Hi,

I was wondering what i could do with old walmart sub parts. I am about to strip my seawolf's electronics for i have no use of them now. I have recently destroyed it's transmitter due to radio failure and shortage. Can i hook a 2ch radio into a watertight container and hook up hte motors from the wally sub to the scratchbuilt sub? I was thinking i would make a dynamic diver.

> Can i hook a 2ch radio into a watertight container and hook up hte motors from the wally sub to the scratchbuilt sub? I was thinking i >would make a dynamic diver.

I'm not sure I get you. You mean take a 2-channel r/c receiver board, place into a watertight capsule, and put it into a kit hull or PVC pipe?

Two channels might be pretty limiting, but I guess you might try creating a dynamic diver with forward/reverse and left/right functions--then make it diving by giving it enough of an at-rest downward angle that when you engaged forward drive, it naturally dove; and when drive was stopped, it floated back toward the surface. You might make use of fixed-fin angles to achieve this two-channel boat.

Thats what i was thinking. Last timei did this i couldnt get it to dive because i tried going totally "scratchbuilt" by using peanut butter cups. It had lots of bouyancy so i had to use this 2 in diameter prop for a tiny 4.5 volt rx. It moved at about 3 knots. Never dove though[] Can servos run wet?

I'm having success with wet servos, yes--though I can't tell yet how much of a lifespan to expect; I'm just planning to replace my servos (reappropriated r/c car motors) on a regular basis.

I think Turbobearcat posted on using tool dip: goop you dip your tools in to create handles. I'm just using silicone caulk.


>had lots of bouyancy so i had to use this 2 in diameter prop for a tiny 4.5 volt rx. It moved at about 3 knots.

In that case I tend to try weighting it to ride lower, or removing as much material as I can from above the waterline to reduce the 3-d "footprint" that surpasses the sub's weight when a dynamic diver takes the plunge.

I was wondering if you could do anything with the seawolf's body. The walmart sub seawolf. Right now im about to place an order for this micro sub. I think ill put silicone around the wires of the seawolf's motors, and hook them up. I dont know what ill do with the long shaft though.

And one more thing. I noticed that for cheap say 10$ rc cars the rx only go 5in down then quit got any experience in expanding rado depthage?

Got any pics of your projects or progress?

>I noticed that for cheap say 10$ rc cars the rx only go 5in down then quit got any experience in expanding rado depthage?


Really? You've had more luck than I've had with r/c car boards while they're submerged.



>Got any pics of your projects or progress?

Try the "Convert This" topic. I didn't start it, but posted several Seawolf SSN-21 pictures. It's a Trumpeter Seawolf 1/144 shell into which I've put PVC encasing my batteries, boards, and drive motor--with external connections for its wet servos, antennas, and on/off.

Oh, ok. Cool. I have another question, i have always been trying containers with twist seals or caps. But my problem was that if i had the engine and servo hooked in there i have all these problems with the shafts. Because when i try to seal it by twisting the caps back on i end up twisting the motorshaft and wires and i get it jumbled up. How do you make a sealable cap where you just "pop" it in. Like pushing it on after you get the shaft and pushrod through there tubes. Like the clear WTC with there pop seals with O-rings on em. But a homemade version.

I've tried bottle cap WTCs before, if that's what you meant. To solve the problem mentionned you simply have to build an electronic component tray extending from the inside of the cap. That way, when you screw on the cap, the tray holding the electronics(wires, motor shafts) get screwed into the WTC tube instead. The only disadvantage with this system is that you cannot extend wires or linkages from the bottom of the tube (i.e: the other side of the WTC).

Well i was going to try using the walmart motors that are geared and waterproof for a scratchbuilt sub. But how do you make a hull scratchbuilt that even looks like a sub. All the ones i make is like a bottle with motors. But what i was going to od is waterproof the 1 or 2 chips and make a divable sub. Im trying to make a scratch built ballast tank out of a nasal spray bottle. I dont know if its possible. Also is there a way to salvage the walmart seawolf's body. Like buy a good radio and hook up some micro servos from rc airplanes and make bowplanes for it. Once i get the money i will try this. And are there any good 3ch radios that wont get wires ripped off of them. I cant seem to not rip any wires from rx's.

Also how can you make scratch built waterproof shafts? So that propshafts and servo pushrods are waterproof?

You have some great ideas, GreenAce. Regarding your question on a diveable sub, typical r/c design is the cylinder you're
talking about--plus a hull around it (that's "wet hull" construction). The idea kind of mimics the subs at least of WWII
that, having flat topside decks, had free-flood areas under the deck and other places. I don't think nukes have as many
because, around WWII, free-flood areas, with rows of holes, were found to cause considerable noise and make a sub easier to
detect. Wet hull r/c sub construction also vaguely mimics navy subs' ballast-tank placement; while not free-flood areas
because they hold onto a set quantity of water, I think nowadays still navy subs' MBTs (main ballast tanks)are
designed open at the bottom.

I think whether you can salvage a Seawolf for such a design depends on whether you can find small enough r/c board or boards.
I won't try to convert my Revell Skipjack 1/230 unless I find a board that can be rolled up like a tortilla.! But the
Wally Seawolf is nice and fat for a footlong sub; I think equipment I've seen in my local hobby shop would fit it.

About waterproofing the chips...I would only attempt that as an experiment to see how long before trapped heat burned up
transistors or melted the sealant.

About sealing moving parts...only prop shaft, in my case...look at your salvaged r/c sub motors , where the shaft for
forward drive enters the detachable end of the motor housing (not the wired end). If you unscrew that plastic part from
the clear motor housing, you find a little pot of goo: silicone grease. That's called the stuffing box.

Notice:
1. the opening in the front and back of the box are exactly sized to the prop shaft to keep out water with nice, rigid
parts.
2. where the plastic part can't be sized to the prop within a tolerance of microns, the silicone grease is used because
it can be pushed by water pressure to seal the inner prop shaft opening tighter; but the grease is thick enough it won't
fill up your motor casing. A little water may still get through atomized, but...oh well ! It's slow enough you can clean
that casing out every few runs if you're careful to seal it up well when you put it back.
3. I've read submarines tend to have that disc you see in the stuffing box, that annular ring with the shaft through it.
I guess the idea is water, when it fills the end of the stuffing box, smooshes the ring onto the grease evenly, improving
the seal as the sub encounters increasing water pressure.

Sub technical trivia...here is a submarine part I have never heard given a name: what is the technical term for the
horizontal slash--replacing fleet boats' limber holes--seen at the base of (for example) Barbel-, Washington-, Ethan Allen-,
or Lafayette-class subs' free-flooding deck superstructures?

I was wondering about the nasal spray ballast tank. I drew this out i dont know how exactly it would work. Im still working on the valve part and pump any ideas? Dang it!! it wont accept it. I drew it on microsoft paint. My cam has too big of pics. SO i cant draw it out by hand either. Well if you really want to see any pics i guess i could send it as an e-mail. That is for if i have any pics that i really have to show.

Well i gutted the seawolf. Right now im trying to cut off the battery holder i might use my sodering gun to do that. Im going to see if i can make a 2ch for a first go. It will have downward dive planes that are permanent. Then i will make a wetservo which will turn my rudder. Im still working on it. Im going to use one of my tank's drive motors to power the sub. This sub is going to be slow. im using 3 1.2 volt rechargable batteries.

To post pictures you simply need to save it in jpeg format (MS paint can do that), also be sure that you don't overload the size limit.

Bow planes permanent down angle...gotcha. If your dynamic diver is slow, though, you might want also to trim the hull with a permanent down bubble of a few degrees; then your diving power wouldn't be dependent just on waterflow past the fins, but would also get some thrust from the forward drive.

What is few degrees down bubble? I heard it in the movie down periscope thats about it. Also can i resize a picture? Before when i was on Wattflyer i could post like 10-20 pics. But i noticed they were only like 29 mb each too. Can MS resize the pics? If i can size them small enough i will send pics.

Hey, also i just read a forum way in the back talking about using christmas tree balls as a cone for the front of a sub. I have this 1-2 in wide PVC pipe that i was thinking of using. How could i seal this pvc pipe without using a screw on cap?

29 megs is a BIG picture![X(] You can resize using MS paint or adjust the image setting of your camera before uploading them to your PC.

As for the PVC you'd need to get endcaps with O-rings that fit your desired diameter, look for them in the plumbing aisle of your hardware store.

Ok i will try the resizing to get the pics and stuff. So what would hold the o-ring in place to keep it watertight?

Well here are my pics. I resized them on the cam i couldnt figure out how to on the MS. I have to post several pics because the lowest i got is like 70 kb.

I am not sure if the seawolf's hull is big enough i may just cut off the cone part and keep the tail plus the mast. Then i will scrap the rest. I migh use the whole WTC as the hull. I odnt know if it has enough weight ot keep it down. Also i was using a soddering gun to cut so it looks kinda bad.

>What is few degrees down bubble?

In other words, don't adjust your sub to sit on an even keel when it's sitting still. Instead, "trim" it--for our dynamic divers, that means adjust the placement of weights and/or foam--so that the front end points down five degrees, maybe ten (where zero degrees would be horizontal...ninety degrees would be a straight down nosedive...so you can figure five or ten degrees is slight).

"Up/Down bubble" refers to angle of the boat (not of the planes, by the way, that's separate ). If I'm not mistaken, in US Navy diving protocol the conn may order "x degrees down" to start a dive or affect the rate of descent. I don't know if it's required or optional, as I think the conn might instead just order "Make your depth xxx feet."

I would think "Make your depth..." would be mandatory, but the degrees-down command would be for starting to dive with depth as yet unspecified.