I am looking for a 1/144 scale I 400 sub for warship combat.From unfinished Hull to compleated ship considered.
best of luck .I posted the same requst and was hit with a stunned silence. If you can find someone to make you a hull I will take one too.
I have a Battlers Connection based I-400 and was going to sell it earlier this year. However, I've somehow regained hope of solving a probably unsolvable stability problem and am having another go at it. This is the only potentially viable 1/144 combat sub, but after experimenting for 3 years I think it can only work as a surface running combatant or a diving convoy ship. There are many problems. In order to dive it has to be only slightly positively buoyant. That means that like all real submarines in the same buoyancy state it is inherently unstable. Under IRCWCC rules it can only be armed with a BB cannon, unlike the Big Gun version with torpedoes. The only place to install a cannon is in the hangar. I built a very lightweight 1.0 unit cannon that fit (just) within the hangar, drained itself on resurfacing and fired very well. However, a gun on the top deck made for a very unstable model. It would remain upright only at rest in a flat calm, or while running in a straight line. A slight turn would result in a 45+ degree lean to port or starboard. Reducing the gun to 0.5 unit didn't solve the problem - 25 BBs don't weigh much. The I-400 is allowed to carry 75 BBs (1.5 units)but there's no way to fit such a long magazine. Then there's the space issue. My sub is a static versus dynamic diver. There are two small saddle tanks amidships that flood via a MAV-2 valve and are blown empty by CO2 via another. A third MAV-2 fired the cannon. CO2 source is a 20 gm capsule from Battlers Connection or Palmer Pursuit. The largest battery that will fit is a Panasonic 6V1.2 Ah, standing upright between the tanks. With two 360 motors running time was at best 10 minutes, after which the radio would fail (it uses a BEC). Going to one motor and a larger prop gave about 14 minutes operating time. Not much. A battery change requires several minutes to undo 6 bolts on the watertight hatch over the battery compartment, switch the battery and replace the bolts. Then there's the hull. A balsa hull sheeted with 1/32" balsa will fail at a very shallow depth and it's easy to exceed the crush depth accidentally. (I believe Big Gun subs have 1/16" balsa sheeting and might be able to submerge a couple of feet.) My approach was to cut out and sheet the upper hull according to IRCWCC rules. However, most of the pressure hull is fiberglass. There are small free flooding areas at bow and stern which are penetrable. The hull over the port and starboard saddle tanks is penetrable. Penetrate one of them high enough and the sub will sink. A lower hit will cause a capsize to the damaged side, and a hit on the opposite tank will definitely sink the sub. Once hit and capsized to one side it cannot steer and is a 'sinking' duck! If it tries to submerge to escape it will have a very hard time resurfacing because the battery could be flat by the end of the sortie or the holed ballast tank completely flooded. My I-400 would work if I could solve the ballast issue. The trouble is I haven't been able to. I've been gradually removing lead ballast from inside the pressure hull and installing it lower, on either side of the keel, then fairing it into the hull. This has improved the stability slightly but not enough for operating in anything but an absolute calm. I'm now in Phase 2, preparing to test the model as a submersible convoy ship (i.e. aviation gas tanker I-402). The gun, its microservo and MAV-2 have been removed and I'm waiting for the unreliable FMA microreceiver to be repaired again. If the sub works well in this configuration it'll remain unarmed. If not, on to Phase 3. Phase 3 will be a conversion to a surface running combatant with fully penetrable upper and lower hulls as per IRCWCC construction guidelines. The gun will be reinstalled in the hangar and the ballast tanks removed to allow the battery to be installed on it's side and lower, improving stability. Hopefully the sub will be more stable than the heavier diving version. If not, on to Phase 4. Phase 4 will be an unarmed surface running convoy ship, more stable again due to removal of the BB cannon. As you can see a 1/144 sub requires an amount of research, design and long term testing that far outweighs it's usefullness. On the other hand if it works for even a short sortie there's the 'wow' factor. Good luck! Bob Pottle NABS
very good Bob , but the main question was where can I get a hull? The rules in Australia are not hard and fast on submarines yet as it is an R&D thing at the moment.My brother and I have been brainstorming the problems involved in this type of setup and believe that we can get it to work....Leaving one small problem ie a hull to work on, so if anyone can help it would be most appreciated.
Cosworth, I don't think you'll be able to find an unused I-400 hull. It was one of the first hulls offered by Battler's Connection but is no longer listed on the BC website. You could try requesting one from Charley. Bob Potle
