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Hi Les. Great to hear from you. Congratulations on the sale. I'm looking
forward to seeing pictures of your new project. You're one-up on the rest of us
rookies having already built a nice working sub. Are you planning any
changes for the new one? Say hi to Dan for me.
On the test models.... I tried several different ballast tank shapes and
estimated the weights to approximate what the scaled sub would weigh. That's
what made me change from the original shape. Remember it looked like a flying
saucer before? Well, that shape turned out to be very unstable while moving
through the water. The latest design ( what I'm building now ) was a big
improvement in stability. I had a little hatch on the metal hulled model, and
dropped in some magnets to get close to the weight, then added sand to get
to neutral buoyancy. A little duct tape over the hatch and it worked out pretty
good. As long as it wasn't submerged very long. I had some really cool side
tanks that looked sort of like Manta Ray wings. Stability was good, but they
created too much drag. I had a big box full of different shaped tanks that I
played with. I made them out of sheet metal, tacked them together, and soldered
the seams. I finally settled on what you see in my pictures. I'm sure there
will be some fine tuning on the full size sub. The bad thing with this hull
shape/size is the amount of lead I need to add to get it to sink. Looks like
almost a ton of extra weight. I calculate the sub equipped at about 4200
lbs, and the displacement at over 6000 lbs. so lots of lead is needed. I won't
know exactly how much until I get it wet, but will have a 1000 pound drop
weight. ( I definitely need a bigger truck ! ) I'm getting ready to
call Greg for the plexi, and looking for a good battery source. I plan on using
three banks of three, with a single for controls etc. making ten total. The body
is just taking a lot longer than I had planned, but I'm hoping it looks good
when I'm done. I'm considering plating some parts. I'd like to plate the hatch (
chrome or brass ) and some of the hull attachments. Probably just paint for now,
and see how it works. Then do some plating later. Well, gotta get to sleep. See
you at the convention? or maybe next time I come to Michigan. Best of luck on
your new boat, Frank D. Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. |