adzam

The lafayette SSBN class submarine was produced by the electric boat division of general dynamics .

The `USS Lafayette` was the first boat in this class. layed down on may 8th 1962 sponsored by Mrs John F Kennedy and launched april 23rd 1963.

She was designed as an SSBN ( Ship Submersible,Balistic,Nuclear) , With 16 vertical fired missile tubes (polaris type) and for horizontal forward firing 21 " torpedo tubes . powered by a s5w pressurised water nuclear reactor , driving TWO geared turbines at around 15,000 shp ( through one 6 blade screw). this as you can imagine gave the boat a fair turn of speed , around 22-25 knots submerged and between 16 - 20 knots surfaced.

The crew consists of 13 officers and 130 enlisted men.
Dimensions.....

length........... 425 feet
Beam............ 33 feet
Draft ........... 32 feet

displacement ( surfaced) ....... 7250 tonnes
displacement ( submerged) .... 8250 tonnes.

In total there are 19 boats in the Lafayette class , The last few surviving example`s of which are The `USS Sam rayburn`and `USS Daniel webster` , now used as a moored training ships renamed MTS 635 and 626 respectively .The boat we are interested in was decommisioned on august 12th 1991, where she sat in storage until final disposition was february 25th 1992, through the Nuclear powered ship and submarine recycling programe at puget sound naval shipyard, Bremerton , WA .

Now you may be wondering why i have spent time describing this particular class of submarine, well as like many people the operation and functionality of submarines amaze`s me , as does the engineering principles behind them. I also have to admit that Andrew`s models ( AJG141) have inspired me as well as hi8s enthusiasm to these models. So in view of this i decided to purchase a submarine kit for myself and give it a try, i have previously owned a robbe sea wolf dynamic diving submarine, but i found it too fiddly in assembly and disassembly for access to hull.

SOOooo....
after some perusing ,browsing ( and dreaming) i decided on an Alexander
Engle static diving kit of the above boat, The USS Lafayette SSBN - 616 .

I have started building the kit and been taking pictures as i the build has been progressing, i am currently about half way thgrough building , with a LOT of electrical work still to be done, the kit is a a static diver with one of engel`s pistoin type diving tanks . is 1.3 meters long and seperates with an alloy bayonet lock ring. runs on 12v with 4 channel radio.

ok , so thats the intro done on the model, over the coming weeks i will be posting pic`s and updates of the model. maybe even looking for help ! on some things.
in the mean time here`s a couple of pictures of the real boat..............






Adz..

ajg141

Very interesting info Chris. Exactly the same dimensions as the first British Polaris sub - Resolution. I think (but am not certain) that they were based on the same design albeit the conning tower (sail) on Resolution was different and did not have the extra planes. Looking forward to seeing the build photos and the finished product. The bayonet locking ring system seems to be a much better idea than the 'glassed in WTC on my Typhoon. At least you have reasonable access to the motors, dive tanks & speed controllers if anything should go wrong. Not that it should on an Engel kit! Not going to be much room for manouevring in the pond if we are both out together!

Andrew

adzam

Ok , well to start with this model obviously i had to order it !

and a quick search around the web ( what a wonderful thing this is !) found some in stock at pandan model boat centre, i have never used pandan before so it was with slight trepidation that i placed my order online, no worries should of encroached as from ordering to recieving the model took around 3 working days ( only held up because i inputed the wrong card details!! Doh! ) .

The model arrived in a huge box, and like many people when looking at models it`s difficult to interpret dimensions on a workbench with a tape measure, it`s not until the item is in front of you that you then realise that the wife is not going to be happy ( ) . teh box was the original manufacturers packing and not the kit box put in another box for portection, "strange" i thought, then dark clouds of doubt as the worst started going through my mind ! was this a goal post? , or a reversing aid in the courier depot ? .
however opening the box found everything nice and tightly packed, lots of packing used and no damage whatsoever. great !

The instructions where promptly rooted out , they included a diagramn book, a step by step writen guide, 2 A3 drawings, and a cd rom. wondering what wa on the CD rom i quickly investigated...... on the cd are pictures of assembly stages, pictures of the real boats and copies of the manual and diagrams should anything happen to the originals , a great idea !!

i browsed the instructions to see what other equipment or consumables would be needed, i promptly ordered a mini pitch controller after asking Ajg141`s advice, but more on that item later.







After two nights going over the instructions,diagramns and pictures i felt able and willing to start the build !

stage 1 ...

the hull is hand layed fibre flass with a gel coat, the hull is assembled top and bottom halves in the factory, this leaves the seam where both parst are joined to be strengthened on the inside seams, the hull itself in the kit is split in two . about a third of the way from the stern, leaveing a forward peice and an aft peice. a bead of 1 hour epoxy was run on the inside of the forward and aft hulls, i took the good foresight to spread the epoxy around to create a wider spread rather than one big bead which could foul the internals later on.

On the outer side`s of the hull where the seams join a small seam of resin was used really as a filler between the gel coat halves. this was rubbed down with 400 and 600 grit wet and dry paper.

in the mean time another section of hull was being prepped, the MHS (missile hatch section) this moulding gets bonded down on top of the hull and gives the model the bulbous shup of the missile silo section.a hole was cut in the middle of this piece which the sail sits upon, this allows air and water to displace when diving and surfacing.

i`ll get some more pics posted when i get a them of the camera and loaded up .

more to follow


Adz..

ajg141

Very interesting start Adz. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

adzam

~Ok doke , next peice to get some attention was the MHS, this is the part tahta represents the missile silo`s shape on the hull top side, this didn`t require very much work, first of all the sail was prepared, filing a hole in the top section for air/ water to enter and evacuate while in operation, this hole is cleverly doubled as the lookout section of the sail when surface running.

Next... there was aprox 100 holes drilled ( 50 each side ) on the sail, each one 0.6 mm . i have never used such a small drill bit and requiring to be so accurate, as these holes where for the steps up the sides of the hull. they did require a degree of `true and straight` . i spent aproximately 2 nights doing this alone, very awkward crouched up work ( for me anyhow) but i managed 9 and i onlt broke one drill bit !!!). next up was teh steps themselves, each one bent individually and placed in situ, there was a template supplied in the kit so that the steps all sit straight and at the same level . now i confess i`m not the worlds greatest modellor, shaping 50 steps 3mm wide with 2 mm tails from thin strong steel rod is both monotonous and difficult, some of teh steps aren`t `true` or `straight` but not far out. annoying as your building something like this , more enthusiasm than skill i think. Next the MHS had a teardrop section cut out in the middle where the sail sits upon, this again allows water/air to travel through so no air pockets !!
the sail is finally epoxied in position.The sail `fins ` where installed as where some more vent holes to the rear of the sail.



now, the instructions requested `micro ballons` something i have never had the need to use before, i believe aero modellers use this item on a more regular basis. so i read teh instructions and used the recomended precautions, in this case a microfilter dust mask ( industrial type) latex gloves and goggles. for those who have not used this substance, it is miniscule bubbles of a plastic type compound? , which when poured i noticed had the consistency of a fluid. very fine and a potential skin and eye irritant !

with the sail secured on to the MHS,i could now proceed ........

onwards to teh `techrack`

the techrack is a new way for engle ( i beleive) to build a sub,the rack is a framwork made up of plastic formers that will house the r/c eqipment and batteries...

building is very straightforward, there are four sprue`s with bulkheads and stringer type peices which are cut out ,sandedand some are glued some not, the rack is constructed with brass threaded rods to hold it all togethor, for future servicing,a nice idea . this went togethor fairly quickly, about 2 nights work for two sections which will later be joined by the centre divetank.





i wrote on each peice it`s relevant part number so further assembly would be easier.

things are coming along quite nicely with no real problems and relaqtively easy to follow instructions.

i`ll get some more pictures and a further updat e ASAP .

cheers
Adz..

John

Looking good Adz one for the members projects

ajg141

A Meccano sub! I like it.

adzam

i haven`t forgotten, about this one !

i`m still working on her but with being busy and my card reader packing up, things have been delayed. !!!!

so watch this space !

John

I was just going to ask how you was getting on with this

adzam

ok doke !

t long last i `ive got soe pics and some more info on this model .

now, i know it`s been a few weeks on this, ( maybe even a couple of months ?). however here we go..........

i`ll start with the missile hatch section, the sail that has been seen in previous pictures has now been attached to the missile hatch section, this was done using epoxy with microballoons mixed. a nice and straightforward step. after this the MHS is now complete to the point that it needs painted on the inside before being bonded to the main hull section.

next....


i decided to start assembly of the tech rack ( my apologies if i`m overlapping here ) this was relatively straightforward, the final assembly was very weak and didn`t hold much confidence in it`s completed job! . however,once teh rack is assembled the installation of elctronics can commence, the speed controller ( a specialist sub controller) sits at the rear in the tail section of the tech rack, as does the BTS , (more on this item later) behind these components on another bulkhead is the main drive motor . the drive motor assembly involves a large resin bulkhead which is tapered .this peice is bonded to the tail section of the hull and is the main stress bearing section of the tech rack( and is referred to as bulkhead A). attached to which is the 550 motor, the propshaft go`s througth this section and is sealed by what looks like a small valve stem oil seal , a sprung tensioned lip seal. The prop shaft is held at the exit of the tail section by a self lubricating bush.

The rear planes and rudder peices are installed now , involving holes being drilled straignt, and in bang on the centre lines of the hull, if not then handling problems entail !!

teh dive planes are of a resin construction and needed very little trimming for fitment, the rudder sections required some careful trimming and contiuous dry fitting before final installation. after hich the rather complex looking rudder and dive plane control rods are assembled, i assembled exactly to the plan in the instructions, being .8 mm out when assembled, this took a couple of hours to do , only to find on instalation that the rods where binding, ah well , a small adjustment here and there rectified the fault. stern section nearly assembled ! ( a further 6 hours work !)
next was teh installation of the control rods to the servo`s , which are joined by small collars, looking much like the internals of the acrylic electrical strip connectors you can buy.these rods exited through bulhead A via 2 rubber bellows, i had foresight to fill these with grease before installation, i used a rubber freindly grease and this aided in the instalation, and appears to help in the waterproofing of the hull.

now for some pics




teh sail and missile section attached to the forward hull section, with insulating tape at this moment in time , just checking fit etc.





this is one side of the alloy locking collar, this provides the bayonet fit , which should remain watertight and relatively maintenance free apart from a small touch of grease and when required the replacemend of the rubber seal,( which is situated on the stern section )




this shows the resin cast rubbder and two peice dive planes, also the 6 blade fan type screw.




this shows the tail section control rods, solder still to filed of. but it shows teh relatively tight space for access. there is an access hatch to be secured over this hole.


More to follow ....... ( and it won`t be so long this time )