Captain Nemo12

I can send you some pictures of my shark sub if you want to put them up on your website,

here's the link to the Nautilus's Gallery where all the pictures can be found:



http://captainnemo12.tripod.com/id39.html

I don't have pics of the boat in water because the lakes are frozen here in Canada during winter, but there are still some pictures of the boat outside.

DazDaMan

Sure, that'd be great! I'll try and put some up later.

DazDaMan

FIRST WOOD CUT!!

I've started cutting the first piece of my r/c shark now known as "Bruce", and the first piece I started with was the large dorsal fin. What a nightmare it was getting the shape correct - luckily some kind soul on the Jaws discussion forum sent me a photo of the actual fin used during some sequences (along with the guy who made the moulds for the shark itself, Roy Arbogast).

I'll put up a photo of my fin once the glue has dried and the fin sanded to shape.

DazDaMan

Well, here's a shot of the unfinished fin. I've trimmed off some of the excess wood around the black pen-line, so it'll be sanded once it has cured properly...

DazDaMan

Here's the fin post-painting and finishing. I've had numerous comments regarding the fin from Jaws fans - they like!

Also, another couple of pics of my previous shark model - the business end!

DazDaMan

Tail fin ready to be sanded, detailed and painted....

speedygonzales

like the first painted fin nice

DazDaMan

The tail.

Second pic shows the bits and pieces made to date.

DazDaMan

The dorsal fin, after some revision!

I got a set of sketches of the actual "Jaws" movie shark sent to me today, so my model will need some alterations during construction, but it's not too bad - at least I hadn't built a ton of it first!!

RC Sumo

Daz,

wow. awesome work man. I like your webpage. I live in California and am about 3 hours away from a place you need to visit: The Monterey Bay Aquarium. Right now they have a young Great White in their Outer Bay exhibit. Here is the live webcam page: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/e...hp_obw_cam.asp . This shark has set a record for captivity: over 100 days now! IT takes some time, but you can see her cruise by once in a while. I just saw that you are in the UK, , so I'm not sure how feasible a trip to the States is just to see a Great white in a giant aquarium. Also check out the Shark Cam on this website. Perhaps you may find info useful. I just figured it would at least be interesting. Keep up the awesome work! Making me think about a shark model in the future after seeing some of this!

Captain Nemo12

Can't wait to see the shark body done! Nice job on the back fin by the way!

DazDaMan

Thanks for the comments, guys.

I've seen the shark-cam at Monterey - it's just awesome to watch. She's a bit more active (or visible) some nights more than others, and if you have the full-screen image, she can give you a bit of a fright when coming out!

I'll have the pectoral fins done by next week - the ones I've cut out need trimming down to the correct size and shape - and then after that, it's onto the body...!!

Captain Nemo12

[sm=cool.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

DazDaMan

OK, a quick update - the finished items so far.

Top of picture - dorsal fin and tail (rudder)

Bottom of picture - pectoral fins (acting as hydroplanes)

I have a feeling, due to a persistent headache, I might get the chance to do some hacking tomorrow, and I imagine I'll have something in the way of an update by the end of the week!

(Thinks - this is going faster/easier than I thought - so far! )

DazDaMan

Slowly piecing together the body for the shark - I think it'll be a good couple of weeks before I get the main section of the body constructed.

The head has been somewhat troublesome - I've had to give up on my idea of having BOTH jaws open and close because I didn't think the hinges would be strong enough to hold the shark's jaws onto the body proper. Also, I've had to make do with having "gappy" jaws when the lower jaw opens. I had intended on using latex to cover the gaps, but I've decided to let that slide on the sake of simplicty.

Also, I had envisaged trenches down each side of the body to enable water coming into the mouth to go out via gill slits. Math Vos's shark doesn't have this, only springs to help the jaw shut, so I'll be doing it that way, too.

DazDaMan

Well, had to restart the shark after making a slight cock-up in cutting the wood! I've also rethought the way in which to do the whole thing, but at least it's coming along quite fast.

After a gap of a few days, I managed to lay three layers of the body down last night - maybe I'll manage another three tonight...!!

DazDaMan

Well, here's a quick update.

Here's the body so far, built using layers of 10mm balsa wood. The excess at the rear of the model will be cut away to the right profile before sanding to shape. Then I have the fun of sealing, sanding, sealing, sanding, and perhaps a bit more sealing and some more sanding!!

Also, here's what the finished article should look like (Sorry, it's only a crappy rough sketch done one lunchtime!!)

DazDaMan

Well, I've had a couple of days off work, so I've managed to put in some serious construction time on Bruce.

Here is the latest pic.

The decking in the photo (supporting the dorsal fin) is for picture purposes only - the body will be a bit deeper still

DazDaMan

Yesterday's work encouraged me further, so here's a bit more (the removable hatch for access to the guts is on).

And with the 29" shark for size comparison.

The black line on the side denotes where the balsa is to be cut away to get the shark's body-shape.

DazDaMan

OK, here's another update.

I've had the wood cut and the body has been sanded down. I got some model aeroplane hinges for the rudder and trial-fitted them, along with the tail. Looking pretty good so far....!!

Captain Nemo12

Is the mouth (head) in a seperate piece? Looks good so far, all you have to do is get the guts in, do some sealing, cover the whole thing in fiberglass/resin/epoxy, etc. You're pretty much good to go!

DazDaMan

Yeah, the head is separate - it requires a heck of a lot more thought than the body does!!

Andrew (the guy who allowed me to see his wooden U-boat) reckons that a good layer of sanding sealer or two will be good enough - his U-boat is done as such, and he's never had a problem with it.

Captain Nemo12

Sanding sealer hunh? Never heard of using that before, only dealt with resin.. I'd like to try that out, do you know where to aquire it? Hardware store maybe?

DazDaMan

I got a pot of the stuff at my local (ish!) model shop. You should be able to get it from yours.

Captain Nemo12

Thanks, let us know how everything goes!