Last Weekends boat Run With The Guy's

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

The 31st annual Newport News Craft Festival was held at the massive Newport News City Park last weekend. My model boating club, the Virginia Elite Fleet, was invited to again attend and put on a show for the attendees. That we did. This was the first time that Ellie, me, and Rose were there. Wow! What a venue, as the pictures will show.

Just look at that water! And it's fresh too. And the overhanging platform made r/c submarine operation a joy -- the water out there is not too deep and you can barely make out the submerged model all the way to the bottom.

The real crowd pleaser was the Moebius SEAVIEW -- very stately on the surface and a menacing profile submerged. Ran like clockwork.

The 1/72 SKIPJACK was the problem-child of the day -- bad ESC. The one in there was about five-years old and has since been replaced with the larger of the two MTronics ESC's sold by Caswell. No more problems on that front expected!

The little Trumpeter KILO was rock-solid reliable. I was getting 90 minute run times. And I had a whole bunch of kids and adults operating the KILO, looking down on it from the raised pier.

Sunday afternoon Rose sneaked the KILO away to her table and quickly removed the sail (it's magnetically attached to the hull) and replaced it with a quickly painted shark fin she cut out of a used paper plate.

Plunking it in the water she got it underway, dived, and sped it along in a series of tight S-turns. She delighted in the shrieks of, "SHARK, SHARK .... SHARK!" from the audience. That kid's got a real evil steak. Obviously gets it from her Grandmother.

The two-day event closed late Sunday afternoon, just time enough remained for a group photo as we dutifully rendered the secret club salute for the camera ... apparently Rose did not get the memo about the club salute.

I took video too. I'll send Mike a DVD so he can get some of that up and running for you as well.

David,

[Slats]

hey David, looks like a great location - looks like its not that cold over there yet.

J

[Kazzer]

.....we dutifully rendered the secret club salute for the camera ... apparently Rose did not get the memo about the club salute.


David,


I just can't imagine who came up with this unique gesture for a 'club salute'! :wink:

Thankfully Rose has more decorum than the Motley Crew behind her.:wink::wink:

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I just can't imagine who came up with this unique gesture for a 'club salute'! :wink:

Thankfully Rose has more decorum than the Motley Crew behind her.:wink::wink:

LOL. She knows better.

David,

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

bump

David,

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

OK, in America at least I enjoy the title of ‘the r/c submarine guy’, or guru, or God, whatever …

That’s all fine and good and great food for this colossal ego of mine (though in Europe they laugh when they compare my work to theirs, but that’s another story).

But, around here, where people get to know me, I’m simply, ‘that fat r/c submarine dude with the crummy attitude’.

Anyway … Last Saturday I’m with the rest of the local model boaters attending some rally for some god-knows-what event. No, I don’t care! Dennis, Ray, and Darren had already set up the clubs little portable pool in the parking lot -- where we would perform our little part of the events ‘entertainment’, tooling the r/c boats around for the good folk attending. The event promoter had also invited the local fire department, a ten-year old hullo girls (gad, they were awful!) dance troop, a junior karate class (even I can split a board if you orient the grain right!), an antique car club (over fifty cars were scheduled to attend, only three made it!), and a few trinket/T-shirt tents. World’s Fair class event it was not!

And it was windy with drizzle and it was cold! It was so cold that you couldn’t pry Ellie or Rose out of the van with a crowbar! The weather was just F’n miserable!

Anyway … I was the only idiot in the club to plunk models down into the water to show off to the good people who braved the winter type weather. However, some of the model boaters got some stick time with my boats, so all was not lost for them.

Dennis Allen brought his big r/c amphibian tracked vehicle and chased little kids around the parking lot with it. A few tables the club had set up were filled with r/c boats on static display – we gave ‘em a good showing. The event was not a complete disaster.

I was operating the 1/96 Type-212, my little 1/230 SKIPJACK, and the ever-reliable 1/144-KILO. They ran OK, but I did have some hang-ups with the Type-212 linkage back aft, and some minor flooding issues with the SKIPJACK SD; but, no showstoppers, just annoyances that demanded some on-scene maintenance and repair work.


David,

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I brought along some of my little 1/230 Revell SKIPJACK's. Kevin Rimrodt and Dennis Allen got more stick time in with these than I did -- it took threats of violence to get the transmitters away from those two!

The perfect little r/c submarine for small pools like this. This little dynamic diver is quick, highly maneuverable and easy to transport and service. Great power economy here too: with only 900mAh of battery I typically get a 90 minute run time.

David,

[reddevil]

From Europe: Everydoby can realize that british and germans (imagine the fellow from China) do things in a different way than yours. I don't think any of them is absolutely superior to the others. The really important matter is that all of you share your knowledge in forums like this and, this way, other persons, like me, can work my own subs and enjoy the time I dedicate to them.
In my opinion, it's very interesting (and very funny many times) the way all of you explain your works and efforts in these forums.
Everywhere use to be persons that stand out from anothers due to his work, ideas or personality. It seems to be the case here.

[pjdog]

I can't believe you give a damn about what Europe thinks after watching your personality the last six months. You and Caswell make the best r/c submarine stuff there is.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I can't believe you give a damn about what Europe thinks after watching your personality the last six months. You and Caswell make the best r/c submarine stuff there is.

That's very kind of you. But do check out the German site, Sonar. Guy's like Norbert Bruggen, Lothar Mentz and others simply take me back to school. Those guys are the true masters of the game.

[Rick Teskey]

The hoodie is a good look for you.
Never under estimate the power of the dark side!
http://forum.sub-driver.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1524&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1256034632 (http://forum.sub-driver.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1524&d=1256034632)

[Subculture]

Hmmmm......

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Hmmmm......

Smart asses!

... don't you two have something to do?

David,
Don't underestimate the power of the Dark Side!

[pjdog]

I didn't know about that german site (sonar). I'll check that out and look up the two guys you said where worth the look.

Jack

[pjdog]

David:

Those two guys (Norbert Bruggen, Lothar Mentz ) are super r/c sub builders. Most impressive. I had no idea they where so far ahead of the US in R/C subs. Their boats are so complex I would not even think of building a boat like that. I struggled enough with what I've got I'd be lost trying that type of boat.

Thanks for the heads up on them.

jack

[Kazzer]

The hoodie is a good look for you.
Never under estimate the power of the dark side!
http://forum.sub-driver.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1524&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1256034632 (http://forum.sub-driver.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1524&d=1256034632)


My sentiments exactly! Scary - isn't it! (& no shorts today either- thankfully!)

[Slats]

Looks like its getting cold over there

[herrmill]

Great pics, Dave but you forgot to take along the Lindberg Whale®. :wink: