Midget Submarines of the Second WW - This was a gift from a friend

[Guest]

Just got this from a friend as a late Christmas present. I was pleased to find a set of very nice plans included in the back. All the plans and cross sections for the British X-boat.

The book covers a wide range of midget subs and has a lot of great pictures and line drawings.

Later this year I plan to build an X-boat. I love bringing history back to life!

Steve











Edited By U812 on 1106606883

[ron]

Steve,

I built a 1/16 scale

Steve,

I built a 1/16 scale British X sub off of the plans supplied. Please note that the plans supplied are more or less generic.
Like most subs they were updated or modified as they went along. I built mine to ressemble the X-24 as it is the only
remaing one of that class still around. You can see photos of it at the British Museum site (www.psubs.org/museum/gosport_x-24_ext.html) Good LucK.

Ron

[anonymous]

Ron,

thanks for the heads up

Ron,

thanks for the heads up and I would love to see your boat if you can post a picture or two.

Steve

[ron]

Steve,

I have one shot on

Steve,

I have one shot on my members page from last year when the sub was about 85% along. I will try to take a couple new shots and update to my member page this weekend.

Ron

[anonymous]

Thanks Ron,

I'll look forward to

Thanks Ron,

I'll look forward to it. Got to update mine too here this weekend.

Steve

[bigdave]

Steve,
That is a great

Steve,
That is a great book. I have looked over a friends copy. I need to pick one up someday as I have a model Seehund I am restoring.
I have seen Ron's X-craft in person. He has done a very good job on it. Dave.



Edited By Bigdave on 1107002554

[anonymous]

Ya he sure did Dave.

Ya he sure did Dave. Went and took a look at his home page. Is your Seahund scratch built?

Since you get both boat plans with this book I'm scratching my head here about which one to do first. Think I'll start by having them enlarged. But what scale?

Steve

[u-5075]

Do be careful about using

Do be careful about using the Seehund drawing in this book to build an operating model. One of our members did and he had big problems with the propeller and the Kort Jet. Another member had to redo the model. Names sent upon request. (I don't have them handy.) You might consider getting Klaus Mattes' book "Die Seehunde" (almost all written in German). The plans in his book came from copies made from original builders' plans.) You can also get this book on interlibrary loan from your local library.

And if you are a real, true nitpicker, "No two Seehunds were built alike." Klaus Mattes. This design was continually being evolved during its manufacture. The original one had one wooden! rudder. The next major model upgrade had a double rudder. The next had the Kort-jet nozzle over the propeller. Earliest ones had no bubble hatch. Later ones had progressively higher hatches and plexiglass bubbles. Scrap steel and iron ballast was used in the earlier ones, concrete in the later ones. No radio was used by the Kriegsmarine. But the French Navy used them on the war prizes that they were evaluating. And they painted one of their's yellow!! Easier to see and not run into.

Here are some url's of interesting Seehund stuff. The first one includes rather accurate Soviet military intelligence drawings made from the ones that they took at the end of the war. Please note that the Soviets omitted the drawing of the post of the projector compass (it's just behind the hatch) -- they must have liked it a lot!

http://www.uk-muenchen.de/english/eng_seals2.htm

Some more midget sub stuff.
http://www.uk-muenchen.de/english/eng_seals3.htm

[anonymous]

Thanks so much for all

Thanks so much for all the helpful info! I see on the first page a set of plans you can download. Would those be better to use?

Thanks again U-5075!

Steve

[bigdave]

My Seehund is a hull

My Seehund is a hull kit. I got it partly assembled. It is around four feet long. It was produced in Germany by the same guy that did the models for Das-Boat. Dave.

[u-5075]

Steve,

First choice would be using

Steve,

First choice would be using Klaus' Seehund plans in his book. Second choice would be using the Soviet plans. They seemed to have done a rather good job. Again beware of the plans in Paul Kemp's book, particularly in the propeller/Kort Jet region.

Paul Kemps books otherwise are really, really good, photo and info-wise.

Down skope