1/72 OTW Trenchant with 3.5" Subdriver

[Slats]

just surprising considering how long you have had it completed

Yes but had a good playtime with it.
I have a significantly large target fleet too - that I have also have to cut back a bit on.


Here is some more play photos.




Heck I might just keep her!
She is nice!

[Nuke Power]

just surprising considering how long you have had it completed

[Slats]

I do wish I could sail a boat in Australia. Trenchant would make a good first :)
You just moving on to the next boat John?

Yes going all out now on the Collins and have Joel Stadnick's Permit arriving soon. I'd like to have both running well for Summer (that's December here).
Add to that my numerous targets and I decided to let he go. Trenchant has been largely an experimental boat for me - the tiles on the GRP plus the pump jet - wanted to give something new ago. Its been a boat that I slotted into a gap I had due to some local supplier failures.

Best
John

[Nuke Power]

I do wish I could sail a boat in Australia. Trenchant would make a good first :)
You just moving on to the next boat John?

[Slats]

A great day sailing with TF72 at Manly Dam

Had a fantastic day out with the guys at Task Force 72 with Trenchant.

Weird that I actually had to "manually" reset the M-tronics ESC - after about 20 minutes sailing the unit I think had a programing glitch and cut all FWD propulsion. Resetting the ESC did the trick. (Anyone else have this glitch?)

I had a real 1/72 scale RN "Loyal" class tender that accompanied me. I played chicken - no deeper than PD in these waters - where the tender and sub are is really deep.

No leaks and no problems got to love the SD with LPB "snort system".

Best

John

Backing out slowly



Getting up close to Loyal tender


Loyal doing some touch parking


Guys given my considerable fleet and another 4 subs within it, I will be selling Trenchant complete ready to run - Australian buyers only as I don't plan on shipping her OS and the Frequency 36MHZ is legal here. If interested PM me.

Best

John

[Slats]

more bigger pictures within the thread.


Here is the Subdriver in the sub on the bench.



Next is the Engineering space of the Subdriver. Note the use of Mid sized Hi Tec servos. Even though these are mid sized Hi-tec calls them micro.
These have exactly the same torque as the Futaba S148 normal sized servos, so they can push with ease the 1/8" push rods.

Specs are:
HITEC HS-81
SUB MICRO SERVO
Torque (4.8/6.0V): 2.6/3.0kg.cm
Speed (4.8/6.0V): .11/.09sec/60deg
Size (LxWxHmm): 30x12x30
Weight (g): 16.6

I like these as my local hobby store sells these for the same price as a regular servo, the size is attractive as I simply hate too much clutter in there.






Finally here is the forward battery compartment. The tape used here is I found that ever since I shortened the BT by an inch the O'ring seal on the ballast tank (whilst still fitting snug and being air tight) seems a bit looser.

Note that the 3" WTC I have for the battery compartment has its rear 3" end cap connected to the BT 3.5" end cap at the lowest position. This is done to keep weight in low position.



Also note in the WTC photos the use of velcro to hold down the WTC. The velcro is expoxied to the lower hull halves. The WTC also has in the ballast tank a small 1/8" hole to line up with a 1/8" brass indexing pin to align the cylinder up in the boat.

[Kazzer]

Yeah it is so stop stealing it!

Weak Knee'd

How about this one? Sounds like Merriman?

[Nuke Power]

Yeah it is so stop stealing it!

[Kazzer]

Damn! I'm good!! (Isn't that Merriman's line?)

[Slats]

Wow that worked - now that is a cool feature of this forum!
Thanks Mike.

John

[Slats]

I am going to have a go here at adding the pictures (thumbnailed before) from my Album...so if you have seen these before- you have!

In the test tank


As you can see here she is still TOO positive with a full propel charge and fully flooded ballast tank


The tile work on this boat is Evergreen styrene tiles - glued on with Green ZAP CA. These are glued on in groups of tiles no more than around a square inch at a time.

[Slats]

I am going to have a go here at adding the pictures (thumbnailed before) from my Album...so if you have seen these before- you have!

In the test tank


As you can see here she is still TOO positive with a full propel charge and fully flooded ballast tank
[IMG][/IMG]

The tile work on this boat is Evergreen styrene tiles - glued on with Green ZAP CA. These are glued on in groups of tiles no more than around a square inch at a time.

[Slats]

I like being able to remove battery without disconnecting the complete sub driver. That's one thing I like about the 3.5 design, over the other SDs......

Yes very good point, my on / off switch is the simple removal of a positive plug (which is waterproofed) off its pickup on the external battery compartment end cap.

That said if the SD with all internal pwr hooks up etc is inside the SD, depending on how much access you have I find its not that difficult to take off the forward batt end cap (with the boat on the stand of course) and change batteries that way. I have to say though I am pretty anal about checking my gear, so if I need a new battery I have typically ran the sub for quite a while, and like a high performance piece of gear I retreat to the pits to make sure its all OK and take her out for some rest and inspection.

I'll show you how I do the waterproofing of the external hookups with some more photos later. Its very simple and it works!

Best
John

[toppack]

I like being able to remove battery without disconnecting the complete sub driver. That's one thing I like about the 3.5 design, over the other SDs. :)
Also gives more options in weight positioning.
(I realize it needs to be all in one assembly for the very Small versions, tho.)

[Slats]

David,
I'd like one, as I feel a moulding would be so much better than the way I affixed mine together. That said they way I have it ain't broke - it works just fine.

If not commercially viable - don't worry about - I complete understand and I am sure others will too. We live in the real world.

The 3.5" Subdriver could easily be coupled to an SLA in the wet area. I choose a NimH pack as I have a 7.2 V motor in the 3.5" SD I have, and like the idea of using the 7.2V bat pack over going wet (and I must say heavier), with the SLA.

Having the battery pack section join the ballast tank, just makes IMO the whole SD look neat and tidy as one whole package. Indeed that's what I love about the original 3" D&E Subdriver is that its so neat and tidy. Of course that SD has the electricals inside, here in mine they are external.

Best
John