Schnellboot - My Build of Jack's Robbe S130. 
Part 14 - Conclusion

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Well here she is in all her glory.

Shipping from Peterborough, UK to Ireland was always going to be a problem and had been a issue we discussed many times. We knew a substantial box was going to be required.

 'Bradders' said,
"Why not make the crate a feature!"

The box is made from 9mm MDF with solid brass fittings.

The exterior is painted and stencilled to look like a weapons shipping crate, stencilled with;
 "Top Secret", "Weapons of war", "Schnellboot"  - we hope this doesn't cause a problem when shipping to Ireland!!!

( 'Bradders' cut out the stencils by hand!!!! )
 

The interior is made out to look like a seaman's locker, complete with yellowing black & white photos of the original S-130, pin-up girls  from the 1940,  photos of the girlfriend and a signed photograph from Admiral Doenitz......

....  When the door if folded down there is the actual original plans of the S-130 - that Robbe attempted to build their kit from!

When we set out, our brief was, "Build the kit as per box lid, that's what Jack's expecting."

Many, many times we nearly / wanted to deviate  from the instructions, in some cases because the plans are just plan stupid  but most times because both 'Bradders' and I have a lot of experience of building models and would prefer to do some things other ways - but we stuck as closely to the instructions as possible.

Now the model is finished, she looks s good, much better than I had hopped for. Someone asked me if I 'would build another Robbe S-130?', my initial answer was quite explicit but on reflection I would, if asked, as I now know all the problems and I can work around them... all except the foredeck, that needs a complete rethink right back to the drawing board! Sorry Robbe, you cut too many corners on this one.

There are other areas I would change, the rudder linkage for example, this really needs to be much more substantial and easier to adjust. The shafts could be a lot 'beefier', then supplied. The shafts are prone to distortion under load or at high speed, they may even be causing interference!  Jack, first thing I would do when you get the boat is to order up some spare propellers. The ones supplied are quite flimsy and look like they will quite easily break or throw a blade.

The Robbe  Rokraft 120uP ESC is nice but the acceleration curve is more suited to a race boat, also  the reverse can't be limited which tends to swamp the boat if you back-up to quickly. The ESC at one stage cut out completely in the middle of the lake leaving the boat completely dead without warning. The instructions said it should reset itself but this one didn't????!? I think the battery was dieing but some sore of warning would have been nice!

The boat is massively overpowered with three 380 sized motors. If I was to build a S-130 for myself, I would think about using only two motors, even one! "Heresy!" I hear, well running this boat with three motors on 8.4V gets real hairy I can tell you! Jack I recommend buying 7.2v packs when you buy some more batteries . She runs best at 1/2 - 3/4 throttle with the bows still in the water.
 

Thanks, etc.
First to Jack Murphy - soon to be promoted to Schnellboot Kapitain - thanks for trusting me..........
I would also like to thank my wife and family for letting me have the time to build the boat, letting me go round 'Bradders' house to play. Also thanks to my work colleges that took such an active interest and offered much needed encouragement - John, Big Chris, Stewy, Frank. For all the  emails & advice I got via this site,  - Steve Beasley,  Klaus and Jonas, Marc Tieben, Trainspotter, Chris (from the dark woods in Sweden), Klaus Gaeth, Pete Hanton, etc, etc, Many thanks.

... Oh yes, and some old bloke 'Bradders' . Without ' Bradders' the S-130 would not have been finished this year... or next year probably! The S-130 is of a much higher standard than I would have been able to achieve on my own. The necessary body repair & paint job is superb  and the shipping / storage crate is a master stroke.  It's been real fun build the S-130 with you 'Bradders'.

Thanks mate,
Martin Davis - Mayhem

Well all this just my opinion, but what do I know !

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