Russian night group build! Jan 13 - August 3

[California Bound]

I've gotten the conning tower to the point where I'm gonna call it close enough. Now I can move on to the hull.

Camera angle makes it look longer than the drawing but they are the same length.




Dan.

[GTDEATH13]

Dan this is excellent... Nice progress... And very sharp in detail

[California Bound]

Thanks Nick,

I know it wont look as nice as your ship but I'm still hoping that it will turn out good. I wont be trying for total accuracy, just in the general area.

I've added simple plastic plates to represent the vents on the conning tower and the hand rail around the base is plastic rod. I had hoped to open up the windows towards the top but that wont work. It looks like the windows go right where the solid plastic is. So I'll have to make do with the window decal instead. I've also scraped off the molded on hull safety railing and replaced it with more of the plastic rod since it is smaller.

I've also decided to not try and rework the water intake hatches along the side of the hull. It's just too much work in my opinion. Too many hatches are needed, and the hull plastic is way too thick.

My plan from here is: rework the bow torpedo area, add (keels?) to the lower hull, and add (reactor?) water intakes

By the time I get those things done, I should have also made a new propeller for the Akula Gepard. Based on what I learn doing that, I can then start the final rework area of the Typhoon and make a new stern for it.

Dan.

[GTDEATH13]

Dan the ammount of work you are putting into these projects makes me fell embarassed for not correctong the mistakes of the Sovremeny kit...

[California Bound]

Nick,

No need for embarrassment. Keep in mind how little detail my sub starts out with, how wrong it is in overall shape, and how little detail it will have even after it's done. Your ship by comparison, has lots of nice looking details and looks nice without a lot of alterations.

All my work on this sub is just to get a basically correct silhouette.

Dan

[California Bound]

I've started working on the bow area.

As mentioned earlier, I've replaced the molded on rail with a smaller plastic rod rail.

The first two missile hatches are designed to be able to be positioned open or closed. Unfortunately, when closed, they look nothing like the other hatches. So I've glued them closed and then covered them in putty. Later I'll cut a small line around the edge to make them look more like the rest of the hatches.

In the torpedo area, I've covered up all the holes and once everything is smoothed out, I'll make some new torpedo hatches out of thin plastic sheet and glue them to the hull.



Dan.

[California Bound]

I continue to have almost no time for modelling right now, so progress is slow.

I smoothed out the bow, then added thin plastic sheet to represent the corrected layout of the torpedo tubes and the reload hatches. After that, I sanded them down to try and make them even thinner. They match up with the drawings pretty good but when compared to photos the center reload hatch is extending a little too far down the front. I'm not going to go back and change it though.


This second picture isn't actually of my Typhoon project but I thought I'd share the progress. After two failures, this is my final version of the new prop for my Akula class "Gepard" sub. I thought that the original prop blades were too small. They were only about 1/6 the size of the new blades. Also, Bronco got the pitch of the blades backwards. The prop would have pulled the sub in reverse if it was spinning. So I wanted to correct that as well. I wish I could have gotten the blades more symetrical but I've reached my limits on making those little things. While it's not as good as I would have liked, it has turned out good enough in my opinion so that I am confident that I can make new props for the Typhoon. I think that they will actually be easier since they'll be partially hidden by a shroud.


Dan.

[Danila77]

Hello Dan! Very nice propeller.
I have long done for Guepard's sistership ("Leopard") plastic propeller, and then soldered copper foil.

[California Bound]

Thanks Danila77.

So that's your Akula over at karopka. You put a lot of effort into it and got great results. I've been looking at your propeller pictures for about a month, trying to figure out how to make a propeller like yours. I keep thinking my Akula is ready for paint but end up deciding to either change or rechange details. I've currently got the conning tower chopped off in oder to make it taller. I haven't fully decided to streamline the bow yet but am leaning in that direction.

Dan.

[Danila77]

Dan, thank you also
Your work with the model 941 is very impressive project. A large amount of rework.

[California Bound]

Thanks again Danila77.

I had more time this week so I was able to get some work done.

I've decided that the Gepard I've been building as a side project is finally done so I will set it aside to wait for the others so I can paint them as a group.

The bow has been streamlined a little bit (should have been more).
New bow diving planes have been moved and re-sized (they're still swept back despite the photo).
New deck rails and vents opened.
Conning tower is taller and periscopes have been moved.
New reactor water intake scoops.
All four tail fins redone and the new prop.



For the typhoon I've finished most of the hull sides now.

Plastic strip have been added where there should be some panel lines. The strips are in the process of being sanded down to blend them into the hull more.
The keel has been added to the lower edge of the hull.

All that is left now is to make the reactor water intakes, then I can start the main part of the project and cut into the stern.


Dan.

[D-Boy]

I had more time this week so I was able to get some work done.

I've decided that the Gepard I've been building as a side project is finally done so I will set it aside to wait for the others so I can paint them as a group.

The bow has been streamlined a little bit (should have been more).
New bow diving planes have been moved and re-sized (they're still swept back despite the photo).
New deck rails and vents opened.
Conning tower is taller and periscopes have been moved.
New reactor water intake scoops.
All four tail fins redone and the new prop.

For the typhoon I've finished most of the hull sides now.

Plastic strip have been added where there should be some panel lines. The strips are in the process of being sanded down to blend them into the hull more.
The keel has been added to the lower edge of the hull.

All that is left now is to make the reactor water intakes, then I can start the main part of the project and cut into the stern.

Dan.

You are putting significant work into these kits - impressive!

[Dan K]

Agreed, impressive work.

[California Bound]

Thanks guys,

I hadn't actually planned to do all of this. I only planned to modify the Typhoon, but then found out that the Akula was wrong so I decided to try and correct it. As it turns out, the Bronco Borei class is apparently also wrong in the propeller area, so I'm gonna try and fix that next (guess I should have bought the Hobby Boss Borei class instead). I hope that when Hobby Boss releases their Yasen class, that it doesn't have anything major wrong with it. Making improvements is one thing, but it would be nice to build something without having to make corrections.

Dan.

[California Bound]

Progress continues...

Here is my version of the water intake. I take a plastic pipe, put a curve in it, cut at an angle, and then attach it to the hull.


After that dries, I attached a plastic strip between the pipe and the hull. It also keeps the pipe parallel to the hull (the pipe is a little flexible and tends to arch outwards. Then I just puttied and sanded the area to blend them together. The result looks like this one on the other side.


Progress also continues on my side projects...

I see that Hobbysearch now has pictures posted of the parts for the Hobby Boss Yasen class. I could be wrong, but it looks to me like the entire forward section of the hull (torpedo tubes all the way to the bow) is shaped wrong. If so, the error extends back to just a little ways under the conning tower and will be a mess to correct. As a result, I haven't fully decided whether or not to get that one, or skip it and just have 3 subs.

I've started correcting the Bronco Borei class. The first problem is the propeller shaft. This picture shows how they intend for the stern of the hull to blend into the propeller shaft and using the PE prop. The gap would be partially hidden by the shroud but is still visible at some angles.


I've added epoxy putty to fill the gap.


Once dry, I've sanded down the putty and finished the taper of the hull back to the prop.


So far, no major concerns on this one. It wont have any where near the number of corrections as the Akula Gepard.

Dan.

[GTDEATH13]

This is great stuff!!!!

superb Dan, keep it up...

[California Bound]

Thanks Nick,

I'm trying to keep at least something moving along.

Dan.

[California Bound]

Time slipped away from me last week, so the second water intake on the Typhoon didn't get finished. The putty is drying on it this weekend.

Instead, I went ahead and finished the corrections to the Bronco Borei class.

The second of the three problems it has, is that there aren't any supports between the hull and the propeller shroud. I don't know how many there should actually be, or what shape they have. So I decided to defer to the Hobby Boss Borei and make 10 of them of my own shape. Despite measuring multiple times, the little struts I made still ended up too long(shown here) in length and too short in height. Eventually they got shaped better and the shroud is shown in place over them. I also smoothed the edges of the shroud, they seemed too sharp to me.


The final correction is at the rear of the shroud. From what I can tell, Bronco saw a drawing of the prop blades but made them as rear supports for the shroud. So I removed them and made the shroud and the prop hub two separate pieces.


Here is a mock up of how it will look from the rear.


A little putty work on the seams, and the Borei will be done.

I was thinking that I might try to correct the Hobby Boss Yasen class after all. The only hang up is that I will have to wait for one to show up on e bay so I can use up some credit. So far I haven't seen any show up yet.

Other than that, only the Typhoon remains.

Thanks for looking,

Dan.

[California Bound]

With the side projects ready for paint, I guess it's time to concentrate on the Typhoon and get it ready also.

I got the second water intake sanded so all that is left is to rework the stern. After looking at it for a while today, I came to the conclusion that my entire plan for the stern wont work. I've had to come up with a new plan. So....

I've cut off the existing stern. A new stern frame piece, centered around where one of the two propeller shafts would be has been made out of plastic and brass. I would have preferred all plastic but didn't have a pipe in the right size. You can also see the approximate location of the piece when attached to the stern. Holes have been drilled into the plastic in order to give the putty a place to hold on to. I'll make a second frame, then both will be covered in epoxy putty. Then next week I'll try and sand each of them down to the right shape.


Thanks for looking,

Dan.

[California Bound]

My Hobby Boss Yasen class arrived this weekend. Anybody interested in a separate WiP of it in the regular WiP section? Or should I just work on the Typhoon?

Dan.