Tweet
This being my first post I will offer an introduction. I am an active duty sailor stationed in Charleston, SC. I have been stationed on a submarine and am currently involved in Model Warship Combat (see: mwci.org). I have built combat models and now am looking to combine my passion for all things submarine with my hobby.
I can miniaturize all components sufficiently to fit them in a scratch built 1/144 scale hull. The trick in this hobby is that a portion of the skin of the hull is made from balsa wood so as to be penetrable by BB sized projectiles. Meaning it gets a hole punched in it and turns into a mud dart. I know this might be a hard concept to grasp. There are no failsafes to surface the vessel. The vessel will have to be retrieved off the bottom if hit.
I am thinking a "dry hull" is my only viable option. I can get it to seal and be watertight. Then when hit it flood and sinks. I can waterproof any electronic item... no WTC needed for the preservation of equipment. It would just take up valuable weight anyways.
My biggest roadblock is the submersion system. I only need the sail to break the water's surface as far as ballasting purposes go. I would actually prefer that nominal draft is actually decks awash (0.5" depth+-). I need it to be able to maintain a depth of 1 foot maximum even when static. My ballasting system doesn't need to be big. Just reliable. I was thinking that a ballast tank at each end of the sub with a high pressure "micro" gear (or peristaltic) pump to push water in and compress the air in both at once would work. If my depth starts changing (compressed air pushing water out through pump), I can just "bump" the pump to get it back where it needs to be. I was also thinking I could use very small pumps with bladders and a pitch controller too. A boat that small (3lbs submerged) will be EXTREMELY sensitive to small ballasting changing (i.e. a bladder shifting by 1/4").
Mike
I can miniaturize all components sufficiently to fit them in a scratch built 1/144 scale hull. The trick in this hobby is that a portion of the skin of the hull is made from balsa wood so as to be penetrable by BB sized projectiles. Meaning it gets a hole punched in it and turns into a mud dart. I know this might be a hard concept to grasp. There are no failsafes to surface the vessel. The vessel will have to be retrieved off the bottom if hit.
I am thinking a "dry hull" is my only viable option. I can get it to seal and be watertight. Then when hit it flood and sinks. I can waterproof any electronic item... no WTC needed for the preservation of equipment. It would just take up valuable weight anyways.
My biggest roadblock is the submersion system. I only need the sail to break the water's surface as far as ballasting purposes go. I would actually prefer that nominal draft is actually decks awash (0.5" depth+-). I need it to be able to maintain a depth of 1 foot maximum even when static. My ballasting system doesn't need to be big. Just reliable. I was thinking that a ballast tank at each end of the sub with a high pressure "micro" gear (or peristaltic) pump to push water in and compress the air in both at once would work. If my depth starts changing (compressed air pushing water out through pump), I can just "bump" the pump to get it back where it needs to be. I was also thinking I could use very small pumps with bladders and a pitch controller too. A boat that small (3lbs submerged) will be EXTREMELY sensitive to small ballasting changing (i.e. a bladder shifting by 1/4").
Mike
Plus, fixing the sub after being sunk will be a much easier and (in the long run) much less expensive.
The only thing to do after being sunk is dump the water out,patch the holes in the vulnerable skin, and reload/recharge the gun... As long as you have built it properly.
Comment