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I will never learn!! 
As if I don’t have enough projects I decided to start yet another that I have wanted to do for a long long time.
No one can deny the FS-1 (Flying Sub) is cool! Always jealous of Rick Teskey’s fiberglass talents with his cool Seaview and FS-1 models I did not feel I was up to the task of making my own.
Now after building three hulls myself using the lost foam method now referred to as the Dumbass method I thought maybe I was up to the task.
Time will tell if this statement (or the hull) holds water. Ha!!
I had a plan to make a small FS-1 out of a Lunar models 14†hull kit and propel it with two Graupner mini-jet pumps. This was about a year ago and then about a few months later I met John. He was a fellow sub modeler from CA that was coming to town for a wedding and had emailed to see if he could get together and run subs when he was in town.
John said he was bringing his FS-1 he had built with him.
We got a date and time set to meet at our pond and four of our local group was able to show up. Well low and behold John had done the same thing I was thinking of doing. Converting a Lunar models kit to a working sub with two mini-jet drives, and it really worked great.
Well flash forward to last week and I got the urge to do the conversion again. I remembered John said he had to do a bit of modifing to get the Lunar hull to work as it was not intended to be functional. So I decided to give the hull a try myself. I figure the worst I can do is screw it up and then maybe try one of Rick’s excellent 16†hulls.
No downside I can see!!
I do like the 14†size that John used as the Graupner mini-jet drives fit inside nice. The first thing I needed to do is get some plans to work from, but as none I know of exist I had to go the taking measurements form existing model in a different scale and convert to the scale I wanted route.
Also finding all the photos I could to check my progress with. I was told the old Monogram 7.5†kit I had was not really exact scale. But as I am not a stickler for 100% exact scale (sorry all you scale guys) I will be happy with a hull that looks like a FS-1. I would rather have a boat run well than be perfect scale. So shoot me!!
I have about 8Hrs of work into the project now and have 5 hull rib patterns and a top view that I will glue to thin cardboard so I can cut out the foam ribs with my hot wire jig saw. I will then cut that assembly to the top view pattern and hopefully then have what looks something like a Flying Sub hull. Then a lot of carving and sanding to final shape.
My plan is to then coat the plug with a Urethane plastic called Shell Shock. It is made to be thixotropic after mixed and can be brushed on in layers to the desired thickness. When you remove the foam you have a plastic hull.
I have been using this process for a while and it works well. Wish me luck.
I will post progress as I get time. The one photo shows the hull rib patterns and some tools used to take measurements of the smaller hull. The other shows the three different sizes of FS-1. The smaller being the one that comes with the new Seaview kit, and then my old kit sitting on the 14†hull plan. BD.
As if I don’t have enough projects I decided to start yet another that I have wanted to do for a long long time.
No one can deny the FS-1 (Flying Sub) is cool! Always jealous of Rick Teskey’s fiberglass talents with his cool Seaview and FS-1 models I did not feel I was up to the task of making my own.
Now after building three hulls myself using the lost foam method now referred to as the Dumbass
method I thought maybe I was up to the task. Time will tell if this statement (or the hull) holds water. Ha!!
I had a plan to make a small FS-1 out of a Lunar models 14†hull kit and propel it with two Graupner mini-jet pumps. This was about a year ago and then about a few months later I met John. He was a fellow sub modeler from CA that was coming to town for a wedding and had emailed to see if he could get together and run subs when he was in town.
John said he was bringing his FS-1 he had built with him.
We got a date and time set to meet at our pond and four of our local group was able to show up. Well low and behold John had done the same thing I was thinking of doing.
Converting a Lunar models kit to a working sub with two mini-jet drives, and it really worked great. Well flash forward to last week and I got the urge to do the conversion again. I remembered John said he had to do a bit of modifing to get the Lunar hull to work as it was not intended to be functional. So I decided to give the hull a try myself. I figure the worst I can do is screw it up and then maybe try one of Rick’s excellent 16†hulls.
No downside I can see!!
I do like the 14†size that John used as the Graupner mini-jet drives fit inside nice. The first thing I needed to do is get some plans to work from, but as none I know of exist I had to go the taking measurements form existing model in a different scale and convert to the scale I wanted route.
Also finding all the photos I could to check my progress with. I was told the old Monogram 7.5†kit I had was not really exact scale. But as I am not a stickler for 100% exact scale (sorry all you scale guys) I will be happy with a hull that looks like a FS-1. I would rather have a boat run well than be perfect scale. So shoot me!!
I have about 8Hrs of work into the project now and have 5 hull rib patterns and a top view that I will glue to thin cardboard so I can cut out the foam ribs with my hot wire jig saw. I will then cut that assembly to the top view pattern and hopefully then have what looks something like a Flying Sub hull. Then a lot of carving and sanding to final shape.
My plan is to then coat the plug with a Urethane plastic called Shell Shock. It is made to be thixotropic after mixed and can be brushed on in layers to the desired thickness. When you remove the foam you have a plastic hull.
I have been using this process for a while and it works well. Wish me luck.
I will post progress as I get time. The one photo shows the hull rib patterns and some tools used to take measurements of the smaller hull. The other shows the three different sizes of FS-1. The smaller being the one that comes with the new Seaview kit, and then my old kit sitting on the 14†hull plan. BD.
, but at the same time it is very rewarding when you see it is actually looking like the real thing. I really did not think it would look as well as it does. 
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