Cottage Industry Hunley 1/72

Having received the CI Hunley, I have spent some time during the house showings and all that cleaning up the resin hull. A few of the hull plate join lines were not terminated so I re-scribed those and cleaned out the rest. I smoothed the tops of the reinforcing bands that run fore and aft midway down the hull on each side. A few detail features were not crisply cast, so I cleaned them up with a dental tool and small files to make sharp lines where necessary.

There is a small imperfection line, sort of line a sink mark in styrene, on the bottom starboard bow. This will require a little fill. I drilled out the mooring holes forward and aft and rounded the vision ports and areas where shafts will later be installed. The long boom forward that carried the torpedo is made from small diameter aluminum tubing. Collars are cut from aluminum tubing slightly larger in diameter and slid over the smaller tube at the indicated points. I flattened one end of the boom with pliers and cut a notch into it with files so that it fits over the mounting bracket on the lower part of the bow.

I plan to make a scratch torpedo from rolled styrene sheet of two different thicknesses to get a "lip" on each end and make attachment bands and brackets from flattened soldier. This will be attached to another tubing section that will be constructed to slip over the end of the boom, as the real thing. I also plan to make a braided line, like a mooring rope, that will attach to this torpedo boom section, then through an eye on the boom and on to the spool mounted on the submarine's hull. I am making the assumption that the torpedo was detonated electrically because of the risk of a mechanical mechanism being actuated when the rope connecting the torpedo jabbed into the hull of a ship with the submarine went taut. The line could foul as the boat was backing away detonating the charge when it was much too close for safety. Also, from my last reading of the ongoing archeology of the Hunley, there is evidence, not conclusive, of an electrical detonation device. Therefore, I will need to add an electrical wire connecting the torpedo with the boat. I plan to route this from the torpedo to the line running to the spool on the theory that this would both protect the electrical wire from parting and fouling as the line spooled out.

I will attempt to post a drawing of what I have in mind for the torpedo, it's own boom and connection details.