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Back in the fall of last year, I managed to pick up a beautiful OTW Upholder hull from a local modeller who ran out of room in his apartment for this model. I couldn't pass up the deal, and as the Victoria is based in my own city, I felt a certain drive to model her.
Included with my kit was all of the drive hardware, fittings, and linkages. Also included was a superb brass propellor.
The kit itself is of superb quality, sharply scribed, and perfectly matching with each piece fitting together well. I have also gotten assembly drawings for the actual Upholder submarine, straight from Britain!
Completed, the model should measure about 55" in length, 6" in beam. There is lots of room for the internals, and plenty for the torpedo system that I have planned.
[b]March 20th, 2006] Progress has begun on this model in earnest. I got access to my new shop about three weeks ago, and since then I have begun working for a few hours a week on the kit.
I began by deepening the longitudinal scribe lines in the hull which were supposed to depict the demarkation of the hull and fibreglass deck of the actual sub. The hull, as shipped, has a simple thinly scribed line. I wanted something far more realistic and separate looking. I began by running a small piece of hacksaw blade along the line (very carefully) until I had chewed into the gelcoat to the point where the blade was not so prone to slipping. After that, I angled the blade to the proper pitch (upwards and along the hull circumference). I then deepened the line until I'd cut almost through the entire thickness of the hull. From there, I used sandpaper glued on a piece of wooden paint stick to sand the lower edge until it was faired into the hull. The result? A nice, realistic demarkation between pressure hull and deck!
After that, I cut the forward section of hull from the lower hull, and the stern section from the upper. I will later bond each piece to their opposite mate to create a "Z-cut" hull. This should preserve the details along the front of the sub, and along the lower stern section once it is complete. NextI laid out the interior components to see how they would sit.
From there, I proceeded to work on the forward dive planes. They are connected with a single shaft just forward of the main drive battery. I mounted several pieces of the internals to the hull. In one of the pictures below, you can see a styrofoam blank that I created for the ballast tank. Since then, I located some 4.5" diameter plastic storm drain pipe that is close enough that it will work in my application and save me the hassle of having to build my own tank.
I then concentrated on the rear planes and linkages. The solid rear planes were cut at the scribed lines. The leading edges of the planes themselves were rounded with by bench sander, and the accpeting edge of the plane housings were also rounded with my Dremel. The result is a smooth finish reminiscent of the original.
Each of the two planes were connected with a length of brass rods to ensure alignment while the glue set up. I'll simply pull this alignment brass out when the model is buttoned up. Plans at this point are to run two separate linkages forward to a single shaft that the servo will actuate, leaving the center of the hull clear for the drive shaft.
More to come...
Included with my kit was all of the drive hardware, fittings, and linkages. Also included was a superb brass propellor.
The kit itself is of superb quality, sharply scribed, and perfectly matching with each piece fitting together well. I have also gotten assembly drawings for the actual Upholder submarine, straight from Britain!
Completed, the model should measure about 55" in length, 6" in beam. There is lots of room for the internals, and plenty for the torpedo system that I have planned.
[b]March 20th, 2006] Progress has begun on this model in earnest. I got access to my new shop about three weeks ago, and since then I have begun working for a few hours a week on the kit.
I began by deepening the longitudinal scribe lines in the hull which were supposed to depict the demarkation of the hull and fibreglass deck of the actual sub. The hull, as shipped, has a simple thinly scribed line. I wanted something far more realistic and separate looking. I began by running a small piece of hacksaw blade along the line (very carefully) until I had chewed into the gelcoat to the point where the blade was not so prone to slipping. After that, I angled the blade to the proper pitch (upwards and along the hull circumference). I then deepened the line until I'd cut almost through the entire thickness of the hull. From there, I used sandpaper glued on a piece of wooden paint stick to sand the lower edge until it was faired into the hull. The result? A nice, realistic demarkation between pressure hull and deck!
After that, I cut the forward section of hull from the lower hull, and the stern section from the upper. I will later bond each piece to their opposite mate to create a "Z-cut" hull. This should preserve the details along the front of the sub, and along the lower stern section once it is complete. NextI laid out the interior components to see how they would sit.
From there, I proceeded to work on the forward dive planes. They are connected with a single shaft just forward of the main drive battery. I mounted several pieces of the internals to the hull. In one of the pictures below, you can see a styrofoam blank that I created for the ballast tank. Since then, I located some 4.5" diameter plastic storm drain pipe that is close enough that it will work in my application and save me the hassle of having to build my own tank.
I then concentrated on the rear planes and linkages. The solid rear planes were cut at the scribed lines. The leading edges of the planes themselves were rounded with by bench sander, and the accpeting edge of the plane housings were also rounded with my Dremel. The result is a smooth finish reminiscent of the original.
Each of the two planes were connected with a length of brass rods to ensure alignment while the glue set up. I'll simply pull this alignment brass out when the model is buttoned up. Plans at this point are to run two separate linkages forward to a single shaft that the servo will actuate, leaving the center of the hull clear for the drive shaft.
More to come...
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