:dancing 1:
Sea trials are pretty much done !!!! And it didnt either a. Sink, or B. catch fire or C. not work at all !!
I must admit I have been dreading putting it in the lake most of the week. After the bother its caused I was really sure it wasnt going to work coorrectly !
But the first thing I had to do this weekend was to remove the Vertically placed bolts which are threaded up from the WTC. They were really to short and proving to be a COMPLETE pain in the A
SE ! So after about 3 hours of removing the poxy things, out they came and temporarally I have put in M4 Machine screws. I will be replacing them with clips in the future, just I have ran out at present.
Bloody things were more bother than they are worth ! And an addition of Vaseline round the seal, and in the screw threads eliminated the last of the air leaks.
So off to the lake we went tonight. The thing is so larger its nigh on impossible to put it in a car ! I have a mazda RX8, no good, my Dad has a similar model, so I had to borrow my better halfs car. And anyone who has seen a 2M long sub in the back of a Ford Fiesta will know how silly it looks ! And it just fit in there ! Thought that was going to be the final cherry on the cake, no means of transport !
We got it to the lake, and basically powered it up, put the lid on, put the remaining lead in and put it in the water. It was perfect, it wasnt listing, but was sitting quite high in the water. So I filled the tanks, and just added little bits of lead to make it gradually sink to the bottom. It didnt take a great deal extra, but when I emptied the tanks, up it popped.
As the old saying goes, anyne can be lucky once, but to do a thing more than once is when you know you are successfull. So I submerged it about 7 times, and it works fine !
At this point there was a few nosy observers, and there children watching, which was making me nervous, I would hate to have to go in after if with an audience ! But I cant complain, it all worked fine. Planes came in and out, props moved it fine. The only thing I am going to have to adjust is the rudder, its jamming a little.
Its slightley heavy in the water, its sitting a bit too deep for my liking, so I might make a slight adjustment to the lead or the foam when its in the lake next.
But I am so relieved it worked, such a relief ! But wow its a big heavy thing in the water, turning takes planning, and stopping is slow to say the least !
But it gets a decent turn of speed up when moving, just have to get it under the water next week and see how it handles under the drink
Now just to finish off the painting and detailing, as you can see from the pictures I havnt got round to that yet. All the white bits are way out or only half done, but after the electrics that will hopefully be the easy bit !
Paul
Sub.
Linear Mode
