Back at it. Arkmodel Type VII.

[sam reichart]

update: received several items for the build, including the 4 piece photoetch set. There are a ton of pieces on these frets, and some are easily identifiable, and some I would have just been guessing. I asked Bob about some reference for the various parts, and he sent me a 19 pages pdf from the manufacturer. 19 pages of reference! One heck of a rabbi hole to go down, but the result is going to be pretty damn awesome detail wise.
The mechanics of the build are going to be the easy part. ;-)

[thor]

I'm sure you'll not regret going 'whole-hog' and getting the PE detail. You would never have been satisfied with your build knowing the package existed and you didn't employ it as part of your build

[sam reichart]

Here's the pile. Still need a few things, but somewhere in this collection of parts is an R/C sub.
I'll post pics of the photo etch set later.

[sam reichart]

Here's the 4 sheets of brass photo etch for this kit.
I think this will add some pretty spectacular detail to the model.
Note that you have to scavenge some of the plastic deck to use these pieces. So, it's all in with the photo etch; once you commit, there's no going back to the plastic.

[sam reichart]

quick update. working on the photo etch, specifically on the deck pieces. I decide not to scavenge the kit's deck; instead I'm using sheet styrene for the forward and rear deck pieces, and the same styrene for the middle deck support structure. Bob orders this photoetch very thin (I believe it's .2 mm), so you need to support it around the edges. The instruction sheets call out this need. Thank god they include some extra sound heads for the bow sonar heads; they are tiny, and disappear instantly when dropped. There's lots of teeny bits on those sheets.

[bob the builder]

There is the option for 0.4mm thickness, but I prefer to keep those brass sheets as thin as possible to keep ballast tank size lower. That's a lot of brass above the waterline!

[JWLaRue]

...it's not the weight, it's the volume. That said I assume that like most r/c Type VII's, there isn't a lot of excess room for additional floatation foam?

-Jeff

p.s. have you investigated having the PE done in stainless? That's what I ended up settling on: much stiffer and not a significant difference in weight.

[sam reichart]

There is the option for 0.4mm thickness, but I prefer to keep those brass sheets as thin as possible to keep ballast tank size lower. That's a lot of brass above the waterline!

yep, I remember talking with you about this option. The kit's plastic decking is quite thick.

Jeff- yup, space is tight; your typical Type VII!

[Guest]

Stainless steel is slightly less dense than brass. Not as nice to work or solder to though, not much of an issue for a deck. G10 epoxy glass sheet comes in 0.2mm thickness, a fifth of the weight of brass yet very tough.

[JWLaRue]

I've never understood the reluctance for folks to use stainless and solder parts as necessary. It's much more resistant to bending and getting dinged up. The stiffness is a definite 'plus' when using for decks as it requires much less support structure underneath. My experience with stainless for PE Type VII decks is that soldering is no more difficult than with brass. I use StayBrite solder...works like a champ.

G10....I love that material! I use it all the time for just about everything, but the thought of using it for a WW2 U-boat/Fleetboat deck and cutting/milling out all those slots give me the willies!

-Jeff

[Guest]

You can get slots milled with a cnc router or cut out by waterjet. Some etched in detail may be more difficult to replicate e.g. chequer plate.

[sam reichart]

there's some nice half etching, raised etching on this brass. and yeah, Andy, some of it would be difficult to reproduce with CNC.

[sam reichart]

Minor update. Between this and a kestrel carving I'm working on, things are progressing slowly. I have completed the fore most deck and the stern most decks in sheet styrene, with the photoetch on top of the styrene. This allowed me to save the kit deck in the event I ever need to use it in place of the styrene/photoetch. I am going to build the conning tower out next; I'm just trying to decide if I should use the kit's tower floor, which needs to be heavily cut up/modified in order to allow the photoetch to fit correctly, or if I should just create the floor using sheet styrene as I'd did with the fore and stern decks.
The photoetch pieces have to be checked against the instruction sheet sent by the vendor for locating the tiny pieces, then careful separation of the part, then attachment. It's time consuming, and at times, tedious work. I actually had to drill out under the styrene deck for one set of parts because I saw too late that they needed to be inserted from below the photoetch deck, and I had already fastened it to the styrene. Lesson learned. Measure twice, cut once.
I'll try to get some pics posted.