Victor III

[bwi]

Hi gents,

I have not been sitting on my butt all the time (actually I did but I was VICTOR III related) ....the designing faze is over.

In addition to the above I made the decision (finally) to start up my own side business.

After the AKULA was finished people approached me asking to make replicas of the sub for them. I wanted to but I did not design the mouldings with making replicas in mind, the scribing lines for instance were not integrated in them.
Another thing was the fact that people would pay money for it and I did not want to upset the general administration of taxes in Belgium.

During the development of the VICTOR III I decided that by starting a side business I would not have to say "no" anymore. I can sell the VICTOR III hull if someone is interested and keep my night rest and the general administration of taxes as a friend.

Night rest I had very little of lately as I have made my own website in html code. Yes I’m cheap, so I wrote it myself without any knowledge of html, wont recommend it, but here you can find the result.

http://scale-submarine.com/index.html

Yesterday I did some shopping, the build is eminent now.

The raw materials for the masters and the RTV Supporting jigs.
The modeling boards are respective 50 an 75mm thick.
In the middle you see marine grade stainless steel and messing rod to make the alignment pins and pockets for the moulds.



Grtz,
Bart

[PaulC]

Congratulations, Bart. I look forward to your kits. Nicely done website. I've always thought the November-class would be an interesting boat to build. Glad to see you have it on your "to do" list.

[bwi]

thks Paul, yeah it's on my wishlist , she will be slim, scale 1/96 results in a length of 44" and a beam of only 3.2".

grtz,
Bart

[tommydeen]

Any updates on your victorIII

[bob the builder]

Great start to the website! We need more vendors selling top rate products to help at this hobby grow!

[tommydeen]

And different subjects like what bart and others are working on

[bwi]

Towed Array Pod

The rough towed array pod.
She is now resting in the "ready to paint and finish" box.
Missing but not forgotten, bushing for rudder, towed array exit hole, hatches.

Grtz,
Bart

[tommydeen]

Very nice. This is a great subject to model keep us posted

[bwi]

Very nice. This is a great subject to model keep us posted

Thks...will do sir.
Grtz,
Bart

[bwi]

Test fitting all the parts for the stern. No real issues found.

Now the most time-consuming part to be dealt with, the alinement of the planes and rudders.
Lessons learned from my AKULA, don't forget to give enough clearance to compensate for the primer that will be applied later and for the final paint coat applied when she will be finished.

Grtz,
Bart

[tommydeen]

Very nice Bart! I gather the stern section will be in cast resin?

[bwi]

Very nice Bart! I gather the stern section will be in cast resin?

Thks....Yes it will.

grtz,
Bart

[bwi]

I’m sorry that I vanished for a while……..”she who must be obeyed” wanted to renovate the bathroom completely. So “he who’s has no choice” neglected his hobby for over a month.

All necessary pieces are cut now…..allocation and dimensions are marked on masking tape. One day this pile of blocks will turn into a sub.
Why I cut them all?….well to get the max out of the modeling board with the min amount of waste.
I made a scheme with the dimensions needed and calculated how they will best fit in the modeling boards I had.







Stern moulds.

As you will know I like doing things complicated and like designing stuff. Here again I calculated what is the most economic thing to do (as this is not my occupation I don’t give a darn what amount of time I spent doing it):

• Make the moulds just by pouring a vast amount of silicone into a box or
• Make the moulds by shaping some modeling board and use a thin jacked of silicone to take the shape of the stern master.

Both materials are expensive but the most economical was the lather….ok ok I admit I had give it a shot anyway because I liked the challenge of it and it looked like the most fun to do.
Did it turn out ok? well it was a hell of work, it was challenging, precision was the key. I had to make dowel pins and pockets so the multiple pieces that forms the Articulated mould will fit perfectly together. The master is plain so I needed a caliber to make things hollow. The master is not provided with an index to take the hull parts I had to take that in the design too. But I think It turned out ok. Will it work? I don’t know, I will see in a later stage if it works , if it does not…..we had fun anyway.

Dowel pins and pockets (clearance between them is 0.02 mm) I think I made close to 50 pc of them know....and counting



Caliber mould, with integrated dummy index lips



Caliber mould end plate, after casting it will become one with the caliber and fitted on the mould masters to make the cast of the part hollow.



Continued in next posting (only can opload 6 pic's/ post)

[bwi]

Stern moulds Part2

The articulated caliber mould in different stages of assembly








Mould master base plate, the silicone sleeve inside need to be casted in both mould master halves, so I needed a base plate to do it.



Base plate fitted to one of the master halves





Continued in next posting

[bwi]

Stern moulds part 3

the articulated master mould assembly





All parts of the moulds



That's it for now,

Grtz,
Bart