1:100 'Typhoon' Submarine Building Thread

[Mankster]

Hi guys, I'll be posting the build of my radio controlled, static dive Engel 1:100 scale Typhoon Submarine here over the coming months. Here's some info about the original.

The Typhoon was designed under Project 941 Russian Akula Class, classified by Nato as the 'Typhoon' Class, during the late 1970's. The first of class 'TK-208' was launched in 1981. A total of 6 Typhoons were built; with the end of the cold war, the 7th was never completed. All except TK-208 and the TK-20 (the last of the 6) are being dismantled, under a US funded scheme. TK-208 under went a lenghty 10year refit to emerge in 2002 as the Dmitri Donskoy and now acts a test bed for the new Bulava-30 missile, to be fitted to Russia's next generation of Ballistic missle submarines. The Typhoon was brought to the public eye in Tom Clancy's first novel 'Hunt for Red October', and the subsequent film. These submarines, displacing nearly 50,000 tonnes - more than twice the size of the largest Western submarines, still are and probably always will be the largest submarines ever built.

At 1/100 this is going to be a big one at 68" LOA, 9" beam and 50lbs dry. Till I get started, here are pics of the real thing....

[ajg141]

I'm looking forward to this Ramesh - it'll be a big spur to make me get mine finished. I've only been at it 4 years and keep getting waylaid by interim projects. It's not that far from completion but everytime I think I can see the finishing line appearing something goes wrong with a part that was previously working perfectly! I hasten to add that there's nothing wrong with the Engel bit - it's me!

Andrew

[Bunkerbarge]

I don't know what it is about this sub but it has a menace about it that ertainly gives it more of a character than most modern subs have.

I'm looking forward to this build thread as the Robbe U-Boat was very interesting to follow.

[DavieTait]

You sure about the other 4 being scrapped??? I seem to remember an article in a newspaper only a few years ago about the possibility of 2 of them having their missile's stripped out , sailed down to Manila in the Philipines and turned into alongside nuc power plants for the capital .

Must admit that they are pretty impressive boats being larger than the RN's Invincible class carriers( they're only 20,000t !!! ). Amazing to think that there are 3 pressure hulls in there too. 1 each with one set of missiles per side and the command and control in the middle below the sail connecting both hulls.

I'll look forward to seeing this progress. I'm about to make a start on the design of my own WTC ( Water Tight Container ) for my Trumpeter 1/144th Seawolf SSN before I start on drawing up plans for scratch building a stand off scale Astute class SSN.

Davie

[new to trains]

we have one of these in our club, its an awesome model, big too, but the one thing that always impresses is the bow wave, its like no other, when it moves through the water the 'wake' is unique.... its an impressive model...

[Mankster]

Well almost 4 years after a purchased my first one, I have taken delivery of my second Engel Typhoon in 1:100 scale. I sold my original before it ever saw any paint and had only been tank tested, for a fair price. It was the boat that got me back into this hobby after an 8 year absence, but this new boat has made the pain much easier to bear!

This latest version, is one of the so-called ‘Master Scale’ Series. The biggest difference between the two kits is the hull which is now fully scribed looks very impressive. The depth of the scribing of the acoustic tiles is just right IMHO that when it’s painted will look very realistic. It molded with a light grey, as apposed to white, gel coat. The tower is now made of resin and is about 20% lighter. The hull molding is now thinner and little more flexible compared to the rigid hull of the previous one. There are now a couple of reinforcements needed for the hull to keep its shape If nothing else this will mean that the volume of the material will now be less and it will be easier to achieve a scale waterline with the 1.65 litre ballast tanks. The front hull closing mechanism is improvedand so is the manual, now with a few photographs on how to build the front dive plane retract system. I notice that Engel have changed some of the measurement on the construction plan, I know people have had trouble getting the planes to operate properly before using the old measurements. The manual now recommends the ‘Option’ of thrusters to help maneuvering the boat, though Engel don’t sell an upgrade for this at the moment. With the weight of this boat, I suspect any thrusters will be to aid docking maneuvers rather than help with the turning circle when under way, The optional periscope mechanism has been altered and the scopes themselves are more realistic, though some accurizing and repositioning will be necessary

Well second time round, having learned from some mistakes, and having gained a little more modeling experience, I am going to be making some changes to the kit to improve scale appearance, performance, ease of maintenance, and to add some new working features. Hopefully with Wayne Frey’s new book and with the information I have gathered on the Typhoon over the years I will make this as ‘Scale’ as possible. I haven’t decided if I should build her as TK-208, or her later incarnation as Dmitri Donskoi; it will depend how much info I can dig up in the mean time. This is not going to be a quickie build by any means and I will be taking my time on this and working on other projects in-between. So there may not be frequent updates.

Completed, this sub will come out at aprox 68” (1.72m) and weigh nearly 50lb (22Kg). I consider this to be a wet hull boat, its just that the pressure compartment is rather large and hence buoyant, so a lot of keel weight will be needed to balance it out. Still this will make the boat pretty stable and its momentum will allow it to plough through the roughest waves on the surface. Also there’s plenty of space for upgrades, modifications and such. Being such a large sub I don’t see this as one that will be used too frequently in the lake, so I hope to be able to convince the wife to allow it to be displayed in the corner of the lounge somewhere!

I ordered it direct from Germany, my credit card was only charged on the day of shipping after I received an email with tracking details, and it arrived 3 days later. Customer service was very good. At the time of writing the kit in this configuration is not yet for general sale, and the diving system (which takes 3 channels to operate properly) had to be built to order for me which took 2 weeks. Well this is what you get when you order. The long box (nearly 7 foot long !) contains the hull and plans and the smaller one, everything else.



Everything was well packed and there was no damage. As you can see even in kit form it is of impressive size with a lot of presence. This one will hold its own amongst those pesky 1/32 and 1/40 scale UBoats when out on the lake. And those 1/96 frigate force guys with their ‘little’ 9lb targets, that tried to ram my HMS Trenchant recently, had better get out the way!







The kit comes with, ready mounted twin drive motors and gear box with ball bearing supported shafts, the front plane retract gearbox and motor, 2x 825ml piston tanks and controller, 5kg of lead ballast and polyester lamination resin. The 3 large GRP moldings are the top and bottom hull and the pressure hull. There are two full size plan sheets and foam to trim the boat.The working periscope mechanism is an option which I purchased. The instructions are comprehensive, as always its worth reading thoroughly and digesting – as you’ll find that deviating from the recommended build order is beneficial. Power is from a 6v 12Ah lead acid battery and I will be running 2 ESC’s for the twin drive. I hope to use a throttle/ rudder mixer unit, rather that twin throttle sticks.






The pressure hull with the central opening. The lid/hatch that will cover the opening is the 3mm thick alu sheet to the right. Sealed via an O-ring cord and held down with 14 nuts and bolts in the traditional way. This type of pressure hull compared to the now more usual Water Tight Container, whislt more laborious to seal, allows for for easier component placement, the easy addition of working features like scopes, missles etc, and easier trimming of the boat (there'll be no foam used in this one )

Ok so thats what you get in the basic kit, I have had to purchase other bits like batteries and ESC's etc.I have also gathered the extra working features I will be building into the sub. Thats it for now, more to follow as I get to it!

[Bunkerbarge]

That kit look superb and confirms everything I have heard about Engles quality and service.

You are right the hull scribed detail makes for a very realistic kit and will look stunning when painted.

[Mankster]

Originally Posted by Bunkerbarge

You are right the hull scribed detail makes for a very realistic kit and will look stunning when painted.

Yes that was my primary reason for getting the new kit, the hull blew me away with the detail. I am going to make sure I do it justice!

Originally Posted by DavieTait

You sure about the other 4 being scrapped??? I seem to remember an article in a newspaper only a few years ago about the possibility of 2 of them having their missile's stripped out , sailed down to Manila in the Philipines and turned into alongside nuc power plants for the capital

Ahh.... thats what it was doing off Manila Bay....



No honestly I am pretty sure the remaining Typhoons won't be putting to sea any time soon.

Originally Posted by ajg141

I'm looking forward to this Ramesh - it'll be a big spur to make me get mine finished. I've only been at it 4 years and keep getting waylaid by interim projects. It's not that far from completion but everytime I think I can see the finishing line appearing something goes wrong with a part that was previously working perfectly! I hasten to add that there's nothing wrong with the Engel bit - it's me!

Hi Andrew, looks like we got our Typhoons at the same time, I took a couple of years out due to family commitments and only recently completed it. I got to tank testing it prior to paint before I let it go. Hope fully this one should be completed much sooner! Let me know which bits you want to see in detail via PM and I'll pay closer attention to them in the build report.

[ajg141]

I'm really impressed with all that scribing Ramesh. It has certainly improved the rather bland looks of the earlier version. And I can see the differences with the periscopes too. Do they still have that rubber band drive? If so watch it as the thing slips and the 2 shafts start rotating at different rates causing the drive rods to bend! I still wonder why the pressure hull opening doesn't extend further back to give easier access to the drive motors. I'm blowed if I can see how to get them out with the current arrangement if something should go wrong back there. And just how do you locate the rear ballast tank bracket onto the mounting plate if you fibreglass in the pressure hull before you fit it?
I'm looking forward to seeing how you overcome the challenges!
I'll pm you about the bow dive plane problems separately.

Andrew

[Mankster]

Originally Posted by ajg141

I'm really impressed with all that scribing Ramesh. It has certainly improved the rather bland looks of the earlier version. And I can see the differences with the periscopes too. Do they still have that rubber band drive? If so watch it as the thing slips and the 2 shafts start rotating at different rates causing the drive rods to bend! I still wonder why the pressure hull opening doesn't extend further back to give easier access to the drive motors. I'm blowed if I can see how to get them out with the current arrangement if something should go wrong back there. And just how do you locate the rear ballast tank bracket onto the mounting plate if you fibreglass in the pressure hull before you fit it?
I'm looking forward to seeing how you overcome the challenges!
I'll pm you about the bow dive plane problems separately.

Andrew

The periscopes come with a new toothed belt that won't slip. I modified my old scope mechanism to chain drive (using the Robbe Chain drive kit), very little friction, nice positive action. I made new longer metal mounting plates for the front of the piston tanks as I found I couldn't get a screw driver to the screw with the original. The screw that holds the rear end of the piston tank should be mounted on the PVC plate before you install the PVC plates in the pressure hull. You should be then able to slide the rear piston tank bracket onto the screw. Obviously you wouldn't be able to tighten the screw further but I found that the piston tanks still held firm. You should be able to get the motors out after removing all the other compnents first. I'll be addressing these issues in my new build .