Time passes really quickly lately for me. I am sure that those locked inside cannot say the same thing. I have, however, been suffering from a serious lack of motivation similar to that of Martin. I try to fight it but just sitting on my backside seems to win too often.
I have decided to try to break away from this and get on. I have been doing a little modelling and this is the progress, or lack of, over the past four months.
I have been concentrating on the cabin and making up all of the fittings. The radar is made up of several flat discs glued together and then formed using files and sand paper. I then had to drill several holes through the cabin roof, two of which had to be 12mm diameter. This would rip the thin plastic to pieces so a plan was required. I decided to buy a tapered hand reamer, tapered from 6mm to 16mm. I drilled the holes as large as I dare, about 8mm, and then slowly opened them up to 11.5mm. Then I found that once again I was suffering for not having read through the instructions beforehand. As the plastic is so thin walled and the parts attaching through the holes were so large, I should have glued some supporting wood to the inside roof of the cabin and drilled the holes through these also. I quickly made some support blocks from 12mm ply and struggled for ages to glue them to the ceiling above the servo plate already fitted earlier. I MUST learn to read the instructions first.
I then decided to glue the foredeck down which meant I had to fit the angled brass anchor guide tubes. I thought this would be difficult, as I had already painted the deck, and it was. I now know why the painting is done after assembly. I have always feared the masking. Well I did damage the paint during the filing of the ends of the tubes to match the deck and the hull. I accepted the fact that a full repaint was required and also decided to change the colour below the waterline to black. The masking is shown in the pictures but I found the Tamiya masking tape invaluable. I followed the contours of the deck to gunwale using 5mm wide tape which you can follow the curves with relatively easily. Once that line was done I increased the tape to 12mm wide and carried on with this until a good footing for cellotape was achieved. I then stuck down a covering of A4 paper cut to shape to cover the rest. This was not as bad as I thought it would be so I have learned a valuable lesson. Assemble the main parts and then paint, very much in line with all of the modelers who have been doing it for years.
I plan to improve my state of mind now and get on. I will concentrate on finishing the cabin so that I can finally paint it. I want to finish the main build by Christmas. No hope really!!
Peter.

Managed a little work over the past few weeks in between improving my workshop and the Gato Submarine. I started to assemble the tow hook which has an automatic release. The instructions show a wire spring which has to be made from a small steel rod supplied. I bent it to shape and fitted it, after adjusting the hooks to make room for it, and gave it a test. I would have needed a hydraulic cylinder to get this arrangement to function. There is no way a servo could have moved it. I decided to modify the system.
Firstly, I epoxy glued the parts I had adjusted to get the spring wire in place and filed and drilled them back to as they were. I then drilled a 2.7mm diameter hole to accept a 2.2mm diameter by 0.31mm wire diameter spring by 15mm long. See photo. The bar down which you have to drill is only 3mm wide so care is required. Care is also required regarding the depth of this hole so that the spring does not rest against the central brass column which the tow hook swivels around. I have now dropped the spring in place and reassembled the unit. This is a much better solution. It now works very well and does not take too much force to activate.
Next job is to shape and fit the anchor guides. Another job I have not been looking forward to. I can then fix down the fore deck and complete the painting of the hull.😊
Peter.

Work has taken priority over the past several weeks but I have managed to get some work done on the project from time to time. My focus has been on the special functions.
First, I completed the front monitor by adding the servo unit and the drive mechanisms. The instructions do have most of the information but due to there being so many parts and these being referred to only by their part number, I found it best to separate all of the required parts and dry assemble before committing to glue. All went well and I connected the servos to see how it functioned. There was a little slippage of the but generally went well. To reduce the slippage. The drive cord is tensioned by a spring connection. After putting more pre-tension on this spring, the slippage was eliminated.
The dual monitors were next on the list but I decided on a change. Bring on the crane.
I separated all of the parts and built the crane as a test. All seemed good so I disassembled and painted, my own colour choices I might add. Then I assembled the running gear frame and dry fitted the two motors for testing. I noticed that one of the motors was taller than the plan and would need to go right through the base plate and be seen from the top going through the deck. I decided top do my first basic scratch build. Not to the standard of many on this site, but little acorns and all that. I decided to invent a crane inspection hatch. I made it from scrap pieces of ABS. (No yoghurt pots to hand). I then wired the motors and added suppressors to each. The whole unit was now built and connected up to the TX. It works very well. A little juddery on rotation but I will look at that later. An elastic band doubled up provides the drive so I think it might be slipping slightly on the pulleys.
I have now started to assemble the double monitor unit. I have assembled the servo plate and installed it. I have fitted the lower running bearings and completed a test assembly, with the gratings, onto the cabin roof. Looks good so I will try to complete this for the next update.
One piece of advice for all those making this model. You will come to a point on the monitors that you will have to solder a tiny tube inside a larger diameter tube. This small tube takes the thread that will operate the raising and lowering of the monitors. Check multiple times before you glue these into the monitor heads as the instructions and plans do not agree. Watch which side the servo arm is fixed and work out these tube positions before gluing to the monitors.

I have now finished the repainting of the monitors and I am pleased with the results. Thanks to Martin555 for posting how he removes splitlines and ejector marks from his mouldings. This made me feel that I was being lazy for not doing this. The results are a massive improvement. I used small needle files and 400 wet and dry to do this and then remove the shine from all of the parts to help the paint.
For the painting I first used Tamiya Fine Primer. The finish was excellent. I then used Tamiya plastic spray in Italian Red. I gave everything two coats of this followed by two coats of clear gloss.
I have now cold assembled all of the monitors and filed where necessary to ensure free movement. This is critical for when I fit all of the servo-controlled movements. My next job will be to finally fix them together with glue and connect the servos. First, Though, I had to fit the silicone tubes through the brass tubes. Not too difficult you would think but the silicone tube is bigger in diameter than the brass tube they go through. I followed the instructions from Mike given below but I could only get them about half way through before either the tube failed or the thread broke. I tried several ways to connect them but finally succeeded when wrapping the thread tightly near to one end, as described by Mike, but then adding soap to the tube as well. This was successful. The Brass tube is 120mm long. This is the shortest one of the three, the longest being 180mm. Should be good if I follow a similar principle.
The actuating mechanisms have now been built and primed and the servos added. My next task is to complete the operating mechanisms, assemble the monitors and fix them to their gratings. I will try to complete this soon.

I am still working on the monitors at the moment. Removing the ejector marks and the visible split lines has been quite a job. The final result prior to painting looks good. It is a shame that I have had to do this improvement as the mouldings were the perfect colour to start with.
I fitted the rear main deck a couple of weeks ago and now it was time to fit the forward deck. It was a surprise to find that it was about 6mm too large, around 3mm all around. I spent the best part of 4 hours carefully filing the shape and bevelling the edge to fit. It looks good but I will wait a while before fixing it as there are a few functions underneath.

Having a little break from the Submarine and getting on with Dusseldorf. In my last update I had started on the decking area for the three monitors. I have now tidied these up and trimmed all of the planks to size. I will satin varnish these to complete soon. I have started to assemble the three monitors now. They are really neat little assemblies and manufactured using red polymer. They look good enough to use as is but after reading another blog, I decided that they would look even better when all of the join lines and ejector pin marks were hidden. I have used 400 wet and dry paper and smoothed out all of the faces. I have roughed up all of the faces to help the paint stick properly. There are a lot of faces to do so will take a while. I have completed most of the assembly but will finish after painting.
The main tube which carries the silicone water tube, also has a much smaller tube fitted inside. Both tubes are brass so I decided to fix by soft soldering. Due to the heat required, I used my soldering centre with the iron set to 360 degrees C. I first tinned both the inside of the 7mm tube and the outside of the 1mm tube, (the small tube carries an operating thread to raise and lower the nozzle with spring assistance). I then placed the small tube inside the large and soldered in place by holding the iron in place for about twenty seconds adding a little solder to the joint. This was successful. I did all three tubes like this.
This weekend I will try to complete the monitors. As I have to paint them, I might not manage this. I still have to figure out how I can get the silicone tube through the brass tube. It fitted well earlier but now that the small tube is soldered inside, it will not go in easily. The longest brass tube is 160mm.

Just a small update. I started to do some of the final painting coats. I know that most members save this until the end but masking a completed model fills me with dread. I have finished the hull bottom, the bulwark and the deck. I will glue the deck in place next.
I have started the wood decking for the three monitors. I first stained the wood and then cut and stuck strips to the base plates. I have now started to trim and form the inner bore and the outside shape. Unfortunately, I had a little accident. I cut one of the holes tabs off of one base. I tried to stick it back on but failed. I have now made a new small tab from scrap and will stick it on when they are complete.

Did a little work on the Dusseldorf, It`s been a while. I fitted the Anchor winch assembly into the hull. I tried it first and the 1:400 geared motor gives a good representation of speed. I then fixed in the remaining electronics platforms. Things are starting to look a little better now. I then drilled holes and slotted with files the water drainage for the deck. I must admit I was dreading this but I am happy to say that the results are good.
I know that a lot of people do not agree with me but I find painting of certain parts much easier before assembly. I have primed the hull and deck pieces and will finish painting before I assemble. I used this method on the Pilot boat and was fairly successful. The one area I did have a glue accident, I covered with a no scripted life raft container. I will take more care when applying glue this time.
I have started to finish paint the deck pieces which I hope to fit soon.

I have spent the last couple of sessions preparing and fitting the prop shafts, mounts and pump plate.
First was to prepare the wood profiles, paint with sanding sealer and then prime them. They look a lot neater sprayed grey than just plain ply wood. I checked the two motors and found that the suppressor was not of the correct value. I removed it and replaced with the normal 47nf capacitor across the terminals and 10nf from each terminal to the casing. I then connected the wires to the terminals.
I built the assemblies, fitted the motors and placed then in the hull. I then inserted the shafts and connected them to the motors via solid connectors. I prefer solid drive connectors where possible as I believe this should reduce vibration which is often introduced through universal joints. When I was happy with the alignment, I glued the shafts in place with Acrylate. I then fitted and glued the water intake pipe also with Acrylate.
Next came the pump plate. This plate also has the rudder servo secured to it. After assembly, this was also glued to the hull.
Next job was to fit the rear deck support and the bead on the outside which will eventually hold the rubber fender strip. The pencil taped to the flat stick at a distance of 12mm was used to mark the outside of the hull similar to marking the deck support line before.
It was now time to prepare the two deck levels. Strengthening braces of ply wood were fitted all around. This has resulted in quite a strong unit. The instructions say that the fitting of the decks is next. I think they have forgotten all of the working features of this build. If the decks are glued now, there is no room for fitting in all of the gadgets. I will wait until I know what is required.
Next time I will start the preparation of the cabin. This part contains most of the fire monitor servos and piping, radar and search lights plus general lighting. Very busy.

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There are four rudders on this boat. The design for these is a vast improvement on the Aeronauts Pilot Boat I recently completed.
The first stage was to drill all of the required holes in the hull. These include two for the anchors, two for the prop shafts, one for the water inlet tube and four for the rudders. As this is an ABS hull moulding, drilling is not usually too much of a problem but due to the cost of the model, I decided to protect the insides around the holes with tape to decrease the possibility of cracking. I start the holes off with a 3mm drill and then increase to the final size which in this case was 4mm, 6mm, 7mm and 4mm respectively. I gently filed around the holes to get a nice slide fit and correct alignment of the tubes.
The deck lies on a support rib which will later be glued around the inside of the hull. The instructions highlight the build of a simple device which will hold a pencil at a height of 7.5mm. A pencil is taped to a straight piece of wood of about 30cm long with a suitable spacer in between which was 3mm in this case. You can then place the stick to contact both sides of the hull and then draw a constant line at exactly 7.5mm down. Simple but effective. This will form the height guide for the deck support. This line was also continued around the bow of the ship which will form the bulwark later.
The next job was to prepare and glue the side supports inside the hull for the rudder tube support board. Next job was to glue the support board in place. I did not notice at this time that the support board had quite a bad bend in it. The bow was upwards which resulted in the two centre tube alignment inserts being above the end of the tubes. The solution was to glue the two middle alignment inserts under the support board instead. A little awkward but the result is good.
The rudder tubes were now fitted and glued to be water tight with Stabilit Express glue. This is good for water tightness.
I painted the four rudders matt black and then protected with Lacquer. Although the instructions state that the rudders should be fitted and set up at this stage, I have decided to leave this for as long as possible to avoid damage.
The next job is to fit the twin motors and prop shafts. This is a job for next week.

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