Bringing 1/128 Seaview back to the pond!

[salmon]

Got to the pond today.
A little breezy and the chop was hard to control the Seaview. The wind blowing against the sail made the sub list.
That being said, this sub wants to dive! A small amount of thrust and off it went. For the most part I could see the sub underwater, but with the algae treatment, a short distance and the sub was barely able to be seen.

The pucker factor was strong with this run.


I ran this for about 15 minutes and needed to say enough. It was constant eyes and hands at alert. The wind did not start to slow down for at least another couple of hours. So I ran the Walrus instead.

Post run report, I may need more foam in the bow with any significant speed would slowly cause the sub to dive and not being able to see if any adjustments were helping I frequently came to the surface. True to my nature I broke my radar on the way home. . . I had hoped the drag of the antenna would have helped counter the pull of the slope of the bow. I am not sure it helped counter at all. My next possible move is to just mount the radar in the stowed position.



Here is the area I run. It is called Desert Shores and they have 3 lakes.

[bob_eissler]

Your Seaview looks great! If I remember right, the seaview wants to dive with a little headway. Didn't seem like a good sub to run fast. I never did get the bow planes to work well enough to see if they help.

[salmon]

Bob,
Thank you!
I was on edge the whole time.....if it was not for the Walrus, I would be drinking right now! LOL It is a tricky sub, go too slow and rudder does not seem to respond well, too fast and it wants to push down, there is that sweet spot that was the challenge to find. I also need to punch another hole in the sail for air to come out and water to drain into.
Next time I run this, it will need to be a less breezy day. Maybe I will take it down to LA and run at Yorba Linda Regional park next Saturday.
Peace,
Tom

[salmon]

My mind is changed...... It is getting smoother to run! I am learning how to handle this sub and the wind was not scale hurricane winds.
I have proof too!

[PaulC]

I think you've got it, Tom! Admiral Nelson would be proud.

[salmon]

Thank you Paul!
Here are a few stills:






In the last photo, you might see there is a list to the starboard side. Not sure what is causing that, so will need to investigate. I did add a small amount of foam in the bow, but I think I will add more and trim this sub not level, but try it with a bow up attitude. See what that does. In the video, you can see the leveler is working overtime to keep it sort of level or mostly level if you are a Princess Bride movie fan.

The Sub-Driver was dry and worked consistently. This was a relaxing run.

[salmon]

Went to run the Seaview a few weeks ago and it would not turn on. Checked batteries, they were charged and good......It turns out I fried my magnetic switch. Part of the way the SAS system works is it will refill the Sub-Driver with air once it surfaces. In doing that minuscule amounts of water can get in as it sucks air into the tube. Anyways, somehow I got water on the circuit board and it was dead.......
Funny how things work out. I saw an article about this company (Zepsus.com) that are testing out a enclosed switch. So, I asked if they wanted to test it out in an RC Submarine. It apparently was a good fit and I was sent one to test. They also sent a magnet on a lanyard to turn the device on and off.


I had to take out my very stuffed battery setup (Throwback Tuesday)


So, I 3D printed a holder to keep things a little more even and consistent (don't want it shifting around) and moved to AA LiPo. This certainly opened up space.


It is not as space saving as Kevin's board is and I have not been able to run this in the wild yet, so excited to try it out. I will update when I can.

[bob the builder]

I took a look at the switch. Looks great, except for the price. The 7A version that you have ends up at 61Euro with shipping (about $65US). The KMC 15A switch with built in resettable fuse runs about half of that. A few minutes and you could pot it, getting double the capacity at half the price...

[salmon]

Yeup, just sharing what I found. Kevin’s stuff is great.