ALFA-class submarine by yvesvidal - Nautilus Drydocks Virtual kit - 1/48 - 3D-printed - Russian attack submarine

[yvesvidal]

Folks, this is the beginning of another crazy build, a second virtual kit, this one from Nautilus Drydocks.

 

 

NAUTILUS DRYDOCKS is specialized in Radio Controlled navigating submersibles and they have a very large selection of kits. My choice focused on the Russian submarine ALFA for  multiple reasons:

 

• It is relatively small for the scale I want to model it into (1/48th). It would be impossible to model a large boomer from the US Navy, for instance.
• It is an incredible machine and remains to this day the fastest submarine in existence with more than 40 knots of underwater speed.
• It is also one of the attack submarines that can dive to abysmal depth, leaving most traditional torpedoes unable to reach it.
• It has been a star of multiple Navy exercises in the 80's, where it excelled each year.
• It is a rare beast (only 7 made), using very advanced technology and materials.
• I love the shape of it.

 

There is a lot to say about this submarine and the choice to model it was made long before the current geo-political skirmishes currently taking place.  These have in no way reduced my appeal for this machine, quite the contrary in fact. I will not say more on this forum, but eventually the truth will be revealed and the people will realize how they have been manipulated.

 

The kit is a virtual kit again, that is to say a license to print parts. The kit comes originally in the scale of 1/96th and provides a model of about 890 mm long. As the readers of this forum know, I like the 1/48th scale for my small fleet. 

 

Whereas all the kit parts (1/96th) will print easily on my Creality Ender 3 v2, sizing these parts to 1/48th presents some radical challenges. Besides the diving planes and the connectors for the hull sections, nothing does fit on my 3D printer. I have had to learn some new tools to cut and slice parts so that they can be printed on the little Ender 3 bed, sized at 220 x 220 x 250 mm. That magic tool is Meshmixer (AUTOCAD) and is a blessing once you start learning how to use some if its capabilities.

 

While working on the HMS Bellona, I have been printing for the past month and a half and basically exhausted and broke my little 3D printer. We will get back to that story. The poor thing showed some signs of early decay and a few parts had to be replaced.....

 

At 1/48th scale, the model will be enormous and is probably the largest thing I will ever build, if I can finish it. Below is the result of more than 610 hours of almost non-stop printing: 

 

 

 

About 4 to 5 spools of PLA filaments were used.

 

When deciding about the scale of the model, I decided to print the nose of the submarine in various scales to get a feeling of the overall scope of the model: 

 

 

 

On the right, is the 1/350th scale model of the ALFA by DRAGON, an old kit that I bought some 30 years ago. Next to it is the same nose at 1/192nd scale, then 1/96th in the middle and finally 1/48th to the left. Yo can see that the size is growing very quickly..... The finished model should be 6 feet long.

 

 

The picture above shows what the kit is supposed to be, when built at 1/96th scale, and the Altoids box gives a reference for the size.

 

The kit is designed in seven sections, from Bow (#1) to stern (#7): 

 

 

It is very well detailed and renders all the openings and hatches of that incredible beast.

 

      

 

 

Because the kit was created to be RC equipped, the top section of the hull can be detached from the bottom.

 

 

My model will be static (with a little twist) and so I will be building things differently. The kit comes with a short PDF instruction sheet that does not help much.

 

The kit costs $50 on the Nautilus Drydocks website. Progress will be very slow, as the Bellona is getting most of my attention..... So be patient.

 

Yves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Canute]

Interesting ship/boat. Especially in a prior job. I'll be tagging along, Yves.

[Theodosius]

You are crazy! I like that... 🙂

 

Do you plan to make it a static diving RC-model?

[Dave_E]

I’ll follow. Used to chase these things around the Mediterranean in my P-3.

[Landlubber Mike]

I'm in for this one Yves - this is going to be another masterpiece!

[mikegr]

Wow. 

Indeed one of the best underwater shapes

A clear proof of size doesn't matter

[Old Collingwood]

Looking forward to this one  - and at that scale.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

Fantastic Yves. I had just been thinking that a submarine would make an excellent subject for the 3D printer. I am ecited to see you launch one.

Now I feel lazy and think its about time to return to HMS Campanula

Alan

[yvesvidal]

A quick update for a change of pace from the HMS Bellona. 

 

This model will be static and thus will be built differently from what the kit is suggesting (not that they give you a lot of information....). I will start with the bottom section of the hull, using pre-shaped large balsa strips of 1/4 inch by 3/4 inch, for rigidity.

 

There are 7 sections in this submarine and none of them can fit on my 3D printer along the Z axis (height). Thus, they are all split in two pieces that need to be glued and aligned together.

 

 

Again, I am using the MEK to solder the parts, but these are large and will likely require epoxy glue for a solid and sturdy assembly.

 

 

 

The lower section is put together by using the two hard balsa strips and #10 screws with washers and nuts: 

 

 

 

The following parts are placed and all holes are drilled with precision: 

 

 

Nothing is glued yet. I need to prepare a large quantity of epoxy to make sure that everything is sturdy, straight and solid.

 

Yves

Edited April 26, 2022 by yvesvidal

[Prowler901]

Nice!  Very interested in this.  One of my old adversaries from my fast boat days.

[yvesvidal]

A few small progress, with the building of the lower hull, Section #2 and #3: 

 

 

Bottom Section #2 (refers to the overall view of the submarine if confused...) is made up of two parts: 

• White that took 17 hours to print at low speed
• The light grey one with the openings that took 42 hours.

The reason why these were printed at low speed is because of some extrusion problem on my 3D printer. It took me a while to figure out that the extrusion lever was cracked internally and not putting enough pressure on the filament when feeding. I should have known better, but could not see the damages from the outside.

 

Bottom Section #3 is shown as well, with one light grey part glued to Section #2 and the second part of Section #3, waiting to be glued...

Bottom Section #3 took 31 Hours and 21 hours to print.....

 

 

This view shows how the various parts are being glued together. The overall assembly is perfectly flat and rests on the table.

 

 

The diameter of the submarine is of about 200 mm. It will be very large at 1/48th scale.

 

Yves

[Egilman]

On 4/1/2022 at 8:44 AM, yvesvidal said:

The kit comes originally in the scale of 1/96th and provides a model of about 890 mm long. As the readers of this forum know, I like the 1/48th scale for my small fleet. 

And your doubling that to 1780 mm!!! Yeah, small fleet of large boats.... I wonder how they would come out on a resin printer?

 

Amazing my friend... Your really pushing the bounds of what is possible...

 

I'm here, wouldn't miss this for the world....

 

 

[yvesvidal]

Moving along with the lower hull. Installation of the lower section #3: 

 

 

That section is comprised of two parts (always) that required 31 hours and 24 hours of printing time, respectively.

 

Between each section, a coupler stiffens the hull and provides for a very strong assembly. I use MEK first and then epoxy resin for a solid coupling. I know, it looks sloppy but it is very solid. 

 

 

From the outside: 

 

 

Another coupler will go between Section #3 and section#4. There is not much to see at this stage and the interesting part will come later.

 

Yves

Edited April 28, 2022 by yvesvidal

[yvesvidal]

Another exciting update, with the same exact thing repeating: Section #4: 

 

 

Again, two large pieces glued together with MEK and then Epoxy resin. Printing time? 34 Hours and 49 Hours !!! You can see the extrusion problem starting to show up, before I could diagnose the crack in the lever. To remedy the incorrect feeding of the PLA, I was reducing the speed to 50%.

 

 

Section #4 is then MEKed to the existing lower hull and later on re-inforced with epoxy resin and the 3-4 coupler part: 

 

 

The central bottom hull section made of sections #2, #3 and #4:  Almost 3 feet long at this stage.

 

 

I am sure all this PLA parts are getting you excited, right? It will get more interesting once we move to the upper hull.

 

Yves

Edited April 29, 2022 by yvesvidal

[hof00]

3 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

Another exciting update, with the same exact thing repeating: Section #4: 

 

 

Again, two large pieces glued together with MEK and then Epoxy resin. Printing time? 34 Hours and 49 Hours !!! You can see the extrusion problem starting to show up, before I could diagnose the crack in the lever. To remedy the incorrect feeding of the PLA, I was reducing the speed to 50%.

 

 

Section #4 is then MEKed to the existing lower hull and later on re-inforced with epoxy resin and the 3-4 coupler part: 

 

 

The central bottom hull section made of sections #2, #3 and #4:  Almost 3 feet long at this stage.

 

 

I am sure all this PLA parts are getting you excited, right? It will get more interesting once we move to the upper hull.

 

Yves

Hi Yves,

Is the finished article "Static?"

Just thinking it would make for a pretty awesome RC model.

 

Cheers....HOF.

 

[yvesvidal]

7 hours ago, hof00 said:

Hi Yves,

Is the finished article "Static?"

Just thinking it would make for a pretty awesome RC model.

Cheers....HOF.

 

Purely static.

[yvesvidal]

Still working on the bottom of the hull. This time, I am preparing Section 5 and Section 6 of the hull.

 

Originally, the bottom part of Section #5 was printed with extrusion problem. I decided to re-print it over the weekend and got a considerable improvement with the new metal extruder: 

 

 

 

You can see the differences easily. The white part is ten times more solid than the grey part. The grey part can be broken by hand so easily. It will be thrown in the trash and will get recycled in the next 50 years, by mother Earth.

 

Section 5 and Section 6 have been glued. Each sectio is always mode of two or more parts, to fit on the 250 mm maximum height of the Creality Ender 3 V2 printer: 

 

 

 

Then, an extension of the wood strips is done to align correctly Section 5 and Section 6.

 

 

Yves

[Landlubber Mike]

This is going to be an epic project.  Looking forward to this one!

 

[king derelict]

Brings back not so happy memories of my under extruding episode. I'm continuing to find parts that need to be reprinted. The Nautilus Dry Dock kits are very tempting. I am thinking about the Astute sub quite seriously - if the Ender can take the punishment

Alan

[yvesvidal]

Sections #5 and #6 have been glued as well as all the connectors between them: 

 

 

This represents 49 inches of PLA tubing !!!

 

Section #5 took 38 hours and 32 hours of printing.

Section #6 took 19 hours and 15 hours.

Couplers were printed with 100% filing (they are very hard) and took between 13 hours and 5.5 hours for the smallest.

All parts are secured/positioned with a dab of CA and reinforced with epoxy resin. The result is very strong and sturdy.

 

 

The half hull lays perfectly flat on the table, which is a good omen for the rest of the build.

 

Yves

Edited May 3, 2022 by yvesvidal

[yvesvidal]

I now have to think of a way to display and hold this massive beast. I probably will present it, resting on wood blocks. It is not very heavy but certainly very large and long.

 

Yves

[yvesvidal]

In order to assemble and install the stern, I need to start putting together the rear sections of the submarine. Therefore, the installation of the Section #6 top hull is done, after gluing the coupler part designed for the rudder and diving planes section.

 

The top parts of Section #6 are small and only required 19 hours and 15 hours of printing time, respectively: 

 

 

You can start seeing some of the nice details engraved on the top of the hull. For this section, the extrusion was giving me some headaches and is not as sharp as the other top sections as you will see later on. The two white parts on the very end are the couplers used to attach the stern and propeller (see picture below): 

 

 

A view from mid center: 

 

 

Top and bottom sections are glued and bolted for alignment and extra strength. I use 10-32 x 1 inch long bolts.

 

 

As you can see, a lot of sanding and filling will have to take place. I suspect I may spend 3 to 4 cans of primer, on that large hull.

 

Yves

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by yvesvidal

[ccoyle]

18 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

I now have to think of a way to display and hold this massive beast.

 

I just now saw that photo, and my first thought was that you'll have to quit building now that you've run out of desktop. 😂

[yvesvidal]

The work on the HMS Bellona is temporarily halted for various reasons (dog and cat inside the house....).

 

In the meantime, I got the itch of continuing this large project which was placed on hold for way too long. The next step is to work on the stern and the diving and steering planes.

 

This part is just enormous and did not fit on my small Creality printer. I had to cut it in 5 pieces: four wings and the rear section: 

 

 

Above is one of the wings being printed. Below, it is almost finished: 

 

 

The four parts will be glued vertically first, and then horizontally: 

 

 

 

Before assembling the tail to the main hull, I need to work on a way to anchor and display the hull on a base. With a complete hull 6 feet long, I need to think about something relatively light that will allow the full beauty of this incredible machine.

 

Yves