Hi y’all. Just over a year ago a I sold off some of my hobby stash and decided to use the funds for more hobby stuff😁 The Taucher Wulf kit from Graupner caught my eye, and I thought it would be a fun build..boy was I wrong!
To be fair, at the time I bought the Wulf my only scale type boat was a Krick Felix and a Robbe San Remo that I had built in the early 90s, and again a few years ago. I knew nothing of ballast as the boats I had built besides the aforementioned were race type boats, and if you said “geared motor” to me then I’m thinking of a Robbe or Graupner surface drive for fast electrics..but I felt confident in my abilities to build the Taucher. I knew that Graupner had been bought out and production move to Asia, and that the manuals weren’t quite up to snuff as I had just completed a Micro Magic from their latest production run, so I figured I could handle the build.
Now as far as the kit goes, it’s pretty nice. The hull and fwd deck are one piece and molded from fiberglass and primered. The fittings and parts looked decent, and there was a lot of brass and plastic rod plus laser and die cut parts.
The real problem with the Taucher is the manual and plans. There are a lot of exploded views, but very little, if any verbiage, no mention of ballast at all, no measurements, nothing. No recommendations for batteries or any idea or mounts for the batteries. The hatch is a little bigger than a large cell phone, which gives very little room to access drive batteries, and it’s location leaves you no room between just aft of the motor and the rudder. In short, it’s frustrating, especially since it’s touted as an “easy build up” kit. So, halfway thru the build I shelved it before it became a Viking funeral boat. I built 2 more boats in the past year, the Neptun and a Springer tug, and I learned a lot from both of them, so I pulled the Taucher from it’s hiding spot and began anew. I will post some pics from last year, then I’ll post the most recent. I made some changes that would have been much,much easier earlier in the build, so they had to be done..so some of the pics are rather graphic and not for the squeamish🤣
Anyway, here we go, anybody with any good info on these kits feel free to chime in.
Cash

So, I mentioned in the first part of this blog some of my frustrations with the Taucher. One I failed to mention is the deck details over the hatch. On the deck you have the pilot house, hatch, then what looks to be a boiler and exhaust and a work table. Between the pilot house and the boiler is a catwalk, that extends from the pilot house and terminates in a ladder right up next to the boiler and table, and is directly over the hatch. This means this would have to be removed to access the hatch or one would not be able to get the hatch open without possibly breaking the catwalk. Dumb. Just not well thought out..so, I decided to make a larger hatch, extending from under the aft of the pilot house all the way to just aft of the deck machinery. The pilot house, machinery, catwalk, any details in that general area will be glued to the hatch and removed as a unit for servicing..the pilot house fwd rests on the upper deck, there will be false bulkheads glued to the deck to help keep the pilot house lined up when the hatch is installed. Anyway, sounded like a grand plan, but I didn’t have a saw that would really cut the hatch out, as the deck is by now bonded to the hull, and I just couldn’t get a good angle on it with the Dremel. Soooo..I drilled just inside the lines I had drawn and then just connected the dots. Then I was reminded of a little saw that a few of my friends use, a small hand held oscillating saw. I purchased one with the half moon blade and a sanding kit. This thing is great! It made short work of my “butchery” and I was able to clean up the hatch opening nicely. I’m waiting on the first coat of the repaint to dry co I can sand and apply a final coat, then I’ll start work on the rest of the hatch/deck details and paint and install the rails I’ve soldered up.
Cash

Did a little soldering last night on the catwalk support frame. I then did a lash up to see how it will fit on the deck. One I get this all fitted, I can start re-detailing the pilot house and start finishing all the details on the deck and hatch.

So, the few guys we had ready to sail today decided to postpone due to people being out for various reasons, and it’s just too doggone hot in Texas in during most of August. I can deal with highs in the 90s, but when it’s 100 or over, I’m out. When I used to fly a lot, I would disappear from around the end of July to the first week of September. I’d rather sit in my somewhat air conditioned garage and build to utilize my hobby time than stand in a field, or at the edge of a pond holding a transmitter and roasting in my own juices.
Anyway, I had taken all of the details off of the pilot house, and this week I masked the windows and did a repaint, as well as making another railing as the first one wasnt up to snuff. Today I added the details back plus many I had not finished, built up the catwalk, then spilled the holes in the pilot house that the catwalk support tubes will be glued into. I then did another lash up to see where I stand, and what adjustments need to be made. I’m that close to finishing all the details that will glue to the deck/hatch, hopefully next update will find that part finished.
Cash

Hi y’all..first thing, thanks for the kind words and comments on the Taucher, it’s very much appreciated. Secondly, how shall I power it? The kit came with a decent 550 motor with a built in fan, and the torque ring around the can reminiscent of the old Speed 600 motors. I’m thinking that on direct drive I’ll be pushing this motor on 7.2 volts. If you look closely in the pics, I have a 3-1 gearbox intended for off road crawlers bolted to that motor. My other option is a Marx Monoperm super, or a slightly hotter 27 turn open end bell motor and the gearbox. Anyway, those are my thoughts n this boat, opinions, ideas and/or smart-aleck comments welcome!😁

Sooooo....tonight I got a bit done. Companionway and some other small parts painted, the companionways installed, holes drilled for red railings and a test fit. Very close to getting above decks done, need to paint the seating and install that, finish the deck and hatch, and paint and final install on rails..then it’s ballast and electrics.
Cash

Hi everybody. I have finished the hatch assembly. I found out why it was such a bear, for the pilot house to sit flush the bottom of the assembly is a bit off due to the decks angle. It looks good assembled, but I’m not happy with it, more like content. However it fits well enough to flush up. I also decided to use a standard 540 27 turn motor with a 3-1 crawler planetary gearbox. I think she’ll do real well with this setup.
Not my best work, knowing what I do now I could build another one with less drama and “revisions”, don’t know if I want to.

So I finally decided how to ballast the Taucher and what with. Lead is hard to find now, best I’ve found is some 4 oz flat disc sinkers at Academy sports. Bought 2 pounds worth of those (all they had) and a couple of packages of copper coated BBS. I then went to a local home improvement store and picked up some short pieces of PVC pipe and end caps. I decided to make 2 pvc “weight bombs” for the ballast to the sides of the batteries, epoxy and bbs mixed for the aft ballast, and the sinkers to adjust after the bathtub ballast and amp draw test. The static draw in the water at WOT is about 4.5 amps, so I should be okay.
I also cut the esc switch lead and added Deans micro connectors so I could mountthe switch deck side and disconnect when needed. At this point she’s seaworthy, minus the aft hatch at the rudder that somehow went MIA in the past few weeks.
Cash

Well, here she is. She’s as ready as she’ll ever be, I think. There’s a few more details I could add, fenders, bumpers and the like, but I’m done for now. She’s set to splash sometime this weekend, I’ll give a full report after...unless she catches fire or sinks, then it’ll be “you heard the torpedo hit the hull, and I was never here”🤣
Cash

Hi y’all, quick vid on the Taucher, took her out this past Sunday. Ran her for one 15 minute cruise and then another 30 minutes or so on the Sam charge on 2 3000 mah packs wired in parallel, had plenty of power left. Motor got a little warm but not unreasonably so, she didn’t take on water, and she didn’t release any magic smoke, so alls well that ends well😁