Plane Talk

The diving planes supplied with the kit are clean and solid with crisp rivet detail. On the static version, the diving planes are molded into the side keels and are a tad thinner in cross-section.

The two large planes forward and aft have brass control shafts installed in them. The shafts have machined grooves which hold rubber o-rings (removed from the shaft in the photo). They come fitted in a brass stuffing tube filled with grease for mounting in the hull (shown on the shaft at right).
















Since the stuffing tube would only work if it was mounted flush with the hull, I can only assume they were intended for a dry hull application. However, since mine will be a wet hull, and each plane will be mounted in a simple bearing in the hull, the stuffing tubes are unnecessary. Each set of forward and bow planes will be linked to a single pushrod exiting the WTC through a watertight seal.

The two small forward "trim" planes come without shafts and will be drilled out to accept a length of brass rod.

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En Guard

Without following any real plan other than wanting to see how it looked, and having already test fit the stern side keels, I drilled out a few holes and test fit the white metal prop guard parts.



















These are really beefy parts and fit together quite nicely with minimal filing to remove flash. They are very heavy, however. Weight on the extreme ends of an r/c sub means additional foam during trimming and can reduce performance. I may cast a replacement set in resin, reinforced with carbon fiber.

Inspired by the look, I fit together the upper rudder fin and the rudder next.
















All that's missing is the five bladed hammerhead prop. The kit supplies a cast resin piece but I hope to use a cast aluminum prop being worked up for Andy Lawrence. The master was made from a CAD file provided by Will Babbington based on the master for the prop used on the 11' hero.

A word about bungees -- these work great in holding things together. I've used a lot of tape and clothespins to hold parts in the past, but these really work well with the hull shape.

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Better Late Than Never

Since I started this blog in the middle of act one as far as the project goes, here's a little background on the overall kit. It is manufactured by Jim Key's company, Custom Replicas, in Los Angeles, CA (see links for their website). At the time I purchased it, there were two options available, static or r/c. This blog is concerned with the r/c version.

The scale is 1/32. When it arrived, much work was already completed. The two hull halves were joined, a hatch was cut in the upper half, and eight hold down screws were installed to secure it. Below is the lower hull with access hatch removed. This allows for servicing of the internal watertight compartments, removal of batteries, etc. Note the white metal and resin fittings in place on the upper deck.











Here is a detail shot of the forward hatch seam. The two dark spots in the corners are the holes for the pan head screws.




















The closed salon window iris is one cast resin piece and came installed in the hull. The cast metal window bezel is one piece as well and came with mounting screws installed. Vacuformed clear plastic windows are supplied for the salon and wheelhouse. The surrounding lights will be illuminated with LEDs.














Below are the assorted cast resin and white metal goodies. The large beams are supports for the display stand. Complete detail parts are included to depict all the external fittings and wheelhouse interior of the boat. The display stand is a kit unto itself. The black dot things that look like wiggly eyes -- are wiggly eyes. The clear lenses just happen to be perfect fits for the external salon lights. Just cut the backs off and voila!













Larger resin parts: side keels, ram, raker arch, white metal MBT grates, resin wheelhouse deck, and display stand crossbeam.











The Custom Replicas "movie" Nautilus is a big model with a big price tag. But it comes with an enormous amount of stuff -- not to mention the prefabrication. Given my available time, I figure I've saved five years over trying to scratch build this boat. The end result will undoubtedly be better looking too.

Custom Replicas does include a CD with solid, illustrated instructions and reference photos. However, it is referenced for a static kit build-up. One is on their own in regards to finishing out the boat for r/c operations. That I can handle.

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Scoop Redux

The two larger, flat scoops on either side of the bow near the keel were reworked next. While they were cast with a recessed area to depict the inlet, it is pretty shallow. The part also has a flange across the bottom of the opening, and a rather thick riveted flange surrounding the part, which I wished to modify. To begin, I cut away the flange across the hull side of the scoop opening. Then I ground out the scoop area with a Dremel, like I did with the smaller scoops, to produce a more pronounced recess.













I then used the belt sander to shave down the back side of the piece where it contacts the hull to give the flange a thinner profile.
















Here you can see the reworked scoop in comparison to the stock scoop. The inlet is now much more concave.














This profile view contrasts the thickness of the flange area before and after.
















Next, I placed the part in position on the hull and traced around it. A thin knife blade was used to shave off the rivet heads where the scoop touches the hull. I was careful to leave untouched the rivets which can be seen inside the scoop.














The finished part in position. The additional depth, and especially the second row of rivets in the scoop area, are really pleasing to the eye. To me, it looks more funtional this way.
















Will opening up these parts increase the parasitic drag on the boat while underway? Sure. But I'm not building it for high performance submerged runs. My operational goals, based on the movie, can best be described as "stately". And, like with most model boats, I'll probably spend more time looking at it than actually driving it.

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Dorsal Morsel

The kit's dorsal fin is a single cast urethane piece. Very crisp and detailed, it has the forward vertical bar that runs to the end of the wheelhouse breather flap housing. This piece was not on the 11' hero. However, it was on the deck set so I will use it. To me, the deck set has priority since that's where the actors stood onscreen (I defer to the hero on the aft diamond shaped deck grate. The deck set was 4' too short and featured only the forward half of the grate -- go figure).

The kit's instructions describe inserting tubes in the deck to capture brass rods inserted into the bottom of the dorsal fin. Friction would hold it in place. I want more security while underway, but still want to be able to remove the part during transport. So, I drilled two holes in the deck and filed them out slightly. I then drilled two corresponding holes in the bottom of the fin and inserted two lengths of threaded stainless steel. These were made by cutting the heads off two bolts and filing down the cut edges. These were CA'd in place.















The fin is held in place by two nuts on the bolts. The result is a flush and sturdy fit.













The only detail the fin lacks is the latch in the tip that held the hatch in the open position. To be fair, the hero did not have this feature. But the deck set did, and it can occasionally be seen onscreen, so I'm not quite done with it...

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Fit To Be Glued

The CR Nautilus kit comes with the upper and lower hull halves bonded together and an access hatch cut in the upper hull. The resin and white metal detail pieces are numerous, detailed and complete. With a little drilling and filing a large portion of the boat can be pieced together.

One of the biggest impacts to be made visually is to add the side keels. They come in four cast urethane pieces with brass mounting pins molded into the parts. Following a quick session with an electric drill to open up the hull to receive the pins, the side keels were fit in place. Small wheel collars where slipped onto the pins on the inside of the hull and snugged down to hold the parts in place (aided by rubber bands and small bungees on occasion).












While the aft side keels fit snugly against the hull with minimal filing, the forward side keels were a bit rough -- especially forward where they curve with the hull towards the ram. Unwittingly, I stumbled upon an easy way to improve the fit: solar power.









With the side keels held in place by wheel collars, I snugged the forward sections against the hull using rubber bands tightly wrapped around the bow. The boat was then left outside in the shade on a hot day (actually serving as a static work-in-progress display at an AMA event). Upon disassembly after the event it was found that the temperature had softened the urethane enough for it to mold itself to the hull's shape. The new form was retained after the parts cooled down. Much easier than trying to do the same with a heat gun!













It also serves as a caution against rough handling of the boat in the future during extended periods at the pond in warm conditions.

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The Hole Story

To modify the Custom Replicas Nautilus for r/c, I had to open up the hull for quick flooding and draining. This will be a wet hull type boat meaning the interior is free flooding. The electronics will be housed in a watertight cylinder to keep them dry. The advantage of wet hull engineering is it reduces the overall weight of the finished model. The internal volume of dry hull boats provide huge amounts of positive bouyancy and thus need to be ballasted down with much more weight than wet hull boats.

The first step is to open up the main ballast tank floods. I attacked the job armed with a Dremel tool, sanding drum bit and particle mask. The nice thing about this particular chore is it doesn't require a lot of finesse.















Next, the upper hatches were opened up. This allows air to escape the hull during diving. Trapped bubbles can cause a boat to hang on a dive or throw off submerged trim. Therefore, they must be given a straightforward path to escape.

















The forward hatch is also opened up. I worked from below on this one. Eventually the deck grates will be opened up as well.

















A look inside the hull. All the MBT floods are open along with the diver access hatch. CR makes a stout hull and 1/32 scale provides ample elbow room to work on the WTC installation.

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