jockdeboer

Nice work Dave!

jockdeboer

Ok, forgive my ignorance, but what is a nose girder window beam?

airwalk

The windrow girder beams,go against the inside of the windrows.Thanks for asking jockdeboer,That way other readers will know also.Dennis.

spaceranger01

Hello Dennis, I knew you would be the one to redesign this ship .I have your original Skipjack class kit and your original Seaview prototype that we did some "horse -trading" with you. Back in the late 1980’s.I am totally amazed at the job you have done and if there were Oscar’s for model design you deserve it. Trying to sell off most of my models and collection. But please put me on the list for one R/C. And the one Question I have is aboutthe propulsion unit ...does it "push" water though the two rear nozzles....or around it?Congratulations on a fantastic and beautiful job in the designing and building of this model!
All The best
Larry

airwalk

Hi Larry, Good to hear from you! Its been a few years since we did business Im thinking around 1985 or so.Glad you like the new concept II design.Im starting to fill orders now. The idea is to push the water thru the rear nozzle,for control. Im working on the instructions,in a few days.Was thinking about posting them on the internet,so people can see how it will go together.Let me know when your ready to order,and we will get one built for you.take care! Dennis.

spaceranger01

Most definitely Dennis . I do not know the policy here on this forum if your allowed to post a link for eBay items . I have Franklin Mint STNG Klingon Disruptor Pistol and Franklin Mint STNG Phaser Type-2 NEW for sale still in the box’s . So if you could spread the word that would be great. Will order as soon as they sell. On a note about the kit….I am going to do a semi-modern observation-helm-lab area in the noise. And are you working on a Type II Flying Sub? Sleeker slimmer design is going though my mind.

airwalk

Trying to get started on the instructions.First picture: shows Concept II parts,not shown is the rear thruster nozzle which is included in kit. Second picture is the nose: Mark center of windrows,and leave a 1/8 inch center beam.

jockdeboer

Nice parts!

GKvfx

Beautiful! Please let me know where/when to pay you for mine. Looking forward to getting one!

Gene

airwalk

jockdeboer your kit was sent out yesterday. GKUFX I about have your sub done,I,ll let you know next week on price etc. Thanks Dennis,

airwalk

More instruction pictures. Cut out windrows by first taking a dremel with a 1/16 dia drill bit.Cut inside of windrow frames out,making sure to keep enought space from inside of frames.Its always better to sand down the inside of the frames,then to cut to much material off.I then clean up the frames by putting N# 80 grit sand paper on a popcycle stick.Take your time,and you should end up with clean windrow frames.

airwalk

Next cut out the rear side water intakes, two on the top hull and two on the bottom hull.Also cut out the inlet of the front rotor housing. Use the same cutting with the Dremel tool as you did on the front windrows. Next cut out the bottom water intakes,on the bottom hull. Sand all openings for a clean look.

airwalk

Cut out the bottom flying sub launch lights. when standing behind the bottom hull,the left light hole should be moved back about 3/16 of a inch back. Cut out the rear rotor housing,this is marked on the top and bottom hull halves. sand to clean up openings.

airwalk

Drill a 1/8 hole for the two tail fins,holes are marked on the hull halves. Next cut out the sail windrow openings.Drill the1/8 hole on each side of the sail.run brass tube thru sail.insall the driving planes,making sure planes are straight and level with sail.When even glue brass tube into sail. This is for display only.rc verson has a coupler.

jockdeboer

I received my kit yesterday, very nice!  I think I am going to try and do the 8 window version.

airwalk

Here is more pictures of all the cutouts you need to do on your new ConceptII sub.Use a 1/16 drill bit and drill out all of the openings pictured.Then use small files to clean up the openings.On picture four,move the starboard flying sub back 1/8 of a inch,then cut out.Picture eight shows how to install the rear tail fins.Tail fins should measure four inches across the top like in picture ten. Use epoxy glues to mount the rear tail fins. When sanding be sure to use a nose mask.

airwalk

Got a few more assembly pictures.First picture shows to center grills in opening,then glue in grills. Second picture shows to glue water covers over grills.Last picture shows to glue in water nozzle.

airwalk

Just to let you viewers know.Mr Meriman has posted part two on the concept II build on the sub drivers forum,under cabel reports.I think you guys will enjoy the build.Dennis.

spaceranger01

Hello Dennis do you have a direct link to that, my search is coming up page not available, Thanks
 BTW.....Seaview fund is getting up there..selling some more items on eBay
Thanks Larry

merriman

Right now the Caswell site is being worked on. The Cabal Reports will be back up in a day or two.

Or, you can e-mail me and I'll send the article chapters (three so far) to you that way. If you elect to do that I'll put you on the list for future Cabal Reports unless you say otherwise.

[email protected]

airwalk

Hi spaceranger,good to hear from you. If you decide to order a concept II model,we require only half down.(To save a you a spot and put you down on our list of buyers.It usally takes a week or so to make a kit,if there are no customers ahead of you.Thanks again larry. Dennis

spaceranger01

Thanks Dennis,Mr Meriman has sent  me part's two and three and I was just going over your pictures and his...... just so I understand the set up. Is the jet drive being powered by a motor to the "impeller" ?  And does the flow go around the unit or though the the two nozzles?
Thanks as always

airwalk

Hi Larry,I could not really tell you about the drive system as yet.This will be Davids, brain child. You will have to ask him about the power system,as he is the designer of the Concept II power drive. It will be fun to see this boat in the water,and what it will do,I can,t wait myself for the first sea trials.Dennis

airwalk

Build up article by David Meriman


Assembling the first production kit of the DeBoer ‘futurized’ USSNR SEAVIEW, Part-1



A Report to the Cabal:



Well, it’s been at least a year since I sent off a proper build-article to the Cable. Some of you have come and gone from the scene since then, and some of you have altered interest. If you find this unsolicited submission at all intrusive or objectionable, let me know and I'll strike you off the list – I don't like it when I get stuff cluttering my in-box not of interest to me, and it’s not my wish to burden you with unwanted stuff.



Dennis DeBoer is a familiar name to those in the model submarine and fictional spacecraft fraternities: For decades he’s produced large, well detailed and more than adequately engineered fiberglass (GRP) kits for both markets. His big GRP and resin kit of the refit ENTERPRISE is the gold standard of ST kits. An absolutely fantastic assembly of this kit was performed by Joel Travera search it out on the net, it's worth the effort, I can assure you.



Dennis has been into this game longer than most and his various sized TV versions of the SEAVIEW have been assembled by many throughout the world. About a decade ago I had the pleasure of assembling one of his 57" SEAVIEW's for a client, I think it was one of the first fully maneuverable r/c submarines representing this craft.

Recently Dennis took it upon himself to produce a GRP and resin kit of the SEAVIEW in a 'what if' configuration; what if the SEAVIEW were to be designed and built today? This article is about that kit, a copy of which recently arrived at my doorstep. The kit was found to be very well packaged, evidencing absolutely no damage.

To illustrate to you the differences between the 'old' and 'futuristic' versions of the SEAVIEW I placed in some of the shots below a completed r/c version of the Moebius TV SEAVIEW next to Dennis' kit.



The only work done to assemble the futuristic SEAVIEW for the photo shoot here was to complete the holes for the two 'Cadillac' fins at the stern, and punch holes in the sides of the sail to accept the pre-assembled sail planes. I then simply plugged in the two stern vertical stabilizers, sat the upper hull on the lower hull, sat the superstructure down on the upper hull and sat the sail atop it all.

Any idiot can assemble this kit.

The GRP hull, sail, and superstructure are absolutely bubble and blemish free, the white gel-coat is rock solid and evidences no tendency to chip (a problem with some earlier DeBoer kits). The resin parts are bubble free, evidence little flash, and are warp free.



Dennis did a good job of updating the look of the SEAVIEW. Its lines are still grounded in the iconic look of the many items features on the original.




One major departure in function is the single pump-jet intake, taking the form of an interrupted radial annular step near the stern. Note how Dennis jumped the root of the vertical stabilizers to clear the intake area atop the hull. Good eye-candy.




The two cast resin vertical stabilizers have encapsulated within them a conduit tube that will permit running of stern light/running light wiring. Also partially encapsulated at the base of each fin is a bolt used to secure the fin mechanically to the upper hull. This is one well thought out kit!




I darkened this shot a bit so you can make out the white DeBoer futuristic SEAVIEW outline a bit better. The sail and sail planes are very much SEAVIEW ... but different!




So too the bow.




I'm thinking about what to use to push the water on this model. I'll likely go with the little pump-jet sitting in the lower hull. The larger unit is way too much ass for this model ... should have left it in the shed. The pump-jet will discharge into a kit supplied two-axis nozzle used to achieve pitch and yaw control.




I'll power, control and very the displacement of this r/c model submarine with a modified 'standard' 2.5" SubDriver, available from Caswellplating.com. like the one sitting in the lower hull here.

Note that Dennis makes the separation line between lower hull and upper hull along the outer edge of the manta fins-bilge keels-horizontal stabilizer. Mucho, mucho access when the upper hull is pulled off the lower hull.




Close up of Dennis' two-axis exhaust nozzle. Really slick design. One of my little pump-jet units will exhaust right into this unit (a stock pump-jet, like the one Caswell offers with the Moebius SEAVIEW fittings kit).



And the other parts of the kit (less the two vertical stabilizers, temporarily affixed to the upper hull while I took this shot):

GRP sail, alternative GRP FS-1 hangar doors; cast resin louvers, resin intakes, resin sail planes, resin nozzle and gimbal arm, cast clear lenses, and clear sheet for bow windows. The cast clear parts are water-clear, with no bubbles whatsoever no mean feat: casting clear parts successful is a very, very rare accomplishment in these circles.

airwalk

Build up article by David Meriman


Assembling the first production kit of the DeBoer ‘Futurized’ USSNR SEAVIEW, Part-2



A Report to the Cabal:



First, an apology to Dennis DeBoer and the rest of you for being so late with the continuance of this article. A family member sickness and an uncooperative computer have kept me away from the keyboard for a while. However, I now continue with the discussion.



There are many openings in the hull and a few in the sail that have to be punched out. Most of these comprise the flood-drain holes in the bottom of the hull those holes a must-have item if the model is to be a practical r/c submarine. There are also the pump-jet intake holes near the stern. And the sail dead-light openings have to be opened up too, along with openings for the bottom, forward lights, ahead aimed search-light, and at the stern to make room for the gimbaled duel nozzle assembly. All of these penetration locations indicated on the model kit parts by shallow engraved outlines shallow because the tool used to fabricate these GRP parts is of the hard-shell type and will not permit any severely deep or angled draft items if clean, undamaged part-tool separation is to be achieved. However, these imbedded outlines on the kit parts are just promenent enough to permit highlighting with Sharpie pen or black smeared oil paint. Something to stand out as an outline as you hack open the penetrations with a verity of tools.



I must comment that the quality of the bond between the white gel-coat to the fiberglass laminates under it was found to be of the highest order: at no time during the drilling, grinding, sawing, filing, and cutting operations did any adjacent gel-coat fail and chip off. This model kit is fabricated very, very well!



I hope Dennis is not too angry with me. At the beginning he expressed his desire that I build his kit up stock; not to take any liberties that would lead his current and future customers astray as they read this article. We want to insure that what a customer sees here, in my article, is what he gets when he orders a kit. However, there had to be one major departure from kit standard. And that is the inclusion of hull flood-drain holes. There is no indication on the model part to guide the kit assembler (included me in that task description for the sake of this discussion) on how many, what shape, and where these vital openings should go.



So, I winged it. I came up with a practical arrangement of flood-drain holes. My task became how to lay out the hole outlines onto the model with uniformity and symmetry, and then how to open them up .



Why so many flood-drain holes?



Well, the SEAVIEW has a great deal of freeboard (distance from waterline to main deck in surface trim) for a modern type submarine. That fact established, it would make sense that the SEAVIEW featured a double hull, with most of the annular space between the two cylinders occupied by main ballast tanks. Just like the Soviet's ... err .... Russian's do it. And why did I break up the pattern of the flood-drain holes, into columns of two, three, and four holes wide? ...



... Because it's my boat! That's why! (And the need for plenty of water paths through the hull to feed the intake side of my pump-jet).



The chronology of steps performed before you actually cut out a hole into the hull is something like this: First, determine the size, shape and location of the penetrations; make a scribing stencil; then layout the location of the proposed holes onto the model with pen or pencil, using the selected/manufactured stencil; check for symmetry and correct locations; then use the stencil to guide your scribing tool as you engrave the outlines of the eventual holes into the work; rub in some artist oil or smear in some black magic-marker ink to highlight the engraved line; and only then can you proceed with the actual job of punching out the holes.



And that is the majority of this chapters discussion: the creation of a flood-drain hole scribing/marking stencil; scribing in the flood-drain hole outlines onto the bottom hull; and opening up those holes.



Below is a look-see of what resulted from all that work. That long cut-out atop the upper hull (over which the superstructure piece would eventually seat) was done by Dennis. All other cut-outs, upper and lower hull, were done by me. The only cut-outs requiring the use of a specialized stencil where the many small flood-drain square hole groupings either side of the main keel.







I agonized on how to achieve the semi-annular cut-out in the stern of the upper hull till I realized that if I ground away from the inside of the hull with a big diameter grinding wheel, and watched the work with the aid of a back-light, that the work would go much quicker and with more precision than if I attacked the outside with drill bits and files. Note that on the lower hull I've already high-lighted the engraved outline of the stern 'spoilers' with black oil paint rubbed in with a finger.



On a side-note: I must comment again on how well the glass work was done on this kit. No bubbles to speak of; a uniform thickness of gel-coat; a sound and well laid laminate of glass; and a very, very tough bond between the glass laminate and gel-coat. All these attributes contributing to a trouble-free and enjoyable assembly job. Well done, Dennis!







Two failed scribing stencil attempts and good one. The MDF holding fixture evidences the scaring of its surface as the end-mill penetrated slightly into its surface as the milling machine made precision cuts into the .030" aluminum sheet stencil blank. Final squaring off of the holes was done with various files and sanding sticks. The eventual shape of the stencil proper was much smaller than you see here at this point you're looking at the stencil blank before trimming away its boarders.







Though this is not the size end-mill used to achieve the eventual successful stencil, it does represent the type bit used in most milling operations. The high-speed spinning bit is stationary as the bed of the machine is moved in two planes of motion. The coordinated use of the X and Y hand-wheels achies the desired cut-out width and length. Machinist's lingo ... I love it.



It's vital that the stencil blank in this case a piece of soft, .030" thick aluminum sheet be rigidly secured during this work. So, I bolt the blank to a piece of 1/2" MDF, which forms a holding fixture. The holding fixture in turn is secured into a vice which itself is bolted to the bed of the milling machines cross-slide.








And here you have the mounted work on the mill being cut out. The X and Y slides are driven by hand-wheels which have positional indexing scales that feature permitted me to establish fixed width and length cuts to an accuracy of .001". I found, after two failed attempts, that a much smaller diameter end-mill was the best means of achieving the desired cut-outs in the blank. If the end-mill bit is too large, 'rotational drift' of the bit on the bite direction of feed causes the bit to cut past the desired outline. I found that a smaller diameter end-mill bit produced much less chattering. No more over-shoot of the desired cut-out outline. Lesson learned.








Below you see the specialized flood-drain hole stencil (eventually cut down to facilitate easier usage) made to achieve the flood-drain hole markings needed to guide me as I cut open these holes through the tough GRP lower hull. Atop the stencil is the scribing tool. Simply a jeweler's rat-tail file who's point has been ground to a very narrow, sharp point. Note the variance between the hand drawn port and starboard sets of proposed flood-drain holes. At this point I was still evaluating the size and location of the holes, pre-stencil manufacture. As you can see, I eventually settled on the pattern of holes inked on the starboard side of the lower hull that pattern milled onto the aluminum stencil blank.








You might be asking yourself, "why bother scribing the cut-out locations when you can skip all that work and just run a Sharpie pen around in there?"



Size uniformity. Even a 'thin line' Sharpie pen is pretty wide. And using the pen line to guide your cutting tools can result in un-uniform cut-out lengths and widths. However, following the very narrow engraved line, the result of scribing, highlighted with ink or oil paint, permits you only .002 to .004 inches of slop the eventual cut-outs will be much more uniform of shape and placement.



That's why Metal Smith's, Jeweler's, sheet metal guys, and Machinist's do their layout work with a scratch-awl, not a pen or soap stick.



To the left you see engraved cut-out outlines. To the right, punched out cut-outs ... nice and even.








The actual scribing operation which I'll address in a separate, more detailed Cabal Report is the process of dragging the point of a scratch-awl (pointed metal *****) across the surface of the work, scraping off a narrow, shallow of depth engraved line. The shape of that engraved line a consequence of the shape of the stencil used to guide the scribing tool. Here I've tapped my flood-drain hole stencil to the bottom of the hull. I'm engraving, to the square outline of one of the stencils cut-outs, into the soft gel-coat of the model kits surface. Three light passes with the tool cut engraved lines deep and wide enough to catch enough ink or paint to stand out prominently from the surrounding white material.








It's vital to darken the engraved lines. You can either use artist's oil paint (black) or the Sharpie pen ink. With the oil paint you smear it on, then wipe off the excess with a rag ... very messy and the stuff gets everywhere if you're not careful. Using the Sharpie ink is easier: Scribble over the freshly engraved lines, then dip a rag into some lacquer thinner, then scrube the ink into the engravings. The smooth surface will clean up, but the jagged engraved grooves will grab and hold the dissolved ink pigment where it will stay and dry quickly. Don't do this on styrene substrates or any other medium that would be attacked by the highly volatile solvent.



You also see in this shot the much cut back scribing stencil.








The actual punching out of the holes was done with the careful use of a Dremel Moto-Tool swinging a 1/8" burr. The little fillets left by this big bit at the corners of a cut-out were reduced in radius with the aid of a 1/16" diameter drill but used as a side cutter. Final clean up of the holes was done with various flat and square files and sanding sticks. Dennis' good bonding work between gel-coat and underlying glass made this a chip-free operation!







Just some of the tools used to scribe and refine the shape of the cut-outs. Keep in mind that GRP (nothing kills a metal tool quicker than glass!) wears down most metal tools in no time flat. Pick cheap, easy to replace files, blades and saws for this kind of work.



The life history of your tools should be like this: first working none reenforced plastics; then they are moved on to working soft metals; then the hard metals; and, finally, just before the tool is no good, set it aside for glass work. After some glass work, ****-can the tool. Keep your new tools away from the glass working station!








I used a diamond cut-off wheel to make the longitudinal cuts as I opened up the pump-jet side intake holes. A drill bit was used to drag diagonal cuts to complete one of these cut-outs. The shape of the opening was then refined with files and knife (use of the knife on this particular job awarded me seven stitches on my left middle-finger ... which has rendered me all but useless on the high-way!).