Brillisnt work Phil.

I had been so taken with the outside parts of your build i had forgotten this thing has internal features.

Some really neat scratch building you are doing and impressive.

Tony

Thank you very much Tony!

Regards,
Phil W.

Good evening from 'The Dockyard'.

Well it's been a couple of weeks since my last update. Last week I decided to have a few evenings off from modelling and this week has been spent doing research. I'm currently in the process of fitting out the aft torpedo compartment with it's myriad of pipes and valves. I won't be able to replicate all the plumbing as this build would take 20 years, so it was a case of working out what to make and what to leave out. This was how i spent Monday and Tuesday evening. Wednesday i made a start, concentrating on the larger pipes first. Using 2.0mm diameter round acetal rod, i soon found out that it doesn't like bending around corners, even when dipped in boiling water. I then tried 2.0mm diameter brass rod and found this metal too hard to work. I then realised the best material to use is solder; flexible, easily bent, doesn't snap and will take paint. So after a couple of hours trial and error last night and getting nowhere fast with the plastic and brass, i ordered a reel of 2.0mm diameter solder today.

Consequently, I haven't made lot of practical progress this week, which is always the case when conducting research. Although i did make two housings for this pipework to fit into on the top and side of the torpedo tube as seen in the attached photo.

That concludes the update for this week and hopefully a bit more progress will follow next week.

Thanks for looking in and your comments, have a great weekend and happy modelling!

Regards,
Phil W.

Nice work Phil , see you are going have your work cut out.

Mark

Thank you Mark. Yes mate, it will take a little time. The trickiest part is formulating a working method and technique that is repeatable. Once I have that solved I can apply that to all the pipework that I make and not spend longer than required to get the job done.

Regards,
Phil W.

Good evening from 'The Dockyard'.

A little more progress this week making pipework. Lots more to do but it's a start.

The attached photo one of the largest diameter pipes made using 2.0mm solder and M2 washers as flanges. I made the valve body from plastic strip and drilled a 0.8mm diameter hole in the top to accept a piece of bent brass to represent the valve handle.

Fitted.

Painted.

I also applied a black wash, but looking at the photos it requires toning down a bit; nothing a cotton bud dipped in thinners can't sort.

Well that's the update complete for this week. With the holidays soon upon us, my next update will be at some point in the next week and a half [ish]!

On that note i would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Regards,
Phil W.