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[JosephHuntley]

Hi guys new to boats and subs but I been designing and building r/c aircraft for 40+ yrs.
 
 I am wanting to get into subs and have always been one for stuff with a lot of fidgety external stuff so I could have fun making all those scale details. I also like to use solidworks to cad up my designs so I get to see it in 3D before I build thne I can export off for CNC work etc.
 
 I am wanting to do a type VIIB or VIIc german U boat. my problem is
 
 1) I dont do kits to me most are a waste of money as I usually have to replace tons of contents because they are inferior quality
 
 2) I am a designer and scratch builder I only like to build from  a set of plans or of my own design (it is just the satisfaction I get plus the best way to learn stuff via trial and error)
 
 3) I am new to boats and subs as being an plane guy for so long. so I have tooked around for drawings and most are really low quality  or small and very hard to read. this makes it hard for me to start any cad work if I cannot see the proper shapes or the location of the bulkead they are showing.
 
 so does anyone have or have a link to a good clean set of drawings for  a type VII?
 
 I did look in the reference section last night but didnt seem to find a good clean image unless since im old and vision going (turned 55 yest )) i just happened to miss one
 
 thanks Joe
 
 ps when i find the info i will prob post my design as i progress so it easier to ask for help or so ppl can correct me if I dont take something into consideration for running gear etc.
 
 my plan is for possibly 1/32 scale or if i can find a way to break it in the middle go 1/16th scale

[JimG]

Look for the book "The Type VII U-Boat" by David Westwood, one of the Anatomy of the ship by Conway Maritime press ISBN 0 85117 3141. This has some very good drawings of both external and internal details.
Quite likely to be expensive from a specialist bookseller unless you a re lucky to find it on  eBay.

Jim

[TomP]

Hi Joesph, have a look on the German EBay for planmappe uboottyp VIIC will find a very detailed set of drawings. OTW do a very accurate type VII c rivet counters might find errors but it is a fantastic model and Bob is great to deal with. A1:32 type IX C would be nice not many of those about!

[JosephHuntley]

thanks guys I do have that anatomy of the ship book but that is a type II though im not that familiar with subs but think its a bit different from the type VII

on another note I do have decent dxf file of bulkheads and outlines for a japanese I-400 but it doesn't have all the cool scale fidgety parts of the type VII. I don't care what sub I do but want to do one with a lot of fidgety parts so it looks like something other than a tube with blunt nose. plus all the gas/air escape holes (cant remember proper term) on the type VII give it some character

[Davy1]

Welcome to the wonderful world of subs! It is also very nice that you are looking at scratch building, which is a little rare.

You also have a different approach in that you have not mentioned the "innards" (the inner working bits) which I suppose is the fascination (maybe over fascination!) of most model submariners.

Do have a look at a new website (Thanks to Tim G) it has a lot for the scratch builder and it also goes through the main dive systems:

http://associationofmodelsubmariners.com/

I would also  suggest getting hold of a copy (sadly now out of print) of:

"Model Submarine Technology" by Norbert Bruggen.

Welcome again and good luck with the build.

David

[JimG]

thanks guys I do have that anatomy of the ship book but that is a type II though im not that familiar with subs but think its a bit different from the type VII

The book I mentioned is definately the type VII, I have a copy sitting on a shelf about 3 feet from me.
The only other book in the series about u boats was the type XXI.
You could try the Haynes manual
https://www.amazon.co.uk/U-Boat-Manual-Owners-Workshop/dp/0857334042/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HJ5ASWH9DWT4BHSNCBC0
 

Jim

[JosephHuntley]

thanks guys i have the haynes book but dont care for the 21 too bland outside plis i always hate when drawings are cut up and you have to piece together. i will look for the other book though.

I think I found some good drawings. i posted on r/c groups and a guy gave me a link to what you guys would consider excellent drawings i just consider them adequate enough i can try to be dangerous. so I think I will go with the D and then I can use some corks add spikes and lay mines at the pond ))  so maybe today I can start layint it out. I will lay it out at 1/16th scale and set everything up wood dimensional wise so i can reduce to 50% easily but still have the larger version in case I can figure out how to cut it in half and still be able to assemble it water tight at the pond

http://www.24flotilla.com/ODSH/tecnica/t2/TipoVIID-Big.png

http://shipbucket.com/Misc%20Drawings/FD%20Scale%20Vehicles/Ships%20-%20Real-life/Germany%20-%20SSK%20U-VIID%201941.png

[JosephHuntley]

I found these station drawing I think they are for a type C but would pretty much be the same as the main difference I could find is the type D is longer

for some reason my math isnt working out as the ship was 32 ft 10 inches and when I try to divide it by 16 i only get like 2 ft which doesnt sound right. when i do planes and divide by 24% or 33% i get proper numbers.

[unbuiltnautilus]

Two separate water tight compartments, one in the fore hull and one in the aft hull. Would also make it easier to work on, half a boat at a time!

[Subculture]

Good luck with your build. I do hope you realize the fun and games you will have getting a boat this size in and, more importantly, out of the water.

[unbuiltnautilus]

I found these station drawing I think they are for a type C but would pretty much be the same as the main difference I could find is the type D is longer

for some reason my math isnt working out as the ship was 32 ft 10 inches and when I try to divide it by 16 i only get like 2 ft which doesnt sound right. when i do planes and divide by 24% or 33% i get proper numbers.

That Wikipedia thing has the D as 32' 10" LONGER than a standard Type VII. Add another 220' to that gives you 252' approx.. now, divide that by 16, that's big!

[JosephHuntley]

not sure what you are meaning with the ' mark in the US here that is feet I am guessing you meant inches. im getting 32' x 12" = 384" + 10" for a total of 394" then divided by 16 comes to 24 which doesnt seem correct. of course i havent sl;ept for 38 ish hours so maybe i am tired and missing something

[Subculture]

15.75 feet long.

Also don't forget the displacement goes by the cube of the scale. So whilst a 1/32nd scale Type VII, will displace around 23kg, a 1/16th scale boat will displace about 188kg!!

Even if it's in two parts, that will still be a substantial weight to lug about.

[unbuiltnautilus]

I knew I should have gone metric all those years ago!
We may be at cross purposes, but I assumed the aim was to establish the models length at a scale of 1/16.
Yes those little (') in my world are feet or ft, while their cousins (") are inches or in. I never realised this was not a universal method of indicating feet and inches. As you are still championing the imperial system, you may continue however you see fit  .
Using pen and paper, and having been dealing with customers all day, I have roughly calculated a 252 ft sub, scaled down to 1/16, at roughly 16 ft long.. big.


Took me so long I got beaten to the punch

[HMS Invisible]

... I will lay it out at 1/16th scale and set everything up wood dimensional wise so i can reduce to 50% easily but still have the larger version in case I can figure out how to cut it in half and still be able to assemble it water tight at the pond

I suggest a fifteen foot sub would be better in three unequal sections with a 120mm diameter water tight area in the middle portion. Fore and aft would be entirely free flooding.

[JosephHuntley]

thanks guys I still don't know what I will actually build scale wise but if I draw it at the larger scale of 1/16th then if I decide to just go 1/32 it will be easier than going from smaller 1/32 then decide to upgrade it to 1/16th.

so soon I will prob start my design/build thread so that way when i do something stupid or without thinking (which will happen a lot since this isn't a plane and i'm totally lost) then someone can chime in

[HMS Invisible]

That was crystal clear but it isn't so clear if you understood there is no need to divide up a wtc compartment and assemble it at the pond.
How big did you think a wtc for a 15 foot version would be?

[JosephHuntley]

dunno yet it depends on how much working goodies I add I assume like the hatches for the torps then torp launch mechs then hatches  for the mines then theres the periscope lol lot of working stuff so lot of servoes etc need for yada yada


some super factory drawings for us sub in case ya didnt see my post
https://www.maritime.org/tech/drawings/index.htm#super

[HMS Invisible]

You want to construct the clever stuff in the free flood area of a model with servos in the wtc. The wtc would just protrude from centre section bulkhead joints. There is probably something like that shown in the Nautilus Drydocks.

[JosephHuntley]

ok thanks the first thing i need to think about is just getting the base forms designed then work out the other stuff

[JosephHuntley]

well having trouble reading lot of the info so I am thinking of looking into the Uss Pompanito which was a Balo class since I found that site with tons of factory drawings if I find enough good ones i can cad from it would be great since its first sub. would rather do the type 7d but i dont know enough abt subs to get the outlines correct. i tried every trick in the book but the drawings were just too low quality and degraded when trying to enlarge to read

[JosephHuntley]

well got everything downloaded now laying out the stations the first 35 are 24" apart then some at 30" then back to 24"

[nemesis]

Get in touch with the German Naval Museum at Laboe, they may be some help. I got my TypeVIIc 41-43 plans from Germany some years ago and when I went to hunt them out they had been printed on thermal imaging paper and all I had were blank sheets of paper. Keep digging and delving, you never know what turns up. Nemesis

[JosephHuntley]

thanks but for now I got shipyard drawings for the USS Pompanito Balao class sub and it has lot of fidgety on the decks as well so I am going to do that one. it will take a couple days for me to set everything up in cad due to a lot of dimensions and planes needing created

[RAAArtyGunner]

So it won't be German but American???????