Funkenstein

The Glomar Explorer expedition was sometime in the early to mid '70s, and used the codename Operation Jennifer. Deepsea
retrievals are extremely dificult, as one could imagine, although from my own scientific experience, I'd rather deal with an
increase in pressure than with vacuum....

BTW, does anyone know if a mod of the other props (dive/surface, rt/lt) motors is effective or even possible? I was thinking
that might be a way of squeezing a little more performance out of this thing. I've done a lot of "cosmetic" work, like adding
some small LED's, powered by watch batteries. Now I'm getting ready to maybe do some painting to make the sub more
visible in murky waters.

I love this forum!

THE UNDERTAKER

[X(]WOW FUNK thats sum AWESOME ship crane!!!!!!!!! can u remember the name or class of the soviet sub it tries 2 rescue its ok im in2 soviets bigtime.especially the KILO diesel. yep these sure great threads.those leds sound pretty handy. undertaker

CrunchyFrog

Mods to l/r or dive prop...like the rudder mod ?

Details:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_13..._8/key_/tm.htm



The salvage attempt was made on a Golf-class sub, K-129:

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1305/features/ship2.htm

Page 1 describes the Kursk sinking in 2000.

THE UNDERTAKER

hey there crunch,, thanx 4 lettin me no bowt the Golf class sub that went down .fascinating read. cheers bro.
my AKULAS electrics are working again bro..its come bak 2 life...keep u posted on progress..undertaker

CrunchyFrog

> I've done a lot of "cosmetic" work, like adding some small LED's, powered by watch batteries

I did LEDs with watch batteries too...made night runs awesome ! Could see the LED a hundred feet away surfaced, good range underwater too (made the water glow). In bright light, though, no help--saw the sub easier than the light.

I hope your sub stays steady Undertaker...mine slipped back into its "mood" sometimes without even touching water! I think perhaps the water had saturated materials that appeared to be dry but weren't completely...though I had given it a week drying at one point. Best of luck...

sykdevil

My Feedback: (1)

anyone seen the USS Shark and USS Gator at their walmart, found one of these in my walmart, the controller looks different from the old ones. Seems like a new lineup for 2007, was wondering if anybody has a review of it compared to the old versions.

bfrunner

I just bought a USS Gator. It has a rudder instead of the side thrusters for turning. I haven't used it yet but will post pics of it with some details later on.

THE UNDERTAKER

leds sound COOL crunch.hope if do get AKULA up n runnin agen,night runs sound great.can u download pics of leds set up n how u did itplease.KILO on the agenda now,full steam ahead check yor email bro.hope u soon sailin yor skipjak no joke i beleve u can convert it bro.beleve in u.

CrunchyFrog

Why thanks! It's not going to happen fast...I don't even have a workbench at home. Feel like a Kazakh nomad roaming my house setting up wherever seems most appropriate on a particular day. Thanks though !

I've got several LED photos available--look under the RC Submarines forum, near the bottom of the page: "Sub Lights" thread.

The first light I tried was a bike reflector, almost too big for the sub. If the LED was a ship's running light, the bike reflector would have been a lighthouse.

Also check out http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_13...page_47/tm.htm
halfway down the page--you can see the LED piggyback on my sub.

Wild Foamy

POOOOOOP!!!

we dont have walmart over here the best weve got is ASDA but i dont think they sell them there [:@]

ive tried ebay but they are going for $40 and another $40 to post it over to my side of the pond [:@]

CrunchyFrog

Sorry to hear it, Wild Foamy...

I don't have a sub right now and my favorite model, the older Wallys, cost twice what they did when they were being manufactured. Ebay sellers want $15 or $20 postage, which is not something I want to pay. Yuck.

gulfstreamI

Ahhh! A new beginning. This post reminds of the old Wal-mart sub thread. Page 1 to be exact.

Here we go with the pics. This USS Gator/Shark from Wally world is the 4th version of the Motorworks sub.
New Hull design. New steering system, new controller, old surface/dive system, old three blade prop. The new hull looks like an experimental design. The stern section reminds of those mini rescue subs. The dive fins also have a "T" slot to improve the removal of those trapped bubbles when you balance this sub for it's first dive.
You guys do the review , mods & testing phase. The ponds & pools are frozen on my end. Bath tubs & aquariums won't give an accurate review for this new version of the Wally sub.

subhunter01

looking for a sub buddy woh has some time and some good knowledge on moding the new willy sub and willing to sell one fully moded b/c i dont have time to do it my slef and my son wants one bad so if any one can help me let me know thanks

CrunchyFrog

That's a great lineup, Gulfstream !

Wish I could match it, but mine always get played hard and then take a deep-six after two months. Attrition is high in Frog's fleet...I have raised the level of Town Lake with my losses.

How much you want to bet the angled Gator bow was inspired by Wally subbers complaining the sub is porpoising--and not quite understanding all the dynamics? I expect Motorworks angled the bow for a planing surface to help the positively-buoyant sub stay under when making headway.

The up-angled fins took a lot of blame in the Wally LA's. But any dynamic diver is positively buoyant; it's going to come back up before all forces are neutralized. As for the bow pitching up: Even if your sub is balanced, the lengthwise center is not necessarily the COG or COB; assuming starting with COB over COG, I would think waterflow from moving forward might make the bow pitch up, if COG is aft of amidships. I think much of the bow-up tendency on the LA comes from having more mass in the stern than the bow--and drag on that oversized sail.

Indeed, the edge-upturned Chicago fins help pitch the boat up. Just not as much, I think, as used to be suggested.

G4Dude

I posted some new mods in the "Motorworks Sub Mod Manual" thread, mostly radio mods if anybody is interested. Should have posted them here I guess!

THE UNDERTAKER

hey crunch.done the resealing on akula.all dryed out n transmission n reciever working with some distance 1nce again. hoping 2 put it all back 2gether & get it out there again this week.hopefully with more success this time.
love what u done with skippy.great colours bro.
hoping 2get NORTH SEAS FLEET KILO soon bro keep u posted. undertaker

RSEA

I am the new and first time owner of a Walmart Submarine! I just picked up the new USS GATOR today, it is identical to the one in the photos posted further up the page by Gulfstream. The Gator is basically green as you can see in his photos and the companion sub, USS SHARK is purple! I chose the Gator because I didn't really like the purple color of the Shark.

Even though this is my first Wally sub, I am not a stranger to them, I have seen the Seawolf and Dallas models, but just never bought one... I sprang for the Gator when I saw that it had a TRUE rudder, instead of the side thruster props for turning. This should hopefully allow for the sub to turn well while it is under way. The surrounding motor cage has larger openings, allowing more water to flow inside of it and out the rear, which should give it better performance than the earlier models had. The hull also looks like some sort of experimental craft, so scale appearence issues are not a hinderance to purists.

I plan to make the suggested Silicone sealing, receiver and transmitter antenna mods. I read Saildog's posts about making the receiver antenna TRIPLE the length of the stock antenna (think he said he was using a 27Mhz transmitter). My transmitter is the 49Mhz version, anyone know if Triple the length would work better than Double length with this frequency?

Am, curious to see how this little sub will perform...will give my input as I experiment with it!

RSEA

I looked up this telescoping antenna on Radio Shack's site:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

Have any of you guys used this specific antenna? It says it has a threaded base designed for high-end RC transmitters...I'll have to look at my Gator's Transmitter and see if it could screw in somehow..

CrunchyFrog

Glad to see someone's taken the plunge with the Gator/Shark sub. I would, but I'm into my current project pretty deep !

Glad you want to dab on the silicone seal from day 1. Just remember, consistency's more important than thickness.

As for double or triple length being optimum for 49 MHz, I haven't a clue, though I had the formula in-hand once from looking it up on the Web.

There's been a lot of questions over the course of the Wally topic over does 49 MHz or 27MHz penetrate water better. Generally, lower frequencies penetrate farther, and of course 27 is about half the frequency of 49. But Motorworks didn't choose those bands for optimum submarine performance--the FCC chose them for RC toys in general. Should 27 penetrate better than 49 ? Yes. Enough better that you can really tell the difference? I can't. But then, I never ran a 27 and a 49 with identical mods side-by-side. THAT would be nice to see somebody do, finally, in this topic !

I went by the RC toys aisle to take a look at the Gator's rudder, and was surprised to find a full rack of Seawolf. None of the green Connys that seem to sell so slow--and none of the new subs they've stocked this year. What's up with that ? Wonder if they ran out of the new model.

THE UNDERTAKER

hey hey.welcome 2wally world,even if its the futuristic sub i havnt long had my chicago / akula.but i STRONGLY recommend the sealant job b4 sailing! i learnt the hard way & still arent back in the water yet,even if i was only in 4 10 seconds take your time & get it rite 1st time sub bro. does any1 no if NORTH SEAS FLEET are on hols or what.....I WANT THE KILO KIT[X(] Y IS THERE NO REPLY COME ON GUYS PICK UP THE PHONE OR REPLY 2 MY EMAIL[>:] PLEASE

RSEA

Here is a top secret photo that was leaked from an Area 51 project testing session.. No specifications are known about the strange looking craft in the photo, other than it is alleged to be rocket powered! Wonder how much the pilot?, in the photo was paid to test fly it..

RSEA

Removed the cover of the new contoller yesterday to have a look inside. Trying to figure out how to attach a telescoping antenna to it.. The antenna connector screw is in the right side handle, the wire is routed out to the top middle of the controller. I'm thinking about trying to attach the telescope antenna to the top of the right side handle. Not sure how to anchor it in place though, maybe drill a hole and tap it to create the proper screw thread for the new antenna. Take a look at the pics for more details of the controller.

I got a small 2.8 oz tube of GE Silicone II Clear Kitchen & Bath sealant from Lowes. It cost about $3.28 and comes with a screw on cap, so no need to purchase a caulk gun for this one. I figure 2.8 oz is more than enough to silicone up on of these subs.

The rudder is spring loaded and at its neutral position appears to have a slight tilt to the port side of the hull. My top Vertical fin, is leaning slightly to the starboard side (kind of like a Killer Whale in captivity)...not sure if that is intended or a defect.. Perhaps someone else who has this sub can let me know if their top fin sits at an angle also? If it is not correct I will try to straighten it.

Will progress as time allows...Have not opened up the submarine itself yet.. Am curious to know how the rudder is actuated, as most little servos cost almost as much as this entire sub did.

RSEA

I put batteries in the both the controller and the sub tonight to test out the electronics and make sure everything was working properly. When I did this I noticed that the battery compartment door on the sub has a semi-clear white gasket that seals the door to the compartment making it water tight (at least it seems it should be water tight). This gasket looks like it is made of silicone, perhaps there will be no need to add extra silicone to seal the battery compartment door...

After disassembling the controller to see what the pc board looked like, I found another one of these silicone looking gaskets which seals the pc board and electronics inside the controller. They must have been trying to make sure that wet hands or a splash of water would not cause the transmitter electronics to get wet.

I did a dry run (out of water) on the sub's stand and both the vertical prop and drive prop function properly. Then I tested the rudder! The rudder is pretty cool[8D]. When you hit the left arrow button, the rudder turns to the left a predetermined amount then stops in place. When you release the button, the rudder then motors to a dead center position. Press the right arrow button, rudder moves a preset distance to the right and stops, release and it motors back to center position. The rudder control is not proportional, but it is self centering! I thought it was pretty slick in operation! It sure appears that it is being moved by a non-proportional servo of some sort....when I get the sub disassembled I will be able to see what is inside it.

There is NO external return spring that is attached to the rudder linkage outside the boat. The "servo" mechanism inside the sub is centering the rudder after you release the turn buttons. Note the pic I posted of the rear of the sub showing the rudder being turned slightly to the port side. This is apparently the position they are in when shipped, but as soon as the rudder is powered up for the first time, it self centers itself, and remains straight thereafter.

I noticed something else too. If you look at the photos I posted of my rudder and then look at the photos posted by Gulfstream of his rudder, you will see they are Different! His rudder has a metal spring on the top of the plastic where the rudder attaches to the shaft. My rudder DOES NOT have any spring there, and the plastic part at the top of the rudder is different than his. There are either two versions of the Gator rudder...or they made a last minute change to the rudder design, and his is the early version and mine is maybe a later version??

I will post new info as I find it.

Captain Nemo12

Perhaps you should read this:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=646737

RSEA

Opened up the Gator tonight. I have attached several pics of what it looks like inside, including the rudder's servo arm. The clear grease around the base of the servo arm and on the vertical thruster motor assembly is stock...I have not applied any silicone yet. There is a metal ballast weight screwed into the bow section, the foam is visible in the pics too. Both battery door and on/off switch are sealed by a semi-clear silicone-like gasket. It looks like these two gaskets do not need extra silicone applied. Perhaps others who have worked on the older Wally subs can chime in here and let me know if there were gaskets like this on the old subs?

Bought a 34 and 3/8" long telescoping antenna from Radio Shack today. Will try to figure out how I am going to attach it to the transmitter...

Did you guys use 22 or 24 gauge wire to extend the antenna inside the sub? It looks to me like the existing antenna wire is 24 gauge. Don't recall if there are any good pics on the old Wally thread showing how to route the extended antenna wire in the sub's hull..

Thought maybe I'd have the sub ready for maiden patrol on Sunday, but doesn't look like I will have it ready to get wet by then. Removing the components from the base of the hull and sealing everything is going to be a pain...that, and trying to remember how everything goes back together again haha Maybe if I don't take it deeper than 8 feet I won't have to be so thorough with the sealing..

And the project continues....