Sewer Pipe into Submarine: Our latest scratch-build!

[RapidNadion]

You've heard the expression "sewer-pipe sailor." Well, for the second time in a decade or so, we took it literally and converted a 4"-diameter PVC sewer pipe into a submarine.

Virginia is a 1/96th-scale, 48" boat. Her stern cone, sonar dome, and sail are fashioned from walnut, mahogany, and basswood, respectively. She's driven by a 9.6v electric motor with belt drive, turning one ducted six-bladed propeller. She's a dynamic diver (yeah, yeah ... save it).

Below is video of her shakedown cruise, followed by the how-it's-made video giving details on her construction process. Hope you guys enjoy!

First post, BTW ... glad to be here. We've been scale-modeling for years, but are just now working on expanding our presence to more forums.


SSN-774 Shakedown:
R/C Sub, Scratch-built From Sewer Pipe

SSN-774 How-It's-Made:
Sewer Pipe to Submarine: Building the R/C "USS Virginia" Model

 

[f2k]

Seriously cool...

I've always dreamt about building a U-Boat with "proper" diving. But I'm way too scared of it never surfacing again to dare it...

 

[RapidNadion]

Seriously cool...

I've always dreamt about building a U-Boat with "proper" diving. But I'm way too scared of it never surfacing again to dare it...

Thanks for the compliment! And yeah - the submerging-without-surfacing fear is valid! We experienced that awful occasion when Baton Rouge dived ... and didn't resurface, as mentioned in the build video. Generally, if you're doing a dynamic-diver like this one, it's pretty safe; the only thing keeping her under is flow over the planes, so if she loses power or signal, the motor stops, the boat slows, and she pops back up to the surface, no sweat.

Of course, that's assuming you don't spring any leaks ...

 

[fubar]

Excellent stuff, i've been fascinated by subs ever since i started to play Silent Hunter III years ago and this looks like a beaut.

TTFN Matt

 

[RapidNadion]

Thank you! Yeah they're unlike anything else in R/C ... if you're doing it right, half the time the thing's invisible!

 

[fubar]

ROFL.....yeah good point, i have enough trouble controlling a R/C car and i can see that clearly. ;D

What sort of depth can you get too before you loose signal?

TTFN Matt

 

[RapidNadion]

Well, it's tricky. With fresh water, if you're on the right frequency, we're told you can control an R/C sub down to a significant depth.

Unfortunately, all of the R/C fun and filming we do is in salt water ... and as soon as the antenna goes under, signal just evaporates. That's why Virginia doesn't make it much deeper than a foot or so in our videos (except on the full-speed test-depth dive, when inertia carries her quite a ways deeper).

The solution to that is to build a big, ugly antenna mast into the boat somehow ... it's what we did on Baton Rouge and what we'll have to do on Virginia.

 

[The Nylon Gag]

I simply love the underwater footage, only thing missing is the sonar 'ping'!
;D
Beautiful looking model, well done, excellent work Sir.

The Nylon Gag

 

[RapidNadion]

Thanks! We have the fine folks at GoPro to thanks for the underwater footage - we use their GoPro Hero HD for these cold, underwater wintertime shoots.

As for the sonar ping ... she was rigged for silent running? We ended up putting the ping SFX in the intro to the build video. Maybe more sound effects on the next round of vids!

Appreciate all the feedback, guys - this seems to be a very cool community.

 

[fubar]

The scenes where it's gliding along just under the surface remind me of the scenes in Jaws when the shark is stalking the trawler......deadly stuff. 8)

Random idea but has anyone ever made a radio control shark before? lol

TTFN Matt

 

[RapidNadion]

The scenes where it's gliding along just under the surface remind me of the scenes in Jaws when the shark is stalking the trawler......deadly stuff. 8)

You know, it's funny - we've got a lot of footage of this boat that gives us chills in that "being hunted" sense. Maybe it's the gray paint job; she really does look shark-like at times!

We just tried some EMBT blow (emergency surface) tests with Virginia today - she really punches a hole in the water at full throttle!

R/C Sub Emergency Blow!

R/C Sub Emergency Surface

 

[fubar]

Cool.....just like a killer whale jumoing outta the sea.

You know this is making me wanna make a sub model now! lol

 

[RapidNadion]

You should! They're a lot of work, but what a blast!

 

[Rentar1]

Awsome! Wow, hard work and attention to detail really do pay off. I guess my dad was right....who coulda guessed?

 

[Myke]

This is so flippin' cool.

 

[joeym]

I want one of these!! I am speechless really after seeing what you have done. Simply amazing!! Great work man!!