Revell 1:72 VIIC u-boat

Hi to every one
well 20 years after my first attempt at making my first little fun sub which was a success and will get a refit before the summer and my scratch built HMS Resolution sinking to the bottom of the bath and had more leaks then a colander and now lives in the loft with no hope I have decided to build another sub and hoping to get into subs in a more dedicated way.
my dear wife bought me the revel u–boat for Christmas 2 years ago but I did not know where to get a wtc from then I was pointed in the direction of MMB models who was very helpful making me the WTC 50mm in diameter and 300mm long and the water tight push rods small prop shafts and solid couplings for the motor all for £60 posted so with no more excuses I have started to build it over Christmas.
I am going to build it as a dynamic diving sub so please if anyone thinks I’m going wrong some were please feel free to comment
I must say it is quite nice building a plastic kit takes me back a very long way building airfix kits when I was a kid.
The pictures below are the hull were I have cut drilled and filled over 300 holes one tip is it’s a lot easier to dremel with a sanding drum the back of the holes that are to be filled out take it easy not to melt and distort the plastic and not to sand all the way through and leave some plastic to file.
holding the hull up to a light this helps to see how much plastic is left.

Hope this building thread might be of interest many thanks geof

here we have the WTC 50mm in diameter and 300mm long plus the prop shafts with purple ends
the purple ends show where the o ring is and this must be in the free flood area so the water keeps the o ring cool
on the left side of the picture is the water tight push rod parts with a small o ring you pass your push rod through the end cap and tube fit the o ring then the last end cap
last is the solid coupling this is 2mm to 2mm
all this is hand made to order by MMB

all the best geof

HI GEOF,
I am watching!.No mater how many people has don the same thing because everyone has a different approach so Please keep as informed.

MARIUS

Thanks guys for the kind comments
I just received my FUTABA 6EX PCM 1024 6CHANNEL RADIO when I opened the box I could not believe it they put in a receiver as well with crystals as well all for £38.00 posted
all I had to do was make a rocker arm for the spring so the throttle stick was like the elevator stick
has any one used a futaba R156F receiver the reson I ask it says in the instructions that its for park flyers and only got a range of 500 feet seems a little short for a submarine
its nice and small to fit into the WTC hope I can use it
Richard i hope your resting them fingers and your on the mend
cheers geof

You'll have no troubles with that rx, Geof...I had one identical to that in the Dragonfish, and later in the little Kilo, no problems whatsoever.

And as for resting the fingers...of course I am.

thanks richard i will use in confidence its a perfect size for the u-boat
geof

Hi to you all
Now I have sat down long enough I have posted some pictures of the conning tower showing the drain holes that I have drilled on the deck and then painted over Christmas still got to do the weathering when I finish the rest of the sub
Has anyone got any advice on doing rust streaks as I think it brings the model alive?
I’m Looking to get some servos for the sub do you think micro servos be alright if so how small can I go?
Sorry the build is slow I am trying to build the model as well as trying to sort out my late mum and dad’s estate but we are making progress I will try and take more photos this weekend to bring the build up to date if you can keep me and my son of the sledge this weekend ha ha
All the best geof

thanks richard just been down to my local model shop and bought 2 new power 9 gram servos and a micro viper marine 10 speed control just need 2 prop tubes and couplings trying to work out what ones would be better to make the WTC easyer to put in and take out
geof

p.s dont give up on the skipjack

Hi I thought I would give you all a little update I must say using a pillar drill and a calliper to measure tubes and things does make life a lot easier one little trick I have found is when you have to wipe of any resin use baby wipes makes me worry what they do to baby’s skin.

Here below is a link to Dave manning’s conversion of the revel U-boat there are some very good ideas some of these will be used on mine
http://www.modelboats.co.uk/news/article/dynamic-diving/520/

The first photo is where I have cut the side out of the hull to make it a lot easier to get the WTC in and out plus I have large hands and would be very fiddly.
The cut line is under the ballast tank to try and hide as much of the cut as possible with a little bit of milliput filler and paint it should not be to noticeable I hope



Another idea I have used is enlarging the front planes so it will dive a lot easier not scale I know but models should run as good as it looks.
To make these I got the original front planes and stuck them in my photo copier at work and enlarged them up to141% then stuck the copy onto 1mm styrene sheet then cut them out.
Once we have the tops and bottoms of the planes made up I then made a small jig out of balsa to hold everything in place.



On the jig I put 2 small pieces of plastic at each end just thick enough to curve the bottom sheet up when I clamped and glued the shaft down if you have done the maths right when the top sheet is put on it should be symmetrical just glue the top sheet to the ends and shaft see photos it should make sense






Once this is done just fill the middle with milliput then sand smooth



take care geof

Here’s a little update the sub is moving on nicely but slowly I have now finished the rear hydroplanes and the bulkheads.



I have added an extra bulk head the brown one is made of thick Perspex and sits behind the original rear bulkhead to add some extra strength when putting in and removing the WTC



The photo below is the fitting of the rear hydroplane and control arm you can see a blue pen line this is the area were you have got to open up both sides of the hull so the control arm can move freely once done you then have to add two brass bushes to both side of the hull



The front hydroplane and control arm is a straight forward affair just adding the bushes to the sides of the hull all control shafts i.e. hydroplanes and rudders are approximately 3/32 and tube to suit



With all that done you can the fit the hull together with the extra bulkhead fitted now I have got to try and refit the removable side panel could be fun



Take care geof

Well this weekend I have been messing about with the rudders and I must say I’m quite pleased how it’s gone the hardest part was drilling the rudders straight with more luck than judgment it worked out so I glued them in with 24hr Araldite quick ha ha.

The brass work was a nice change from balsa wood i used 2 brass collets and brass sheet and made three control horns two horns to link the rudders together with a small push rod and one horn to link the servo.



Inside the hull I add the rudder shafts then epoxyed them in place
after a trial fit of the rudder assembly I found I had to thin down the inside of the hull where the two parallel horns touch the hull side the trick is to use a dremel holding the hull to a strong light you can see how thin the plastic is as you sand it away.



It is a bit of fiddle trimming here and filling there to get the two parrallel horns in so they have enough movement got there in the end



Till the next bit take care geof

That's nice.
Twin rudders are awkward things to fit in and make.

David

thanks for the knid words twin rudders were a little fiddly but fun and richard as for those x tails ive been watching them on videos i cant seem to work out what there doing never mind trying to mix them one a transmitter

geof

well a quick up date i have nearly finished the side hatch that i cut out of the hull it was a bit time consuming but im very pleased the way it came out just got to do a little bit more filling to do the it a done
the side is held on with 3 plastic tabs then just sloted in




richard a little while ago i asked you about using HITEC receivers with a futaba transmitter and you were saying there might be a range problem.
well i found 3 genuine hitec 8 channel dual conversion ones for £5.99 each in a sale at SMC models SMC said that they work on futaba or hitec transmitters so i thought what have a got to lose so i bought all 3 thinking if they dont work ill put them on ebay
so far using a futaba crystal in the transmitter and a hitec crystal in the reciever things look good with transmitter arial down and the receiver arial coiled up i got 50 feet no problems at all i ran out of space.
so i will put it into a boat and see what happens

the next job it fitting the prop shafts but im of to london with the family for 2 night so it wont be till next week

till then take care geof

I always used to just scrunch the aerial lead up and stuff it wherever it would fit!

I am pretty sure that I have used Hitec Dual Conversion Rx's with Futaba Tx's with no problems in the past. Dual conversion Rx's are well worth having because of interference rejection. A very good purchase , I would say.

David

I keep looking at how you opened the side. I think it is really interesting! Is that a common way to open this sub? I have seen David Merriman open it from the deck and squeezing the WTC in.
This is really good stuff!

Hi David we used hitec receivers with futaba transmitters on the planes no problem and as.you rightly pointed out the dual conversion receivers are very good with removing interfence

salmon thanks for the kind coment i came across the idea of removing the side of the hull from a article in model boats so i can't take credit
its cut out in such a way that the WTC slips in and out so easy plus there's plenty of room to remove the couplings and push rods from the WTC
i cut the side out with a Stanley knife to keep it as tidy as i could.
I will take a photo of WTC in place when i get home
take care geof

HI GEOF,

And do You think is possible to make ashort video to explain whit You guest sad?.

THANKS

MARIUS

Hi marius now im back from a weekend in london i will fit the front support for the WTC then i will do a short video for you
many thanks geof