1/35 Schnellboot Typ S-38 rc conversion

[Arjan]

I have finally decided to go for the paint scheme of S-117 (4. S-Boot Flottille) after all. The air recognition markings on the fore deck of the Black Sea boats are too difficult to apply now because I had already glued some parts to the fore deck. I should have made a choice before I started building ....... I applied the first colours to the hull and can now start painting smaller details (which I like best).

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[Steve D]

Super clean finish 👍

[Greg Law]

Arjan 

Nice work. I have a question about the bow shape on both the Italeri S38 and S100. I have had both kits. Do you think the plan shape is a bit blunt? When I saw the S38 kit it just didn't look right to me. This put me off building it.

[Steve D]

4 hours ago, Greg Law said:

Do you think the plan shape is a bit blunt?

For interested, these are the lines I used.  They came from Germany, not sure of the original provenance however.  The bow shape here is slightly more angled than the kit seems to be

 

 

Steve

[Arjan]

🙂Hi gentlemen, I must say that over all the Italeri hull looks ok to me. To me other inaccuracies, especially of the S-100 kit, were far more noticeable (the terribly oversized cover of the bow gun tub to name just one). But then I guess everyone focuses on other details and whether or not the shape of the hull is 100% correct has never been an issue for me. I must confess that I didn't notice anything wrong with the hull of the old Airfix S-Boot kit either when I built it many years ago (in the days well before the advent of pc's and internet). Later I learned the Airfix hull was all wrong ..... Personally I can't imagine that Italeri's rendering of the S-Boot bow is sufficient reason to dump the kit altogether. Wouldn't some sanding and filler do the trick ? Some pics :

 

 

Nice pic of early S-38 boats in the IJmuiden locks (source historisches Marine Archiv) :

 

 

So Greg I'm not saying you are wrong, I just think we all focus on different inaccuracies and whether or not these inaccuracies are insurmountable is a matter of personal taste.

 

edit: it's only now that I notice the IJmuiden boats don't have the strakes higher up on the bow of the Italeri model  🙂.  S-117 didn't have these strakes either (nor it seems any other S-38 boats for that matter) so these will have to go. This may also result in a more slender appearance of the bow .

 

I get the impression that these strakes were only introduced on late S-100 boats (thanks Greg !) :

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

Edited January 22, 2021 by Arjan

[Steve D]

Arjan,

 

That's another great picture I don't have, thanks.  Note the black staining around the kitchen chimney, logical, hadn't thought of that.  I had noticed the forward strakes seemed to be only introduced in the S-100 boats

 

Steve

[Arjan]

Hi Steve, here's the other one. These two pics are in my top 3 of S-Boot pics, note the inside of the wheelhouse was painted in a very dark colour to prevent reflection of light :

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

 

 

[Steve D]

Just very cool  thanks

[longshanks]

Great pics 

 

Kev

[Greg Law]

That's fine Arjan. It may be me. I had built the S10 Airfix kit and a 1/48 Scratch built may years ago. It might have been the fact that it's bow looked slimmer because it didn't have the built up bow.

Anyway I think I will get S26 when it comes out. I like the lighter rear gun setup. At least that is what my books show. 

It is a pity it was S30 which was a cross between S10 and S38. I rather like the look of the boat. 

I really wise they did these in 1/48 as well. 

[Arjan]

In the mean time I have removed the offending bow strakes and I have applied the second camo colour. Still a lot of touching up to be done. 

 

 

These are the two main reference pics of S-117, the boat I have chosen to model. The initial "D" on the doors of the bridge stand for Dietrich Bludau,  the commander of the boat :

 

 

These two photos were probably taken from the roof of the S-Boot bunker (E-boat pen) at the Waalhaven Rotterdam. I actually spent more time doing research than painting the model and I've managed to find so many pics of the boats at and inside this bunker it's best to provide a link . To my surprise there are also pics of Albert Speer visiting the pen in May 1943 :

 

https://www.modelbouwforum.nl/threads/1-35-schnellboot-typ-s-38.274770/page-7

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

 

 

[longshanks]

Looking very good

Some interesting pics on the link above

 

 

Kev

[Steve D]

[Arjan]

Today I tackled the pe parts that make up the wind screen of the bridge. For most of you who are used to 1/350 pe parts,  1/35 ones must seem like a breeze. To me they aren't though,  and folding the parts down the middle while clamping a piece of transparent plastic in between isn't my idea of fun ....

 

 

By the way, the S-Boot in the Speer photos turns out to be S-117 which is the boat I'm modelling. This means I will have to change the colour of some parts now ...... It just shows once again that the Italeri painting instructions are quite useless, each boat was painted a bit different.

 

I also found another pic of an S-38 boat with the initial D, I don't know if this is also S-117 but I doubt it, the style of the "D" is a bit different :

 

 

The other candidates are S-63 and S-87 :

 

http://www.s-boot.net/englisch/letters4sfltl.html

 

Nice pic of the Rotterdam bunker with some ware houses on top, don't know if they served as a decoy or whether these were really used for storage. The boat sports the 8th Flotilla sign :

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[Steve D]

2 hours ago, Arjan said:

I also found another pic of an S-38 boat

Arjan,

 

You are an amazing source of unique type 38 images, wonderful stuff.  And, if its any consolation, I hate glazing, mine is never as good as it should be

 

A couple of interesting things jump out at me.  One, look at the handrails on the bridge rear platforms, they are dark, not white, should we replicate?  Also, what is the strange louver shape circled in red below, its not on any drawings I've seen, clearly a distinctive feature, be good to include if I know what it is

 

 

Steve

[Arjan]

Hi Steve, I'm pretty sure these objects are covers for the two chart house vents,  these covers are present on all S-38 boats. Their shape, one side rounded and one straight conforms to the shape of the vents. I'm not quite sure when these covers were used because I have never seen them fitted onto the vents.

 

 

S-100 boats also had these covers (red dot) their shape was oval conforming to the shape of the vents on S-100 boats :

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[Steve D]

Ah, that makes sense, thanks 👍

[Greg Law]

Well Arjan you really have me sucked in now.  While I was looking for the 1/72 kit on our trading site I noticed the S38 kit was being sold. As my work computer died a few days ago I left it. In the mean time a good friend son fixed the computer for me at very low cost. So this morning I went back to the trading site and bought the S38 kit. Turnedout the seller was my local hobby shop. As a result the kit is sitting on my lounge chair. 

The first question i have for you is how did you glue the hull pieces together? I think a Tamiya extra thin joint might be too weak for a working RC boat.

[Arjan]

Hi Greg, I'm pleased to hear I have managed to convert someone 🙂. I have used some glue thinner which is probably similar to the thin stuff Humbrol used to have (don't know if it's still available) and the Tamiya thin cement. After having used a liberal amount of the stuff I used some clamps on the keel to press the halves together tightly. Since I wish to use it as a running model I  glued some bits of scrap plastic and stretched sprue into the inside of the keel afterwards (both for extra strength and to make sure the seam is watertight). I don't think this is necessary for a static model. This is the stuff I have been using for some 30 years, I recently bought a 1-liter tin which I use to keep my old Humbrol jar topped up. This is a much cheaper option because this thinner and the Humbrol/Tamiya thin cement evaporates very quickly. I like the Humbrol square jars because they don't tip over as easily as round bottles.

 

 

 

My 1-liter tin reminds me of the story of the widow's oil jar from the bible 🙂. For Atheists (I'm one myself) :

 

 

The Widow’s Olive Oil

4 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

 

By the way, if you are looking for a more challenging project you might consider converting the S-38 kit into an S-38b model. Modeller Maarten did this and made a stunning model :

 

https://kiwimodeller.com/index.php/forum/42-follow-as-i-build/32570-1-35-s-38b-e-boat

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

Edited February 5, 2021 by Arjan

[Arjan]

I have added the 4. S-Bootflottille signs on both sides today. The decals are from my 12-year- old S-100 kit and I was a bit apprehensive whether they would still be usable (I've had old decals before which desintegrated the moment they touched the water). Fortunately, applying them was a breeze.

 

 

Arjan

[Greg Law]

Thanks for the advise Arjan. That is the approach I was thinking was needed. I have a few ideas. I glued the hull braces together yesterday. Of cause I didn’t notice that you had to add the nuts, so I had to force them apart again. Anyway all fixed now. Hopefully that covers my usual stuff up for this project.

Your boot is looking real good 👍.  It makes me happy I bit the bullet and bought mind. I going to RC mine as well. We have several scale marine clubs here for me to join. This was one of the main reasons for getting the boat.

[Arjan]

Good to hear you also plan to make an rc conversion. I hope you will also post a wip report, let me know if you have any questions regarding rc hardware. I bought most of my hardware at Aliexpress. By the way, you should definitely go for brushless outrunner motors. They are lighter, more powerful , more efficient  than brushed motors and usually don't need additional cooling measures.

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

[Greg Law]

Hi Arjan 

If you can give me some links for the gear parts it would be a big help. I did a drive to the local model boat shop this morning only to find it was gone.

How did you get your window PE on without making a mess of the clear panes? I imagine you used CA. What is the paint colour you used on the deck?

It looks good to me. 

Mind you I have along wait before it becomes time to do it. I think I will make a start on the bridge and guns while I wait for the gear to turn up.

I did see a special set for this boat out of China, but it was going to cost $500 in our money. I thought I would see if I can get something abit cheaper first.

I like the look of your motors and setup.

[Arjan]

Hi Greg, I will start making a list here of the items you need . I will add things later but I will start with the prop shafts.

 

Bending the window pe is relatively tricky because it requires folding narrow strips of brass  down the middle. Annealing the brass parts is a must here,  else this is bound to fail. After annealing the frame parts over a candle flame (wait till the pe parts change colour) I bent them using two pairs of tweezers. Once folded slide the transparent plastic in between (you may have to fold the two parts back slightly to get it in fully). Once the plastic part is in I put the window into my etch mate (or any similar small vice) to clamp the parts down, this fixes the plastic part and straightens out the brass frame . Once the plastic part is fixed inside the pe frame you can run some CA glue along the outer edges of the window frame.

 

I used a mix of Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey and XF-63 German Grey (slightly less of the latter).

 

Prop shafts :

 

The inner shafts should be stainless steel with a diameter of 4mm. The perfect length would be 15 inches but as far as I know this size is only available here at this British shop :

 

https://www.modelboatbits.com/INNER-SHAFTS

 

The next best option is these 14- inch long (35 cm) 4mm shafts available at AE :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32917025303.html

 

To lengthen the shafts you could order another 4 inch piece (cut off 1 inch to lengthen each 14-inch shaft).

 

For the outer tubes you require two 10-inch lengths of brass tubing (diameter outer 6mm, inner 5mm). Two 2cm bushes at both ends of the tube made from brass tubing (diameter outer 5mm, inner 4mm). Finally you should make some oiler tubes from 6 or 5mm brass tubing.

 

Rudders:

 

I enlarged the original Italeri main rudder (see previous posts). I ordered the side rudders here (36mm) :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32735708962.html

 

Steering servo :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/4000519810173.html

 

Two bi-directional brushless 20A esc's  (one esc for each motor) :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/4000235650720.html

 

Y-lead to connect both esc's to one channel on the receiver (so also one channel/stick on the transmitter) :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/4001197679885.html

 

Extension lead :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/4001197735320.html

 

 

Motors:

 

Brushless motors , 1400 KV :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005001885663238.html

 

 

 

Universal joints 3.17 x 4 mm :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32827007361.html

 

Shaft connectors for lengthening inner shafts (4x4mm). This ensures you can easily remove the inner shafts for maintenance :

 

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32950417150.html

 

 

Regards,

 

Arjan

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2021 by Arjan

[Greg Law]

Thanks Arjan that has really put in back into my budget without going overboard. This will be great fun.What RC transmitter gear do you use? I understand that the aircraft ones don't work well over water.