HMS Repulse 1/96 RC scratch build

[steveuk]

Thank you Ralph, I will keep look out for this lens distortion in future, it is good advice. I must look for your projects. I like to see others tackling difficult builds too.
Thank you for your compliments.

Do you have a thread with your 1903 B-boat ?

[Ralph --- SSBN 598]

Yes, I have building logs on several projects and other stuff.

You will find my B-boat in the right hand column.
Submarine Stuff

[steveuk]

Hi Ralph, Thanks for the link. I just took a long look through your stuff, it is so interesting and I learn so much watching how other people go about making things. You are so resourceful!! Reminds me of the A team. You are also very helpful, describing exactly how you go through each stage. I will def be using some of these ideas when I am building my own projects. I am like you having more than one project on the go at the same time. Although with this current Repulse project I have been very self controlled and not touched my other stuff for over a year now. I guess it is because other people are waiting on me for this. I look forward to seeing your 1903 B-boat reach completion, and then sail. You have a very unique and fine looking sub there! Also great to see your George Washington. I have bought a Revell 1/72 Skippy - plan to cut and stretch and convert to a George Washington class. Not sure if it has already been done yet but the Skippy kit looks ripe for conversion. But first I must complete current Repulse project.

[Davidh]

Hello all,

I have lost count of how many coats of resin and sanding back I have done on this master hull. 10-15. But slowly I think I am getting closer to the right shape. I think you are right Steve about the hull having max beam closer to the bow than most people think. Mine is probably a little more tapered but I am happy with it.

I have had to look at the towed sonar array housing and have turned to getting that onto the port side of the hull. This is essential if I am going to mould the housing into the top hull which I intend to do. This has to be done reasonably soon so that I can work out how the mould will relate to the positioning of the port side stern hydroplane. I will be designing this plane to integrate with the base of the housing. So two moulds will need to be created for the stern planes, one port and one starboard, the port one being slightly different as it will have the housing coming out the end.

My original rear planes are swept in the trailing edge, The biggest misconception of the R class. they were never swept. Si I have got some scrap pine from the workshop at school and sanded them down to size. They are rough but in these photos show the general placement. I will also need to adjust the top vertical fin, it's a bit too high and will need to be reduced however I am in agreement with you Steve, the back end in these pics is certainly looking rather lafeyette class.


So I'm now spending time trying to develop drawings of deck arrangement and also re-coating the hull and sanding back, re coating and sanding back until the profile is as good as I think it's going to get then smooth it down to a glassy finish and started scribing the lines.

I looked into getting hold of some Renshape. I found a supplier down in Sydney. Asked for a quote. Sent me back one within the hour for a block 1mx1m by100mm $380!!! O.K, I guess pine is looking rather good right now...

David H

[thor]

Can you get a hold of a blank of poplar? It is less expensive and more stable than pine.

[steveuk]

Hi Dave,

Great progress and quick work! (wish I could work as fast)
I think the model would greatly benefit from having a definite step demarking the edge of the refit sonar cover. The rounded cover needs to stand out as something tacked on, like a giant band aid! I have photoshoped to show what I mean, with the thick yellow line.

[Davidh]

Hi Steve and Thor.

Thanks for the advice on Poplar, will have to look into it. I was really disappointed with that quote for Renshape. Rediculous! Steve, have always planned to do something with the bow array, make it stick out some amount. Just tricky knowing what shape it would ultimately take.

Now that I have smoothed the hull to the shape and smoothness that I am after I can consider scribing detail. Firstly I need to lay her up on the board and go around her bean with a marker pencil to get the required concentric lines I need. I especially need one that goes from the lower edge of the missile casing towards the bow. This will indicate the upper surface and edge of the conformal bow array. This also goes along way to giving me the outline of the bow hull at waterline.

I have spent a couple of weeknights after work going over photographs trying to glean as much info as possible on the shape and arrangement of all bow details. The rectangular casing hatched forward of the main planes and also where the safety track comes and goes aft of the planes. Also working out a couple of the big hatches just forward and on top of the planes casing. There is one large circle hatch just forward of the planes in the middle. In one photo of revenge at port shows a red ring painted around this hatch. I have decided that I will make a small brass plate turned up on the trusty new lathe. I will drill and small recess into the deck and mount this just a fraction above the surface. I have the same Idea for the hatch at the back just in front of the rear fin and also the raised deck section that the forward transducer is mounted to.

As can be seen the brass hatch sits in a small recess drilled out with a spade bit. After this was done I then looked at the creation of the two side fore planes mountings. I have decided to go with resolutions last refit design for its forward planes. This featured a rather boxy and in my opinion must have been the least hydrodynamic looking plane /hull interaction. The second refit with the planes shafts mounted inside a faired structure that looked like the planes continued all the way to the hull would have surely been the most efficient. Surely there would have been eddying coming off this ensemble.

Dave H

[steveuk]

Hi Dave, good progress going on there. Since this is effectively your new tooling I know you will want this as accurate as possible, so I have done some photoshop onto your model showing some additional pointers. ..you're getting close to cigar time.

[steveuk]

When progress takes you backwards!!!

New information, gleaned from one of Dave's pics fab drydock pics, (thanks Dave), taken from dead side on.. has thrown a proverbial spanner into the works.

Good news is - I got my bow profile spot on! (Well I did use a good side on view from a launch photo.)

Bad news is - the sonar window is not where I expected/hoped it would be in relation to the deck hatch detail. Not surprising I guess since the launch photos all have the flat metal cover over the bow sonar area. Darn. Since the overall profile is good this means my deck detail is out of position - Everything needs to move back towards the tower. Only by about 10mm.

Cue careful attempt to remove deck without damaging.
Yeah, it didn't go very well.

Looks like I will be making another deck piece...

[salmon]

Ouch, that hurts to see. However, keeping in mind the end result, this will be one of the most accurate representation of the HMS Repulse.

[Davidh]

Hi Steve,

thanks for the corrections, duly etched..

I used a small piece of aluminium sheet to make out the profile of the missile hatches. These missile hatch doors extend down the side of the missile deck and feature a double hinge that concertina's outwards. There were two modifications to the missile hatch doors during the lifetime of the R class boats. some boats finished up service with a design that had faceted angled surfaces immediately around the perimeter of the hatch doors. I don't know when this modification was done and to which boats. Another mystery. This would be a lot of work to reproduce so I am going with the earlier design. I will then start cutting out the tiny little raised hatch hinges that protrude just slightly above the flat deck. Tweezer city here we come.
Weaving its way in between all the hatches is the safety track. I am not a good etcher. I agree with Dave Merriman that wood is frustrating and hard to scribe in however at $300 a sheet, forget Renshape, that's a rip off. If you look at some of the pics of the weaving deck safety track it almost looks raised. I am tempted to use a slither of styrene to simulate this but I think it's just a lighting thing..

The Bow conformal sonar window is the next big job. This would be raised. As mentioned the big fat structure over the front of Resolution makes interpretation really difficult. Thanks Cammel Laird!Like lots of other things that have changed on Resolution I'm sure that this bow array has evolved too. I am making mine as I believed she would have looked towards the end of her service. Mine would involve the gluing of small strips of styrene along the edges of the array outline. Once this is done a layer of Filler is screeded over the area inside the box and carefully profiled to leave a minimum of filler needing to be sanded back.

I have machined up a stern hatch. This is just in front of the rudder and was used in the late 1970's for the DSRV tests with Repulse. I have sometimes thought of doing this boat just to do the cool and awkward looking white skunk like stripe running down the back of Repulse. I don't know how long she had this scheme but it would certainly be unique amongst boomers. Still If I did do this I would have to revert back the earliest forward plane housing design. Drilled a hole to slot the hatch right in and then filled around it and sanded down. Soon ready for etching the various other details that would be found around the stern.

I have been adding further hull detail and deliberating over the feint line that runs at an angle from the bow sonar corner up at and angle and then abruptly turns vertical just in front of the fin. This then rides up and over the top of the hull before meeting itself on the other side. I know it the line of tiles where I assume they end at their northern most point. I have decided to simply denote this with a really small strip of Styrene plastic that will demarcate.

David H

[steveuk]

I used a small piece of aluminium sheet to make out the profile of the missile hatches. These missile hatch doors extend down the side of the missile deck and feature a double hinge that concertina's outwards. There were two modifications to the missile hatch doors during the lifetime of the R class boats. some boats finished up service with a design that had faceted angled surfaces immediately around the perimeter of the hatch doors. I don't know when this modification was done and to which boats. Another mystery. This would be a lot of work to reproduce so I am going with the earlier design. I will then start cutting out the tiny little raised hatch hinges that protrude just slightly above the flat deck.

Hi Dave. The actual missile hatch doors didn't change. Their outward appearance went through a change when the sides of the missile fairings got covered with acoustic tiling. In order for the hatches to not be obstructed by the tiles during operation the tiles followed those castellation shapes you see. To further complicate the appearance the tiles outer edges are all finished off with a chamfer. This creates those strange triangular shapes you see. Only Repulse and Renown seem to have had their missile sidewalls covered with tiles. Resolution and Revenge never seemed to get them.

[steveuk]

Weaving its way in between all the hatches is the safety track. I am not a good etcher. I agree with Dave Merriman that wood is frustrating and hard to scribe in however at $300 a sheet, forget Renshape, that's a rip off. If you look at some of the pics of the weaving deck safety track it almost looks raised. I am tempted to use a slither of styrene to simulate this but I think it's just a lighting thing..

Dave, The safety track is flush with the deck. It's like an I beam fixed in between a slot in the deck. The easiest way to emulate this correctly is to scribe two parallel lines around a template. Its a lot more work, but worth the effort especially when making a tool for moulding. recent pics of Resolution laid up in Rosyth show what looks like a raised safety track - in fact this is just plate welded over the top to seal the gaps. For some reason every gap and hole has been plate welded over on these boats. So don't trust those 'Resolution today' type pics.

Here are some pics below to show the safety track as it should be on a working boat.

[Davidh]

Thanks Steve,

Do you have any idea how to do the starboard side stern plane with the towed housing coming out the back.? Hopefully the MOD will get back to me on Friday.

Dave

[steveuk]

Thanks Steve,

Do you have any idea how to do the starboard side stern plane with the towed housing coming out the back.?

Dave

Hi Dave,
Yes, I think the towed array casing follows the same route as these seen on American boomers. The pics are from Mr Merriman I saw in another article somewhere. I believe they are of Casimir Pulaski - the towed array casing runs down the starbd side on those actual American boomers - so I have simply mirror imaged the two pics over using photosuite (see below) to show how they will appear running down the port side for our Resolution class.
If you have a real close look at your large stern pic from MOD you will notice the same merging shapes evident at the root of Revenges stern plane. Looks like the exit tube has been removed from the outer edge of Revenges stern plane by that time, unfortunately, but I'm confident that they will look the same. So again I'd follow what you see in the pics below for the exit tube.