Thread: HMS Trenchant in 1/96

Hi guys, here are the first pics of my 1/96 scale HMS Trenchant in the now familiar disruptive colour scheme of the late 90’s. http://www.btinternet.com/~warship/Feature/cam.htm
At around 35” she is smaller than the 1/64? Sheerline Trafalgar but is handier in smaller ponds. This is a SWM kit, like Andrews Kilo, and has the same dive system.

I had to use a bit of foam in the bow as the water tight container which provides buoyancy does not run the full length of the sub.

I stuck down lead sheet with silicon adhesive in small bits to balance it. I can easily peel off/ reposition small pieces depending on water temperature and salinity. I have balanced it with a slight lean to starboard at rest on the surface, to counter some of the torque roll when under way.

As the front dive planes are not operable, I opted to build her with them in the retracted position for better underwater handleing.

She’s trimmed so that she just sinks with a fully flooded tank and a full load of airbrush propellant. Empty of propellant, with the tank still flooded, the top of the sail is level with the water. I only need to blow half a tank of ballast to get it to the water line (the remainder is for reserve buoyancy in an emergency), set this way I can get nearly 20 surface/ dives out of a tank. I’ve fitted a Subtech pitch controller a small Simprop lost signal failsafe. ESC is a Msonik and the battery is a 7.2v 3600mAH stick pack. I am getting a liitle interferance when the motor is operated which I need to sort out.