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Hello and Happy Holidays to all,
I am a fan of the larger rc submarines. I had starting working on an OTW Type VII but quickly realized it will be a lengthy build. In the meantime, I sold my ArkModel Type VII and was interested in getting into something larger that I could have ready for Carmel and SubFest this next year. While at SubFest I purchased a built OTW Upholder hull. The boat was originally built by Bob Martin for a customer. If you are interested in the Upholder, Bob has a very nice 6 part build blog on YouTube that is well worth the time to watch.
When building a boat for a customer the amount of detail must be driven by how much money the customer wants to spend. It make much more sense to get the boat running and operating properly than waste a lot of money on shinny bits and pieces, so the detail of this boat was pretty much at a minimum.
Please understand, I am in no way saying I can or will improve on the build Bob did on this boat. Since it did not come with a WTC, and while I await one from OTW, I decided to use my time to add the shinny bits and pieces.
The OTW design and WTC are a tried and true package that many have bought, built and sailed over the years. So I see no reason to reinvent the wheel here so i'll be keeping everything pretty much to the design detail aspect of this fine boat. At least for now......
So, lets get started.....
This is pretty much how the boat looked (on the outside) when I obtained it.
After a lot of measuring, modeling and 3d printing I had all the deck, tower and hull raised panels, hatches and other pieces attached in place.
There are a couple of pertinent features, not present in the original hull and tower, I thought should be added. These are the two deck walk ways around the base of the tower and the raised fillet at the back of the tower. These were made using Marine Tex Epoxy. This stuff is specifically made for marine applications and gets as hard as Superman's knee caps.
I decided the boat has a lot of usable area inside the tower and under the hull. This footprint should yield itself to working scopes and torpedo's and hopefully, diesel smoke.
I started with the scopes as they are most important.
I want to use a phonematic system that can be operated on the workbench. My base thought process revolves around the air system used in rc aircraft. They can be charged independently, they can work on the bench and they can incorporate sequencers that will control the spend at which they move. A small air tank is located under the hull right in front of the rear deck opening.
I added a operable recessed hatch in the rear location for the schrader valve.
I cut out the plate Bob had installed originally and 3d printed a new one that fit nice and snug in the top of the sail. This part is .75" thick.
I then made 3d plugs for each scope opening with centering holes.
This made centering the scope holes easy in the center of each opening.
This is the scope assembly. There will be four scopes moving when finished but right now the ESM is no hooked up. I plan to run this boat on 2.4 gh so the ESM will include the antenna which will protrude 2" above it. This will yield a full 6" of depth over the top of the tower before the antenna touches the water.
This is the assembly in the hull with the tower removed. The tower slips over the structure easily and is held in place by two thumb screws inside the hull.
This is a link to a short video of the scopes working. You will notice, to get the induction unit to seat properly at rest, I had to make new scope heads. These are all milled of of aluminum.
The shafts and sleeves are Stainless.
One last thing.
I believe all airplanes have pilots when in the air and all submarines have lookouts when on the surface. So, I had two crew members left over from my ArkModel Type VII. but they didn't look the part of modern day sailors. After a few Captain and Cokes, I morphed into my Dr. Frankenstein personality, cut them up and remembered them. lol
Happy Holidays,
Mick
I am a fan of the larger rc submarines. I had starting working on an OTW Type VII but quickly realized it will be a lengthy build. In the meantime, I sold my ArkModel Type VII and was interested in getting into something larger that I could have ready for Carmel and SubFest this next year. While at SubFest I purchased a built OTW Upholder hull. The boat was originally built by Bob Martin for a customer. If you are interested in the Upholder, Bob has a very nice 6 part build blog on YouTube that is well worth the time to watch.
When building a boat for a customer the amount of detail must be driven by how much money the customer wants to spend. It make much more sense to get the boat running and operating properly than waste a lot of money on shinny bits and pieces, so the detail of this boat was pretty much at a minimum.
Please understand, I am in no way saying I can or will improve on the build Bob did on this boat. Since it did not come with a WTC, and while I await one from OTW, I decided to use my time to add the shinny bits and pieces.
The OTW design and WTC are a tried and true package that many have bought, built and sailed over the years. So I see no reason to reinvent the wheel here so i'll be keeping everything pretty much to the design detail aspect of this fine boat. At least for now......
So, lets get started.....
This is pretty much how the boat looked (on the outside) when I obtained it.
After a lot of measuring, modeling and 3d printing I had all the deck, tower and hull raised panels, hatches and other pieces attached in place.
There are a couple of pertinent features, not present in the original hull and tower, I thought should be added. These are the two deck walk ways around the base of the tower and the raised fillet at the back of the tower. These were made using Marine Tex Epoxy. This stuff is specifically made for marine applications and gets as hard as Superman's knee caps.
I decided the boat has a lot of usable area inside the tower and under the hull. This footprint should yield itself to working scopes and torpedo's and hopefully, diesel smoke.
I started with the scopes as they are most important.
I want to use a phonematic system that can be operated on the workbench. My base thought process revolves around the air system used in rc aircraft. They can be charged independently, they can work on the bench and they can incorporate sequencers that will control the spend at which they move. A small air tank is located under the hull right in front of the rear deck opening.
I added a operable recessed hatch in the rear location for the schrader valve.
I cut out the plate Bob had installed originally and 3d printed a new one that fit nice and snug in the top of the sail. This part is .75" thick.
I then made 3d plugs for each scope opening with centering holes.
This made centering the scope holes easy in the center of each opening.
This is the scope assembly. There will be four scopes moving when finished but right now the ESM is no hooked up. I plan to run this boat on 2.4 gh so the ESM will include the antenna which will protrude 2" above it. This will yield a full 6" of depth over the top of the tower before the antenna touches the water.
This is the assembly in the hull with the tower removed. The tower slips over the structure easily and is held in place by two thumb screws inside the hull.
This is a link to a short video of the scopes working. You will notice, to get the induction unit to seat properly at rest, I had to make new scope heads. These are all milled of of aluminum.
The shafts and sleeves are Stainless.
One last thing.
I believe all airplanes have pilots when in the air and all submarines have lookouts when on the surface. So, I had two crew members left over from my ArkModel Type VII. but they didn't look the part of modern day sailors. After a few Captain and Cokes, I morphed into my Dr. Frankenstein personality, cut them up and remembered them. lol
Happy Holidays,
Mick
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