# My 1/77 Disney Nautilus Build



## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

One of my all time favorite submarines, Harper Goff's design for Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Nautilus.:smile2:

Being the boring type, I built the 31" Model to reflect(as best I can), The 11' Hero Miniature. 

The lighting was based on the film, therefore NO overblown way too bright lights. I also elected to use soft yellow lighting. The Wheelhouse lights and the salon outside lights are independent of each other. NOTE... the wheelhouse lights are not green. They never were...ever.Neither were the alligator lights...never. I elected to not light the alligator lights because 99% of the time in the film...they aren't lit:wink2:

I also didn't pre shade the boat because...it looks like Pre Shading!

All the hatches work. the closed breathers are removable to access the salon lights switch .

The boat is weathered...but not overly weathered.The lighting rig is my own. The upper and lower hull separate to allow access to the electronics and are held tightly in place via the front spear and the rear screw.









These last two shots are "in camera" shots of the model.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Beautiful work as always! I guess this is one of the last of the SF 'holy grail' kits, the "kits Aurora should have made" list for a mass produced injection plastic company. There's been quite a good number of those kits released in the last few years so maybe this will move up the list. 

Huh. maybe we should actually make that list sometime. I think of "kits that Aurora should have made" are a different class of 'holy grail' model than "this is a thing that needs to be made please thank you" .

I guess that list could also cover "kits that any company should have made because it was a notable omission at the time" huh? For me there's a simplicity and purity to just think of Aurora 'should have been' phantom kits. After all, they WERE the main, king, go-to company for sci-fi and horror and fantastic subjects 


(I mean, they made a kit for Doctor Doolittle for gosh sakes!)


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)




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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

I visited my local Hobby shop with my 31" Nautilus today!


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

A little bit more fun with my Nautilus!!


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)




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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)




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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)




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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)




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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Instead of just having pictures of my work on a table top or a video of the same, I like my builds doing their thing. I have a lot of fun bringing a model to life. Hopefully others can enjoy this as well...


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

Nice work!!!! Really looks real in your photo and video settings!


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)




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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

I have added a full Salon interior to my build. The lighting operates independently of the other features on the model.

I have a Closed Iris if I want to close up the window. I also added raised breathers another display option which can be switched back to the closed position.


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)




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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Nice look at the sub. Could the doggie hear the music during the recording or did you add it later? :cheers2:


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Milton Fox Racing said:


> Nice look at the sub. Could the doggie hear the music during the recording or did you add it later? :cheers2:


Yes he could hear the sound!...The model also features a sound board to replicate the Nautilus!


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)




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## Eric2576 (Feb 1, 2020)

Greetings Solo,

you did a really nice job on the Nautilus. I've been fascinated with the Nautilus since I saw Leagues back in 1968 as a kid. A few years back I made a CG Nautilus very accurate to the plans Disney has floating around on the net. I decided to make a version that incorporates the plans and the Hero model. It came out very nice and I almost forgot about it until a couple of month ago. Then, for some reason, I got a bug up my nose to incorporate the CG version with my new hobby, 3D printing. So that's where I'm at, converting the CG version to a printable 1/48th scale version. It takes even more time and effort for the conversion. It soon became apparent to me that I would probably not print the hull in it's entirety, instead, construct the hull with traditional techniques and then cover that with 3D printed hull plates that have the rivet detail on them. This approach would also let me overlap the panels the way they were intended to be. Thinking ahead, I'm also looking for electronics. This seems like such a trivial thing, but it's not. For instance, I'm looking for a DC motor that will run the prop. I've already bought a couple of supposedly "quiet" low rpm motors that were anything but. These motors were gear motors bought on ebay and Amazon, but they all produced quite a bit of gear noise at 60rpm. This kills it for me as it ruins the overall illusion when you hear a small gear motor grind and whine. What did you use for your motor and how satisfied are you with the noise level it produces? I may end up going to an electronics surplus store tomorrow and test out several motors instead of buying stuff online only to be disappointed. That's my rant for today.

Cheers

Eric


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Eric2576 said:


> Greetings Solo,
> 
> you did a really nice job on the Nautilus. I've been fascinated with the Nautilus since I saw Leagues back in 1968 as a kid. A few years back I made a CG Nautilus very accurate to the plans Disney has floating around on the net. I decided to make a version that incorporates the plans and the Hero model. It came out very nice and I almost forgot about it until a couple of month ago. Then, for some reason, I got a bug up my nose to incorporate the CG version with my new hobby, 3D printing. So that's where I'm at, converting the CG version to a printable 1/48th scale version. It takes even more time and effort for the conversion. It soon became apparent to me that I would probably not print the hull in it's entirety, instead, construct the hull with traditional techniques and then cover that with 3D printed hull plates that have the rivet detail on them. This approach would also let me overlap the panels the way they were intended to be. Thinking ahead, I'm also looking for electronics. This seems like such a trivial thing, but it's not. For instance, I'm looking for a DC motor that will run the prop. I've already bought a couple of supposedly "quiet" low rpm motors that were anything but. These motors were gear motors bought on ebay and Amazon, but they all produced quite a bit of gear noise at 60rpm. This kills it for me as it ruins the overall illusion when you hear a small gear motor grind and whine. What did you use for your motor and how satisfied are you with the noise level it produces? I may end up going to an electronics surplus store tomorrow and test out several motors instead of buying stuff online only to be disappointed. That's my rant for today.
> 
> ...


I purchased the motor from Amazon. I have no idea what the make was. Yes I am very satisfied with it. Very quiet. The rest of the electronics/lighting are my own design.


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## Tiberious (Nov 20, 2001)

Fantastic build. I've seen a couple of kits here and there but have been hoping to find a good one to build with my limited skills....don't suppose anyone here has a suggestion for one?


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## Ole Weird Wade (Oct 2, 2019)

Tiberious said:


> Fantastic build. I've seen a couple of kits here and there but have been hoping to find a good one to build with my limited skills....don't suppose anyone here has a suggestion for one?


Hi, Tiberious. Like Mark/Cap. Solo I'm a long time Nautilus fanatic who's spent way too much time at the nautilussubmarine.com forum. While you might find some other odd items around, the general consensus of what is the best kits are those created by Scott Brodeen. Scott's designs are available from two original sources at the moment, Bob Martin at Nautilus Drydocks (www.rc-submarine.com) and Masterpiece Models (masterpiecemodels.com). The 31" kit is sold by both and they both seem to sell them for about the same price. However, I understand that Masterpiece has replaced the metal detail parts with plastic or resin cast parts. I'm not sure how much that would matter for display use, though. I'm acquainted with Bob and he seems to be a pretty good guy. He also sells kits to adapt his sub models for R/C use. Bob seems to just have the 1/77 scale 31"er right now, but is planning to release a 1/48 scale version soon. Masterpiece has the 31" and a 16" version. That smaller one might be a good way to go for a beginner without much shelf space.


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## Tiberious (Nov 20, 2001)

Thanks very much for the info! Yes a smaller one would be ideal! Hopefully he comes out with it soon (and I notice it!). I love this design and think that it’s a crime that there has been so little opportunity to get one in the regular market!

Tib


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## Ole Weird Wade (Oct 2, 2019)

I hoped to help. I may have confused you by speaking in scales, though. Bob's upcoming 1/48 scale Naut should actually be about 3 1/2 feet long-- bigger than the 31" models. The only smaller would be the 16" Masterpiece has on their site now. I haven't built a Masterpiece kit, but I hear they use plastic detail parts rather than white metal there, so assembly may be a bit fiddly. I like that size, though, which would easily fit into a normal model ship collection.


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## Tiberious (Nov 20, 2001)

That's on me Wade, I wasn't paying attention and took the scale as the size, my bad! Has anyone out there built the Masterpiece kit? Is it any good? I'll have to do some shopping, depending on the price I can probably go a bit larger if it's that much better a kit. I'm not up to your level of skill (darned shaky hands!) so I won't be going to the extreme as you did, but I'd love for it to look good on a shelf!


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## Ole Weird Wade (Oct 2, 2019)

I don't know anybody who has built the Masterpiece 16", but one my favorite YouTube model vloggers just built their 31". You can check Lou Dalmaso's 4 weeks of vlog entries on it here: Lou Dalmaso . He gives tons of ideas for assembly and has opinions on the kit quality.


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Go to Nautilus Dry-docks.
There are a number of How to Videos by someone who really knows the Nautilus. Bob Martin walks novices through several builds with assembly ideas that work.
Here's the link...








Nautilus Drydocks 1/77th scale Disney Nautilus | Drydocks


Download the instructions here. Stymied on cutting those new beautiful windows? Watch my 'how to' video here. Complete kit for the construction of a Museum quality replica of Captain Nemo's famous submarine from Disney's 1954 classic,"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"(31" overall length). Amazing...




www.rc-submarine.com





Here are several YOU TUBE videos of my build seen here.
















This kit goes together like a plastic injected molded kit. Of course you have to come up with your own lighting(As I did), There are plenty of references on line.


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