Surface launched scale torpedo?

[IroncladNut]

Greetings,

I'm sure many of you have seen those Propel-powered scale torpedoes that people have launched from subs. I think that is just awesome but has anybody worked out a way to surface launch them from surface tubes, like from a torpedo boat or predreadnought battleships.

Of course the torpedo and launcher could be similiar, but would it be possible to get the torp to level out and track straight?

Those sub guys have is so easy ( just kidding )

[Art]

Greetings,

I think that is just awesome but has anybody worked out a way to surface launch them from surface tubes, like from a torpedo boat or predreadnought battleships.

Of course the torpedo and launcher could be similiar, but would it be possible to get the torp to level out and track straight?

Those sub guys have is so easy ( just kidding )

You will have to go back a few years to see the Dave Merriman idea adapted for Model warship Combat.

Basically it was a paintball CO2 cylinder live fed to a scale torpedo. When the fish was inserted into the tube it depressed a common bicycle inner tube valve that allowed the torp to be 'fuelled'. When the torp was fired the inner valve shut off the gass supply.

Multiple torpedoes were triggered on a cam shaft...."fire one!...Fire Two etc. The spring loaded torpedo was ejected from the tube and started emitting CO2 immediately as propulsion.

Launch speed was a scale 150 knots and it settled down to a scale 50 knots when under water.

The details of fuel to buoyancy ratio escape me at the moment but I do recall it was quite tricky and was only effective in a very tight range window in 1/96 scale. Something like 40 - 60 feet range. Before that distance the torpedo would pass under the hull and after would porpoise along the surface. OK for a waterline hit but the idea was to get a killer underwater shot.

The way to get accuracy and stop the torpedo from roll-over was to off-set the four tail fins, ( bend the tips 45 degrees off vertical ) and make sure you had the correct amount of fuel on board. Less for close-in fighting and more for ranging shots.

These things would be effective up to about 120 feet and then up-end with the nose out of the water for later recovery. They were not cheap to make, something like 12 bucks each, so you didn't want to lose too many.

I will be incorporating a similar system in the 1/96 IJN Shimakaze, ( 3 x 5 tubes ) in the coming summer months - purely for the Ooooh and Ahhhh effect as nobody appears to want to play anymore.

[IroncladNut]

Thanks for the reply Art,

I too am thinking RC warship combat, but I was unaware that self propelled torpedoes had be used previously...

Were the torps simply used to ram a hole in a the side of a ship or...?

Submerged tubes seem like they would no problem, the only hard part would be getting the torps neutrally buoyant.

A surface tube, whether just above the water or deck mounted, has a whole new set of problems, not only does the torp have to be neutrally buoyant, but has to splash into the water and maintain somewhat of a normal depth.

My thoughts are to shoot it out of the tube with a small burst of CO2, of course some R&D would be needed, since the torp needs to hit the water straight. If it goes in nose first it will dive, but tail first? Im not sure on that one, it might porpoise on the surface or level out?

Perhaps some sort of disposable sabot could be used to not only to seal the torpedo in the tube but also impart some spin on it before it hits the water...

[Art]

Thanks for the reply Art,

>> I too am thinking RC warship combat, but I was unaware that self propelled torpedoes had be used previously...

Not in Big Gun 1/144 scale. This was 1/96 but the American chapter never got off the ground, ( or on the water har, har ).

>>Were the torps simply used to ram a hole in a the side of a ship or...?

Explosive devices are banned of course so a spring loaded 'warhead' would flash open on contact, ( four leaves ) and rip a 4" hole along the hull between bulkheads. The problem was that torpedo had to hit perpendicular to the hull to activate the spring plunger. More than 5 degrees off and all you had was a 1/4" hole that was plugged by the body of the torp - unless the ship was going flat tack, and then it 'could' tear itself out leaving a much larger aperture.

>>Submerged tubes seem like they would no problem, the only hard part would be getting the torps neutrally buoyant.

That was the difficult part with any type of launch system, whether submerged, deck or aerial. And no two torps would react the same. Pretty hit and miss affair but spectacular when the hit happened.

>>A surface tube, whether just above the water or deck mounted, has a whole new set of problems, not only does the torp have to be neutrally buoyant, but has to splash into the water and maintain somewhat of a normal depth.

>>My thoughts are to shoot it out of the tube with a small burst of CO2, of course some R&D would be needed, since the torp needs to hit the water straight. If it goes in nose first it will dive, but tail first? Im not sure on that one, it might porpoise on the surface or level out?

If you are going to launch with CO2 then I would not worry about flotation. You are, in fact, firing a missile that will continue on the path it leaves the tube.

If you are going the Big Gun route then it will not be a worry as most of the action is close in. You are virtually firing a 1/4" bb as if it was a cannon - except that this one comes with a tail, a bloody long one at that! The only hope is that it rips a gash in the hull as it is skewered out again by the ships forward momentum. You will NOT be popular! If the ship does not have an effective blast shield 1/4" in from the hull, the torp will play merry hell with the internals and make it dead in the water anyway.

Perhaps some sort of disposable sabot could be used to not only to seal the torpedo in the tube but also impart some spin on it before it hits the water..

That can be done by simple rifling of the tube The four fins spin along the barrel/tube length imparting the spin HOWEVER, it was found that the accuracy was only good for the first four feet or so then it would spin off in any direction including UP...

Not sure this is the right forum to continue this discussion IroncladNut. If you would like to talk some more perhaps you wouldn't mind a PM and we could go from there.

[Reid]

You guys know about the little rubber pool toy torps. i don't know how you could make one but i think it would work.


heres the toy

Reid