The layup of this model is very tricky, and I contracted with George Reid from Ideal Plastics in Edmonton to do all of my layups. The myriad of sharp angles make getting all of the air out of the corners a real challenge, and a few always seem to pop up under the layer of gelcoat. An unforseen benefit of this is an authentic looking "worn" effect. The gelcoat ripples slightly at these points, and look like dents and dings that the Nautilus might have suffered throughout her career of ship-bashing.

The castings are done up in polyester resin and fibreglass. A layer of white gelcoat ensures a smooth finish on the exterior. Side rakers and the keel are casting resin mixed with fibreglass chop. This provides an extremely hard and durable finish on the pieces of the model that are the most subjected to bangs and crashes. The upper half is layed up quite thin to cut down on weight and in turn reduce the necessary size of my ballast tank. I estimate the weight of the castings to be approximately 5lbs.

The castings are split at the center-line of the side rakers. A grinder is necessary to remove excess casting resin before the two halves can be joined. Access to the interior of my model will be cut into the bottom half of the hull, just along the bottom third of the model.

I also wanted to include this picture of Greg Sharpe's "lair". He's got a good number of RC subs, all of which are personally scratch built. He's built working torpedoes into one model.

Keep an eye out in the next few days for Greg's brand new website where he will offer his excrutiatingly detailed blueprints of Russian and American nuclear submarines for sale. Also availalble will be his drawings for his own brand of Water Tight Cylinders and his one-of-a-kind waterproof transmitter case for snorkelling/scuba diving with your sub! Greg also has complete sets of plans for two separate Verne-styled Nautilus submarine models.

Here are some pics of water testing the hull with the motor compartment and battery mounts in place. Note the rear access hatch that will provide access for making up the rear drive shaft assembly. The man in the picture is none other than the intrepid Greg Sharpe himself, who has been helping me immensely in getting my model operational. This test tank is behind Greg's house and is used to test trim on his fleet of subs.

Pictures of my completed WTC and ballast tank can be found on the electronics page .

These shots illustrate the completed electronics WTC / ballast tank assembly mounted in the hull in front of the rear motor compartment. Blue foam has been added for bouyancy. You can see the aluminum battery rails in the forward section of the model.

Greg also decided that my (rather amateurish) prop hub could stand reworking, so he fashioned a new one that's true to the original. I think I'll add a hobby lathe to my Christmas list!

The rudder has been installed. Note the increased surface area nearly 30% greater than the original.

My prop ring has been fabricated, as is shown in these pictures. Control surfaces have been manufactured and linkages run, including a tricky rudder linkage install that Greg masterminded perfectly.

The forward and rear dive planes are run in tandem, working opposite from each other to maximize effect on the pitch of the boat. It will be easy for me to implement separate control through my depth keeper or APC if this arrangement does not work out, but Greg has a feeling that with the very small and inefficiently placed dive planes, this arrangement may be best. We will do wet testing to see if this holds true.

These pictures show my completed wheelhouse module. My crewmen have since been coated in a flat laquer to get rid of the shine on their clothing. The wheelhouse sits in the conning tower recess and bolts into place with two fasteners. Detail pieces were obtained from Custom Replicas in California, and the brass railings were scratch-built.

These shots were taken over the US Thanksgiving weekend (2003). As you can see, I decided to rework my salon window completely. The castings did not match up perfectly, and there was a 1/4" difference between top and bottom. It would have been mostly hidden by the salon window and floodlights, but it bothered me, so I ground off the bezel and manufactured a new one. Note the correct 8 panel iris. It turned out rather well, if I do say so myself.

I also installed a waterproof switch for my main power. It is located just under the rear dorsal hatch, enclosed in a watertight case with a rubber boot for the switch arm..

The propellor shroud struts have been fabricated and installed as well. They were manufactured from 1/8" square brass tubing.

My wheelhouse and salon viewports were cut to size. They are made from a baby's toy (thanks to my son, LoJo), and cut to size with a Dremel cutoff wheel. They will be installed with clear silicone after the hull is primed.

Next steps are sanding the Bondo, cleaning the hull, priming with gloss brown paint, and redoing about 1,500 rivets (*sigh*).

Here are some shots of the work that has taken place over the last couple of days.

I've redone the details on the lower access hatch, as the drinking straws that I had initially used for the piping were making me nervous. I replaced them with brass tubing and I'm far happier with the product now. The wiring has also been replaced with brass.

I've begun the finishing work on the ballast grating. I made up a jig to help with this process, as aligning 15 strips of styrene perfectly is challenging to do freehand.

The final pic in this series is a comparison of the Nautilus with my new 1:96 scale Russian Typhoon. Details about this project can be found on the Typhoon Pages .

The model is now RTR (ready to rivet!). I've primed it with gloss brown spray paint, necessary to have the rivets bead properly. I estimate about 1000 or so need to be reworked. Detail pieces such as the water scoops, deck vent, anchor hausing, alligator eye shrouds, and a few other misc. pieces have been added prior to painting.

These pictures are taken just after I finished painting and weathering the model. The process involved a lot of trial (but surprisingly little error). The base coat of gloss dark brown recieved two washes of diluted rust brown paint. When I say wash, I mean "wash". The diluted paint was literally running off the model, pooling in low areas and flowing between the detail pieces.

Satisfied with the result, I decided to spray on a protective coat of flat laquer. Big mistake. The flat coat totally downplayed the thousands of rivets, and nearly obliterated the rusty wash. I was... upset.

I then decided to try another wash of rust paint. I'm glad I did. The flat finish took the paint well and lent a more reddish color to the model. Low areas and detail pieces still received a heavier pooling effect. All in all, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I've already installed one of the two wheelhouse viewports and the lighting in all applicable spots since these shots were taken. I need to finish my three hatches, add my floodlight lenses, trim her out, and I should be done!

These shots show the lighitng system installed and tested. The bulbs are 14V incandescents wired in parallel, 20 in all. They were secured to the floodlight recesses using clear silicone from the backside. The same clear silicone was used to secure the lenses to the ouside. The floodlight lenses are composed of the clear plastic covers from "google eyes", and idea first brough to my attention when I got my SciFi Matters 1:72 Nautilus a few years ago. They work very well, as they are available in many sizes at virtually any craft store.

These shots show the (nearly) completed model, including installed salon portals, floodlight lenses, and even one of my completed hatches. Once the hatches are secured, I will be testing and trimming the model in my local boat pond, which I forsee happening this coming Sunday (Feb 15th), weather permitting.

Testing Day! These preliminary trim tests were performed at the secret lair of Greg Sharpe, local sub guru. After the hasty constuction of a secure stand, we proceeded with the first float test. The Propel Cylinder was charged and the sub lowered into the tank.

Lo and behold... the Nautilus sat high in the tank, but completely level! A quick vent and she proceeded to the bottom, slightly nose-first. This was very promising! We also decided to test out my motor and prop configuration. The moment of truth had arrived! We kicked the throttle in slowly and were very impressed with the response. At full throttle, the motor actually heeled the Nautilus over at a whopping 30 degree angle... now that's torque!

The model was taken back inside. Foam was redistributed and lead ballast added to the keel to help counteract the torque induced roll that we'd experienced. We dropped her back in the tank and tested her out again. She now sat dead level surfaced, and very slightly stern heavy submerged. This was barely noticeable, and we're going to leave it at that until after lake testing.

Total time spent trimming: four hours (including stand build-time).

The Nautilus' maiden voyage was undertaken on February 22nd, 2004. Our chosen proving grounds were located at Thetis Lake, a location that offered a clean sandy bottom, crystal clear water, (and very few specatators so early in the morning).

After properly securing the flotation foam at the workshop, we tested the model statically for submerging. Everything looked great. We then eased the Nautilus out of the slipway and took her for a short trip around the beach. The motor is extremely powerful, and tended to suck air at anything over 1/2 throttle. Venting the ballast tank slightly helped as the model dropped lower in the water. What we also discovered is that any amount of forward speed tended to push the nose of the model downwards, causing an unintentional dive.

We pulled the model back out and checked the WTC's for leaks. None were found. By this time, my family had arrived and we performed a short dedication ceremony and officially launched the model. We undertook some submerging tests, which were slightly disappointing to me, as the Nautilus was difficult to dive without pulling the prop out of the water and losing foward momentum.

Greg and I decided to add some weight to the stern to see if it would help. Upon refloating the model, we discovered that the added weight did not significantly change her surfaced trim, but immensely helped her submerged handling characteristics. Additionally, her stock dive planes actually changed the model's pitch quite well.

All in all, it was an extremely successful maiden voyage. I will be adding this additional ballast permanently and retesting her at the Victoria Model Boat Pond this weekend (if not sooner). I'll also try to shoot some more video of her underway.

Thank goodnes for minivans! My Nautilus fits just perfectly in the back and leaves just enough room for the baby stroller.

These shots show my newly added dive planes. The control for these planes is linked directly to the other four dive plane linkages. Together, they pitch the model quickly and efficiently. I intentionally mimicked the look of the rest of the model. Only true Nautilus purists should be able to tell that they don't belong. The planes still need to be weathered to perfectly match the rest of the model, but you get the general idea.