FreekS
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Dear friends, Last week I drove to Nürnberg in Germany with my K-XVIII submarine to sail her in a nice outdoor pool with a lot of other subs. I managed to get in over 2 hours of sailing before the batteries were exhausted. Fired three of my rubber motor Torpedo's and generally had lots of fun. Enjoy!
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Here is the first test of the motor. I'm running it of a 12 Volt battery and measuring the current drawn. After increasing the power, the prop is making the bath into a whirlpool! I'm going to have to use lower voltage or program the controller to work better at low power settings. Good news is that even with .3 to .6 amps it's already running nicely, and the drivetrain seems well lined up. Freek
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For gunner on seat see here http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/pictures/pictures_kxv_wwii.htm I think the seat could swing closer in than where Piet has it now. I have seen some pictures of a kind of cover structure covering the rear part of the gun when submerged. Not sure if it was actually used. Freek
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With the rudders and dive planes finally mounted, I've turned to the inside of the boat. Here is an inside shot of the stern Parton the hull. The pushrods for the planes and dive planes end here inside a nut assembly that will contain an o-ring, sealing the 2mm think pushrods from the sea (well, pool more likely!). In the centre in the stern is a spring loaded shaft seal mounted in a wooden holder, the wood is thoroughly impregnated with epoxy. Behind the shaft seal is a short shaft running on three bearings, of which one is in the conus behind the prop. Next, I mounted the drivetrain. The small brushless motor is optimised for relatively low rpms (8000 or so) which should drive my low pitch but large propellor with not too much tongue (or current). I made a wooden motor mount which will be glued on one of the bulkheads. Behind the motormouth is just enough room for the stiff connection between the motor axle and the shaft. The motor is screwed on the motormount, and if I unlock the prop from the shaft, then the axle and motor can all be pulled out of the boat for maintenance. Next is to design how the servomotors will operate the pushrods; as you can see from prior photos, if bothe rudder and dive planes are swung out fully, they will hit each other, but when the dive planes are neutral, the rudder could swing out fully. As my boat is small and will be used mainly in swimming pools, I will want to get a small turning circle. So I have to do some thinking on how to regulate the operations of planes and dive planes so they do not interfere but give maximum manoeuvrability. Ideas welcome of course! Cheers Freek
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Great looking gun Piet! Are you going make the seat for the gunner also? Freek
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On K-XIV class the dinghie (het jolletje) was stored upside down. I think there would have been a drain hole or two in the bottom to let air out during diving (i made those on my RC model of K-XVIII). Those would be plugged bythe crew when used. With the jol right side up if would remain full of water and be hardto handle I think. But I don't knownthentrue answer for O-19! Freek
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I think the dingie would be upside down! Build is fantastic! Freek
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Hi all, the build continues - slowly, as usual! This week I have been working in the dive planes and rudder, both made from 1 mm messing, soldered to the shafts. I am not a star in soldering , but by cooling planes already mounted I got a strong bond. Only the little "balance planes" on the opposite side of the shaft proved impossible to solder without destroying the other connection, so I mounted those with 2 component epoxy. Seems strong enough. I filed off excess solder - the whole thing looks like it will work though it's probably not the very best looking part of the boat. Still have to polish and paint the planes though. The conus already contains one of the bearings for the shaft, and so it will be fixed by the propshaft, the planes shafts and the two wooden fins. The holes in the hull for the pushrods have been drilled, so next will be building and mounting the propshaft and motor connection, and the linkages to the pushrods controlling the planes.
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Hello all, Moving aft with the build-I've been working on the fins that support the rudders and dive planes and the aft conus. On attached photo the shafts for the rudders and diverudders can be seen, provisionally mounted in their final position. The prop will have a bronze water-lubricated bearing inside the aft conus, which is further supported by the two shafts (rotating) and thin wood pieces of the vertical fins. Hope it will all be robust wrt the forces that may act on the planes in a turn or dive! The bearings are part of a large number of inside components that are underway from various Internet shops. Luckily I only manage to build a sub every 4 years or so, as the total cost of components is getting to be impressive. The main motor and propshaft have arrived - but I need the bearings to continue ! Freek
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It looks like a simple model, that O-16 . but I'm sure that's deceptive! Every time I look in the box of the Admiralen klasse destroyer I think "wow that look like lots of small and complex parts" and then I reckon it's easier to build a working sub like the O-1! But I'm sure I will get to building those beautifull dutch models ! Freek
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Looks really nice! What are you going to do for props? They can make the ship come even more alive! Freek
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Today was another milestone. The prop I ordered from the props hop arrived! It looks fabulous! The prop has a diameter of 52 mm, has a small pitch (so a relatively small size motor can be fitted), and a 4 mm smooth hole for the shaft with a small locking nut. This is needed as with a threaded shaft it would become very hard to remove the prop once mounted. Now I plan to make sure the motor can be unscrewed and then the shaft pulled 'into' the boat. The prop will look like an integral part of the hull, as a small conical part of the hull continues behind the prop. The conical stern piece has two boreholes through which the "shafts" (probably not the right word) of the rudder and the dive planes will turn. Those will also turn on the horizontal and vertical fins of which two are shown in below pic. Lots of decisions to be made next. Do I let the propshaft continue into the conical stern piece and place a bearing there, or do I leave the stern piece "free hanging" and have both bearings inside the hull? How to rigidly fix the conical stern piece which will be fixed on top and bottom to the vertical fins, but not to the horizontal fins as that connection necessarily is a turning shaft for the dive planes. I think I put a pic of the stern of the real boat in an earlier post - it will be a complex build! Freek
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In some of the books about Dutch submarines I think I read that the deck was regularly scoured with sand, resulting in a white look. This would have been common practice before the war when the boats were receiving visitors in harbour. When I made my deck planking on the K-XVIII the objective was to be fully wat proof so I choose 0.8mm by 1 mm waterproof birch triplex and added some clear, matt varnish. Freek
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Flip Thanks for the idea! I've found a number of photos of the dock, and maybe once my boat is ready I will actually build the dock as a stand. Probably Parton the dock as it was much bigger than O-1 Thanks for you interest! Freek
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hi all, On photos of the O-1 clear horizontal seams are visible on the hull. I presume this is where steel hull plates are riveted ov each other for strength. On another forum I saw a means I'm making this, I glued thin, 0.8mm think wood strips to the hull, and applied epoxy putty to one side of that, while leaving a step on the other. Then with a sanding machine I sanded the wood and dried putty even to about a 0.5 mm thin step (equivalent with 16mm steel plate in reality. I have a number more to do but it's pretty simple to do. I am very curious what it will look like after painting (and possibly applying rivets) Freek
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I love the stand ! But everyone knows the beer was stored inside the pressure hull: - it might not survive the pressure - it needs to be drunk! Seriously, beautiful boat. No-one knows which shade of green these boats were, probably anything available in wartime. Fantastic project! Freek
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More work done on the superstructure. Did some finishing work on the bow plates using epoxy resin. Needs a few more rounds I'm sure! Also built the rest of the side plates of the superstructure so that the shape of the boat is getting close Also did some work on the hatch, periscope and the little hatch that closes the periscope hole when retracted. Freek
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I have now completed the installation of the bayonet. It is glued in with epoxy glue and (hopefully) made waterproof with epoxy resin. Next is to start to work on the outer plates of the deck section. These are difficult, I am using 0.8 mm triplex wood, which bends mainly in one direction. Especially at the bow it needs to bend in two directions. So I have installed some wood blocks as glue surfaces. The two front hull plates have been glued in (compare with original foto on page 2). The torpedo tube door will not be functional and has been glued in place. All surfaces under the plates have been treated with epoxy for water repellency. Clearly there is some work to be done with plamuur/putty as there are a few unwanted curves in the wood. But that will be fixable I think. Freek
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I remember this, took me two months to create the deck planking! Like you I cut and sanded individual planks to about 1 mm width and glued them on the dark grey painted deck. Then I varnished them. Boat has now had 19 patrols (and an equal number of dives and surfaces! ) and the deck looks a little weathered. Practice in the navy was for the sailors to have to sand these (with sand) regularly until they were truly white. I'm sure that went out with the first war patrols! freek
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I know it's old fashioned, but in some countries there are still model shops you can go to, get advise and pick up a good set. What set depends largely on what country you are in and what frequency is legal. I'd go for 2.4 GHz Freek
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R/C ...WHAT TYPE OF GLUE SHOULD BE USED???
FreekS replied to Cap'n Rat Fink's topic in RC Kits & Scratch building
The glue is not the only thing that's important. The hull, when wood, needs to be sealed as otherwise a scratch in the paint can lead to swelling of the hull. Epoxy or polyurethane resins are commonly used for that. Both will need final coatings to prevent discolouration due to UV light. Freek -
After cutting the sub near the stern, I will now mount a bayonet so that the boat can be opened and a "tech rack" mounted in the stern section which can be pulled out of the bow section. As the bayonet is slightly smaller than the boat, I glued some wooden rings into the stern section. As this section gets narrower to the stern these rings can be firmly mounted. The bayonet fits well in this (but is not glued yet). The bow section gets slightly wider towards the bow, and thus the wooden rings have been fixed with three small wedges. These allow the ring to be precisely centred and allow the bayonet to be test fitted and the two halves of the boat connected. The wedges have now been glued in place and the next step is to fix the wooden ring with epoxy resin. This was definitely a slightly scary operation - but it looks good - though only when the seal is proven to be water- and air proof will it be finished. Freek
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In 1937, she did convoy duty in the straits of Gibraltar . general Franco had during the Spanish civil war issued a blockade of communist harbours and threatened to board ships in the straits of Gibraltar. The Spanish navy was divided into two, Francos Royalist forces and Communist ships which embarking Russion officers. O-16 was lying in Lisbon after her return from the US and was ordered to immediately disembark Professor Veening Meinensz, who had performed gravity measurements on board, and join up with hr ms Hertog Hendrik and perform war patrols in the Straits of Gibraltar with war Torpedo's loaded in the tubes and the boat ready for action. this support action for the pantserdekschip Hertog Hendrik was crucial, as the Royalist fleet comprised three 15 and 20 cm gun cruisers superior to the Hertog Hendrik. after two weeks patrolling she is relieved by Hr ms Java, hr ms O-13 and hr ms O-15 and heads for home. A nice example of deterrent by Dutch submarines. (de Nederlandse Onderzeedients 1906 to 1966) Freek
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