--Originally Posted 2/16/13--

This work session jumped back and forth between tasks, here for simplicity presented one at a time. Starting with the pressure hull-insert:


Click on Image to EnlargeFirst a notch was made in each mounting collar (top-left) on the two hull sections, the aft one accepting a length of plastruct (half-) square channel (top-right), as positioning guide. Even some 6-8 inches long, as it was (which I thought would, if anything, be too long) - when all was aligned over the drawing (bottom), it was still a couple inches too short! Dumb - however, installing the needed extension, with careful alignment/attachment, presented no difficulties.

Plating for the hull insert was then created from a single piece, and installed:


Click on Image to EnlargeThe key is (or should be, anyway) to gradually roll the plastic under- and finally completely around progressively narrower cylinders, in a series (left, top) - which I really didn't provide, failing to include a decent transition between the rattlecan and the much narrower, (hard-) plastic cigar tube shown. Thus, the plating never really was curled sufficiently before the first edge was already being attached (left, at bottom).

The problem was exacerbated when I again f-ed up - this time far more importantly - by switching to 0.04" plating - when I knew to begin with, that I shouldn't have exceeded 0.03-inch. But the 0.04" came perfectly flush with the Revell hull - and I convinced myself that using clapboard (ridged-side-in, of course) would allow the plating to roll (parrallel with the ridges, of course) just as easily as 0.03" (smooth) plasticard. A leap which I can now tell you is not exactly true - while the the clapboard lines do indeed help to guide the curvature in the right direction, the plating overall still remains difficult to bend - particularly when inadequately rolled, to begin with.

Still, the result was generally acceptable:


The alignment (hands down the most important aspect) looks pretty much perfect - yet it wasn't: the aft section wis just slightly cocked to one side, and twisted. However this was very easily corrected, soon after these pics were taken. More problematic was that the (again, heavy and stiff) plasticard stopped curling to go relatively flat at the final attachment, to the keel. However this was the only stretch where this occurred, as shown here - all of which will be on the undersides, and much of that hidden under the saddle tanks, to boot. So it remains an open question how much correction will be required - or how much will even remain exposed, given the large saddle tanks.

Speaking of which:


Click on Image to EnlargeThe too-confident assumption that my undeniably huge parts-box would easily yield suitable parts for saddle tanks, received a major blow when it was discovered that nothing on hand - not even the saddle tanks of the 125-scale Revell TypeVII u-boat, would be large enough (in length nor width) to suffice. Indeed the required saddle tanks are more in the ballpark of the entire 1:48 fuselage of my boneyard Testors U-2 (top) - and indeed with their deep bellies, each looks like an entire, little sub in its own right! But who TF is going to have on hand - much less be ready to sacrifice - two entire extra sub mod-… Oh - that's right - actually I do have a couple little toy sub models (bottom), with exactly the kind of fat, exaggerated hull-lines to provide the needed start on the saddle tanks - while at the same time being infinitely expendable. Athough having flat decks and/or otherwise incorrectly-curved topsides, these areas are the very easiest to address/correct. Though I'm still working the problem, it certainly looks like the adopted solution will make substantial, if not crucial use of these little buggers.

In addition to left-right-and-center, I made starts on bow and stern as well:


Click on Image to EnlargeThe front end of the pressure hull tapers on top about right for a T-boat (left, at top), but in plan-view it (the Type206A hull) is too abrupt/blunt, needing to be pinched laterally, which required an opening a wedge along the centerline (left, at bottom), and - ultimately, when the rest of the tube refused to accommodate the bend (without warping) - "gill" joints were also opened (center, left-side), allowing nose halves to pivot, clamshell-like, together. None of this creating any joints that couldn't be robustly filled - and simultaneously reinforced - by generous application of CA putty (center, right-side).

At the opposite end (right), the opposite approach was used: spreading the hull-sides to insert a thick slab (white), extending the tip of the stern, again secured/filled with heavy CA putty. On the top side, part of the mold was replaced, paradoxically, with an almost identically-sized plastic slab (white) - required, it was determined, in order to spread the hull adequately. Note the rudder skeg was likewise expanded/realigned, to bring it (at least approximately) to the correct dimensions - later to be finished via sculpting, as will the tip of the stern, as well.

So, we're on a roll and over quite a hump - the hull extension - probably THE major hump - to be expected from the entire build. And it's on to bigger and better - or at least, faster and easier progress, coming up next...

Cheers,

-Matty