Fleet Sub.

[purser]

Hello Sub builders;
I am building the the World War 2 fleet sub Bowfin. It is plank on bulkhead. All planks are 3/16 wide and 1/16 thick. The sub is 59in. long beam 6in. I found a set of plans in an old Scale Ship Modeler magazine. I started to build the hull, but when a friend of mine returned from Hawaii with a lot of photos of the real Bowfin I saw to different boats.(Thank heaven for BONDO) I had to do some changes. Everyting is scratch built, Everything is powered by four 6volt 4amp batteries. (lead acid) I am now cutting the holes on the sides of the deck. there are 63 on each side. I have been working on this boat about eight months and it is starting o look like the photos.
Glad to talk to other sub builders.
Fred

[Jim McPherson]

Welcome to RCGroups!

Sounds like a nice project, have any pictures to show us?

[Don Sims]

Sounds like an interesting model!! How about some photos????

[JIMJAM]

I envy you guys with scratch building abilties. There are very few kits available in the small world of r/c subs. Ive learned that even the kits require a fair amount of " do it yourself" to get it right. Most my subs were already built to some degree and I did all the intallation of the guts and finishing touches. Ive been in r/c for 20 years and had cars,planes,boats and helis but can honestly say submarines are by far the most challenging. I beleive the phrase murphys law was invented by an early submariner. I bought a inflatable kids pool just to get the balance right and experiment with various weights to acheive ballast tank dry and full sub level. All the little problems start to show up and Ive been chasing them down and fixing them on my Akula for a week. I plan to put her in the big water Saturday.

[purser]

Thanks everyone for the reply.
As for the photos, I do not have a regular computer, I have a system called Web TV and I can't send photos. If I buy a computer the wife will never see me.....
Scratch building is not as hard as ypu might think. There are four electric tools that I have, a 7 1/2 in tablesaw, 10in band saw, belt sander and a thickness sander, that I made my self.(A drum with sand paper around it and a flat alum. 4x12in with a pivot on one end. Alum. is adjustable up and down for thickness. Drum is turned with a washing machine motor). I can trim a piece of wood down to 1/32in. Stay away from hobby tools, they don't hold up. I started buying precut wood from the hobby shops but found out that it was cheaper to make my own out of a 2x4. I mainly use pine,oak,spruce. I'll write again have to go, the grass and bushes are calling for a trim...
Fred