1/96 Scale Ships Akula

[Guest]

An idea I had for

An idea I had for the Vanguard was to place thrusters through the fixed part of the rear vanes. The image shows my rough idea, with the areas in blue showing the water jet tubes. These could be fed via centrifugal pumps, which will give lots of thrust whilst maintaining a stealthy look.



Andy

[Rogue Sub]

Wow you would have to

Wow you would have to have some thick planes aswell. How much thrust do you think you would get out of a smaller tube like that. Try it out. Not sure what youd get on a 70" model though.

[talwar]

Not a good idea I

Not a good idea I think.
They always place such thrusters on a place where the water runs as slow as possible. That's why they are placed on the narrow parts of the hull. The water is being pushed away not so much in these places so it's going relatively slow. The "fat" part of the hull has to displace a lot more water at an equal speed, so the water will have to move a lot faster. Around your diving planes the water runs fast, since the edge is pushing it away a lot more than the slender part of your aft hull. This will make the thruster less efficient at higher speeds.

Again that's the theory. I'd like to see you try that for real! Then we'll know if the theory is correct or not. Not sure what the effect of such a narrow tube would be either.

[Guest]

Well the pipes are only

Well the pipes are only for rough illustration. The vanes on the vanguard are very chunky indeed, and you could pretty much make them hollow, no problem with flow then.

My idea was more for low speed working when the model is used in a small pool or pond, avoiding a lot of backwards/forwards shuttling about.

Higher speeds is what the rudder is for. At the end of the day if you want something nimble and manoeuvrable choose something short and stout instead of long and narrow.

Here is a good video of a Typhoon fitted with thrusters-

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7-HVKTNxI0s

Andy

[corsaire]

>>>>>>>>>>Vladimr is a subcommittee member.

>>>>>>>>>>Vladimr is a subcommittee member. He makes, in my opinion, the most accurate Akula kit on the market. <<<<<<<<<<<

I would agree except for the very sharp stern taperimg on this model.
Per Deep Sea Designs plan and othe pics I've seen on the web, the real
Akula doesn't have this very sharp tapering of the stern, almost pencil like, the real stern is more subtle short tapering.
Perhaps Vladimir would need to correct this.

Corsaire

[wayne frey]

Deep Sea design plans are

Deep Sea design plans are dated, and not as accurate. The photographs of the Akula II in drydock in my book pretty much validate Vladimirs hull, in very close detail.
Drawings are always helpful. Photographs are pretty much definative.

The Alfa drawings from Deep Sea Design also show a hogner shape to the Alfa taper. Again, in my book, the Alfa is well photographed in drydock and clearly shows a straight taper.

[clive]

Any particular size you want

[quote]Any particular size you want that Sierra in? Maybe go for 1]

Hi Chris

I am in the UK but I was intersted in the Sierra that you apparently make. Do you sell these and if so how much for a poor retired old UK pensioner.

Clive

[corsaire]

Rudder shafts size (diameter or width)

Nuke Power

Do you know the size of the rudder and plane shafts ?
diameter or width?

Thanks

Corsaire

[brady_d]

Re: Rudder shafts size (diameter or width)

Nuke Power

Do you know the size of the rudder and plane shafts ?
diameter or width?

Thanks

Corsaire

I measure 3mm on mine, and all four use the same size shaft.

[corsaire]

Then, Vladimir was right.

3mm

Then, Vladimir was right.

3mm seemed too narrow to me.

Where do you find 3mm ID collar size to build the jokes?

Tx

Corsaire

[Rogue Sub]

you make your own

you make your own

[Rogue Sub]

Well I have been asked

Well I have been asked to add some more photos of my linkages so here they are.

I also finally took the time to finish the masts, water markings, safety rails, and start the low pressure blower (LPB) for the boat.
The only component of this kit I have left to install is the bow planes and that is way at the bottom of the list. Honestly after the rudder modification the boat drives like a champ. I don't even use a pitch controller with this model and I can sit at PD with good control. Of course bow planes would improve that as well but, I am very satisfied with how the model runs. I can cut the throttle to where she barely moves and hunt underwater till the transmitter battery dies. Only other thing is I want to add a little buoyancy to the model. As is I am slightly negative buoyant and I want to know that if all else fails it will drift back up eventually.

Also of notable mention is that I have installed a LPB into the model. It is one of the air pumps offered at www.caswellplating.com I purchased the large and small one to try them both out. So far I have only played with the smaller one. It is about the size of a quarter and has a nice humm o it while running. It really does remind me of the real thing on the big boys. Any way, I did some bath tub testing with a hose routed into the bottom of my ballast tank and the vent out of the water. I applied a six volt battery to the leads I made and timed how long it took to get the boat to the surface. After six trials the time averaged out to 1min 10sec. It also had a real nice creep up (just like the real ones). I see no need to go to the larger pump for my tank size (57.6 cubic in). Perhaps I will use it when I get a larger model like the OHIO.
Tomorrow I will go to Radio Shack and pick up a micro switch to control the pump and finish the assembly. More to come.


A shot of the stern with the top on.


Here is a shot with the top removed. You can see the two guide bushings to give the rods strength on the black abs plastic. Also for the stern planes you can see I soldered to collets together to join them. This allows me to adjust each one independently if necessary.


Another angle of the same stuff


Finally adding all those decals!! What a difference. I decided to not add the "parade dress" stickers and only used the ones you would see on the boat when it was normally at sea.


A shot of all the masts finally installed. I think I may have messed one of the colors up but no big deal I can change it easily enough when I am for sure. They should certainly make PD a lot easier and they look great. Why the heck do Russians need so many masts. Also you can see in the bottom right my LPB test setup.


Here is a close up of the pump with a sub micro e-flite servo I Ca'd to the side. I will glue the micro switch to the side as well so that it is all one neat little package. In my big 3.5 WTC this little baby take up no room at all.


Routing the plumbing for the LPB. Should have it all ready to go tomorrow.

[brady_d]

And YOU tried to tell

And YOU tried to tell me that I shouldn't go with a pump! I knew I was on to something. Looks terrific. Nice to see how you used screws on holding the top/bottom hull together, that's what I was going to do too. Looks good.