Trying to find any and all who are interested in building, or has built, subs for combat. Plans, construction and on-board systems (like torpedo's, ballast control, radio's and other electronics that are available today) to be discussed, also clarification of rules and regs. I will be starting an I-400 in 1/96 scale within the week. trying to contact Keenan Akin, he's the one who was building the Nautilus on the old BS web site, anyone heard from this guy?
It might be worth your time to check out the Subcommitte guys. They dont build combat subs, but they know subs themselves pretty well. It probably wouldnt be difficult to marry up combat technology with their subs... Mike D
I'm interested in building combat subs! That's why I got into Battlestations! in the first place. It's also why I joined the SubCommittee. I think it's feasible to build an R/C combat sub using a WTC (water tight cylinder) like the SubCommittee uses, but it has to be done carefully. Most R/C subs use the space outside the WTC as a free flood space, but for R/C combat we have to reserve a 1/2" on either side plus space below the deck as a penetrable area normally filled with air... As for Keenan, I have not heard from him in about 4 years. He just stopped answering email and then vanished off the Battlestations! list. I had the impression he was not happy with the performance of his underwater torpedoes and that may be partly why he gave up on Battlestations. As I recall he was only interested in subs and not surface ships... Carl
It seemed to me that Scott, (HMCS), knew him and had seen his boat in action? mentioned that the TT system could hit targets 10 feet away, while submerged...how could you be unhappy with results like that? Also look at his diagram and pics of his sub on the web site, I think he has the right idea for buoyancy control. anyway those WTC are super $$$. one more thing dose anyone know how to get control of that site? I would be willing to take it over and update it. I would hate to see it disappear.
There is a difference between hitting a target at 10 feet and breaking thru the balsa skin at 10 feet. The last I remember hearing from Keenan he was going to try penetration tests with his underwater torps. However, my impression of his not being happy with the performance is just a guess based on the timing of his disappearance from the list, not on actual facts. [] The WTC can be home-made for much cheaper than you can purchase one. This is one of the reasons I bought a lathe, so I could make my own WTCs. I can't afford to pay $250 for each hollow water-tight tube, no matter how nice the end caps are! I want to be able to customize each WTC for the sub I'm building, not trying to force a generic WTC to work for each sub. As for the Battlestations! website, don't worry about it disappearing. I know the owner of the website, Joe Kutz, and he lives only a few miles from my house. If the site were to disappear for some reason, I'm sure I could get a copy of it from him that we could put online somewhere. However, the last time the website disappeared (his server hosting the site crashed after a power failure), he had it back on line a day after I sent him an email telling him the site was down. Carl
is he going to do anything with it? like update and add to it(the web site)? I don't know much about WTC's but from what I've seen they seem to take up a lot of space.
Just a question from a non battlestations, surface ship guy, Since the area outside the WTC would probably need to have more volume than the WTC, wouldn't his cause a problem unless you were building an I-400 or other large sub?
Carl, could you e-mail me a scan of the Hasegawa plans for the I-400 and the Great-plans version? the link you gave me before for the great-plans scan (on e-bay) are too fuzzy, and the photo fron the subcom forum is not flat enough to convert to proper plans. I'm trying to compare and match up between the other drawing from Gary to get a complete, and as accurate as possible set of working plans for the I-400. after I'm done I'll e-mail you a copy of the finished plans. Tug, for subs how far down from the deck does the sides need to be penetrable? or is it 1" below the sub's surface running waterline????? and do subs use 1/16" balsa or 1/8" balsa because most had double hulls? something that needs to be clarified soon I think. BTW any pics yet on the turrets? Don, that was my thought also, every pic of those WTC's I've seen are long and take a lot of room. thats why I'm going with the method described on the old battlestations website, you should go there and look at the drawing of the Nautilus and also the pics of it and I think it will answer any of the ?'s you have better than I could. The method he shows would allow one to build just about any sub exept the smallest ones
We're getting totally swamped tonite in the ICU so I'll look at the rules tomorrow morning. If you want some okay plans for I-400, I did a quick and dirty set that I'll post on the file manager tomorrow in 1/96 scale. At least the frames, anyhow. My scanner doesn't do bigger than legal size. I can put how far back from the bow each of the frames go, as a start. As the frames aren't 100% original, these are free plans for whoever wants to use them. Should be posted sometime tomorrow.
Mark, I would recommend that you just go ahead and buy the plans on ebay. The plan set is less than $20. All I can do is take a picture to show you what the plans look like. I don't have a scanner that could handle something large like this. Plus I think its always better to just buy a copy of the plans. Carl
I am likely going to do a Surcouf (I did the plans, so I've got them on hand I also have Gato/Balao class and Argonaut (V-class) stuff on the hard drive that I got from digging around the sub force museum. I like the Argonaut if only because in addition to the torps, she gets 2 6" deck guns.
Tugboat, Which museum are you talking about? BTW, if you're doing a Gato/Balao class, I recommend getting the Floating Drydock's ebook on the Gato/Balao class. I have an older hardcopy version of this book, from before he went to electronic format, and it is a great resource for the US fleet subs. Thanks, Carl
Carl, I mean the one in Groton. There is a research library there that most people don't see (most people are there to see the exhibits and don't even know about it). I have the FDD book in hardcopy. Nice book
question to any who know the answer, when they talk about "draft" for subs, do you measure from the surface waterline or from the top of the hull????? also would you include in the draft the skeg/keel that protrudes from the bottom of the hull? I'm using the plans for the I-400 from the great-plans set, also is the beam measured at the waterline or the maximum width when dealing with WW2 subs???
Mark, Draft for subs is the same as for surface ships, measured from the surface waterline. I believe the draft includes the keel, but am not 100% certain. The beam is always the maximum hull width. Hope this helps, Carl
I am interested in the subs, and would love to build a Surcouf, but I don't anticipate finding that kind of time for a few years, with all of my other projects. So for the time being, I am enjoying the discussions. Carry on.. Mikey
