Has anyones tried to create some efficient ballast tanks? I was wondering how i could, for if i used air it would requre a compressor eventually.perhaps i could make small compressor and tank (like uber micro) for it to use to push out the water? I think a piston design would require motors too large to and other systems to be used. I would just need a very small pump. I was looking at c02 motors but i think they might be too small and be modified to compress.
You wouldn't need a compresser, a CO2 cylinder would suffice. you would only blow the tanks at the end of a sortie when it is time to surface. This would enable you to always have a full CO2 charge when it is time to fire. There are commercially available cylinder type ballast tanks, but I think they are too big for 1/144 scale subs, they don't leave enough room for the other stuff necessary to run a combat boat although I haven't looked into them too much. J
You might just want to take a look at some 144 scale plans I have some for a XXI u boat and those boats are SMALL the only bigger subs tend to be the Japanese Carrier subs bet even in these once you put battery drive, radio etc, you would be really hard pressed to put anything else, a simple ballast tank would be 2 balloons one forward one aft that get filled by a separate "gun" firing circuit when needed. ( just a additional servo, a popit valve and some hose to the ballons, zip tied on or held on with elastic to the tubes). good luck, keep us up to date if you come up with something.
Send Bob Pottle a message, he has a 1/144 I-400 class(OOP BC Hull) with co2 blown ballast tanks, he is an expert builder and a single bb cannon was too much for it,making the model too unstable in turns, he still has it and I think he may be converting it to the tanker version to run as convoy, which will be interesting as it's hard to shoot at something submerged. EDIT: If you look in the NATCF and/or NABS forums under Shearwater Show the model is sitting in front of the firing box, just behind it to the side is a Surcouf under construction(Steve Hill's?)
Turns out they are making a mold of a modified I-400 that will be more stable but visibly in scale, more submerged volume i think, so it is worth looking at that build thread here.
Turns out they are making a mold of a modified I-400 that will be more stable but visibly in scale, more submerged volume i think, so it is worth looking at that build thread here.
