This is an excellent paper card model I downloaded offline that is an incredibly accurate depiction of how Jules Verne truly descibed the Nautilus to look like. Much more cylindrical in shape and appearing very “cigar like” in much the same way the confederate David-class rams in the american civil war were designed, with a cylindrical center section, and two cone shaped parts on either end. Considering the confederate sub Hunley was the first true successful sub to attack and sink an enemy warship, and the fact that it had all of the basic hallmarks of any modern sub today, and the fact that it was in service well before Verne wrote his story 20,000 Leagues under the sea, it is virtually undeniable that these examples were obviously items from which he drew a great deal of his inspiration.
This is the nose section with dive planes, wheel house and ram. My version will be an actual diving submarine, and I modified the card model by adding inner bulkheads/supports/electric engine, diveplanes/rudder/and wheel house lights. The underseaboat was made seaworthy by coating inside and out with epoxy resin, and the interior has an extra layer of cloth embedded into the resin for structural density. All in all as a result of this the whole craft has the hardness of thick plastic. She will be a dynamic diver meaning the forward thrust of the engines coupled with downthrust from the front dive planes will be the motive power to make her dive.
My many thanks go to Mr. Riveresco for designing this card model in the true spirit of the Victorian era. Looks like we are going to see how it performs in the real world. Some more angles:
She is very sleek , and recently passed her “float test” and now is being prepared for her first cruise. Part of this preparation included casting a rather large (almost 2lb!!) lead keel to complete her proper construction and make her sit in the water properly. Here is a shot of the keel being constructed from 4 lead ingots….
I will ultimately be attaching this to the bottom of the hull like a keel ridge, and there it should do its job of stabilizing and balancing the U-boat. I was frankly shocked at the amount of water this submarine displaced and how much ballast it required to float it properly. I suppose if I had only made one small chamber inside the only air chamber, and made the rest so air and water could vent in and out at will it would have required less, but this is designed like the real sub would have been, with aircompartments from stem to stern, so along with all of that displacement, comes a LOT of bouyancy, and ballast to boot. Ah well, its still a neat experiment.
Oh and finally, the sub already has come into contact with some strange creatures….not exactly a giant squid like on Disneys’ version,more like a giant Persian named Lilly…also known as my technical advisor.
….she just had to sneak into this one.
cartoonplanes 