S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

[drschmidt]

I'm currently (well, since quite a while now)building Germanie's first military submarine, the S.M. U-1 from 1906. I thought I share some Pictures of the build:



The model is based on the only existing overall plan.



I didgitized it, scaled it, and based on the drwaings I created a 3D CAD model, which is the basis for my model]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/U-1.jpg[/img]

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

Based on the CAD drawing I got begative moulds milled out of hard foam. These negatives I used to build a positive out of glas fiber composites.













After the cutring of the resin, I basically cut and grinded the foam of the positive. Here the lower hull]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01192.jpg[/img]

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

Same procedure for the upper hull:







And the result - the still relatively crude positive model]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01207.jpg[/img]



The mould for the conning-tower I did before based on a positive model I got fabricated via rapid prototyping.

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

Thanks!

After I got the raw positive, lots of grinding, sanding, filling, and finally painting and polishing got me here:









Then came the nasty part - building the moulds]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01269.jpg[/img]






70 kgs of them actually...

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

Three months of work, but they turned out really good:

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

After the moulds were done, I made the first glass fiber parts for the actual boat. The conning tower:




The upper hull with conning-tower]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01306.jpg[/img]



and the raw assembly]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01310.jpg[/img]

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

At that stage I also had the interior design ready:



It's loosely based on the Engel VIIc interior design and works with 2 x 750 ml piston tanks, brushless motors and LiFePo batteries.
The technical components are mounted into a frame made out of 5 mm milled thick glass fiber plates and M5 thread rods]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01333_zps6d698711.jpg[/img]



The whole assembly will be housed in glass fiber tubes sealed with bayonet coupling]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01356_zpse3352840.jpg[/img]

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

I've also started to work on the details. Many of the small parts are 3D-pinted and are used to then I cast silicone moulds.





With those parts I started the detail work - e.g. the front hatch with a small periscope]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01328.jpg[/img]

The assembly for the back snorkel]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01325.jpg[/img]



And the details on the conning tower]http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii604/MaschinenMusik/Modelsubmarine%20SM%20U-1/DSC01342_zps68c4d6b1.jpg[/img]

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

The moulds for the rudders. They are based on models made of soldered brass:

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

One half:

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

Took three tries to get the ruder and the hydroplanes right. New moulds are often a bit tricky. But now I'm quite pleased with the results. Brass shafts and glass fiber / carbon fiber blades. Rock solid.....

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

O.K., slow progress, but progress.....

The front servo will be located in a smaller tube attached to front of the main pressure tube. To be able to install and remove it, I have located it on a mount, that can be pushed over two thread rods and that will be secured by two M5 nuts.







The brushless motors have watertight feedthroughs that just get mounted in the motor flange and that are secured by a M18 nut. The feedthroughs are custom made.







And the pre-assembly of the tower is finished, too.

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

After a longer break, I can report progress again. The struts to hold the pressure tube are installed, the screw points for the pressure tube are in place, the drive shafts are installed and the front servo compartment is secured. Looks like a true two-hull sub.....

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

And again some progress. The hydroplanes and the stabilization fins are installed. The mechanics for the rear hydroplanes is somewhat complicated, as the hydroplanes are too close to the pressure tight compartment to be directly connected to the push rods and the propeller axis prohibit a straight hydroplane axis. So everything is controlled via a second axis....the connection for the rudder is installed as well:




Allot of work as well, the water inlets in the upper hull. I didn't just want to file some, so I fabricated frames from pu-resin and glued them into slits in the upper hull, filled everything and sanded it down flush to the hull's outer surface.



Similar business are the snorkel housings. Got the rapid prototyped and then glued them to the underside of the deck. After that the open parts in the deck were milled and filed away. Front][/url]

and rear][/url]

Same thing from the inside - rear][/url]

Front][/url]

And again the water inlet frames in detail][/url]

[drschmidt]

Re: S.M. U-1 - Germanies first military sub from 1906

O.K., againe some progress....

The lower hull got its base coat, was sanded to a good finish and now it gets its rivets. Latter are surface detail decals from Archer Fine Tranfers aufbringe. Slow, not cheap, but it looks good:

Bow with torpedo hatch:


middship][/url]

stern][/url]

The tower also got its base coat and is ready to be painted][/url]