Hr. Ms. O 19 1938 by Piet - FINISHED - scale 1:50 - submarine of the Royal Navy Netherlands in service 1939 - 1945

[Piet]

Thank you all for visiting and your likes, much appreciated.  I'm glad that all yuns like my build!!

 

After helping Gwen sawing off a few dead branches from our bottle brush bush and some other minor yard work I mozied on into the garage to work some more on the torpedo launcher.

I decided to move to the aft end of the launcher unit and attempt to fabricate the center air tubes and hopefully solder them to the launcher. 

I'm still thinking about the door actuating system.  I may have to move the actuator cylinder back a few mm's to give me some more space for the wiggy waggy rods 

 

I took a 1.6 mm copper tube and cut two pieces off that would fit as the photo shows.  To make the bends down between the two tubes I inserted a small length of brass rod, to prevent the pipes from collapsing, and carefully started the bend from the end of the tubes and worked my way back till I had the right bend.  Oh, I checked it several times though     I must have bend hundreds of aluminum and steel pipes of various sizes for aircraft fuel and oil systems.  There we used sand to fill the pipes and plug them with wooden dowels.  Then we use commercial pipe bending tools.  Well, these pipes are just too small to use that system.

 

Sorry, no video but yuns know how to bend tubing, yes?

 

I figured they needed to be slightly separated from each other and cut two small pieces of 0.6 mm brass strips for that purpose.

To solder these pieces in between on the ends I placed first a sliver if thin wood, actually a piece of one ply from some leftover plywood.  Then I could clamp the two tubes together where I put this piece of wood as a spacer and the clamp also acted as a heat-sink for the joint flanges.  No problem so far and set this all up like a Rube Goldberg solder jig.  It required very little heat and the solder flowed nice without much to clean off.

 

The dry test looked good and fit okay.  I next had to make the 90 degree angle at the aft ends for the air pipes to mate with the torpedo tubes.  I filed the ends to about 45 degrees and cut two small copper tubes with one end also filed to 45 degrees.  These small pieces of 1.6 mm tubes are also about 2 mm long and I figured I can file them to fit when checking again before soldering this assembly to the torpedo tubes.  

 

As one of the pictures show I took two small pieces of 0.6 mm brass rod and bend one end to about 45 degrees.  I slid the longer end of the bend up rods into the pipes and then the small copper tube pieces on the short ends till they met the 90 degree cuts of the pipes.  They mate up pretty good and figured that the solder would fill in the gaps and I could file a nice looking end bend in the pipes.

 

This may be a crude way of making a 90 degree bend in a pipe but it could not be done any other way with such a tight bend.

 

I jigged this up again and soldered the pipe ends to the pipes.  It worked okay and after filing away the solder and dressing it I had good enough looking bend pipes.  Dry fitting, filing, dry fitting, filing, etc till I was happy with the fit and looks.

 

Okay, now came the time to solder these air pipes to the torpedo tubes.  I used a small pair of vice grips to hold it all together and used it as a heat sink.  First I soldered the front of the left pipe to the flange.  I cranked up the heat on the soldering iron to about 425 degrees F.  It worked great, used very little solder.

 

Now to solder the aft parts of the pipes to the last flange.  It worked great as well and I'm a happy camper. 

 

It's beginning to look more like the photo now     

 

Okay, here are a few pics of today's work.

 

This shows my Rube Goldberg soldering jig for soldering the spacers.  The pipes are shown upside down.  

 

This shows both spaces soldered between the pipes.

 

Here I'm dry fitting the pipe assembly.  The aft ends still need work.

 

Here you see my trusty vice grip plier to hold things together and as a heat sink.  Here I have not yet filed the 45 degree angles to the pipe ends but I have made and inserted the small rods for the bend ends.

 

I did not make a picture of fabricating the small ends of the pipes, sorry.  But here is the completed air pipe project and you can see the 90 degree ends.

 

Cheers, 

[pete48]

Just Amazing , Beautiful work as always Piet

 

Best Regards,

Pete  

[SawdustDave]

This is the most fun build log I have ever seen. Just witnessing this amazing craftsman....(make that MASTER craftsman)... sharing his work with such passion to a growing group of fans who, like myself, are so thoroughly enjoying his gift for creating such detail in metal along with his wonderful ability to paint a picture with words.

Piet, my friend, you're really special.

Dave

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up after a couple of weeks away, Piet.  Fantastic work, as usual!

 

John

[ianmajor]

Piet,

 

Your torpedo tube assemble is coming a long very nicely. Fantastic work.

 

I am most impressed in your ability to shape small components with a hand held power tool. I have never managed to get that level of control so always use  files. It is probably one of the reasons it takes me so long to make things!  

[Piet]

Hello Pete, thanks again for your compliments.  It's a labor of love as your cup boats are.

 

Hi Sawdust Dave, wow, you make be blush    Such kind words!  Now, as far as master craftsman is concerned - - far from it.  After my service with the Federal Aviation Administration and before that as VP of Maintenance and Director of QC for airlines after oh - about 26 or so years, I lost a lot of my former dexterity with tools and fabricating things.  However, it's slowly coming back though     It's amazing how the human mind and body are designed!

 

Not to blow my own horn but yes, when I managed my own aircraft repair facility in New Jersey I was listed as a master welder and master aircraft and engine mechanic.

 

I am extremely glad that everyone enjoys my work and hopefully pick up a few ideas and the urge to try your hands at metal work.  That's one of the reasons for so much dialog but also so that I have a record for myself.

 

Hello John, welcome again and thank you very much.

 

Hi Ian, thank you too my friend.  Ah yes, using power tools instead of hand tools.  I only use power tools on these small parts when it does a better job.  In this case I used a tapered rotary file, using the tip only, that worked better then my tiny rat-tail file.  I also had better control over it because I worked over my lap with the left hand resting on one leg and the right hand with the tool resting on the right leg.  After a while both legs start to cramp up though and then I take a water beak 

In previous posts I have shown and talked about how I filed the skin off my fingers because I use these fingers as a steady rest and guide for the file as I hold the part.  Clamping the larger parts in a pin vice or small hand vice, as Remco told me to do, will help of course but many of my parts are just too small to do so, so I'm stuck using my fingers 

 

Cheers to all,

[SawdustDave]

Piet....as for your dialog, please don't stop. I think your fans, like me, enjoy the personality that comes with your amazing craftsmanship.

Cheers mate

Dave

[mtaylor]

Piet....as for your dialog, please don't stop. I think your fans, like me, enjoy the personality that comes with your amazing craftsmanship.

Cheers mate

Dave

 

Piet,

Dave is spot on.  

[Piet]

To everyone who visited - my heartfelt thanks and your likes.

 

Well, after the center pipes were installed I moved to the aft outside of the torpedo launcher.  I wanted to fabricate the two, what seemingly appear to be high pressure cylinders.  Perhaps one of the sub guys with knowledge of WW II era subs can tell us.  In any case, what they are is at this time not important.   All I want to do is make this thing appear kinda similar as what the original photo shows.  I'll have to do a lot guess work as far as the aft end is concerned.

 

Okay, I cut two 12 mm lengths of 3.1 mm copper tubes for the cylinders.  Then I needed to fabricate the domed ends.  I could have made them from brass rod but decided to use hard-wood dowel, a little easier to work with and faster 

These pieces are just a smidgin larger in diameter then the copper tubes, which is great.  Then I cut formed them into a mushroom style plug.  The pictures below show you what I mean.

I also needed to make flanges just behind each plug,  I made them from 0.05 brass wire that I hardened by pulling it.  Then I wound it around the 3.1 mm tube to make at least 4 rings.

Now I had to solder these rings at each end of the tubes, aka cylinders.

 

I made a larger version of a mushroom type plug so that these rings could but against them.  This assured me that they are at the end of the tubes.  

Then I rigged up a clamp from a large cloth pin to hold the large plug.  I shoved the bras rings against it and started to solder, easy, peasy.  Just a little cleaning away of some solder.

 

Next I epoxy cemented the wooden plugs to the tubes and let it cure before fashioning them into the domed cylinder ends.

 

As the epoxy was curing I started to make the air or hydraulic lines.  I used 0.9 mm brass rod for them, at least that's what looked about right for scale.  

By the time I made three of the lines it was time to make the domed ends.  I first carefully sanded them to the correct lengths on my Large Craftsman sanding machine and then by using a file fashioned them into nice domed ends.

 

They looked good to me and are now ready to be soldered to the launcher.  Hmmm, that's going to be tricky because I have only one flange on the launcher tubes I can solder them to.  I'll have think of a way for one more fastening point but that can wait till another day.

 

I'll let you know that I also relocated the door actuator cylinders a little more aft.  This'll give me a little more room for the articulating rods.

 

I don't know how much time I'll have tomorrow.  I really need to cut back a lot of vines and palmettos that are taking over in the vacant lot next to our house.  The vines are spilling over the fence and are generally a nuisance.

 

Well, that's it for today and here are a few pics for my own archive I'll share with yuns.

 

Here I have laid out all the parts that make up the two cylinders as mentioned above.  It's kinda self explanatory.

 

This shows my soldering set-up.  Yep, it's crude but itworks.

 

Here you see the copper tube set on the wooden end piece that I clamped in a clothe pin.  The brass ring is now pushed tight against the wooden plug ensuring it's at the end of the tube.  Just a light touch of the soldering iron and presto it was done.  All I had to do was clean off a little solder.

 

This shows the finished cylinders.  There may be one or two of the rings that are not quite correct where the ends meet but they will be facing towards the torpedo tubes and out of sight    You see Ian, I mostly use hand tools 

 

Here you see a few of the small lines, either air or hydraulic.  I don't know yet how many I'll be making.  There are whole bunch that seem to run cross wise with little gizmos between them, could be check valves.  It'll make for a busy top-side of the Launcher. 

 

Cheers, 

[Remcohe]

Piet I really enjoy watching how you are doing this. Your next project could be a fully brass build steam locomotive

 

Remco

[SawdustDave]

I'm thinking more like a functional nuclear reactor! This man can build anything.

Dave

[BANYAN]

Nice detail Piet, these tubes are becoming a true masterpiece in metalwork and detail.  The original 'spaghetti junction perhaps?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Piet]

Thanks everybody for dropping in and your comments - - - and all the likes !!!

 

Hoi Remco, thank you, it's my pleasure and it's to entice others to try there hand at metalwork.  It appears to have worked, looking at your musket!  I would have like to see how you fashioned the striker assembly though    Hmm - - now - -  a steam locomotive??  Live steam?  It's a funny thing you mentioned that, there was a time before I got married with Gwen that I was seriously thinking about it.  But alas, I bought an airplane instead - - - which I had to sell when we had our first daughter, and starting a business. 

Seriously though there are brass loco kits available.  That's also a serious hobby here in the states and when done right can fetch a good price.  

 

Hey Dave, good to see you again but a nuclear boat?????   Hmmmmm - - - maybe not    You are overestimating my abilities, there are limits to what I can do.  But thank you - - - oh shoot, my halo just lit up      Actually, making a model of a nuclear sub is no challenge.  Awesome as they are, it's just a long black cigar with a conning tower on top, no deck furniture.    

What I really wanted to build was a four place single engine airplane!  I still have the drawings.  I was going to install a 180 HP four cylinder Lycoming engine in it with a controllable pitch prop.  But - - - life got in the way and  so - - the plans are all in a box.  Perhaps in my next life  

 

Hi Pat, thanks for visiting and your compliments!!  Spaghetti junction indeed.  Did you see that photograph?  I don't think I can put all them pipes and tubes on this launcher but we'll try to make it look like they all belong there.   I'll just keep that photo hidden 

[pete48]

Thanks everybody for dropping in and your comments - - - and all the likes !!!

 

.  

 

Hey Dave, good to see you again but a nuclear boat?????   Hmmmmm - - - maybe not    You are overestimating my abilities, there are limits to what I can do.  But thank you - - - oh shoot, my halo just lit up      Actually, making a model of a nuclear sub is no challenge.  Awesome as they are, it's just a long black cigar with a conning tower on top, no deck furniture.    

What I really wanted to build was a four place single engine airplane!  I still have the drawings.  I was going to install a 180 HP four cylinder Lycoming engine in it with a controllable pitch prop.  But - - - life got in the way and  so - - the plans are all in a box.  Perhaps in my next life

 

Hi Piet, The Airplane sounds very intresting , I don't think anyone is over estimaing your abillities , I belive that you can pull it off

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Piet]

Hello Pete, no problem with building the airplane but it was time and money though.  But a nuclear submarine???   Oh, I had some crazy plans of building a mini sub out of steel 55 gallon drums but that's another story.  Then I was going to build a ferro cement sailboat in the backyard.  Lots of plans, lots of ambition but it was always time and money that stood in the way.  

Oh well, it's nice to look back on but I'm not complaining, can't turn the clock back.

 

Cheers, 

[Omega1234]

Hello Piet. I think you must be getting sick of people saying it by now, but wow! I've been lurking and watching your log in amazement for a long while now. Love the detail and the effort and dedication that you put into every part of your sub. One thing I'm curious about is whether you will actually sail the model or, will it be a display model fully armed with lots of working parts?

 

Thanks and look forward to more instalments.

[Piet]

Hello Omega and welcome to my humble shipyard, glad to have you.  No, my friend, to the contrary.  I do like the accolades - that keeps me on my toes not to mess up on things    Besides, my father was a very critical man when it came to the safety of the crew and this build is in his honor and all those who sailed on her.  In a way I feel his eyes peeking over my shoulder, which keeps me from screwing up - - - most of the times     All the accolades I receive is taken as an expression of your approval.  I also welcome constructive criticism and questions because sometimes I don't see the trees for the forest. 

 

Oh, I used to have this problem with being a little conceited at times - - - a little, my wife used to say, ha! - - - well, that quickly knocked the wind out of my sails.

 

No, this model will be static, not RC.  As mentioned throughout this log the build has gotten a life of its own.  It started out as a simple 1:100 scale model without any working parts.  Well, it kinda grew to what we see today, which caused many challenges, to say the least.   

 

Come and visit again, the coffee is always brewing 

 

Cheers,

 

 

[Piet]

Hello everyone and thank you all for your approval of what I have done so far.

 

Today was my third visit to the urologist center for my BCGI treatment.  I figured not being able to accomplish anything because I have to be VERY close to the tinkeltarium.  When the urge comes to pee I should be there already before I have an accident and Gwen would not appreciate that     The garage, aka shipyard, is at the other end of the house - - - hmmm, what to do - - - - - 

 

Well, I figured the h--l with it and I'll use the great outdoors    That's one of the advantages of being a male 

 

Okay, so I continued with the piping on top of the launcher, all running fore to aft or aft to front if that pleases you      The cross pipes seem to fit over them.  I hand-shaped each pipe to fit on their respective side and position and then tack soldered them to the launcher tubes.  I could have used a third hand though but it all worked out okay with some Rube Goldberg rigging 

 

I only took one picture, y'all know how to bend brass rod to make it fit where you like to have them.  All slow going, one bend at a time.  Bend, try, adjust, try again till being happy.

 

The cross pipes will be done some other day.  Today was a challenge on the physical side but I did accomplish something anyhow.

 

Here is the picture for your perusal.

 

There is still a lot of cleaning up to do and some final pushing or pulling to get the pipes just right.  It's starting to look a little like the photo now, which makes me happy.

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

[dgbot]

Great work and I hope you get better soon.

David B

[Omega1234]

Hi Piet. Love the tube work and I especially love the story about tinlking in the great outdoors. As you said, one of the many advantages of being a male.

 

Thanks, also, for clarifying that your sub will be a display only model; a rather magnificent one at that!

 

I also take great heart in the fact that you and so many others in this forum are proud of their work. Regardless of how skilled/unskilled we are, model building is a great hobby. It teaches us useful skills that can be applied in life and the workplace, eg analtyical and problem solving, innovative thinking, project management, as well as planning and organising skills. You see, ever since I was a kid and right up until now, (and that's a long time), I grew up being embarrassed about my models and afraid to tell people that I build models. I wouldn't show them my models, nor would I admit openly to being a modeller. In essence, I was a 'closet modeller"! So, now hearing you say that you love the feedback and the accolades because you are proud of your achievements and that this model has a special place in your heart, is a valuable lesson in life in for me. Maybe I can come out of the closet and be proud to tell people that I love building models....and show them, too.

 

Thanks! Look forward to your next instalments.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Omega1234

[SawdustDave]

Omega....be very proud of your models and show them to your friends. If they are good friends, they will admire you for your skills and appreciate you for sharing your hobby with them....possibly even turn someone on to becoming a modeler as well. A local dentist learned of my ships and came to visit....has become a very good friend, and just purchased his first kit.

If they don't like your hobby, then maybe they are not worthy of your concerns.

Dave

[pete48]

Hi Piet, It's looking absolutley amazing , Beautiful, I hope that you are feeling better

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Remcohe]

Piet the piping looks great, I hope the internal plumbing will be fixed soon too.

 

Remco

[Omega1234]

Hi Sawdust Dave. Thanks! I guess it just wasn't cool when I was younger and I never really got over that. But hey, I'm definitely out of the closet now. In fact, this forum is the first time I've ever shown photos of my models...and it feels great.

[ianmajor]

Piet,

 

I think you have every right to be happy with the torpedo tubes. Beautiful workmanship and the level of detail is spot on. Brilliant.

Edited August 2, 2014 by ianmajor

[Piet]

Thanks to everyone visiting and your likes and for those who commented, it's much appreciated.

 

@ Dave B, thanks you and yes, I also hope my physical condition will turn out okay.

 

@ omega, thanks for the compliment my friend.  Yep, that was another way to skin the cat making it possible to do some work while having these frequent urges to pee right after the BCGI treatment.  It only lasts for the one day and that's a good thing.

Yes, obviously each and everyone making models try to do the best they can with the tools and skills they have.  Starting out the skills need to develop and over time we can produce some very good results for our efforts.  We must always keep tying to improve and learn from our previous mishaps.  Always ask, why did this happen?  What can I do to make it look better.  Read about other people's mistakes and fixes.  Then there are handbooks and journals.  More tools don't necessarily guarantee great models.  Know what the tools can do, how to handle the wood or metal is perhaps one of the keys to a successful model.  All I can add is - keep at it, keep at it and be proud of what you have done.  The next one will be better.

 

@ Dave Sawdust, thanks for your comments of encouragement.  We model because we enjoy creating something from a pile of wood or plastic to a 3D image of something we enjoy looking at.  We do it for our own pleasure not someone else's.  

 

@ Pete, thank you and yes, I'm feeling rather chipper.  Fortunately it's only uncomfortable for that one day after the procedure.  Three more to go, yippee 

 

@ Remco, thanks my friend, yep, the internal plumbing is important and I'll know after all the treatments are done and then an internal look-see.  I'll ask the doc to put the scope images on the monitor so I can also admire the insides of my bladder.  Unfortunately they don't have video hook-up otherwise I would get a DVD of it 

 

@ Ian, thank you very much, we try 

 

Cheers,

 

 

[Piet]

Hello all, today I completed the piping on the torpedo launcher unit, I think    At least I'm calling that part done.  

I started with fabricating the door hinging mechanism and have to simplify it.  In order for me to make the slide shoe movement I would have to fabricate a flanged U channel for the shoe to slide in and also keep the shoe locked inside.  It's like a square tube with a slid cut in the top.  

Oh I guess I could probably make something like it with the shoe having a foot that keeps it inside.  Even at this scale of 1:50 it's just too small to make it look authentic and is not worth my efforts with the great probability that I would have to discard many trial pieces and damaging the other stings close to the front end of the launcher.

 

Sooooh, I'm making a hinged arm on both ends that are pinned to the door actuator arm and the piston rod.  I can't CAD a picture of it - - - but wait, let me make a quick sketch so yuns see what I plan to do.  First I though of making a fake shoe just to make it look close to what the original photo shows but thought better of it to just forego the fake stuff.  

 

It'll be enough of a challenge to make the pivot arm pivot on the pins without soldering it all locked up tight.  I already started the pin for the doorarm, which is temporarily kept long till I have made the articulating rod.  I used a very small piece of 0.8 brass tube on the end of a brass rod and soldered them together.  This'll act as a head and had to file it down to about a fraction of a mm so it can clear the forward flange of the torpedo tube.

I have bend one eye on one end of the articulating rod, waiting to see how long to make it before I can bend the other eye.

Then the actuator piston rod, that'll just be a brass rod bend 90 degrees with an eye on the lower leg as my sketch shows.

 

You can see the door hinge arm with pivot pin and the start of the articulating rod.  Right now I'm just experimenting with this and let yuns know and see how it came out.  Keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck 

 

Well, here are the pics, the top one is with all the piping completed with the hinge pin and articulating arm next to it.  The other one is my sketch of the planned door actuating mechanism.

 

All piping is now installed to the best of my ability including the cross-way pipes with their little gizmos and the two side gizmos that may be check valves.  You should be able to see the hinge pin on the door arm and the unfinished articulating rod laying in front of the launcher.

 

With my explanatory dialog above this should be easy to follow.  Watch out, the ink is still wet so don't smudge it     I hope all y'all agree with my plan.

 

Cheers,

[ianmajor]

Piet,

 

Very nice. It is such a good feeling when a complex sub-assembly comes together as well as this.

[Sjors]

I hope that you know what you are doing Piet.

For me it is abracadabra.....

And if you forget something ?

I don't think so, there is no place anymore for more stuff !!!!!!

But it looks so ....real ?

 

[pete48]

Hi Piet, Beautiful work , the drawing looks great 

 

Best Regards,

Pete