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Author Topic: Balsa wood rubber band powered submarines  (Read 856 times)

Martin (Admin)

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Balsa wood rubber band powered submarines
« on: July 23, 2022, 03:52:05 pm »


 Via email to Mayhem ....


Hey there;

Scott in central Missouri here.
Would my primary boat modeling of balsa wood rubber band powered submarines fit with the forum?

Also plan to make a few more free-sailing pond and pool boats.

My health is a mess and I'm really, really, slow, and sometimes put the boats away to do other projects, but, hey, I still have fun.

Scott







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dougal99

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Re: Balsa wood rubber band powered submarines
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2022, 04:16:09 pm »

Slow and sure wins the day. :-)) Excellent work  :-)) :-))
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Tug Fanatic

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Re: Balsa wood rubber band powered submarines
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2022, 06:22:49 pm »

I enjoy anything different & your models certainly qualify.
I look forward to hearing/ seeing more.  :-))
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ScottW

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Re: Balsa wood rubber band powered submarines
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2022, 09:14:00 pm »

Hey Y'all; Thanks! :-) Just back home from Saturday morning meeting of our local creative writers group then lunch out here in our 3 block long county seat farm burg's downtown.
Probably the simplest thing to do is post links to the couple of Flickr albums, one featuring the 2ft long first sub and one featuring the 3ft Typhoon-inspired one.
The 2ft sub was built from, well, more like inspired by, plans in a 1970-something book my parents gave me while I was in 4th grade.Only took me about 30 years to get around to finally building the sub but that allowed some significant improvements to be made.The takeaway there being that sometimes, a couple decades of procrastination does pay!
The 2ft original & a more military looking build for a neighbor, https://flic.kr/s/aHskzXRFGpThere is a too-short video but the city pool person was unfamiliar with point and shoot cameras.
Sub is dynamic diving.Ballasted to float with deck awash.Hull is hollow and free flooding.
About 300 winds will get it the length of an Olympic sized pool.Propellor is from a 2005 era Traxxis RC deep-vee which appears to now be out of production.
Periscopes are brass and copper tubing from K&S, they go through to hull interior.And as an added bonus at no extra charge they often give off a trail of bubbles as sub dives.
A couple photos are of the, "There’s what happens when you have cats who shed like mad and you don’t dust a thing for about a year and a half. :D " category.
The figures are Revell Germany 1/72 scale soft plastic U Boat crew.
Handrail stanchions are long out of production HO scale locomotive parts from Athearn's 'blue box' era.Handrail cable is beading wire.Grab irons up side of conning tower are miniature staples.Hatch is a googly eye with HO scale boxcar brakewheel.
"Weathering" is actual repairs of either physical damage or damage to paint.
Testors Dullcote is sometimes affected by chlorine saturated swimming pool water.

Dive planes are brass sheet soldered to brass rod through a brass tube.Friction from the seriously annoying label adhesive was used to benefit.Forward planes have sometimes gotten bent from collisions with pool walls.Aft planes had balsa "inverted airfoil" to fine tune buoyancy aft.
In a nod to the solder strip used as a keel and ballast in the 1970-something plans it has a keel of 1/16 by I think 3/4 brass strip set in to a slot cut through 1/2 inch thick bottom plank.
Ballast was added to pockets chiseled in bottom plan exterior via steel shot super glued in, then puttied over.

Rudders are sheet styrene over brass rod like sandwich bread over a frankfurter.Hollow was filled with baking soda soaked with thin super glue, a layer at a time to reduce heat the curing glue gave off.And when you set rudder, YOU GET RUDDER! This thing has 'rudder authority' like you wouldn't believe.

Oh, speaking of super glue ...
Hull surfaces inside and out were hardened via being soaked with really thin super glue.The interior was done, then painted white, before deck was secured.
The cat's name is Georgie.
Power is 2 loops of 3/16 tan sport rubber from FAI Model Supply.
Last year bought some 1/8 inch to see difference between 2x 3/16 and 3x 1/18 for power.Haven't run test yet.

n
I know the PRS-1 designation doesn't fit USN ship designations.It could be:Pool Recreation SubmarinePowered by Rubberband Submarine
Okay, that's about it for typing, my hands are hurting.
Will tell about the twin screw beast later.
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ScottW

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Re: Balsa wood rubber band powered submarines
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2022, 09:16:42 pm »

Oops, forgot this for that twin screw beast,
Here is its photo album, https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzYTy7 album,
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Sinc55

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Re: Balsa wood rubber band powered submarines
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2022, 06:48:47 pm »

Hey Scott.

Really enjoyed this write-up about the rubber band powered submarines.   
It reminds me of chapter in a book by Walter Musciano, 'Building and Operating Model Ships' that I first read many years ago when I was young.  It was written in the 60's prior to RC becoming popular, so the subs were not controlled by RC.  I think it's about the same vintage as the book that inspired your submarines.  One of the subs in the book was powered by a rubber band and the second sub was powered by an electric motor. To control the dive planes an engine shut-off timer, normally used on free-flight model airplanes was used.
I purchased a used copy of this book several years ago with the intent of building one of the subs, along with some other projects outlined.   Your article has got me thinking about revisiting this project!

Gord.
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ScottW

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Re: Balsa wood rubber band powered submarines
« Reply #6 on: September 01, 2022, 07:07:49 pm »

I purchased a used copy of this book several years ago with the intent of building one of the subs, along with some other projects outlined.   Your article has got me thinking about revisiting this project!
Cool. Do it!  :}

To me this kind of thing is fun and freeing; no rivets to count and no magic smoke to try to keep contained in various and sundry black boxes.
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"If it is something that you can make use of, that's a bonus, but the real value is in the creation." Steve Bennett; Sidelines
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