More of a general design thread

[bigbenn]

Hi Ted,
Personally, I'd build your model in card and then I would fibreglass it inside and out.
Obviously You would have to use thicker card internally to beef up the external thin card sheeting, so your hull would have to come apart in two halves so you had full access to both parts.
Advantages would be a lot lighter than any other medium and card has no grain, so it can be bent in any direction without creasing when dampened under a cold water tap.
You could build your model in card in one piece and weight would not be a problem.
I can nudge you along in the right direction if you want some ideas, also from a cost factor, you won't be spending as much on materials as you would on other materials.
Like with ant sub model, you have to make sure its watertight and I think a silicone rubber seal would do the trick with some sort of bolt or similar method to keep the 2 parts together when diving.
You can put the electric motors and r/c in plastic lunch boxes with rods through "O" rings in the boxes, linking up to the dive planes and rudder and so on. You can even construct grease boxes that the rods pass through before reaching the "O" rings, again from card, fibreglassed inside and out.
BigBenn

[tedparkes]

Originally Posted by bigbenn

Hi Ted,
Personally, I'd build your model in card ...
snip
BigBenn

Some more great thoughts, it will be quite a bit before this project really gets started, the paper display version will come first, then ill really get into the 3d design of the rc model, then start building when thats completed, so a few months at best, and many more at worst. Ill definatly keep you in mind when i start the rc design you seem to have a pretty good idea what your talking about :D

[bigbenn]

Hi Ted,
Mmm, I do and I do.
25 years of card ships construction with the odd tank or AFV thrown in.
BigBenn

[tedparkes]

Cool, thanks for the insight

[tedparkes]

Bit of an update finally, 95% done test version of the Trident II D5 ICBM, 1/44 scale, that will go in the missle tubes. got 24 of these to make once i finish the design. need to tweak the texture a little bit more, and replace 1 area of flaps with a joining strip, then its good to go...



Also printed a test version of the 1 7" missle segment, will be building that later tonight, ended up going with 1/8" doll rod for the hinges on the doors, so should work out nicely. Ill post up some pics later tonight of how thats going. 2 pages of parts per Trident, and 23 for each of 6 missle segments, and about 10-14 pages per other segment, this thing is going to use some serious paper... Not that much ink though, as its all outlines.

Cya...

[mbauer]

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the updates, been watching to see how things have been going! Great progress and looking good!

Mike Bauer

[richkat]

And to think, when I said I would like a 1/48 Space Shuttle some of the guys said that was to big! WAY TO GO!!!!

[richkat]

When you get the monster done, are you going to offer it for sale, I would love to try something this BIG.....Rich