Scratch-built 1/96 Oscar II

[KevinMC]

Greetings fellow submariners!

I've been lurking about reading everyone else's how-to threads for a while now, I guess it's about time for me to put back in... Guys like Steve N (U812) and Adam (Aeroengineer) are a tough act to follow, but I'll do my best. I dunno if my build will progress along as quickly as other build threads since submarines are all new to me, but I'm determined to give it a go anyways. I have been building and flying RC aircraft for about 15 years, predominantly jets of late, so setting up RC equipment and fiberglass construction techniques are not new to me. As I am new to subs though, I'll be more than happy to hear about it if it looks like I'm going astray...

[KevinMC]

I guess I should also

I guess I should also have stated that I've decided to build this monster in 1/96 scale to match all the other nuke-boat kits, and that I'll be building a glass-over foam master, then molds, and finally pull my hull from that. Of course the other benefit of doing things this way is that I can make more, so if anyone is interested I could be persuaded to make a couple extra hull kits.

I started by purchasing a set of Oscar II drawings from Polar Bear Productions. Based on comparisons with available photos (thanks again Wayne and Steve) the PBP drawings proved to be a pretty good representation, and were easily imported into AutoCAD for tweaking. I spent quite a number of hours going between the drawings and my fast growing photo collection to tweak out the drawings as best I could. Finally, I re-scaled the drawings for 1/96 and sent them to the plotter. The photos below show the cross-sections pasted onto the 3.5" foam sheets that I will use to assemble the hull from. These were cut out using a band saw and glued onto an MDF spine (shown in the rear of photo 2) to keep everything aligned.

[Okay- first snag! I'll upload the photos as soon as I figure out how...]

[peter w]

Kevin.

Good luck with the build,

Kevin.

Good luck with the build, I too am looking to build an Oscar II but probably at 1/144 scale so as to match the Seawolf and I am limited on space. I was wondering do you have a web address or contact details for Polar Bear Productions as Plans are now all I need to start as I now have accumulated a large file of pics on the Oscars. I have seen a few different sets of plans the closest to true are the ones from Severodinsk models but they are a little pricey.

All the best,

PeterW UK 2731

[mylo]

Kevin,

I have to admit,

[color=#000000]Kevin,

I have to admit, I laughed when I read your "first snag" comment. I went through the same thing in posting my Type 1]

[KevinMC]

Hi Peter,

1/144 eh? You're going

Hi Peter,

1/144 eh? You're going to have fun getting everything into the back end! Boris' website is http://tok.severodvinsk.ru/subs.htm. Although I was in contact with him through rusubs@usa.net, his website indicates that contact should be made through rusubs@yandex.ru. Don't be alarmed if he doesn't get right back to you, sometimes it takes a while.

Myles,
Thanks for the tip. I've found the directions but I don't have the time to follow through just now- stay tuned, I promise I'll have pics up soon!

[anonymous]

Kevin,

If you join SC you

Kevin,

If you join SC you will get many benefits. It's well worth it. You also get a web site of your own on SC where you can up load your pictures and post the links to them in your threads.

But in the mean time just rent some server space. There are many sites out there you can pay a small fee to in order to upload your pictures to and then upload to your thread.

Once you get the server you click on the image button you'll see at the top there when posting. Copy your link, drop it into the image window and your done.

I'll look forward to your build!

Steve

[KevinMC]

Steve,

I'm already a signed up

Steve,

I'm already a signed up member of the SubCommittee, but I'm on the road and can't get to my membership card. When I return I'll get my member page all set up. In the meantime I think I've got the photo thing figured out...

This should display the plans I based my hull on. After many comparisons to photos, I wound up making many minor changes but that's all part of building a scale model, eh?

(Not original posting or plans - the original link is no longer - editor)

[KevinMC]

After plotting off the drawings

After plotting off the drawings at the necessary size, I cut out all the cross-sections and 3M-77'd them down onto a sheet of 3.5" foam.





Edited By KevinMc on 1155669381

[KevinMC]

Next, after a visit with

Next, after a visit with the bandsaw and vertical disk sander, all the sections are ready to be assembled. Notice the slice down the middle of each one- it' just wide enough to allow each section to be assembled on the spine-board (seen in the back of the photo). The foam is great to work with, but needs something rigid underneath it to ensure that the hull won't come out like a banna.





Edited By KevinMc on 1155669428

[KevinMC]

Here's another shot of all

Here's another shot of all the pieces...





Edited By KevinMc on 1155669463

[KevinMC]

And here we have all

And here we have all the pieces assembled on the spine-board. I glued everything together by 3M-77'ing the sections to each other, then later using epoxy to glue the hull to the spineboard. It was easy putting each piece onto the board then sliding it up against it's mate, but pulling the whole assembly off the board when I was done was no treat. Next time I do this I'll glue the pieces to each other and the spine at the same time.





Edited By KevinMc on 1155669511

[aeroengineer1]

Hey, thanks for the compliment!

Hey, thanks for the compliment! I am no expert, perhaps just not smart enough to know any better. I am just wondering, are you going to sand down the edges fo that they match, or is it going to get filled with spackle?

Adam

[KevinMC]

Here's the hull off the

Here's the hull off the spineboard, and I've begun to round out the corners. This is done with a utility knife, just carefully whittling down the foam until that distinctive Oscar shape begins to pop out...







Edited By KevinMc on 1155669543

[KevinMC]

Adam,

Sometimes having no fear is

Adam,

Sometimes having no fear is all it takes! (At least that's what I'm counting on for this build...)

My goop of choice is drywall compound. It won't hurt the foam (but it sticks really well), once dry it leaves a good hard surface to work on, it cuts quickly when hit with 80-grit paper, and best of all because it's water based my wife does't give me any grief about the smell! I'm definitely going to be taking my time on the next stage to get the hull as close as I possibly can though- Spening an extra hour to get things just right now will save me three once the glass cloth is on...

[KevinMC]

Sorry Adam, just re-read your

Sorry Adam, just re-read your question and realized that I didn't answer you the first time... When I cut out the cross sections, I arranged it so that where a smaller section meets a larger section, the smaller section is the correct size for that location of the hull. Consequently the foam needs to be trimmed all the way down, but even when I'm being careful I'll gouge out little low spots in the foam- that's where the drywall compound comes in.