Yesterday's work at the Nautilus Drydocks

[bob the builder]

In the hopes of sharing out more of what I do on a daily basis, and also to help prompt more discussion and sharing, I'm taking inspiration from His Majesty's thread on my forums that he's named "today's work". For those of you scratching your head, "His Majesty" refers to David Merriman III, largely recognized as one of the world's foremost builders and most knowledgeable experts on RC submarines. Due to happenings in the past, there was a divide that took place between David and the SubCommittee, but he is very active on the Drydocks forums and generous with information and advice.

At any rate, taking a page from his book, I want to see if I can scrounge up the discipline to post up daily(ish) updates as to what goes on in the shop here at the Drydocks.

The following was actually Monday, March 30th's work (I'm pulling the post from the Drydocks forums so that it lives here, too!)


Here's a point-form update of things that don't have accompanying photos:

• COVID-19 is messing with my supply chain. Deliveries from some of my overseas vendors are hugely delayed and, in some cases, ceased altogether. Even domestic orders that would typically take a couple of days to get to me are now taking over a week. If I have to order it in, be prepared for a delay in getting your order fulfilled.
  
• I have been nominated for the role of President of the SubCommittee. I, in conjunction with my running-mate, Ed Tordahl (Quartermaster here on the forums) have high hopes that enough of that membership will realize the inevitable path to inconsequence that the organization is currently on and vote to put new, fresh leadership in place. If you aren't already, I'd urge you to become a member (it's $10!) and vote for us when the time comes!
  
• FedEx did me the huge favor of losing my last stocking order of cylinders from David. That would be no less than NINE of the new MSD SubDrivers and a batch of gas backups. They say they delivered it on Saturday. Of course, with the virus, there is no signatures, so the proof of delivery just reads "CV-19". I've got a call in and they're trying to trace now. I've got outstanding customer orders that I was counting on these for. Stupid virus. Stupid FedEx.
  
• Two quick builds over the next couple of weeks. Both are based off of subs that I took in trade or outright purchased. One is the very unique Japanese Kairyu midget sub, and the other is a DK Models 48th scale Type VII. Both have the hulls 90% done. I just need to drop in a cylinder, test and trim, and do final cosmetics.

Okay... a few pictures of stuff n' things from yesterday's work:

My daily workout regime is slaughtered. I usually take CrossFit-inspired classes at my local gym. Of course, now we're forced to do it all via online workouts. I've got no weights, so I make do with what is laying around. Logan and I are trying to do daily exercise. This was part of yesterday's workout with me using our little backup generator for weight:



I just got a new workbench for my 3D printing station. Got it put together and set up in the morning while the rest of the clan slept. Much better than my abomination of plastic shelves and collapsing tables I had previously!:



My son, Logan, is working on his own sub! I managed to get gifted the infamous "BatSub" that David M. put together years ago. It's in decent shape. Logan is well underway with a complete refit, including setup and installation of a old (and yet brand new) 3.5" D&E 3.5" cylinder, repairing some damage to the hull, and repainting.



Work continues on the big German Type VII for Marcel up in Quebec. Inspired by Ed's writeup on his Skipjack, and proven with my MSS experiment (click here for the write up on that one if you haven't already seen it) I am working on the rear control compartment. This one houses the twin drive motors, ESC, rudder and rear plane servos, Depth Controller, Battery and Link Monitor, Pitch Controller, ballast air pump, equalization valve, emergency blow switch and HP15 electronic switch for ballast.

Yes, it looks like not much more than a container of multicolored spaghetti with metal meatballs, but trust me, it works (or it should... I really HOPE it does....)

The forward control module will house bow thruster controls, servos for bow planes, bow plane retracts, torpedo doors and torpedoes, along with the periscope pump.



This is the new programming and test rig that I built for the superb little BLHeli32 ESC's that Andy put me on to for the new MSD cylinders. The ESC's are literally the size of a postage stamp and offer TONS of programmable features. This rig allows me to program each ESC and test for functionality before bundling with the cylinders for shipping.

[bob the builder]

Work from Tuesday, March 31st:

It's a pre-Easter miracle! After talking through the lost shipment of cylinders with FedEx for about half an hour, they reviewed the GPS logs of the driver and determined that he dropped the boxes two doors down. That neighbor is down here only seasonally, so no one has been home there for weeks. While I was on the phone, I walked over and.. sure enough... there was the missing box! HUGE sigh of relief.

I also wanted to acknowledge David M's massive generosity in offering to work with me in case the box was never found. Having to absorb that kind of loss would have been a huge blow to my business.



More work on the XXI!: I completed most of the work on the rear drive module and moved on to the forward compartment. This one will house the geared water pump for hydraulically actuating the periscopes, an ESC to control that, an HP15 switch to control the bow thrusters, and four servos, one each for: retracting planes, bow planes, torp doors and torp launch. I may link the torp doors and retracting planes to operate from one servo, freeing up one for future expansion. That means that the torp doors will open when the planes extend, which is basically what you'd want anyway. We'll see how I feel when I start hooking up linkages.

All four servos are running linear conversions. I also worked on installing the bow thrusters in the XXI. I'd originally envisioned using my own bow thruster design. In testing, however, I couldn't replicate the efficiency and performance of out-of-the box Rule bilge pumps. Stupid me should have thought of that earlier. In this setup, each thruster works to push the boat in one direction, blowing through a stainless steel mesh. They're forward enough that they'll get a great turning moment about the length of the model. To save channels, I'll likely rig these up with rudders. Because I'm using the HP15 switch, they won't come on until rudder hits about 50% throw, whether the boat is moving forward or not.

I also fabricated and mounted the gas emergency backup system. This plumbs into the pressure equalization channel, so it will be able to be manually controlled, but be automatically triggered by the onboard BLM as well.





New boats!

I ended up trading Steve for his gorgeous 35th scale Nautilus and an old 32nd Parallel Type VII. They were shipped freight on a massive wooden pallet and they arrived yesterday from California. I enlisted the help of my son, Logan, to unpack and demolish the pallet. Nothing like prying at a massive wooden pallet with a claw hammer in 90 degree heat to help build character!



The boats are really unique and I'm very happy with them. The Nautilus is built from the now out-of-production Custom Replicas 66" kit. This one had a really interesting story in that it started as a commissioned build for Steve years and years ago. I shipped him the kit and it arrived with twin dually truck tire tracks directly down the center of it. UPS paid for a new kit, but Steve worked model magic on the damaged hull and brought it back to glorious life once again, building it into his personal boat.

This one has full LED lighting and all of the Gen 3 upgrades, including the photoetched brass deck and upgraded wheelhouse. It was originally built for an OTW cylinder, but I am loving the MSS modular box idea so much that I'm thinking I'll slate that for this boat if and when someone commissions me to build it for them.





The second boat started as a standard 32 Parallel hull and then Steve added his own tower. Lots of extra details added such as weld lines.

It was built using the old school dry hull methodology. Basically there were three compartments. While it's possible that it could have been resuscitated and re-launched using the original guts, I decided that the boat deserved better. Within 30 minutes, I had it completed gutted and ready for installation of a new, modern cylinder. Due to the hull access, I'm thinking a 3" tube for the motors and servos and a 4" diameter tank would be ideal.



Both of these boats will eventually make their way onto my site to be offered for sale.

Today's work will involve

[ccontrol]

Love these updates, keep them coming!
Two things:
-Convince Logan to wear safety glasses when soldering, only a matter of time before he gets a molten solder "pop".
-I would be more impressed with the generator lifting if I knew it had gas in it.

[bob the builder]

A lot done with few photos to show for it!


Lots of progress on the forward command module for the XXI. I played around with using a smaller gearpump for the periscopes, but it was designed for 6V and while it pumped as well as the big one on 12V, it was screaming and I don't like the long-term reliability forecast for it. That said, I'll stick with the big, oversized pump. The good thing about that is that the new owner could potentially plumb in other features that could be hydraulically actuated at the same time as the periscopes with plenty of flow to spare.*



Today's tragedy. I was working on the new LA 3D printed prototype, doing some filling, sanding and priming. I wet-sand most of my work now, so I was working outside. I laid on some filler primer and then got a call from my former employer regarding a project that I'm working on for them. I had to drop my stuff and head inside for just shy of an hour.

When I got back, the entire hull was, for lack of a better term, melted. The upper hull, having been printed at a thickness of 2.5mm, was flattened, having spread about 2" from where it was supposed to be. The lower hull is thicker at 4mm thickness, but still warped along the entire length.



Could it be salvaged? Eh, maybe, but it would take a couple of hours of heating, bracing, cooling, heating and re-bracing, and it might never get back to proper shape. Taking my licks, I busted it back into it's component sections and threw it in the recycle bin. This will give me the chance to modify the files to make assembly easier, stronger, and incorporate the bulkheads for mounting the cylinder, too.*

As a reminder, this file was created in conjunction with a gentleman up in Canada. He did the lion's share of the design, and I tweaked the files for better RC application. Hoping to nail this down and offer the files in the coming weeks.*



Other than that, a few orders shipped and a big shipment of cardboard boxes on a pallet received, unpacked and put into stock.*

[ccontrol]

Bob, where did you get the linear servo conversions? Those look like the Jomar parts that seems impossible to find.

[QuarterMaster]

1:48 Scale Disney NAUTILUS!

Work from Tuesday, March 31st:

New boats!

I ended up trading Steve for his gorgeous 35th scale Nautilus and an old 32nd Parallel Type VII. They were shipped freight on a massive wooden pallet and they arrived yesterday from California. I enlisted the help of my son, Logan, to unpack and demolish the pallet. Nothing like prying at a massive wooden pallet with a claw hammer in 90 degree heat to help build character!

Priorities NEMO, PRIORITIES!!

[bob the builder]

LOL... 48th Nautilus is in the hands of my molding/casting partner in California. Work was progressing, but this stupid virus has stalled everything...

The linear conversions were the Jomar pieces. I'd hoarded 4 for my personal use years ago, and this was a great time to use them.

Yesterday didn't see a lot of building getting done, but there was a lot of other work going on. I sold the big Nautilus within minutes of listing it for sale on my site and sending my newsletter out. If you haven't subscribed to my newsletter, it's a monthly summary of what I did over the previous 30 days, upcoming products, announcements, etc. If you haven't signed up, I recommend it!

Most of my time was spent cleaning my home shop. Over the years, my parts bins got polluted and filled with all sorts of miscellaneous stuff n' things. It's amazing what I found when I was digging through all of the bins, drawers and shelves. There is definitely something cathartic about cleaning and organizing. Walking into the garage now is deeply satisfying! Sometimes you just need to take a break from the work and let the simple act of organizing something rest your brain.







Logan got the base coat of paint onto the Batsub. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, this boat started life as a Holland 6 hull that David Merriman won at a SubCommittee raffle eons ago. He converted it to something fun, great-performing and fun to drive. It ended up in storage for years until he gifted me the model a few months ago. Once we got it here, my son, Logan, fell in love with it and I put him in charge of the entire refurbishment, including sourcing, setting up and installing a new cylinder, cleaning up the linkages, and putting a new paint job on her.

We're getting close now. Hopefully within a few weeks she will be wet!



During cleaning, I stumbled on a whole box of brand new hobby knives that I got from Don ages ago. It's time to find them a good home. From now until they're gone, every order shipped receives a free hobby knife!



As part of my deal to take on Matt Thor's products, I ended up with beautiful CAD files for the 571 Nautilus. I have the blank hull master in 72nd scale, but as I now cad the 3D files, I will be making this my next 3D file offering, rendered in 1/96 scale. It shouldn't take long to flesh out with drain holes, limber holes, etc. I think it will be a really slick model when it's all done! I'm excited!

[sam reichart]

love the posts, Bob! thanks for sharing them here!

[QuarterMaster]

LOL... 48th Nautilus is in the hands of my molding/casting partner in California. Work was progressing, but this stupid virus has stalled everything...

I know, I know Bob! I just saw the meme and had to run with it!! You're as busy as a blind man herding cats off an LA Freeway.

You do point out the "Shop" part of the hobby can be a magical place full of lost treasures!

Nothing like a well organized shop. In fact, one of my hobbies is to tour other hobbyist's work shops, almost regardless of the nature of the passion.

Always something to learn.

[bob the builder]

It will help, but even epoxy tends to soften up in high heat.*

To be honest, there is no substitute for a solid, fiberglass hull. That said, I the reason I am going down the path of making these files is to hook people into the hobby at a cheaper price point. Once they have the taste, they can invest in a more traditionally manufactured hull that will last decades.*

My next 3D file will be USS Nautilus, SSN 571 in 1/72 scale. I've got the files done and I'm currently printing the prototype in ABS plastic. No worries about heat, and the details are turning out really well so far. I realize that most people don't have printers capable of ABS printing. Most cheap ones out there will only be PLA and similar. Like everything else in this hobby, you pay to play. If you go the 3D route, you need to invest in something that will be able to print in durable material. ABS is a great choice.*

Yesterday's work!:*

Spent the morning with Logan packing up orders, including that monster 35th scale Disney Nautilus, which sold within an hour of listing it up! Packing consisted of reinforcement of all protruding appendages with 1" thick styrofoam board, then 3" of 1/2" bubble wrap, a glued double cardboard box, and expanding foam packs to hold it all in place.*



Some work on the Batsub! Swapped out the pair of LiPo's for a single larger cell contained in the cylinder versus outside it as is the usual case with the older D&E design. It's completely self-contained now. Linkages cleaned up a bit, existing bulkhead expanded to accommodate a 3.5" versus the original 3" cylinder., bulkhead re-adhered to the hull, and new support brackets fabricated and on the printer.



The rest of the day was spent on the XXI. The forward module is about 90% done now. I just need to install the servo headers to connect the boxes so that they can talk to one another. Other than that, they're getting close to ready for install. Here is the forward box sitting in place about where it will be installed in the model:*




I finished printing out one of Oto Gerza's spectacular 48th scale German Type XXI models. The photoetch is on it's way to me. I'm astounded at the degree of engineering that he put into the kit. It really is outstanding. Hull access is via a transverse break forward and aft, so you slip your cylinder in from the front or back. It's set up for a 3.5" cylinder. I'll play with this in my free time (chuckle). This print is in PLA, but I'm thinking of re-printing in ABS so it's bulletproof before I put all that gorgeous photoetch on it.*




Here is the rear motor module of the big XXI. The motor shafts form the rear holddown mechanism. Installation will be exceptionally easy, and you'll have complete access to the interior without having to remove the box, too!





Bow thrusters are mounted, too! I used a pair of stainless steel brackets epoxies to the hull. I'm hoping these 1100gph bilge pumps will turn this beast well!


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[bob the builder]

Yesterday's work!


Not much in the way of photos, but lots done yesterday! The morning was taken up putting together a wooden bar that we'd ordered back in December. We are renovating our outdoor patio area and we'd been waiting on the mail-order bar forever. Turned out to be pretty cheap construction, but it was also inexpensive and easy to put together. Word to the wise... don't order from www.johnsbars.com!.

Work on the control boxes for XXI!*Got all of the wiring completed for control of the bow thrusters, installed the linkage outputs for the four forward servos, installed the magnetic mount for the rear control box, created the wire harness for the bow thrusters and vent solenoids.*







Logan and I also got a lot of work done on the Batsub. New cylinder mounting brackets installed, linkages connected, and we decided we're going to outfit it with a complete LED lighting system as well!




*

[bob the builder]

More picky work with the electronic guts of the XXI. I also ran the linkages to the rear planes and rudder, and cut the internal bulkheads to allow pass-through of the twin drive shafts and linkage rods.*



The Batsub is coming along great! Logan is doing very good work. He's a very good student, and a patient worker. LED lights installed, cylinder outfitted with lighting output and a remote on/off switch.*





I'm a couple of parts into the prototype print of the USS Nautilus 571. They're turning out really well so far.* ABS plastic in 72nd scale.

[QuarterMaster]

You just gave me a fantastic idea Bob!

Dave gave me the "what for" regarding the stern section of my 1:48 DeBoer Hull. He doesn't care for the "Arrowhead" stern, and I do want to model her as she looked when she transited the pole under the ice.

I see how that stern of yours looks.

Instead of a massive rework to get the DeBoer correct to that configuration, I could print the stern of yours in 3D, at the correct scale, and use that!

I could either:
1-Print in PLA and make a mold.
2-Print in ABS (which I can and like) and fuse it on.

Thoughts?

[thor]

Hi Bob,

Would those SSN 571 parts be from the CAD file I developed for the boat?

[bob the builder]

Matt, yes, these parts originated with the files that came with the 72nd master you sold me. Great work! I've modified them significantly to make them suitable for printing, and specifically for RC.

Ed, here is what the stern looks like from these files. Hit me up via email and we'll see what we can make happen for you. I'd say an ABS print is a great solution.