Offcourse she runs well, designed in the Netherlands!!!, looking good Tom.
-
I went underground -
Thank you.
One of the things I experience when building subs, is falling in love with the subject matter. Pouring over every photo, drawing, and build I can find, I begin to see the differences, how it ages, the different paint schemes, changes over time, and just how beautifully made the sub is. The Walrus really is a wonderful sub and you are right, of course she runs well, designed in the Netherlands.If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
-
I call that the hunt, seeking info whatever it takes, books, the web, i don't mind what it takes to build it like the Original.
Why did you build her in silence?, is there a thread anyway about this sub?
Manfred,I went undergroundComment
-
What I can't have my secrets? YOU THINK I NEED TO SHARE EVERYTHING?
There will be a build. I am getting some history on the hull. It was made by Tom Anderson. He pulled several hulls for buddies and this one he had in the dusty bin (it looked like it was an original pull it had a ton of pin holes and resin drips and such. When Tom was done with his pulls, he sold his hull to Scale Shipyard.
The WTC is a piston designed by Will Oudmayer.
If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
-
I will need to create a new posting and stop hijacking this one.If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
-
It was time to prepare some subs for SubFest and I thought the easiest one to work on is my Thunder Tiger Neptune SB-1. It is a fun sub. My batteries would charge, but not seem to hold a charge for long. Well heck, that needs to be replaced. I also needed to add some additional weight from the time when I did change out from lead acid to NiMh. So, this is the time to make adjustments. In removing the sides, there were a lot of cracks in the cylinder.
I can't upload with my old settings......it is now 97 KB maximum. We will see if this works uno plumento please.
OK, so that needs to be replaced. I texted with David Ruiz about the cylinder and he pointed me in the right direction. The cylinder is 120mm ID and 130mm OD length is about 357mm. I also noted that the cylinder was glued in with (I thought) a silicon rubber. I asked David about the gasket or o-rings used. He said the later models had an o-ring and not the gasket mine or most SB-1 used. Since those gaskets were of course no longer made, I am working to see what size o-ring I need.
It turns out that it is not silicon that was used, more likely a hot glue of some type. What a pain to get the cylinder off the end pieces. I destroyed the existing gasket, but took measurements and I had a thought. After drawing it up, I 3D printed new ones in TPU. TPU is said to have great properties for resisting oils and petroleum products.
If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
-
Ah, it's a kind of glue on the picture, i was thinking about a sort of cocoon, carry on Tom
Manfred.I went undergroundComment
-
I have been brought up in the RC submarine community believing what I was told that you do not use similar grease to similar o-rings. For example, silicon o-rings will react badly to silicon grease and non-silicon o-rings (Buna-N type) will react badly to petroleum grease (Vaseline). Can anyone tell me if this is true? And if so, how long before you see a change in the o-ring?
Here is my thinking, I want to test TPU in Vaseline and another in silicon grease. Thoughts?If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
-
This is turning into a pain in my a$$.
I 3D printed some weight molds that I will burn out and cast some lead. As good as everything is going........this should be a breeze.
I measured several times, but with the cylinder out I was able to get a much more accurate cut line.
Cutting it did not end well. It was perfect up until the last 1/4 and the blade veered off and in the worse direction. It cut into the side I want to use by 1/8". Cr@p. So, I will sand it even and see if it will work. a 1/16" off each end hopefully will be no big deal.
I could not find my vaseline, so I will skip testing with it. If I find the tub of it, I will update.
A spare gasket was cut up for testing.
Then put one in silicon grease.
It looks like an alien egg sack on the side of the pill container. It is completely covered.
Then as a for interest, I put another piece in water.
In the mean time I will see if I can find another source for the cylinder. The vendor I got this from is in China and his site says he is on vacation.
Between all this I will test the rest of the systems on the SB-1 might convert this to LiPo and adjust the low battery cutoff.
If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
-
Hi trout,
the testing with the gasket is very interesting, looking firward to seeing how things turn out!
Yes, those "small" improvements seem to grow into bigger efforts on a regular basis... my fine-working delta is drydocked since 2020 and the november since 2018...
So... DO NOT switch the battery!!!
What did you use for cutting the cylinder? Power tool or hand-saw?
I use a sharp wood saw with angled teeth / hand/ and turn the tube clockwise during cutting. A slow technique that takes several turns, but it works for me.
JörgLast edited by JHapprich; 06-20-2026, 04:01 AM.Comment
-
I have used abrasive cutting wheels for cutting pmma. Keep the speed low and a little water brushed on helps keep heat out. I tend to spin the tube up on a lathe to get a nice true edge, but appreciate not everyone has access to one or one of sufficient swing.
PVC is so much less trouble, and tough as old boots, cheap as chips and doesn't develop stress fractures but almost impossible to find in clear form if that's important to you. Polypropylene is better still, but much harder to find in suitable sizes.Comment
-
So it was cut on my chop saw with a 10” blade that is a fine tooth blade made for plastic. The issue was it is a 5” tube and a 10” blade does not cut through it. So in me adjusting for the next cut either I probably held it wrong.
i could not find my blade to cut by hand. Both my hacksaw and jeweler’s saw blades are packed somewhere (we re-did the flooring and everything had to be packed for that).
Why not? I had already changed it to NiMh because I did not have to make a change to the power failsafe, but some of the newer batteries out there allow for longer runs in a smaller package. Now I have a power supply that I can adjust the power cut off. There are a lot of guys that have made the change to LiPo. Maybe I will go LiFe batteries.
What is your concern or thoughts? I would really like to hear you out just in case I am being an idiot (which is not unheard of for me).Last edited by trout; 06-20-2026, 12:47 PM.If you can cut, drill, saw, hit things and swear a lot, you're well on the way to building a working model sub.Comment
-
Haha, heck no, go ahead. You took my comment too serious!
I really only wanted to add that a minor overhaul can easily turn into a large makeover when you address too many things with regard to the upcoming event you want to have the boat ready for.
LiFe or NUCLEAR will be just fine.
JörgComment
-
LiFe is definitely the way to go as a 4s battery will give you 12.8volt instead of a 3s Lipo's 11.1v, so much closer to the original lead acid or NiMh voltag. They're also more stable and more tolerant to low self discharge than lipo. The tradeoff is they're a little less energy dense than Lipo, but still far more so than lead acid or Nimh.Comment
Comment