Rick Teskey seaview build

[greenman407]

If you look at previous

If you look at previous pictures of the blue styrofoam placement you can see that I had much of it in the bottom half of the hull, well below the high waterline that we are forced to use. This caused less stability than I wanted to see so I removed much of it and transfered it to the lower part of the upper hull

Stay tuned for the results of these changes.

[greenman407]

When working on your seaview

When working on your seaview ( if you have sealed off the propulsor area ) It is extremly important to secure your drive shafts. If you dont and they become disconnected from the impellors you will have a time and a half getting them back in. Believe me as I am speaking from first hand experience. It appears that the image post on this website just stopped working so I will have to post them later. Dont let the stock market worry you , just keep working on your hobbies!

[greenman407]

Here is the picture of

Here is the picture of the taped up shafts. This is necessary only when the WTC is removed.

Also this was a good test of my new cameras ability to focus very closely to the details that I wanted to show and still remain in focus. Here are a few shots that came out well showing the interior as if you could crawl up inside it.

[greenman407]

http://www.subcommittee.com/forum/icon_biggrin.gif Here we are again

Here we are again with some more angles on the bow



As you can see I paid particular attention to the apearance of the inside of the intake ports. This was very difficult due to the small size of the ports verses the size of my fingers. I was trying to blend the edges so that they did not stick out like a sore thumb. I used bondo applied with the tip of my fingers and then smoothed out with, again a finger , drenched in Laquer thinner, before it set up. After it dried I CAed a small piece of sandpaper onto the end of the eraser on the end of a pencil and did the final sanding. Came out pretty well. And here you see the bondo and putty sanded down before priming on the scoops.

[greenman407]

After many months of constant

After many months of constant interuption I can now say : FINALLY!!! It is done!!! I was able recently to get pretty close on the trim. Using my giant test tank (swimming pool) I got it where it will float in surface trim right in the middle of the top row of windows. However at the same time the stern floats a little lower than I would like. I dont think that there is anything that can be done about it because the submerged trim is perfect and to get the stern to float any higher would require more foam which would upset the submerged trim as it just barely goes under now as I am shooting for having the sail just sticking out of the water. During tests in my pool it was easy to see that it dived very scale like and was very stable and easy to control. So in keeping with my usual routine I made a trip to the lake today but this time I brought along the SEAVIEW!


















How did it run you say? Well you will just have to wait until the next thrilling episode!

[greenman407]

How did she run? Well

How did she run? Well unfortunately its forward speed started to taper off so I new that I had a problem. So I brought her in for an inspection. What I found did not make me happy. It appears that when I installed the impellors I forgot to blue locktight them so they choose that moment to slip.
Oh well, I console myself with the thought that its no big deal. However that means that all the styro has to be removed in the back and the plates that seal off the impellors also has to come off. This time the offending impellors will be treated with more respect especially since they can bite you in the you know what if you dont! Im going to drill and tap an additional stainless set screw and locktight them both. That'll fix ya! So I figure another couple of weeks and we will be on the water again , what with the holidays and the need to order additional set screws. Bear with me. In the meen time lets talk some more about how I trimmed it. Originally I had a nimh 7.2 volt battery installed in the battery WTC. Although it was workable I decided to go with a 3 cell li-po battery for several reasons. One reason was that I wanted more speed, the second was that it was much lighter. If you put the nimh battery in the wtc it will sink like a big rock. If you put the LI-po in its place the wtc will actually float. So then it would be possible to get it to float higher in the water. Another reason is that the lights (most of them) run on twelve volts, so powering them will be easier. Seemed like a no brainer. So observe the following pictures.

In these shots you can see the final placement of styro and lead.





Here is a picture of the battery WTC with the li-po battery and some extra foam that were req. to get it to float where I wanted it





Notice also the battery holder for two AA batterys and a piece of foam carefully sized to offset the weight of the batterys so that with and without the batterys installed no difference in trim will be observed. This battery holder powers the sail marker lights.

In this shot you can see the two pieces of foam in the process of being pushed into position . They go further up inside out of sight like so.









In this shot you can see the AA battery holder and its piece of foam attached to the front of the larger WTC with a long rubber band. Works out well. I also changed the connectors from the main battery to the 3" WTC to deans connectors. All the others are bullet connectors. Spray them all with some kind of corrosion inhibitor.













here we are doing a little size comparison with a Revell 1/72 Gato.

[greenman407]

Here are a few more

Here are a few more shots taken outside by my giant test tank, er, pool.














Well thats a wrap for now.

[greenman407]

After reassembling everything and everything

After reassembling everything and everything seeming to be in good working order I headed out to the lake/pond. After all the usual pre-sailing checks , into the water it went. Rick Teskey, the hull designer was especially interested in the turning radius surfaced as compared to submerged. Well ,the turning radius submerged and surfaced seemed the same. I would say that it was ten foot radius, twenty foot diameter. This surprised me until I thought about it for a moment. Since the stern of the craft sits a little low when surfaced the cadillac fins are more or less under water anyway. It has been said that underwater manueverability of the ship would be reduced by the large surface area of the fins. Because of the crafts light grey color, visibility was no problem as compared to my Albacore which is dark grey. Of course it helps that this ponds water is pretty clear.

[greenman407]

After running for at least

After running for at least 15 minutes it was easy to see that this sub is extremely stable. It dives very regally and scale like. However it does not react to control inputs quickly as does the Albacore which enjoys extreme manueverability and flashy underwater speed. It takes its time about changes in up and down attitude. For this reason finding and keeping periscope depth is more difficult. The sail tends to either casually broach the surface or run just under periscope depth. However , reaction to rudder inputs were immediate and good.Thats when a problem developed. It stopped dead in the water. So I blew ballast to get it back on the surface and the wind slowly blew it ashore. After retrieving it I took it home for closer inspection. Looking at the flashing leds on the speed control told me that the speed control had been overloaded. How was this possible? The speed control is rated high enough to handle two small Graupner 400 motors. Even though the motors are listed to work on 7.2 volts and I am supplying them with 12 volts I hadnt operated it at full speed for very long. Turned out that there is a brass gear that slips onto the motors shaft and it is CAed there. Well one of them came loose and slipped out of contact with the drive gears of the reduction unit. This allowed the motor to speed along unloaded which caused extreme rpms to be reached for too long a period of time and burned up the motor.

[greenman407]

Sooo what to do? What

Sooo what to do? What to do? Well I started by going to the Hobby Lobby website to select and order my new motors.http://www.hobby-lobby.com/speed400.htm
Here you can see all the possibilities. The drive motors that came installed in the Caswell/Dave merriman WTC were the 400s that are labelled 7.2 volts, the 2nd one pictured. I ordered however the first one shown. It is listed as being labelled 6.0 volts. But if you look in the product description it says that they are both rated at 8.4 volts, go figure. It also has more RPMs and more torque, Watts are listed as higher and so are the Amps. I will try them. You will also notice that the third one down is a Rocket 400 for even more power and the forth one is a long can motor for even more. I dont want to overstrain my speed control so we will be conservative to start. Later I will probably hop it up some more with these other motors. Ta Ta for now!

[greenman407]

Sorry that link to the

Sorry that link to the hobby lobby didnt come out, let me try it again, Dang computers!

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/speed400.htm

[Guest]

She looks great Mark ,lets

She looks great Mark ,lets have a shakedown cruise here at the Ocala pond or at the Den.
Try to get Al also to come.
The weather is great and the water is alot clearer.

I have a Dragon Shark to shakedown.

Dave

[Guest]

Really running these motors on

Really running these motors on 12 volts is not a good idea.

I'd recommend some speed 400's wound for running on 12 volts, like SWM supply-

http://www.geocities.com/smallworldmode ... otors.html

[greenman407]

Thank you Subculture for your

Thank you Subculture for your input. Yes I agree with you. I followed the link that you posted to Small world but their 400 motors dont turn anywhere near the rpm that Graupners motors turn. Ordinarily that might not be a problem but in this instance I am trying to increase the vessels speed. As it stands right now its running too slow. If the motors that I just ordered dont do the trick I will purchase Graupners long can 400s that are designed for 12 volts

[greenman407]

Hi Dave(Aquadeep)! Yes indeedy! But

Hi Dave(Aquadeep)! Yes indeedy! But Ive got to get her back together first. I am ready for Devils den! Lets get the Albacore and the Seaview down there and take some video! What do you think about the mid to later part of January?