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Standard David Merriman Disclaimer: Some people don't like reading David
Merrriman's articles. If you are one of them, try visiting a different page. David is very opinionated and very talented. You get a bit of both from him. You have been warned.
INTRODUCTION
This discussion is about the fifty-seven inch long fiberglass (GRP) DeBoer Hulls kit of the SEAVIEW, the FS-1 version.
Yes, yes... I
know that some of you, seeing this, are tingling with excitement at the prospect of labeling me a common 'kit-assembler'. Not so fast!
Though I have indeed stooped here to embrace, in part, the lowly craft of
kit-assembly, I do, however, redeem myself through the presentation here of scratch-building techniques and skills used to enhance the look and operation of this GRP model kit.
Nice try. No cigar!
... One more thing before I get on with the building of this big SEAVIEW kit:
So many of you I see yaking it up on the boards about the recently released PL SEAVIEW kit. I can almost guarantee that the
majority of you will never finish that little thirteen-inch long model. Why's that?
Because you would rather TALK than assemble. You guy's are just so damn wound up with the process of
impressing each other with your 'researching' prowess and dedication to accuracy that the actual craft (as you practice it, anyway) has become a secondary, not primary endeavor. Line after line has been posted
on the Cult (and other) sites about the 'inaccuracies' of the PL SEAVIEW re-issue; you blab on and on about what it takes to 'correct' this little model kit.
Few know more about the SEAVIEW than I, and I'll
tell you right here that with model building (and that includes the bastard step child of the craft, kit-assembly) there comes the point where you have to be a bit pragmatic and just accept the flaws observed and
push on with the project anyway.
Yes, the PL SEAVIEW has problems - suck it up, shut the hell up, and build that damn thing, already!
Now, back to the big r/c SEAVIEW project...
I should
point out, from the get go, that I discarded many of the DeBoer kit provided items in favor for SEAVIEW parts I manufactured for the smaller fifty-two inch long Rick Teskey SEAVIEW kit.
... Yes, there is a
disparity of some five inches in length between the DeBoer and Teskey SEAVIEW kits. At first blush you would think that since the DeBoer kit is longer (bigger) than the Teskey, then the parts I produced for the
Teskey kit would be too small to fit the DeBoer kit. Well... If both manufacturers had used the same references (plans) then that would be the case. However, it is not.
Fact is Rick Teskey worked from Studio
drawings, his kit being the most recently developed, so he was the beneficiary of recent document finds. Dennis Deboer's kit was produced over ten years ago - and all he had in the way of research were videos and
photos in magazines. Many key dimensions between the two kits are not proportionate.
As a result there are 'errors' in the DeBoer SEAVIEW (but too subtle to be noticed unless a detailed survey of the kit is
done, matching contours to the studio drawings of the Knorowsky plans, lofted off the seventeen-foot miniature). For example, the propulsion tube diameter on the DeBoer kit is actually smaller than that of the
shorter Teskey SEAVIEW! As to the size of the sail provided with the DeBoer kit: it was found to be only one-half inch longer than the one I built to enhance the Teskey kit, and my sail was just about the same in
height as the DeBoer kits sail.
The other detail items I made for the Teskey kit found immediate application to the DeBoer kit as well: The control surfaces and hatches on Dennis' kit were found to be poorly
formed and too far astray from what is represented on the studio drawings (and what I produced as Teskey upgrade parts).
What I'm saying here is that though the DeBoer kit is a bit 'longer' than the Teskey
kit, the parts I made to enhance the Teskey kit were found to be directly applicable to the DeBoer kit. The only major problem dealing with the interchanging of parts for Dennis' kit was the need to literally
destroy the after end of the DeBoer SEAVIEW's propulsion tubes in order to fit a set of my pump-jets, specifically designed for the Teskey SEAVIEW.
Anyway, that's my story... and I'm sticking to it!
The DeBoer SEAVIEW, the subject of this photo-essay, has been built, trimmed out, painted and weathered and delivered into the hand of a turnkey customer. The model is not only a well detailed static display piece,
it's also a fully capable r/c submarine. I got my money, and the customer has a well running... if he runs it... very complicated, r/c submarine!
The SEAVIEW, as a subject, requires little explanation to
this audience, you all know about what we should see behind the windows of the movie and TV versions of the SEAVIEW.
It had always been my hope, since I was a kid, from the first time I saw this wondrous
craft on the 'big screen' at my home town movie house, to build a large model (a kit, in this case) of the SEAVIEW.
As designed the SEAVIEW has three sets of horizontal control surfaces Yeah, that's right, I
said THREE sets of horizontal control surfaces.
At one point I considered using them all - my fear of the instability introduced by the big 'manta fins' at the bow being the reason. As designed there is a set
of stern planes in the nozzles of the propulsion tubes, a set of sail planes, and... Ta, Da!... a set of ovoid shaped bow planes set within the outboard tips of the manta fins. Neat!
I decided to represent
the bow planes as simple engraved lines - they did not operate.
(However, if I do this model again, as a r/c submarine, I would make the bow planes practical and link them directly with the stern plane
linkage. As the bow planes are so far removed from the center of gravity, it follows that they would contribute more to pitch control than to depth keeping. So, why would I engage the bow planes? Well... the rate of
rotation of the model about the pitch axis is, in its current form, sluggish at best. Using only the stern planes for pitch control will stabilize the boat, but only if the propulsers are blowing water around them.
At low throttle, they have little effect and the boat and it can get out of control. Linking the bow planes to the stern plane linkage would give the boat a set of active control surfaces that would effect pitch
changes regardless of throttle setting).
I arranged the SEAVIEW models rudders as represented by the big eight-foot effects miniatures: A central 'skeg' type rudder in the middle, mechanically linked to the
two outboard rudders through a transverse push-pull rod, making the three work as one. You'll note that the linkage AND bell-cranks for both the stern planes and skeg-rudder are located WITHIN the hull. I had to dig
out the interior of the after skeg to permit placement of the stern plane bell-crank there. A transverse length of brass rod interconnects the two stern planes right through the skeg.
(At one point I was
fearful that I would have to provide a separate bell-crank for each stern plane, running a push rod to each from the inboard side of a propulsion tube. I was pleasantly surprised that I had enough room to settle on
the arrangement presented here - much cleaner looking).
Both the rudders and stern planes can deflect a full thirty-five degrees either side of zero. The control surface bell-crank/servo bell-crank arms were
so distanced to achieve these throws at full servo travel.
If you haven't gathered it yet, I turned this DeBoer Hulls SEAVIEW into a practical, fully capable r/c submarine. The less talented of you out
there are invited to stick to static display building - something this kit is also well suited for.
In future installments we'll look at how I constructed and detailed out the sail, Observation Compartment,
and painted and weathered the model.
Stay tuned sports fans.
On to part one of the construction photos
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