RPMTech Holland

[tsenecal]

Just a quick note on the "Firesale" Holland that I picked up when Rick of RPMTech was clearing out inventory of his version 1 models a couple of months ago.

It was sold as a "shell" kit with no r/c parts at an incredible discount, but I had a few spare parts laying around, so a quick and dirty WTC was built, after a couple weeks building that, it went into the sub testing facility on sunday and got trimmed out, primary paint is now done... detail paint/weathering is next. I wanted to have it finished for my local club's annual regatta in two weeks.

couple of photos, one of the boat, one of the tail. I made brass fixtures to mount the diving planes and rudder.

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will post photos of the scratch-built WTC soon.

[tsenecal]

just wanted to add...

when i got the kit, i was quite impressed with the fibreglass and resin work on this model. thin, lightweight, zero defects, almost no bubbles in the resin, and millions of rivets and dozens of panel lines and other details. exceptional/professional workmanship. on several of the resin parts metal structures were cast into the resin. top notch work.

dealing with rick during the ordering and shipment was also professional and BS free.

[Rpmtech1]

Boy Tim, you made quick work of that!

Thanks for the general review, glad you like it :)

[tsenecal]

Okay, so i promised more photos, and finally got around to shooting them.

photos of an incredibly simple rcabs style WTC.
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first is an overall top view, second is an overall bottom view, third is a closeup of the forward compartment, last is closeup of the aft compartment.

aft compartment contains the motor (losi sensored brushless mini rock crawler motor programmed to run at 560kvm max) attached to a 5:1 gearbox, then two futaba micro servos, with the ESC and receiver and battery below that. forward compartment contains the pump and the valve, operated by a third futaba micro servo. center compartment is open to the water, pump inflates balloon in center compartment, valve deflates it. full balloon = surfaced sub, empty balloon equals submerged sub. Air comes from inside WTC, which means a surfaced sub has a slight vacuum in the WTC. I chose this setup because i had almost all the parts (include the polycarb tubing and end caps) in my parts bin. I needed to get this built in time for the local regatta that we held the 18th and 19th of june. I had to buy the pump, the shraeder valve, and the momentary switch. total cost: $21.00

[tsenecal]

photos of the holland at the regatta
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[tsenecal]

Just got finished running the holland at the local pond.

shot some video...

http://vimeo.com/25912639