hexnut

We are coming soon (hopefully) to a conclusion on the Diesel engines compartment. I am now working on the front bulkhead: 

The bulkhead is cut on the starboard side, to show the various tanks, since this section will be visible from outside. And to make sure that the rear kitchen bulkhead matches that one, we cut them together: 

And then, it is the delicate assembly and endless touch-ups with paint, to make it look decent and realistic: 



A few more details, a light above the desk and we will move to the walkway assembly.
 
Yves
 
 
 

I have to say "wow!" on the engines also.  

superb job on those engines........they look awesome!  

To stay on the subject of the Diesel engines used in the Type VIIc vessels, it is important to note that these motors could turn in both directions.
Switching from one direction to the other did not take much time and could be done in less than 30 seconds by seasoned mechanics.
 
The reversing mechanism was cleverly designed and was controlled by a single cylinder on top of each engine: 

The control was done from the front of the engines and the following drawing provides a detailed diagram of the mechanism: 

Finally, these engines had rather fragile bearings. It was not uncommon to have to replace them during a cruise and trained mechanics could do that daunting and extremely dirty task in a few hours. The movie Das Boot depicts such intervention being done: 

Mr. Tore, the expert who navigated the U-995, recounts in his memoirs how delicate and tedious it was to replace one or multiple crankshaft bearings while navigating.
 
Yves

So, the U-552 was built in the shipyard of  Blohm und Voss, in Hamburg on September 25, 1939. U-552 was part of a sub-series of eight vessels, ranging from 551 to 558.
These units were equipped, apparently, with the volumetric compressor driven by gears (not turbo-charged also known as Buchi  Super-charged) and as such, used the G.W engines made by Krupp.
 
Here is what the Type VIIc Manual tells us: 
 
G.W. diesel engine installation.     Diesel engine installation of some Type VII C boats consists of 2 G.W.-engines with associated auxiliary machinery.  The engines are single-acting four-cycle with fuel spray injection and supercharging.  Both engines are reversible.
 
      a) G.W. general and performance figures.     Type Germaniawerft Marine diesel engine, Model e.v. 40/46 with forced induction by Roots type blower
Power Full load           1400 SHP   Overload          1500 SHP   Maximum load  1600 SHP Speed 470/480/490 RPM Fuel oil consumption 254 kg/hour (full load) Cylinders 6 Cylinder diameter 400 mm Stroke 460 mm Displacement 6 x 57.8 liters Overall length 5600 mm Overall height 2895 mm Overall width 1525 mm         b) Construction of the GW propulsion plant.     Bed plate and engine block (lower part) are constructed as one welded block, which consists of single, vertically standing cast steel frames, which are held down by welded steel plate.  The two cylinder blocks (three cylinders each) are connected with this bed plate by means of tie rods passing through flanges on the lower edge of the cylinders.  These tie rods relieve the working cylinders of the combustion gas forces and transfer them to the upper part of the raised bed plate.  The cylinder heads are pressed by studs on the working cylinders and thus form the upper abutment for the cylinder cans.  The fuel oil is injected into each cylinder by a fuel oil injection pump (Bosch design) and a fuel oil injector (type G.W.) into the combustion chamber.  Oil from a fuel oil feed pump (gear pump) is transmitted to the individual fuel oil injection pumps.  The delivery rate of the fuel oil pumps is controlled by shifting the regulator linkage (changing volume by means of beveled edge).  The control regulator linkage can be moved by governor as well as by fuel oil control lever at the operating station. 
 
The governor is
        built as a centrifugal governor and is driven by an idler gear from the camshaft drive.  Charging (increase in the amount of air to burn) takes place via a Roots type supercharger (G.W. type).  The charger is arranged on the clutch side of the engine and is driven from the crankshaft by means of gear wheels through a hydraulic clutch.  This hydraulic clutch and interlocking mechanism allows the charger to be used only while driving forward and engaging and disengaging it only when the engine is running.  Cylinder barrels, cylinder heads, exhaust valves and exhaust manifolds are cooled by sea water, which is fed by a coupled cooling water pump (piston pump).
    The coupled lubricating oil pumps (gear pump) feed lubricating oil that is used to operate the hydraulic governor as well as for lubrication of the crankshaft bearings, cylinder barrels, camshaft bearings, the fuel oil pump control linkage and drive as well as for supercharger blowers.  The engine can be reversed either by means of compressed air or by means of a special hand oil pump.  Altering the direction is controlled by shifting the cam shaft in the longitudinal direction, so that the cams for the opposite direction of rotation engage push-rod rolls.
        c) Auxiliary machinery associated with G.W. engines.   1. Superchargers.     In order to have a greater air supply available, a Roots type blower is mounted on the clutch side of the engine.  The blower is powered from the crankshaft of the engine by means of gear wheels.  The blower is driven by means of a wrap-spring coupling, which prevents torsion vibrations and which takes up the distortion of the rotating motion.  The supercharger clutch is a double cone type which can be engaged and disengaged from the operation station only while in "Ahead" drive, and only when the engine is running at full operational speed.  In order to preserve the friction lining, the operating speed is to be lowered if possible when engaging to on. 
 
      2. Pumps.           Cooling water pump.
    The cooling water for cooling the engine oil cooler, cylinder barrels, cylinder heads and the exhaust is fed by a double piston pump, which is at the front of the engine.  The drive takes place via a crank, which is driven by gear wheel transmission from the crankshaft of the engine.  A safety valve on the discharge side of the pump should respond when outlet valves are closed.
          Lubricating oil pump.
    The entire engine as well as all important contact surfaces are lubricated by oil fed from lubricating oil pressure line under appropriate, reduced pressure.  The lubricating oil pump is driven by the gear wheel of the cooling water pump drive.  It is a gear pump and operates in both directions of rotation.  The adjustment of oil pressure takes place via a pressure control valve from the operating station.           Fuel oil feed pump.
    The fuel oil is supplied by a special feed pump from the gravity fuel oil tank to the fuel oil injection pumps.  It is a gear pump and is suitable for both directions of rotation.  It is arranged over the camshaft.
          Auxiliary cooling water pump.
    For the cooling of the engines in case of failure the coupled cooling water pump an electrically driven centrifugal pump is provided in the diesel engine room as an auxiliary cooling water pump.  The pump performance is 48 m³/hour of water against 30 meters H2O.  The pump housing is directly connected with the associated driving motor.
          Hand cooling water pump.
    The hand operated water pump is designed as a double-acting piston pump.  It draws sea water and discharges it to the cooling water control manifold.
              Auxiliary lubricating oil pump.
    The auxiliary lubricating oil pump serves for the lubricating of the engines in case of failure of the coupled lubricating oil pumps and before start-up.  The pump is an electrically driven vertically arranged screw pump and supplies 38 m³/hour of oil with discharge head of 50 meters H2O and suction head of 5 meters H2O.  The auxiliary lubricating oil pump can be also be used for the distribution of fuel oil.
          Hand lubricating oil pump.
    The hand lubricating oil pump is used to transfer lubricating oil from supply tanks to the collective tanks, and in case of failure of the auxiliary lubricating oil pump to pump oil before the start-up of the engines.  It is designed as double acting piston pump and its performance is 4.2 m³/hour.
        3) Governor, filter, lubricating oil cooler, starting air tanks, lubricating oil purifying system.           Governor.
    A centrifugal regulator is used as a governor which is mounted on the clutch side of the engine and is driven by an idler gear from the cam shaft drive.  The governor prevents exceeding the maximum permissible engine speed by more than 10 percent.  If the maximum permissible engine speed is exceeded, the governor pushes control linkage towards the zero position.
    As soon as the number of revolutions decreases, the governor returns to its previous position and the control linkage brings the fuel oil lever back to the operational position by means of a spring.
          Fuel oil and lubricating oil filter.
    The purifying of the fuel oil is done by means of a system of EC-edge disk filters.  To protect these filters against coarse impurities in the fuel oil
        a coarse sieve is inserted in the line before the fuel oil gravity tank.
    For purifying lubricating oil an EC-edge disk filter is used for each engine.  The bearing lubricating oil as well as oil for the clutches and the hydraulic governor is filtered by these filters after branching from the oil cooler.
          Lubricating oil cooler.
    The entire lubricating oil cycling installation is cooled by a lubricating oil cooler attached to each engine.  The cooling effect is achieved by forcing oil through coils, around which sea water flows.  The cooling water installation is so designed that oil cooler can be bypassed as a whole or partially.
          Starting air tanks.
    Starting and reversing the engines is done by means of compressed air at 30 at.  The compressed air is stored in dedicated tanks of capacity 200 liters each, connected together to the high pressure distributor (high pressure air bank 1 – high pressure manifold) through the reduction valve.   The pressure reducing valve works automatically and holds the pressure in the starting air cylinders at 30 at. The tanks have safety valves set at 30 atmospheres at as well as necessary connecting valves, drain valves and control valve with pressure gauge.
          Lubricating oil purifying system.
    An electrically driven purifier with a capacity of 250 liters/hour is provided in the diesel engine room for purifying dirty lubricating oil.  The purifier is equipped with an electrical oil pre-heater and a hot water pre-heater.  Directly coupled with the drive shaft are the pure oil and dirty oil feed pumps.  These two geared pumps arranged one after the other.  The attached dirty oil pump sucks the contaminated oil from the lubricating oil collecting tanks and passes it over the oil pre-heater into the lubricating oil purifier.  The cleaned oil is then pumped by the pure oil pump.
        The waste water from the oil purifying process drains into the bilge.  A hot water pre-heater is provided for better cleaning of engine lubricating oil.
          1-1 Comparison between engines M.A.N. - G.W.
      M.A.N. Krupp (G.W.) Number of cylinders 6 6 Piston displacement 57.8. liters 57.8 liters Piston speed 7.2 meters/second 7.2 meters/second Efficiency 82.5 81.0 Speed 470 RPM 470 RPM Supercharger speed 10,900 RPM 10,900 RPM Performance 1400 SHP 1400 SHP Stroke 460 mm 460 mm Cylinder diameter 400 mm 400 mm Length (whole engine) 5630 mm 5600 mm Width (whole engine) 1400 mm 1400 mm Height 2810 mm 2895 mm Engine weight 38.476 tons 43.440 tons Weight to power ratio 13.75 kg/SHP 15.5 kg/SHP Fuel oil consumption (+) 0.165 kg/SHP 0.182 kg/SHP Supercharger Buchi Exhaust gas turbine B.B.C. Roots type charger G.W. Fuel oil regulation Over flow adjustment Chamber volume by means of beveled edge adjustment  
 
Yves

The starboard engine is more or less completed: 

Each cylinder of the engine has a bore of 400 mm which is about 8 mm at the 1/48 scale. I happen to have aluminum tubes of that exact size, for their inner diameters. I have decided to represent the engine during its construction or rather during extensive repairs. The long threaded rods to hold the head and block around the sleeved cylinders, are made of brass rod. I did not have a 1 mm die (smallest I have is 2 mm), otherwise I would have tapped the extremities of each rod. I hope it does not look too bad....from a distance.


At this point, the second engine can be placed on its cradle: 

This makes for a cramped compartment, as is the prototype. It also allows a nice view on the Port engine with all its finished details.




Some funny views....


Soon, we will be closing the lid (installing the ceiling) on these engines.
 
Yves
 
 
 
 

Maybe this will help

Here's a couple of the clutch arm mechanism. You know, just to heap a little more pressure on you ; ) I think I have some more info on the AMP under the U-Historia thread.

"Then the bolt counters will be able to discuss weather it smells correct⚔️" Haha, I wouldn't doubt it! There's always someone living in their mothers basement that know better than anyone else.

Well, the engine has been installed in its cradle, similar to what these mechanics were doing on these historic pictures. I have tried to shorten the stand of some of the rockers, to give the overall engine a more realistic look. If all the rockers were in the same position (as implied by the Trumpeter kit), then the engine would have a hard time running. It is not perfect, but at least it is better than what the kit is proposing. Also, I have added the six hand valves on top of the engine. Again, these are present in the PE sheet, but the instructions are not mentioning them.

I added a small washer between the shaft and the bulkhead, to make it look more convincing: 

Still trying to focus my poor camera on these gauges: 

And finally, giving the engine some offset, like the prototype:. The rear of the engines are closer to each other than the front (shaft/output) side.

Now, to work on the ceiling and on the other engine. 
 
Katuna, I am still debating about that oily look... It is very tempting but also difficult to represent in a realistic way.
 
Yves
 

A few pictures of the engine. It is almost finished and I have waived the oily look.... I was ready to use real dirty oil (from my car) but decided otherwise: 

I still have to paint the exhaust and assemble it.





Yves

This model of the M.V. Wyhuna was built by my non paternal grandfather in 1955.
Its a beautifully crafted scratch built model and hard to believe its 65 years old. 
It was built to enter a competition run by the Argus newspaper, which was a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1846 and closed in 1957. It was the general Australian newspaper of record for this period. 
Im told he won three competitions, this model is at the family home, another went to a sister and a third went to be displayed at a modelling club. 
The Wyhuna is a former Port Phillip pilot cutter and Australian Maritime college training vessel. Built by Ferguson Shipbuilders of Port Glasgow, Scotland. 
Its main task was to lead ships through Port Phillip heads renowned for being a very dangerous stretch of water which claimed many ships and lives. 
In recent years it was apparently saved through donations and returned to Melbourne, but I can't find a lot more about where it is today.
I grew up with this ship always sitting on a mantle piece and never really took a lot of notice of it. But now at 53 I've taken to modelling wooden ships, I've no doubt that now I have some time this was actually my inspiration.
Cheers
Peter. 

I finished adding the sub planking to the frames and sanded them to shape. The chine sort of disappears at the bow. 

For the bow area I used the supplied balsa block to make filler pieces then carved and sanded them to shape. A problem I found with this model, which you can see in the previous picture, is that the first frame does not meet the bottom of the keel, but the planks should, which is very obvious when you add the bow filler pieces. I could have made filler pieces to fit this area but I just filled it with wood filler and sanded it to shape. Since this will all be covered by the mahogany planking it will not be seen later. Here is the finished sub planking. I used wood filler on the gaps and low spots too.

The instructions suggested staining the mahogany with mahogany stain to even out the color, so I tried it on some scrap from the laser cut sheet. The stain is on the bottom section below the number 1.

I liked the look so I figured this was the time to stain the cockpit interiors before I started adding details which are the next steps.

Above the stain they suggest to coat the mahogany with Sanding Sealer, so again I tried it on the scrap stained piece and liked the look, so I applied it to the interior cockpit pieces. In between these tasks I made a new rudder from brass sheet and tubing. Here is the new rudder compared to the supplied plastic one.

I did clean up the plastic steering wheel and painted the spokes and hub with silver enamel paint and it looks good to me, so I then painted the rim with brown enamel. The jury is still out on this but I think it may be better than one I could make. I'll have pictures when it is done. I also found this picture of the dashboard of an existing boat that this model represents.

You can see how the gauges are on a metal backing, so I cut a piece of aluminum sheet to glue them, which I will then glue to the mahogany dashboard. More to come on this too.

I am a bit behind on the build log so here is what I have been up to this week. First I cleaned up the propeller with files, sandpaper and a wire brush in the Dremel. Here is how it came out next to the supplied plastic propeller. I have a piece of tubing cut for the strut, but I will make the strut when I can fit it to the model later.

I finished the gauges for the dash board too. I shrunk images of real gauges and used a circle cutter to cut them to fit into the large gauges. I didn't have a circle cutter small enough for the small gauges so I made one out of some brass tubing and a piece of dowel, which you can see here. I used an X-Acto blade around the inside of the tube to sharpen it then just pushed it into the paper while turning it to cut the images. I glued all the images into the gauges using the Micro Kristal Klear and also used it to cover the images to create a sort of glass cover. It goes on white and dries very clear.

Here are the gauges compared to the dashboard decal that came with the kit.

I have also been adding the sub-planking the hull using the fairly thick balsa strips that came in the kit. I have not used balsa very much so there was a bit of a learning curve. First of all, it breaks very easily, so I couldn't bend it like I do basswood. I found if I just soak it for a few minutes it will then bend very easily. Also, wood glue didn't work too well without clamps and you can't clamp the balsa at all without crushing it, so I have been using medium CA to hold the planks down, which works very well. I first planked from the chine strips to the keel, after doing a little fairing on the frames where the chine strips meet the frames. I sanded the excess and here is how it came out. You can see I had a bit of a problem at the first two frames.

I then started adding the sub-planking of the sides by first building up the sheer strip and frames in places where the sub-planking strips fell short of the outside edge of the sheer. These were tapered so the planks fit flush to the adjacent planks. I then glued the first plank along the outside edge of the chine strip. Instead of planking up from there, I decided to add the plank along the sheer next and then I will plank between them. I also decided to taper the planks like I would do on any other planking job instead of using full width planks that would come to points along the sheer, as the instructions wanted me to do. So I measured off the distances at each frame and tapered two planks, soaked them for a few minutes and started gluing it down at the first frame, then each frame until I got to the aft end. This worked really well and now I can start filling in the area with three more tapered planks on each side.

I made a lot of progress over the last couple of days. On the hull I glued in the mahogany sections that make up the cockpit sides and floors. There were some slight gaps along the floor joints so I used some excess mahogany from the laser sheet to cover them on the underside of the cockpits. These will be planked in so they won't show later. In fact the next step is to add the first layer of planking which are balsa strips like the one shown in this picture. They are certainly easy to bend but this is a first for me. They will bne covered later with mahogany strips.
I spent some time today working on making a propeller since the plastic supplied prop was pretty bad. I started with two brass tubes that slide together. I will use the smaller tube for the prop shaft and used the larger one for the prop hub. I set up the Sherline mill as shown, which is the most complex set up I have done to date and it is all for three small slots. On the mill side, I used a Dremel saw disk in the drill chuck to get enough distance of the blade from the mill column. On the lathe bed I first mounted the angle plate at a 90 degree angle, then added a long work plate that has holes for mounting the rotary table. This was needed to get the 3 jaw chuck that was mounted in the rotary table high enough to get under the working distance of the mill column. I put the brass tubing for the hub in the chuck and brought the saw down to make a small slot, rotated the chuck 120 degrees two times to make the other two slot.


I was pleasantly surprised that the hub stayed together with those cuts. I made the blades from some brass sheet I had, which I cut out and filed to shape. I made one and used it as a template for the other two. I then used the third hand and some forceps to hold the hub and blade will I soldered them together. I did this one blade at a time using Stay Bright low temp solder, but I cut a very small piece of solder and placed it on the blade, then used a butane mini torch to heat them instead of a soldering iron. This worked really well and I had no problem with the previous blades desoldering while I soldered the next blade. I think if I tried to do this with a soldering iron I would have had problems.


You can see the propeller after the last blade was soldered on in the previous picture. I need to clean it up now but I am very happy with how it came out so far. I have also been working on the gauges and will have pictures of them tomorrow.

Thanks for the likes. I glued the sub deck to the frames and sheer strips.

Highlighting the hull plates. I now need to do a brue grey Blending overspray them maybe some filters. 

Paint time, base coat of sea blue
 
then normal blue, 
 
this lighter blue will be the base for the gantries, floater baskets and radio towers 

Floater net baskets, there are 54 on the ship that I can count, I’ve cut and bent 60 plus the two separate support arms. My back hurts, my eyes hurt. ready for glue but I’m off for a drink. 
 
 

Finally finishing the catwalk structures. Every platform has individual gussets beneath. Whilst there are lots of ladders and other details such as floater baskets to be added to them, these are now  good enough to stick on the sides of the flight deck. My intention is to prime them first to look for glaring errors then paint them off model so as I can add as much detail as possible then, as the deck will of course be a nightmare to stick on so I don’t want to have to do it with all this tiny fragile stuff. 

Finished awhile back and I need to post the final display.  Thanks for watching. 

The Tree is attached to the Hound and the Fork Strap to the Fork. 

The The Muff Collar, Branches, Pad and Irons were attached to the Pole and painted black. 
The Pole, Axel and Under Straps were attached to the carriage and painted black. 
Chains were added. 
In the above three photos the wheels were not attached yet but only serving as props.  The next photo shows the nearly finished models sitting on an unfinished mounting board. The wagon and limber will be attached to the board for display after it has been finished. 
 
 

Just received the Civil War Limber to add to the Coffee Wagon. This kit should not take very long.  First the kit pics - 

I first tackled the wheels and ammunition chest. Most of this kit consists of parts made from Britannia metal. As a result of this, I will be using only CA glue.  

Below is shown a primed wheel, the primed chest and axel housing with the Pintle Hook attached. Britannia metal needs to be primed before painting. 


Next I painted the chest and wheels red with black trim. Normally the limber would be painted army colors but the Coffee Wagon was painted with red color to differentiate it from regular army use. 

Above and below are also shown the unpainted carriage and wood pole. I had to carve the pole (tongue) to fit the carriage. Since the supplied wood was square, the pole had to be carved round most of its length. 

The rest of the wagon will be black. 
 
 

I finally got the missing parts from Model-Expo.  I cannot say enough good about the folks at Model-Expo.  Missing a part - they send it.  Break a part - they send it.  
 
Finished the wheels -

Assembled the carriage chassis -
 

Finished the coffee urn platform and springs - 
 

Below notice the chimney brackets have also been installed.

 

Next I glued the floor onto the carriage chassis and painted it red.  The wagon tongue was installed as well - 
 
 

After the paint dried, the springs were attached (note the U-bolts) - 

The facets were painted brass color and glue to the urns.  Also note how the smoke stacks are supported by the brackets previously installed. - 
 

 

A brass retaining rod was added to the front of the urns and then the urns were glued to the urn platform and the platform glued on top of the springs above the carriage chassis -

 
Finally, the wagon tongue was painted black, a decal was applied, and a pedestal was constructed.
 
The Civil War Coffee Wagon is finished - 




One recommendation for anyone building this model, I would put some weights in the tongue side of the chassis box to give better stability to the model when finished.
 
This was a fun project that did not take long.  Now back to the New Bedford Whaleboat and thanks to all for following.
 

Missing some parts so I decided to start on the cast parts first as I wait for the parts to come in.  I tackled the coffee urns first, gluing them together with CA glue, priming them, and then painting them black. The wheels were cleaned up and primed and then painted red. In the photograph you will see that I have used a 3 mm masking tape to mask off the rim of the wheels which will be painted black. Next I will work on the flues.