling with the "cowl" piece. The pics I have are not clear enough to show the shape, thus I do have to do some guessing and try to make them as I think the engineers could have figured it. If I make it from brass sheet stock it'll most likely have to be made in three pieces due to double compound curves. I might wind up making a mandril to form them with a small hammer. I may have to make the anchor first though to know how much of the cowl has to protrude from the side. It appears that the anchor slides into it's compartment between the hull and the cowl.

Hoi Sjors, Now, if I can get my jaw off of the floor - - - then I can also say - - - congrats for a most magnificent build! I will certainly visit your next build, good luck! Cheers,

Thanks again everyone for visiting and your "like" votes, it's much appreciated. @ Popeye, yeah, only two small cuts and the last one didn't even bleed I's just a nuisance when I clean my hands with MEK. Yes, the details will make it look more authentic and then to think that I was not going overboard with detailing - - - hmmmmm - - - - must have had rocks in my head This morning before lunch and helping the Admiral with making Thanksgiving dinner, I did spend some time in the COLD shipyard. Yes, it was cold at Palm Coast, Florida, down to 10 degrees C In any case I braved it and made two small net cutter pieces for the dive plane top guards. Instead of soldering them on I am trying CA glue and see how they hold up. I just need to be careful not to bump them too hard, I may cut myself - - - again Then I thought to make a harpoon from the info I gave to texxn5 at the kit build section. For the result of my try go see John's build log. Okay after fiddling with harpoons (and my father could have used one when they were cruising in the Indian Ocean in 1939. They caught a shark and used the boathook to drag the monster on deck) I finally quit procrastinating with cutting the hole in the bow side for the side anchor. After I removed the small piece of the side I was elated. It was not as bad as I had imagined. I also removed some of the side planking bulkheads to allow enough space to house the anchor It's now just a matter of desiding how big / small this anchor should be and by looking at the pic of the K XVI Kreek send me I can estimate it pretty well. It's a lot simpler then I was thinking of and can make it happen so that I can stow the anchor on board and also let it go down. I'll also make the cowling above and in front of the opening as the pic of the O 20 shows, somewhere in my log. This gives me now also more confidence in opening one of the mine tube locations and install a tube with a model of a mine. No, I wont make a mine loading trolley, too much like work Now it's also a matter of getting some copper to make the anchor and the screws. I think I'll try a copper water pipe junction, can buy some at the local hardware store. After the anchor stowage place is done I'll paint the topside green, hopefully soon. That means - - - the conning tower Okay, here are the pics of this morning's work. The final net cutters installed, I think - - - I hope. This is the place where the side anchor will be housed. The opening is still in the rough, much more work is to be done before we can stow the anchor. It'll have to be opened up some more on the bottom and some wood removed from the frames inside to allow me to cement the back wall and sides in. Then the cowling on the outside, veneer or brass shim ??? Don't know yet, will experiment with both. Cheers,

Hoi Sjors, Congrats with the completion of this most significant and rewarding milestone! Cheers,

Hello piggy John and piget Diane, Did some work in my shipyard this morning and could not resist trying my hand in making a harpoon. First I used a 0.5 mm brass rod and peened the end flat and then filed a point to it. Problem was that the shaft end was rounded and i could not get it squared let alone indented to make it look more like an arrow head. Oh I guess with some more fiddling or a retry I could probably make a usable harpoon but .5 mm is below your scale anyhow. Next I took a 0.9 mm brass rod and the same happened there. Too rounded at the shaft end . I guess with some more smashing with the gebanger and the pin punch I could probably get somewhere but I figured that it would not look good enough and too time consuming to make 24 of them. So, what I did was cut a small piece of 0.1 mm brass sheet or ship stock and soldered it to the flat spot of the brass rod. I then slowly filed it to a point and recessed the part at the shaft end with a knife shaped file. To eliminate frustration my recommendation is to do the same. It only takes about 15 to 20 minutes to make a harpoon. If your harpoon point looks different, no prob, just model it to look like what you need. arrow on the left is from 0.5 mm brass rod, the one on the right from 0.9 mm brass rod with 0.1 mm brass sheet soldered and shaped to the flattened end of the rod. The same as above but with a an Exacto blade for scale. Cheers,

Hello friends, Today was spend with more figuring how and where to frame the lower part of the conning tower. Here too a lot of small detail can be added to the inside. According to the drawings there is a lavatory and a shower inside. No, I think not. There are three doors on the port side for access to the inside and I'll make them operable but no interior decoration I also made two small net cutters of 5 teeth for the forward end of the docking bumper or wale and cemented them on. I did cut my right thumb on one of them, they are sharp little critters Okay, I'll get the purple heart now. But it's only the second small cut i got on the whole build - - - so far, knock on wood. There are two more net cutters to make and solder on the leading edges of the top guard for the trim planes. I'm still thinking about the side anchor housing, apprehensive about cutting into the side and then making the door look good and believable. I have to do it but I'm still nervous though. After I drilled a few pilot holes for the AA gun tubes and the periscope locations I managed to knock one of the bollards off. I wiped the deck with my hand and there one flew off. Took me 20 minutes of crawling on the floor looking for it and finally found it, it's back on. Yeah, yeah, I could have made a new one in that time Okay, that is it for tonight.

Hi Andy, Thanks again for the info and yes, a sheave as well, but I was not even going to attempt that A lot of that kind of detail must just be omitted. Cheers,

Hey Remco, now that's a real sweet looking battle station bro! Hmmmm, how many more gratings? How many more holes for graphite? Hope you don't get nightmares - - - gratings, gratings, all floating around and around - - - arch - - - Great work! Cheers,

Hello John, You are welcome! I'm looking forward in seeing your harpoons completed! I figured that the more info I can give is also for the benefit of possible others. All the extra details on your model, or on any model, makes the model! I guess that's why I am adding much more to my sub model then originally planned. Give my best to Diane and happy thanksgiving, Cheers,

Thanks Andy! Are they for holding chain links? Or are they to guide lines to the bollards? And yes, there are fairleads in aircraft and some look similar, just different enough to throw me off, that's why it didn't light up my dim lightbulb in the brain Cheers,

Hello everyone and thanks to all y'all who came visiting and clicked "like." I do really appreciate it! @ Mark, I spend most of the day making small things, which was very time consuming. I made bollards! Yippee! Hmmmm, exiting work - - - well, not really but necessary. I am slowly running out of "stuff" to make on top of the deck and should be able to start work on the conning tower! There will be a few things i'll wait with till the con is up like the mine loading dolly rails, the torpedo loading gantries, all the hatch doors. I'm afraid that they'll be in the way and could get damaged. Even de bollards I made and cemented to the deck may suffer but I'll just have to be extra careful. Progress posts may also slow down some because i still need to make a few more sketches for the con as working ideas before I start cutting wood for it. I think that I'll make the tubes for the AA guns, the crew access tubes and the periscope tubes. The last ones will be the outer tubes for the periscopes to slide in and out of. I need to think ahead some more regarding the AA gun tubes, the periscopes, engine exhaust and intake for "snorkeling," and a few other items. Okay here is today's progress. I made four mooring devises from brass flat bars of .8 mm and about 7 mm long, two for the stern and two for the bow. They were soldered to small brass plates. When these pics were taken they were still not cemented to the deck. Next I cut 12 small pieces from a 3 mm dowel to about 8 mm lengths for bollards. These are also just standing there for the pic. There are two bollard pairs on the aft deck, two in the center and two on the forward deck. The bollard pair on the foredeck, also still unfinished. Here are the two mooring devises on the bow section of the foredeck. Any nautical person can please tell me what these thingies are called. We don't have them on airplanes you know. Andy? Anyone? This shows the completed bollards. This was a slow and painstaking job. Holding these tine gizmos between thumb and fore finger and then using a small rattail file to file a groove in the center and then with a half round file to make the groove a little wider. Then rounding off the top and shortening them some. The final hight is 6 mm. In retrospect I could have chucked larger lengths in the lathe to make them and cut off what I needed but that's now hindsight. besides, I was afraid that it would split off some of the wood at the top or bottom. In any case, they don't look half bad on the boat. I'll try to smooth them out a little more with some fine sandpaper on a dowel. Trying not to fuzz them up or break them loose Cheers,

Hello John, Well, here I am commenting on your questions about harpoons and how to make them. I copied your last post from my O 19 sub build log. Hhi Piet, as I'm thinking about this, I realize 14 ga., is way too big. I'm thinking maybe 22 ga., and peening that into fine flat sheets. If I leave it attached to the 22 ga. wire, it might be about right. If not might have to do some soldering. Any thoughts at 1:64 scale? The problem with 22 ga. seems to me to be able to keep it straight without curves and bends as it is soft. Mine is real soft like phone wire. Yes, copper is more malleable then brass but it's also softer and in the unhardened state too flexible at these small sizes. 22 gauge measures out at close to 0.65 mm, which is kinda small but doable for the harpoon head but not so good for the shaft. I would guess that the shaft should be about 2.5 inches in diameter for a good grip and handhold. That translates to 1 mm at your scale. Okay, first the business end of your harpoon. That 22 gauge wire is pretty good when flattened. Then you can shape it with a tiny file. Now, what about the shaft. There are a few options One is to use the same 22 gauge copper wire but you said it's kinda flimsy. You can stiffen or harden it by stretching the wire by pulling on it. Not so hard that it breaks but just enough to harden it some. Another thing you can do is solder the harpoon point it to a 1 mm brass rod. Flatten the stub end of the harpoon point but that should already be flat from your shaping step, then flatten about 2 to 3mm mm of the brass rod end and solder these two pieces together. You determine how long the shaft has to be in scale. I thought of using a 1.5 mm brass or copper tube for the shaft but that is too large for anyone to hold at almost 4 inches in diameter (at 1 to 1). Thus that won't work. A 1 mm wooden dowel is risky because it may warp. Now, you can also make the entire harpoon out of one piece using either a 1 mm copper or brass rod. Brass my be what I would try first. Flatten the end and shape your harpoon point. That flattening should be done with a 1/4 or 3/8 inch diameter pin punch. That way you can come close to how much you want flat and leave the rest round for the shaft. That way there is no soldering involved, just a little more work with the file. You can also soften the brass with heat if your "peening" hardens it too much and makes it brittle. Also, you should work from both ends, pound a little on one side then continue on the reverse side. You should have a nice piece of smooth flat steel to hammer on (I should actually say, tap on). I hope this works for you, give it a try and see what comes out and let me know. Cheers,

Hi John, Let me answer or comment on this issue on your build log, in case future Morgan builders have the same question. I hope you don't mind Cheers,

Hello John, I would make the harpoon tips out of copper wire. You can buy some at a DIY store or electrical store. First heat the bare wire to a dull glow and then immediately dunk it in cold water. This'll make it soft. Then you can peen it flat and file the harpoon shape in it. You can keep each harpoon tip attached to the copper wire as a handle for handy shaping For the handle or shaft you can use brass rod and soft solder it all together. Peen a small part of the brass rod a little flat for easier soldering and appearance. The peening of the copper wire will harden it some, which is good. Brass flat stock is okay to use but a little more difficult in shaping. I would not use brass rod to peen it flat, unless you anneal it again. Hope this helps. Cheers,

And again, thank you everyone for dropping in and your like votes. Hello Boris, thanks for your comment on the "pom pom's," That made me smile Yes, the AA gun tubes are clearly meant in some of the pics I have shown and they are directly in front and aft of the center conning tower command center. The access tubes to each AA gun is aft of the AA gun at the aft AA gun deck and between the AA gun and the open portion of the conning tower, this open portion is called "de badkuip" in Dutch or "bathtub" in English. However, there is a distinct difference between the AA gun tubes and the crew escape tubes. The AA gun tubes are slightly larger in diameter and they are straight tubes whereas the escape tubes are a little smaller and tapered. This is only true for the three escape or access tubes and AA gun tubes in the conning tower. The three escape tubes in the rest of the hull, those coming through the deck structure, are also straight tubes. There is also a difference between the O 16 you have shown and the O 19 and O 20 class boats. The coning towers are different with different arrangements of these tubes. The two access tubes to the AA gun deck portions of the O 19 and O 20 have a domed lid / door on the top side as well as a domed lid / door on the pressure hull. The reason for having straight tubes for the AA guns is to be able to raise and lower the AA guns that are mounted on a platform for a proper guide and to provide a stable platform to fire them. My description may be confusing but the working drawings for the O 19 from the Navy Archive should clear it up. Send me your mailing address again and I'll make copies of what Remco send me, including the propellers You cannot compare the O 16 with the O 19 and O 20 class boats, they are two different animals I tried to scan a few drawings Remco send me to show you but they are too light for the scanner to make a decent copy. However, Remco also send me a jpg of these pics and I'll try to attach it below. Okay, the last few days I was still puttering with the escape tubes on the hull. I also changed the position of the ladders to make them at 90 degrees to the boat's axis as seems to be indicated on a few photos. In looking at the drawings, again, they do have a pressure lid / door on the pressure hull as well as one at deck level. I'll add the handles to the domed lids that are visible but will cement them on. I have also made the telephone buoy and the forward ventilation exhaust tube. The telephone buoy has a cord attached to it so it can be deployed in case of an emergency. Pics will be coming Well, again not much to show for two days of work but what yuns don't see is that I'm still working at the drafting table to draw up the plans for the conning tower. Okay, enough of my jabbering, here are a few pics. This is part of the JPG pic Remco send me. It shows the details of the aft AA gun deck with the tubes. Here we see the aft torpedo room escape hatch. It is now cemented in. Just forward of it is the emergency telephone with buoy. I'll have the Admiral assist in making a picture with it deployed. This is looking forward with the forward torpedo room escape hatch and the ventilation exhaust pipe. Sorry, I made it static, no fancy stuff with this thing Cheers,

Hi Andriaan, good catch and good fix. It's all part of the fun Cheers,

Hey Adriaan, the extra planking they threw in is because they knew it was you who was going to plank this hull - - - Kidding !! Love that one piece pend there Adriaan, gives a much better look to the bow. That's how it's done when you scratch build. Cheers,

Hey John, wow, you haven't been sitting on your hands, great progress and looking good. Your shilight looks wonderful - - - did you treat it with preparation H to shrink it Seriously though, how did you accomplish it? Just in case a future builder runs into the same problem it may be helpful to them. Cheers,

Thanks everyone for visiting and your like votes. @ Daniel, negative on the locking wheel. They had a locking device on the inside with a "strong arm" like handle. There was no need to close and lock these doors or lids from the outside. The entire tube is part of the pressure hull as the pics below show and most of the time these boats cruised on the surface and when possible they were kept open for fresh air What we see in the movies with someone turning a wheel to close these doors did not happen on these Dutch subs. It's like what you see on quick change lenses on cameras but instead of rotating the lens you rotate a handle to slide the "bayonet" like gismos into place. They do have a handle on the outside though to lift them up when topside. I don't know if I have a close-up pic of that or not, all I wanted to do this evening is find a few pics of the actual escape tubes to show all yuns. The escape tubes you see on my model are the top ends that are flush with the deck. The domed door is the only part that sticks outside the deck. Everything between the pressure hull and the deck is unpressurized and flooded when submerged. That's a lot of dead water to drag along when submerged. This pic shows a bunch of the escape tubes laying on the ground ready to be lifted up to be installed. This is a shot from the interior of the boat looking forward to the bow torpedo room and the crew quarters in the foreground. You can see the bottom end of the escape tube with a ladder. I believe it slides up into the tube and latched here to keep it out of the way. This shows the command center being made. This is a part of the pressure hull and inside the lower center part of the conning tower. This is all sheeted with light steel on the outside for hydrodynamic flow. In front and behind it is more light structure for the AA gun placements. I thought i throw this in as well Here is another shot of an escape tube seen from the inside. This shows the command center installed with an escape tube behind it. Another shot with two escape tubes and the command center in between. Another shot with escape tubes and the command center. copy.jpg] An aerial shot of the same things as shown above. The deck structure is yet to be installed. Cheers,

Happy to oblige and glad it's useful to all yuns ship builders. Cheers,