The I-400 ran its first trials in my small pond and it did not go as planned. The vent was not working and I could not empty the ballast tank so I added a weight to the deck making the boat negative and sent it across the pond when a huge boil and splash happened and no sub. I had run into a very large Koi stopping forward momentum and the boat sank. After retrieving the boat I fixed the valve and set the boat to slightly negative and let it go and let it sink, then I purged the tank and the boat came to the surface with 80% of the deck dry and that is all I was trying to achieve. I forgot to put a flow re-stricter on for the air line to empty the ballast tank and I think I can get 2 or 3 dives with one fill. This is the first sub I have completed using a ballast system and I will need to make some minor changes to it before combat. I put the Type IX in the pic's to show how big the I-400 is. You can see the control linkages on the outside like a RC plane. I found that you will be less likely to get a leak using long stuffing tubes for the controls verses internal linkages with very short stuffing tubes. The snorkel is the vent for the ballast. The longer tube is the antenna tub and the one behind it is the power for the radio.The antenna tube is about 16" long and you will drive the boat with about one inch out off the water like a periscope. I will post more when I get to run real trials on a full sized pond.
The brass nib on the back of your I-400 there was a Deck gun there, have you considered making one as decoration to cover up the brass nib? Can you please show the lay out how you arranged the compartments items in side your sub?
Always thought that a combat sub that works was the Pinnacle of engineering and building skill in our hobby. Great job.
so your sub is water tight then? using only the water that you suck into the ballast to help dive ? this is terrifying, where can I get one lol also how do you find the response from the sub underwater ? im assuming that you don't go under a to a point where the antenna is submerged correct?
I was working on a submersible drone for a Senior Design Project, and tested a 72Mhz VG600 in the local pool down to 12' - although I couldn't guarantee the quality of the signal, it operated a servo without issues...
that's interesting, do you know why the old radios work better ? is it something to do with the wave length of the signal ???
Yes, it is entirely due to wavelength. Lower frequencies are better at penetrating through water, higher frequencies are more easily blocked. The trade-off is data rate. A modern 2.4ghz radio has a lot of signal checking and other stuff in addition to the requested servo positions, which older radios just don't get.
For surface ships a good 2.4ghz set is the preferred one. Older 75mhz radios are still useful but have much longer antennas and as was stated in the post above not as much data in the signal.
Update, IT WORKS! After my last post things were not going well for this boat so I put it on a time out (not scrapping it) and worked on my Mogami. Now that Mogami is done I went back to the sub and after I had thought of a solution for the 3 problems the boat was having (massive leak,ballast tank losing air,Ballast tank not emptying when I opened the valve). First one took a little time but it was the wrong glue and not using fiberglass resin on the wood for the rubber gasket to bond to. Second was I put too many drain holes in the tank and if the boat rocks, dives or surfaces the air exited the tank sinking the boat so I plugged all but the two in the center and done. Third was I did not have a flow re-stricter on the air line to empty the tank and when activated the air shot right through the water in the tank and out of the boat. I added a wheel collar on the air line to slow the flow of air and now it works. So I put the sub in the center of my four foot deep Koi pond and opened the valve and after 20 seconds the boat was on its way to the bottom, I let it sit for a minute and purged the tank and 5 seconds later it was on the surface. There is enough air to do this twice but it is a single shot boat that will have the air refilled every time it is loaded. Cant wait to see Joes face when I pop up right next to him and four torps below the water line. Did I mention It WORKS!!!!!!
Your not the only one who wants to torp Joe. Excellent work, a phenomenal and deadly ship. Now you need a Achi M6A Seiran torp floatplane and you can torp even more I volunteer my dad as tribute.
