Help with Verne NAUTILUS

[modelnut]

(Also posted to TV and Movie Subs in hopes of more bites. )

If Nemo had really lived and really built the NAUTILUS in those Victorian times, what would the hull have looked like? As far as the novel goes she is made of iron. No mention is made of paint or of anti-fouling beneath the waterline. But if Nemo was such a genius, surely he would have been ahead of his day and certainly up-to-standard when it came to protecting his boat's hull. So would she have been a sea-weathered black? Or a rusty brown like the Goff/Disney version? Would there be anti-fouling below the waterline? What color would it have been?

Before restarting my 72nd scale project, I am working on a 350 scale NAUTILUS to work out a few kinks in my design]http://groups.msn.com/ModelersAndHobbyForum/modeltsar.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=638[/url]

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-Leelan

[hakkikt]

All your questions will be

All your questions will be answered on this website; it is the most detailed website that I know about the "real" Nautilus (not the Disney abomination).

http://home.att.net/~karen.crisafulli/nautilus.html

And be prepared for hearing that there is no simple answer.

[modelnut]

I'm a big fan of

I'm a big fan of Mike's site. Have been for years. No mention of antifouling though. Most discussion is about where the point of the ram is and how difficult it would be to push the pilot house into the hull and still retain control of the boat.

Might email Mike though . . . Hadn't thought of that.

-Leelan

[modelnut]

Just heard from Mike. He

Just heard from Mike. He says that there was a metal called "black iron" very prevalent in Victorian times. It was resistant to rust and corrosion. It just needed the occasional coating of linseed oil. That's probably what Nemo's NAUTILUS was made of. I just reread 20KUTS and Aronnax definitely describes the boat as black with riveted iron plates. The rivets were probably countersunk. The HUNLEY was first and its rivets were.

He also says that Verne though a ship owner was either not that aware of or possibly even interested in the daily maintenance of his ship. Which is probably why no mention is made of the day-to-day upkeep of the NAUTILUS. He leaves those worrisome details to us anal-retentive model builders . . .

-Leelan

[hakkikt]

20k Leagues is a work

20k Leagues is a work of fiction, and Verne got it quite wrong in a few points - such as the diveplanes, which he put at the centre of gravity. So I think we cannot expect him to have thought out how Nemo prevented corrosion of his vessel... for all we know, if Verne had ever thought of that, he would have solved it with the magical new energy form of electricity. "Professor, if I ever feel that my ship is laden with too much corrosion, lo! I send a pulse of electricity through the hull, and the corrosion simply falls off, together with all unwanted lifeforms infesting the hull."

Interesting point on that black iron, I wonder what that is.

[modelnut]

I know that 20KUTS is

I know that 20KUTS is fiction. And I know that Verne was wrong in many ways not only about how his sub should work but also in his marine biology --- not as wrong as "saute of unborn octopus"! (And who got the lucky job of milking a sperm whale?)

My intention is to build a model as close to the literary description as I can while still embodying a viable sub. Sort of "If Verne had actually seen a working NAUTILUS, what would he have seen?" It's a project that has been in the back of my mind for thirty-five years --- ever since I first read the novel.

One day, if I can get a pile of money together, I would like to build my NAUTILUS as a 72nd scale working model. Like Greg Sharpe's]http://www.deepseadesigns.net/nautilus.html[/url]

-Leelan

[modelnut]

I have pictures! Took 'em

I have pictures! Took 'em with my phone so they could be better. But I can at least show you what I've got.

The hull in 350 scale: http://groups.msn.com/ModelersAndHob...o&PhotoID=1292
The Salon window so far]http://groups.msn.com/ModelersAndHobbyForum/modeltsar.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1293[/url]

I am refining my plan even now. After combing the text I found that keel I had drawn is all wrong. I am changing that and a few other things. I want a sub as close to Verne's intentions as I can get --- and still be plausible.

-Leelan

[scott t]

A soft red glow from

A soft red glow from the salon widows might look good.
Like a ship rigged for red to save your night vision.
In reference to the caption on your salon window picture.

Scott