Russian Typhoon Submarine

Part 2 - Manufacturing the Missile Tubes

There is an excellent article on manufacturing missiles for submarines located on The SubCommittee web site. You can access the article by clicking LAUNCH THIS! I plan to pattern my missiles after the ones described in the article. But first, I must manufacture the missile tubes. Here, you can see that I´ve used "feeding syringes" as my missile tubes. Slight alterations were required: The plunger was removed The bottom was cut off A 7/8" hole was bored in the bottom to accommodate the missile A Celtec ring was inserted in the top to accommodate the missile
	To house the missile tubes, I cut a piece of Lexan® sheet, drilled holes and bolted them on. The two (2) center holes were drilled to 7/8" to accommodate the missiles.
The launching mechanisms (Clippard Pistons) will be bolted to a piece of Celtec, but first it was cut and shaped to fit the clear Lexan® sheet above. I also had to cut grooves in the Celtec so the missile tube bolts would fit properly.
	Here is another view of the Celtec with the Clippard Pistons installed. As you can see, the pistons will operate vertically in an upward motion and the CO2 gas will enter on the bottom.
The missile launching system will be bolted to the forward ballast tank, but first I had to glue two (2) pieces of Celtec onto the rear side of it. This was due to a spacing problem I had with the missile hatches in the top hull. In other words, I had to line up the missiles with the hatches in the hull.
	Ok, so how are the missiles actually going to be launched. Well, it´s simple. I manufactured two (2) lever arms from 1 1/2" and 1/16" aluminum sheeting. You can see there is one arm for each missile, and these are connected to the threaded piston. The bottom end of the aluminum will actually lift the missile from the nozzle pin which I haven´t manufactured or installed yet.
I am very pleased how this launching mechanism is turning out. It is very substantial with no play whatsoever. The aluminum is strong enough so as not to bend, and everything is bolted together for easy removal if necessary.
	The entire system is even more impressive inside the hull. There is also plenty of room to install and/or remove the nozzle pins when charging the missiles. Next Step - Part 3 - Manufacturing the Missiles

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