Submarine Armament

I thought foot-pounds was a measure of torque, a force (pounds) multiplied by a radius (feet). Can anyone check this out? I'm doing last minute packing for a battle today, so I'll be a little too occupied.

 

Use somresser air or a CO2 cartridge. You can make a torpedo out of meatel and fill it with an air compresser. It will be cheap too.

 

Tomas, I am in no way trying to curtail any innovation or the interest that you have with regards to model warship combat but I believe a brief explanation of torpedo technology in our hobby is in order. I am no expert on the topic so if I've made any mistakes in the following, anybody, please feel free to correct me on the topic:

The historic experience is that building locomotive torpedoes to be powered by air requires too large of a size to be appropriate to our scale and ones using a passive gas chamber tend to porpise if not leave the water. Unregulated CO2 cartridges are too unpredictable and powerful to be safe for use as torpedoes.
Thus far, our torpedoes have been essentially projectiles launched out of cannons (with projectiles of steel balls, brass rods, polymer slugs, etc.) although with the surplus technology on the market now, it may be possible to build 0.25" diameter locomotive torpedoes that are electrically powered from hearing aid batteries, driven using pager vibration motors and equipped with a spring-loaded "warhead" to rip a gash in the targeted vessel upon contact. How feasible such a concept is to manufacture in practice and implement in combat is what has yet to be seen. If somebody here is successful, however, it could prove to be a revolutionary addition to model warship combat (and might garner the creator some extra attention if he/she is looking for a job in micro-munitions with an arms or UAV manufacturer).

 

Tomas,

Please take this not as an attempt to stifle creativity, but a helpful reality check.

If you will do a little research, you will find this subject discussed at great length on numerous forums. Tons of "it should be easy to do" comments from those who have precisely -0- experience in model warship combat.

The consensus ends up being - "If it is so easy, then do it, demonstrate it at a battle." Those who have tried have reported it is 1) not so easy, 2) not worth the time and expense with current technology.

Regardless, torpedoes are defined in the rules of many clubs as a specific weapon with a specific design (basically a 1/4" cannon design). This is based on rules and designs dating back to the 1980's. Lots of very talented people, some with complete CNC machine equipped shops, have noodled this issue in the past 30 years with the same result. No improvement over the current system.

Moral of the story, "If it is so easy, then do it, demonstrate it at a battle."[]

Cheers,

 

In Big Gun, we've had combat capable subs dating back to the early 80's. No one that's done it has ever said it's easy. Cliff Shaw who actually had a 1:144 combat Sub (a British M1) in the NASWCA days (1983), recommended against doing it again, even with the better tech that was available in the late 90's when the article below was written. He switched scales to 1:72 for a easier time of it. 10 years later, the tech has improved dramatically more for electronics, but still trying to arm the little jewels is a bit of a problem, and even armed, it's still largely a novelty. A really cool novelty to be sure, but still a novelty. Subs aren't very stealthy right below the surface, and have to rely on a ship's captain not paying attention in order to get a good firing angle on said ship.

For a history of Big Gun Torps and Subs respectively:
http://rcwarships.org/rcwarships/nwc_new/?category_id=27&menuaction=phpbrain.uikb.view_article&art_id=10
http://rcwarships.org/rcwarships/nwc_new/?category_id=27&menuaction=phpbrain.uikb.view_article&art_id=11

 

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PKZ3200
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PKZ3300
I saw these two planes in my horizon hobby magizine. These two planes have very tiny motors, batteres, recevers, speed controller, servos, ect. The plane its selph is not to scale but you could takes it apart and build a war plane with it. You might be able to make a torpedo with it.

 

Try it. Do let us know how it works out.

Cheers,

 

Here is a site were you can buy very small planes. http://www.plantraco.com/ you might be able to make a torp out of one.

 

Tomas,

Plantraco has been around for years. Has plenty of cool stuff. Many battlers have seen the site, still no planes, in our hobby, though.

On planes that approach the smallness we need, the wings, props, etc. are way our of scale look.

Why? Air molecules do not scale. There is this nasty little thing called the Reynolds Number -
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number

I would like to suggest that you go to the nearest Wal-Mart toy section and look at the Century 21 brand 1/144 scale WWII aircraft to see precisely what you are wanting to build and put it into perspective - even if you can figure a way around the physics.

I would love to see it done. I truly would. Perhaps, someday technology will overcome the physics. Of course, being able to fly the things in something other than a gym with the A/C off would still be tough - wind currents are heck on tiny planes.

Cheers,