Gwen's Arkmodel 1/48 scale RC Type VIIC build log

[Onkel Neal]

Looks really good, Gwen. The rigging and insulator blocks, the super straight periscope, handrails, lots of great details. How did you do the small cable wrapping the deck gun barrel? Tell me thats a wire or something you wrapped around the barrel, cuz I cannot see how it could be a painted on detail.

Weathering is next, eh?

[Gwenydd]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Looks really good, Gwen. The rigging and insulator blocks, the super straight periscope, handrails, lots of great details. How did you do the small cable wrapping the deck gun barrel? Tell me thats a wire or something you wrapped around the barrel, cuz I cannot see how it could be a painted on detail.

Weathering is next, eh?

I replaced the tip of the barrel with a matching diameter aluminum tube, made a plug to fit it and used a piece of nylon thread wrapped around the barrel. No paint needed =P Oh and the periscope is nice and straight because I made it myself out of an aluminum tube. I actually turned the shape of the head of it from aluminum rod using an electric drill and a file and added the lens housing. The periscope tube also functions as a snorkel for the ballast air intake. There's a small hole drilled in it toward the top of the tube.

[Gwenydd]

I decided I was really too heavy handed with the rust on the lower hull so I hit the lower hull with a few light mist coats of dark gray again. This really toned it down a lot and I think it looks much better.

I also realized that the hatches and bollards/mounts should all match the very dark grey of the decks so I fixed those. I need to redo the paint wear with wood colors showing through on the decks again and blend it all.









Here you can see the tiny magnets I used to attach the antenna rigging to the tripods.

[fireftr18]

Awesome job. I will love to see it when it's actually operational.

[Gwenydd]

Originally Posted by fireftr18

Awesome job. I will love to see it when it's actually operational.

Thanks, Once I finish the paint work it will be ready for trimming. I'm going to need to get a tank put together for that and then I'll get the surface and submerged trim adjusted using lead weights and foam. After that I'll have to wait till the weather warms up enough again to put it in a pool or pond for "sea trials"...

[Gwenydd]

For anybody who is interested here are the pertinent specs on my boat:

Kit: Arkmodel 1/48 scale German Type VIIC U-boat purchased from Arkmodel on Amazon. This kit was specifically designed for radio control.

Length = 55 inches
Height from bottom of keel to top of conning tower = approx. 8.5"
Beam = approx 6"
Weight of completed model with WTC, battery, and all equipment for running installed = approximately 12 lbs. (this is my estimate. I'll actually weigh it later)
Ballast tank volume=56.55 cubic inches, equivalent to 2.039 pounds of water at 70 degrees F
Propellers are brass 1/48 scale Type VIIC props purchased from Nautilus Drydocks.

Watertight Cylinder built for me by Nautilus Drydocks. Includes 1 electric motor and gearbox to drive two propellers, 4 servos (2 forward and 2 aft) plus additional servo for ballast vent valve, two ballast air pumps, and a gas charged pressurized cylinder for emergency ballast blow in case of loss of radio signal or if manually commanded.

The on-board battery pack is a 3300 MAH LIPO.

I have added the following additional devices to provide more functionality to the sub:

AD2 Automatic Pitch Controller Board from Nautilus Drydocks. This controller board automatically controls the aft dive planes to keep the boat in a level attitude unless overridden by manual input to the aft dive planes from the radio.

Depth Cruiser controller board from Nautilus Drydocks. This board automatically maintains the last depth of the boat commanded by the radio using the forward dive planes. It has an on-board pressure sensor that precisely measures the ambient water pressure and moves the foward dive planes to maintain that pressure until overridden by radio input to the forward planes.

BLM Battery Link Monitor from Nautilus Drydocks. This board monitors the charge level of the battery as well as the strength of the signal received from the radio transmitter. If the battery level drops below a certain preset point the boat will automatically surface. Also if the radio control signal is lost for more than a preset length of time (I have it set to 5 seconds) the boat will automatically surface by blowing the tank with the emergency gas cylinder.

My radio system is a 6-channel 75mzh radio from Vex Robotics. These were designed for home-built robots etc. and put out a good strong signal. They work very well for sub models since modern high frequency radios cannot transmit a signal of sufficient strength through water.

All-totalled I would estimate I have spent approximately $2000 USD to build this boat and for the radio system it uses.

[mapuc]

I pray everything will work just fine on your sub when your take it out for a test run.

Hopefully you have or know someone who has a swimmingpool.

Markus