There are about half a dozen TEMAC members who mess around with RC boats. My experience goes back almost 60 years.
Current members who have, or are building, boats are: Guy, Paul Gray, Glenn, Simon H. and Mike Brodey.
About 15 years ago I built this 28" long U-Boat-ish model out of door skin, plexiglass and fibreglass. I was coached by Temac member Alex Gray (deceased). He gave me 3 books on model sub building. So here is the result. The plans were published in a British Model Boat magazine.
It works remarkably well:
- dives down to 7 feet in our back yard pool (only 8' deep). It uses dynamic diving via moveable dive planes at the front.
- it has looped (reverse Immelman) and it has rolled 360 degrees in a hard-over full speed turn.
After reading the books, the executive summary is:
- use an old FM radio- it has the best/deepest reception versus AM or 2.4
- make the volume of the waterproof motor/radio compartment as small as possible versus the volume of the boat. Easier to dive down.
- fibreglass the hell out of it, inside and out.
- ballast it with the lowest waterline possible
- set the rear dive planes (fixed) with negative incidence so it pulls the boat down as it speeds up.
- use Vaseline (not grease) to seal the prop shaft, control shafts and plexiglass cover. Some water does come in but very little (a thimble after 5 minutes).
A neat project.
"Never let the kid in you die"
Frank
Are you preparing to attack sailboats
on Too Good Pond?
Maybe I should be building a Corvette instead of a Sloop!
Paul,
Here's the deal. You can cruise around with my Dumas USS Bluefish. You and I will cruise around as a mini Wolfpack and attack Guy's Armada (3 sailboats, a runabout, a trawler) at Toogood Pond. He retires in January so he will have lots of time on his hands. Heck, Mark S. can teach him about scuba diving.
The sub hull was given to me by TEMAC member Alex Gray (+) when the hull halves in his kit were warped. Dumas replaced them. They did not meet his exacting standards. No problem for me. A bit of heat, some epoxy and fibreglass and it held together fine.
The sub works well. I made the deck out of plexiglass (flexible) and held it and the conning tower in place with magnets. It dives down to 7 feet.
One day I may paint it.
Watch out Guy. 8)
Frank