Thanks Andrew and Guy - I'll post a picture of it in the water eventually - my main problem just now is that I'm the only sub member in the club - a couple of the members just can't understand why I want a sub 'cos they say that it can't be seen under the water. They seem to have the idea that because it's a sub it will only ever be down below, strange ideas people get. If the ponds busy I'll stay on the surface so I don't get rammed accidently but once I get the hang of driving underwater I'll have the whole pond to myself no matter how busy it is. In the club house there are lots of old modelling magazines and I found one on how to make real active torpedos (Marine Modelling April 2004) so I left the magazine open on the table just to get them wondering....
---- but at the end of the day I'm sure I'll get any help I need, they're a good bunch really. When I do my trials I'm going to just get the hang of the sub on the surface then gradually increase the speed to see what the dive rate is then try to control the rate of dive (or surface) with the rear dive planes. I suppose in an emergency I could just slap the brakes on and it should surface automatically. Anyway I'll let you know how I get on.
Ian