My name is Guy Bagley and I am a Modelholic! |
This reminds me of the 4th time I sailed my submersible, not a massively expensive model as far as subs go ( £300 tops ) but off to the lake we went. I checked everything, all was fine , I bolted up the waterproof hatch and put the sub in the water, sailed and submerged/ surfaced happily for the first 10 mins.
Everything was
going well, the wife did her usual walk around the country park in which
the lake is situated...and about 75 minutes later she returned to find me
on my mobile phone to the local sub aqua club, ( they are so frequent
visitors to the lake they have had a stainless steel plaque screwed to the
wooden pegboard with a phone number on ! ). She then quizzed me.......
after asking what went wrong, and the stupid comment/question of
.... Needless to say the skill and expertise of the divers meant that the sub was recovered a few days later, after paying them a small charge to refill the air tanks. I returned home to find out what did go wrong! It was as simple as a tiny leak in the pump tube so as I pumped water aboard a tiny amount got into the watertight section, and ultimately caused an electrical failure, so I had no radio, or drive or ballast control as everything runs off one master set of cells ! Needless to say the sub has never had any problems since that event !, so I continue to touch wood every time I get the sub out to sail!!!!!! Talking of wood, you may also have read the entry on the model boats forum that my wife is now building a topaz steam launch from the Howes and Bayliss plans, but being the woman she is she has not bought the kit , just the plans and hull, the rest she is 'doing herself' as a former antique restorer and degree trained cabinet maker she is doing a fine job !!! The launch is quite common model but hers will be unique, rather than the mahogany, she is using lime and pear veneer to fit out the model and it looks superb so far, there is at least another 12 months work to do though, but it's a great winter project. The other modification is a dummy steam engine and boiler, ( the boiler covers the electric motor and the smoke generator ) - as the wife said she was not happy with gas canisters and boiler condensers, she wanted to switch on and go at regattas.......so electric it is..... There is a drawback to the wife getting further involved with the hobby and that is you cannot blagg your way through how much you spent or lie about how much things cost, she knows, she too is sifting her way through fittings catalogues. and she now says things like, "Those rope fenders are nice but ten quid each...that's steep !" I am getting worried my cover is blown ! When you start to deny you have been to a model shop or you deny what is in the bag in the boot of the car, or you start lying about the cost of things then the addiction is running you life....I need a 12 step programme....my name is Guy Bagley and I am a modelholic!"
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