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Finally, after building many Virginia-class hull kits for others, I've finally got my own up and running.
I've built mine as the USS Texas. Although there are no distinguishing marks designating the real boat, I'm going to go ahead and put the boat number on the sides of the sail anyway—SSN 775.
These first pics are of the modified pumpjet propulsor. Modified from my Seawolf pumpjet with a new propulsor and no post stators.
The real boat may not have the spinner stripe around the dunce cap, but since the whole thing is black, I wanted a way to be able to tell at a glance while it is in the water if it is spinning. This does it, and it looks cool too.
These are of the boat just after getting trimmed out in my pool.
These next images are from taking it down to the Carmel pond on Father's Day for Alpha Trials and trimming it out for that super buoyant water they put in there. She ran like a dream. She's super fast compared to my Seawolf. Turns very tight radii, and H\held periscope depth for pretty long runs once set at the proper speed—without a ADC installed. Now I'm ready for the SubRegatta to arrive and set sail—YEAH!
These next photos are courtesy of Kerry Addington.
I also ran my newly fitted out USS Ohio, SSGN 726. Still have electrical problems I need to sort out, but she sure looked sweet running on her own. And amazingly to me, she runs quite fast and turns very sharp for such a long boat. Again, shots by Kerry Addington and his iPhone. Nice shots, Kerry. The last two are art. Enjoy.
I've built mine as the USS Texas. Although there are no distinguishing marks designating the real boat, I'm going to go ahead and put the boat number on the sides of the sail anyway—SSN 775.
These first pics are of the modified pumpjet propulsor. Modified from my Seawolf pumpjet with a new propulsor and no post stators.
The real boat may not have the spinner stripe around the dunce cap, but since the whole thing is black, I wanted a way to be able to tell at a glance while it is in the water if it is spinning. This does it, and it looks cool too.
These are of the boat just after getting trimmed out in my pool.
These next images are from taking it down to the Carmel pond on Father's Day for Alpha Trials and trimming it out for that super buoyant water they put in there. She ran like a dream. She's super fast compared to my Seawolf. Turns very tight radii, and H\held periscope depth for pretty long runs once set at the proper speed—without a ADC installed. Now I'm ready for the SubRegatta to arrive and set sail—YEAH!
These next photos are courtesy of Kerry Addington.
I also ran my newly fitted out USS Ohio, SSGN 726. Still have electrical problems I need to sort out, but she sure looked sweet running on her own. And amazingly to me, she runs quite fast and turns very sharp for such a long boat. Again, shots by Kerry Addington and his iPhone. Nice shots, Kerry. The last two are art. Enjoy.
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