Which to buy ? - I cant decide.....

[chief of the boat]

I'm new to the hobby, and cant decide on which sub to buy out of the following ,

British Upholder
Trident
Alkula/Alfa

Please help me choose !

[wayne frey]

Welcome!
I would say from

Welcome!
I would say from your list the Alfa would be 1st choice.(everybody rolls their eyes, I love the russian boats).
Seriously though, it is a good size, relatively straightforward kit. Thor's Alfa is not the cheapest Alfa to buy,but definately the best. What you hesitate to pay slightly more for is worth it big time in the quality and hours saved going another route.
A cheaper boat is not a cheaper boat after you spend tons of hours getting it up to what Matt has out of the box.
You will not be disappointed. Combine that with a D & E WTC and you are on your way.
After you a duely infected, there are many different ways you can go for something else.
There is some excellent talent on this board. Ask questions. And have FUN!!

[JWLaRue]

CoB,

It would be quite helpful

CoB,

It would be quite helpful if you told us a little bit about your modeling skills and prior experience with r/c.

I am assuming (always dangerous!) that you are new to the hobby of r/c submarines?

As to the list of boats that you provided, are you asking about a particular vendor's offering of that boat (e.g. Dumas Akula vs. Thor Akula) or are you just looking for general opinions based on others particular preferences?

-Jeff

[chief of the boat]

Ive done rc boats and

Ive done rc boats and some planes before, but never subs. My scrachbuilding skills are ok , nothing spectacular but I know my way around sandpaper and saws.

Im leaning strongly to the Upholder , because theres more room in it for me to play around with , its the OTW Designs kit.

I like the Russian subs , and WILL own a Typhoon someday !

- CoB

[JWLaRue]

CoB,

The OTW Upholder is a

CoB,

The OTW Upholder is a nice and beamy boat.....and the glasswork is topnotch. The same can be said for the Thor Alfa. Both boats are a reasonably large scale, giving you lots of room to work inside the hull.

For hulls like these, you'll be looking at building or buying some sort of a dive module (WTC). Have you taken a look into what's available and what it means to build one?

-Jeff

[bcliffe]

CoB,

My 2 cents.

When making your

[color=#000000]CoB,

My 2 cents.

When making your selection consider the water you will be running her in. Typically a larger boat requires a bigger space to turn.

Personally I don't think you can go wrong with either the 1/72 Alfa (44 inches) or 1/50th Upholder(58 inches) with respect to quality.

Thought about the OTW Upholder myself and heard the following specs]

[chief of the boat]

Since I dont really have

Since I dont really have a fleet yet , I dont need to worry about my boat looking out of place .

I hadnt realised the turning circles on subs was so big, maybe something I'll have to watch out for .

I know whats involved in making any propulsion systems for it , so thats not too much of a problem either .

Anyone know what the Vanguard turning circle is ?

And if I bought the typhoon , would the twin screw arrangment help to shorten the turning circle ?

[bcliffe]

CoB,

Drop Bob Dimmack an e-mail

CoB,

Drop Bob Dimmack an e-mail with respect to your query, I found him to be very responsive.

The Upholder/Victoria turning radius I quoted you was using the rudder alone. My impression is some of his customers have added a bow thruster in the tail to improve on this. Options are always available for improving performance.

Typically a submarine doesn't perform as well on the surface as submerged. The main reason here is the top rudder isn't completely submerged and is not 100% effective.

My impression is that this is going to be your first sub ... if you really catch the bug you will have a fleet in no time.

Cheers
BC



Edited By bcliffe on 1080060956

[bob the builder]

I've heard from everyone with

[color=#000000]I've heard from everyone with a Typhoon that the turning radius is very poor. The Russians use an enclosed rudder and plane system where the fins protect the steering surface. I'm prettyr sure that the reason is that the Russians designed a lot of their boats to be used in ice fields, and the protective shield helped them surface through the ice. What this does is effectively reduce your steering surface. Not a big deal for a 1]

[sam reichart]

Jsut my 2 cents]

[color=#000000]Jsut my 2 cents]

[anonymous]

I vote 'Upholder' this time.

I vote 'Upholder' this time. Not many of these around and the OTW kit looks wonderful! It has plenty of internal space, very conventional design really as R/C subs subjects go...no X-sterns here or such. Good for beginner in layout, but a little more challenging detail wise. Another Alfa? Oh please!

Trident? I suspect you mean HMS Vanguard SSBN's. SSBN's are fine, but tend in a practical sense to be much too long a hull than is needed for an handy easy turning model, not to mention fit in the car trunk.

Steve Reichmuth