DKM Kormoran build

Nice recovery! I am of the thought that no boat problem is un-repairable. Way to jump right back into the build.

 

Ok, I'm fully planked, at last! Below s the new stern rough-sanded and readi-patched.
!
The reason I brushed on a coat of wood glue before I sanded was so that I could see the high and low spots. The wood sands almost white but the glue dries a pretty yellow. So I can sand extra whereve4r it's real yellow and lay off where it's white. I also like to think that the glue seeps into cracks and serves to strengthen the ships' structure.



I know I shouldn't quote the enemy, but I had to. I brought this little brass bookmark down to use as a straightedge, and it just kinda stayed around the 'Werks



Here's a bow-on shot. Sure, the hull's kind of funny lookng, not exactly even, and generally sub-par. You can see it in the first rib. Ugh. Whatever, it's good enough for now, and I'll find some way to remedy all these issues before I build my next ship.

Aside from that, I was at the hobby store getting more CA glue and I found a motor-and-ESC- all in one. I'll prolly end up flying with that. They also have a traxxas waterproof servo for steering, so pretty much the only thing I'll need from BC is the 1 motor/2 prop gearbox, pump and housing, prop shafts, prop, and rudder shaft. Then once I have the motive, pumping, and steering systems shaken down right, then I'll start on arming the two dual torp launchers the original Kormoran had.

More to follow.

 

Planking is finally complete!


Nice and smooth. Below you can see the water channel arrangement. I cut the apex of the 7 ribs that will make the water channel, so that I ended up with an approx. 2" wide slice right down the middle of the hull. Over this, I sawdust-woodglued a piece of 1/8" balsa. I'll sit the pump on this thin part of the hull so that it can get out the max amount of water. I'll probably fit a float switch on the pump so it can be automatic and not take up a radio channel. The pump will also have a seperate battery.



Below, you can see the effectiveness of the Assault Cat. I was bringing the dog in from a walk, and the cat got out. So I chased his little gray rear end down, grabbed him, and this was the result. He usually gets a little crazy at night.



Below you can see the pink foam I decided to make the superstructure out of. I had a bit of it laying around; I think the previous owner of my house was using it to insulate the soffets or something. Whatever, if it's for free, it's for me. So far, I have 2 bottles of CA glue, 1 bottle of wood glue, and some balsa wood invested in this project. Probably $30 total so far.



Here are some pieces of superstructure that I've mae from the abofe foam. It'll eventually get detailed, painted, and glued up. I will have the center SS also serving as the locator float, tied to the ship with 30-lb fishing line or something.



The clamped-together pieces above will eventually turn into the ships' funnel (Smokestack)

More to come.

 

Looks good.
I would watch out for Cats, as they all are Allied spys. It seems to me like youre surrounded. Ship looks really nice though.

 

That looks real nice. Make sure when you glue the pink foam you use gorrila glue or foam glue (available in caulking tubes) or it will melt. As for the cat I'm thinking ducktape and dremel! I made a hose reel device that attaches to my float with survey's string and lowers the boat down to the bottom of the pond. I like it this way because it doesn't get tangled in things and quick connects to the bottom of the ship for easy removal.

 

Tonight was big night here at the 'Werks. Kormoran got her subdeck cut out and her solid water channel installed. As follows:


Above is the girl w/ her deck freshly cut. This will allow me a lot more room for waterproofing and install of hardware such as the rudder servo, motor, and prop shafts



Above we have a broken dish rack from pier 1 or Ikea or something. At the time it was broken was around the time I started to follow the hobby, so I saved the stupid thing for a year or so. I told the girlfriend (Now wife/ allied saboteur) that we were going to save it, and that I would use it for something someday. Well, today is the day.



Above is a pic of my water channel. I cut up the dishrack on the bandsaw and used the approx 5/16" bits to make it. Those would be the dark-coloured pieces nearer the center of the ship. You can't see that well in the pic, but the ship is fully water-channeled. I'm guessi9ng the pump will go near the middle, depending on how the ship balances out.



Above is some detail of the bow. A pen is provided for scale.I still need to water seal the whole ship, and will prolly use captains spar poly for it. Fiberglass resin always dries up on me in the cup.

Thanks guys for all your kind comments, I appreciate everything so far. Ice, I'm definitely goin to copy your method for float recovery.

More to come...

 

What are you going to use for the rest of the waterchanneling?
I like youre build so fsr, youre doing an awesome job.

 

Hey Boomer,
There's always used candles around my house (The ones that come in glass jars and smell nice when you burn them) so my tenatve idea was to melt the wax out of a few candles and pour it into the hull for the remaining water channel. That way I wouldn't have to worry about additional waterproofing. Either that or I'll give the expanding foam a try. I want something that I can remove wthout too much fuss in case it sucks, and I want it to be relatively weak also, so that I'm not tempted to mount anything to it. All hardware, waterproof boxes, and all that will be tied to a structural member, either a rib or the waterchannel wood that I installed last night. If both wax and expanding foam turns out to suck, then I guess I'll use that concrete sealer as a last resort.

Cheers

 

OK, just wanted to know. You can also put epoxy in, but use a mold release method to be able to take it out if needed (i.e. saran wrap)

 

I must say, this is an interesting lesson in scrounging.

 

The wax probably weighs as much as the concrete patch, The bottom of the boat would definitely be waterproof.
I like the idea.
Hmmm

 

Above you can see how I turned the drll press into an ad-hoc vertical lathe. The part that was turned here is the spool for the recovery float. I ran the next smaller-size bit down into a square piece of stock I pulled off the scrap pile. I put some foil tape (I had it laying around) around the top 3/4" of the foam piece and onto the drill press chuck to keep the workpiece as steady as possible. There's a 3/16" bit in the middle of that mess.



Here is the completed turn. It hogged out a little at the bottom, but not so much that it became unusable. I used a 100-120 grit sanding sponge, a square, and a razor knife and of course the press to make this part.



Above is the notch that will house the recovery line with the line spool roughly installed. It's completely concealed in the SS. That's a bit of 1/4 allthread I had laying around to make the spindle of the recovery device. I have only to add 2 big washers to hold the cordage and a method of fastening the line to the hull itself. I'll work on that, see what I've got laying around. All credits for this device go to Ice as per his post above. I had been planning on installing a spool of wire in the hull itself, so that I could follow the wire down to the ship when I dove for it. Now there'll be no diving. Thanks dude!



Here's a shot of Kormorans' rear end. The pink foam marks the distance from the end of the ship to the last rib. This will get titebond-II in several layers and then a coat or two of poly. It looks pretty close to the plan and to many photos I've seen. I'm happy w/ this ship above the water line, and I feel confident that once basic hardware is installed and tested, that she'll perform well and not be overly funny-looking.



Here's a shot of the bow. Definitely not perfect, but not nearly as bad as I thought when looking at the ribs only.

Still waiting on prop shafts, props, gearbox, and maybe motor. The motor and esc combo I had in mind was for an RC dune buggy I think. The motor it was attached to had blue and white animal stripes on it and the whole deal looked pretty wicked. If a single 550 is too much for my ship, then I definitely don't need anything to do with something with blue and white stripes on it. I'm not trying to make my discplacement hull into a planing hull, cause I think Kormoran would plane like crap. So I'm waiting till something better comes around.

More to follow.

 

I made mine out of a pen and two abs circles. I like the idea of recessing it but make sure the string can flop around. The bottom of mine is eyehooked into wood epoxied to the bottom. Yours just pick a rib.

 

Hello Gents,

It's been a busy time at the 'Werks. As per below:



Above s the wood lathe I "Inherited" from Mr. D. I dunno how it applies to this hobby, and I still need to figure out how to operate it correctly. It came with a nice set of old chisels, very sharp, and a bunch of misc. parts/ hardware. I'm thinking of making new banisters for the stairs as a first project on this machine.



This is the router table. It came with a bunch of bits, a bunch of dovetail and other jigs, and some stuff that I don't know what it is. This is for when I decide to make some bookshelves, I can make them nice and pretty. There might also be a bit that I can use to make biscuit slots. I'll figure that out as I learn to use all this new stuff.



Here's the last of my new, old, mahines. The scroll saw is key. As you can see, I put it in an out-of-the-way location near the welding table and boiler. If you look closely, you'll see that the late Mr. D put together all the stands/ cabinets together from bits of wood, and that they obviously survived the trip from his house to mine. Mr. D was talented as hell, and he built things to last. It's my sincerest hope that I end up as talented and efficient as he was.

Ok, so onto the progress I've made in the last 2/3 of a month:


Here's a pic of Kormoran wither her SS roughed out, her decks completed, and some poly on the hull. I cut everything out of 3/4 insulation. This leaves me a tiny bit out of scale on some pieces, but between being as little incorrect and doing what's necessary to correct tiny scale errors, I'll put the OCD to rest and live with an acceptable level of inaccuracy. The details, once added, will make any visual errors insignificant anyway. Or so I hope.



Above we see the steering gear in t's mount. I used the broken dishrack to make this. The servo itself is a traxxas 2056. It says 'waterproof', so I'm not building a waterproof box for it yet.



Here's the rudder to which I'll attach the sevo. I made it an airfoil shape. No real reason to make it like that, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The rudder post is also in place, made of 3/16 tube to mate w/ the 3/16 rod thats in the rudder. I'll likely eventually go w/ a chain drive rudder, but for now I guess I'l do pushrods made out of a dead coat hangar.



Here shows the motor I found amongst Mr. D's stuff. When I made a battery rig and hit it w/ 9 volts, it threw itself off the buld table.. I'll use this for either the prop motor or the pump motor. Either way, this thing isn't fooling around. The only identifying marks on the motor is I guess the brand name "Mabuchi". It has lamp cord soldered to it.

More to come... I'll be getting the gearbox, propshafts, and props from BC.

 

I'm working more hours, but stil, the 'Werks have been busy also. As per below:


This is the rig I made to melt the wax that I finished the waterchannel with. It makes me sooooo happy when I can just throw together a device out of stuff I have laying around and get a positive result out of. I paid zero dollars for this, but it did what I wanted it to do.



This is the first of the water channeling I did. There was an unexpected benefit by using wax: The cooling wax contracted and left a nice groove into which I'll drop hot ball bearings to permanenty level the ship.


Looking aft. Most of the candes I got were vanilla or lavender. I melted them all together, and dropped in a bit of purple crayon where necessary to keep the color uniform.


Some detail of the stern sheeting. I have to fabricate a connecting rod from steering servo to rudder. These stupid c- clamps are really starting to annoy me.


Above we see the recovery float and the hole in the SS though which it will be attached to the hull. I didn't have big washers, so I used a pair of budweiser caps. It spools out pretty quick and without error. I tested it with the Assaut Cat. Like I said before, he gets a little crazy at night.



Here's the girl with all her clothes on. I anticipate a float test within the next few days.

 

Wow, that is turning out real nice. Another benefit of the wax is it will help seal the bottom of the boat. Great build!

 

And it's such a pretty blue!

 

And yet another big day at the 'Werks! The stern is skinned for the float test now; The last bit of readi-patch and glue is drying right now. Just a touch more sanding, and the girl will be ready to go in the bathtub! I also just ordered the running gear from BC. I'm going with 2 6" prop shafts, 2 1" by 25 pitch 4-blade props, 2 1/4" V-struts and the 1 motor to 2-shaft gearbox. Pssh, 103 bucks later. I hope the motor I have on hand fits the gearbox, otherwise I'm sure I can get a motor that fits from the hobby store. Also from the hobby store I'm getting a deal on a new (But open box) radio and reciever. The set had some servoes with it, but they aren't w/ the kit now. It's a 6-channel radio (forget make) and a reciever that has 6 slots to plug stuff into. It's got a little computer screen on it and it looks pretty serious. Lots of buttons and knobs and stuff. I told the lady that I'd bring Kormoran in to show, but I'll wait on that till she's better-dressed and painted and whatnot.

The next few weeks have a lot in store for me and my ship. I hope to have her functional for convoy at least by the end of this month, but I'm not holding my breath. I wonder how much time I would have saved if I'd've went with a fiberglass hull instead of wood. It doesn't really matter though. I like my wood hull and will build Schleswig-Holstein and DKM Prinz Eugen (Project after next) from wood also.

Quick question for the small-gunners here: I used 1/32" balsa to skin Kormoran, and the ribs are all 1/4" and spaced more than 2" apart. Is there any way that I could maybe get Kormoran into a small-gun event as a convoy (unarmed) ship? If so, when is the next event close to NYC (3 hour drive)? The boat will be for Big gun, but I'd like to be able to use her for small-gun as well until torps and cannons are fitted. And maybe even after that if I go out with an empty bottle and gun plugs in. Does anyone have any idea how many units I'd get for Kormoran? 516' loa, 6 5.9" guns, 6 torp tubes, 18 knots, 19,000 tons. Just curious.

Thanks for all your comments guys, I really appreciate it that you all like my build so far.

 

Your more than welcome to bring her up to my pond in Esopus, NY (12429) if you want. Come up at our next battle day or whenever. You can arm her too if you want, let's see what damage she can do!
let me know if you want

 

Ok Ice, that sounds good, thanks for the invite. I dunno if I'll meet my end of the month deadline because work has been crazy and I've been conned into doing some projects around the house. But yes, I'd love to attend a battle up by you. Let me know next time you're having an event and if I can make it I definitely will.

And onto my (limited) progress so far. No pics atm, sorry:
I'm happy to say that Kormoran passed her float test with mostly flying colors. I placed the steering servo on it's rack, temporarialy mounted the 2 triple D-cell battery rigs amidships with one to port and one to starboard, put the motor approx. where it's going to go and also added 2 smallish C-clamps to simulate the weight of the props, shafts, and gearbox. About 6 ounces extra. Then I dropped in 3 bigger c-clamps forward to simulate the weight of the reciever, pump, and misc. gear (Wires, connectors, more water channel, and speed controller).
So then I brought Kormoran out of the basement for the first time to put her in the tub to see how out-of-balance she is. I put the ship on my desk and went to go fill the tub. And when I did, I found out the tub stopper thing doesn't work. Grrr. How would I know that? I never take baths.
So I dried the drain area, slapped a few pieces of foil tape over it and filled the tub with about 8" of water. The tape held and I didn't hear it draining, so I got Kormoran and placed her in the tub. And then saw that she was about 6" too long to fit at that water level. (I have a pretty small tub.) So I took the ship out, turned the water on and let the tub fill. And the foil tape I'd put over the drain split less than a minute later. Grrrrrr.
I was getting kind of annoyed by this time, so I cut a sheet metal insert that would cover the drain recess hole, foiltaped the hell out of it, then took one of those rubber sheet jar opening helper things, laid that over the tin and foil tape, and foil taped the hell out of that too after squeezing out all the air I could. Then I filled the tub to within 2" of the top, dropped Kormoran in, and put a torpedo level on her. She floated port by half a bubble and to the stern by a little less than that. I pulled her out, moved around some of the C-clamps, and got her level enough so that the little motion of the waves was barely moving the bubble out of the mark. At least now I have some idea of where stuff is going to need to be to get her sturdy and level.he also floats very high, barely above the impenetrable area. I'm not going to start adding weight yet, but rather will get all equipment first, then mock it up, then go from there. So balancing and remaining water channel will be among my last tasks before she hits the water in trials condition.
As an aside note, After I pulled her out of the tub, the "waterproof" wood glue that I'd used to coat her planking was getting soggy and making a funny pattern down the bottom of the hull. I hung her up over night, then got a quart of waterproof gloss poly the following day and have since given her three good coats. I'll add a few more, esp. for the ribs and deck before she goes in the water again :blush:.
Cheers