Make This Model Submarine.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 299, 18 December 1935, Page 26

Make This Model Submarine.

You'll be able to have some great games with this submarine, for when it is finished it will travel under water for a distance of thirty • yards before it rises to the surface —just like a real sub. These are the directions for making it:— Select a piece of good pine, measuring 9in long and 2|in in diameter, and carve it to the shape shown in figure 1. Finish with sandpaper. Now drill a hole through the centre from end to end, and push a metal tube, such as a peashooter, into the hole. The propeller is made from tin, cut to the shape shown in figure 2, and the three blades are twisted slightly to give it power. Two holes are punched in the centre portion to attach the wire hook. At the bow, or front end, file a notch in the tube to prevent the handle (figure 3) from spinning around when the elastic band is wound up. The propeller is put in position, with one end

of a Cin elastic band placed around the hook, and the other end is threaded through the metal tube to the hook of the handle. Place a large bead between the propeller and the tube. The mechanism is now complete, but you must balance the boat with a lead keel, so that it will dive under the water when it moves tforward. By experiment, determine the required amount of lead to allow the boat to float just above the water surface. The side "fins" of metal are lin wide, and shaped like those in the diagram, and a straight "fin" is required for the bottom. A "conning towner" may be made from tin or wood, and the submarine given a coat of grey paint. Now it is ready for the first trial run. Wind the elastic tightly, place the submarine under the water and then let the propeller go. The boat rapidly gains speed, and darts along under the surface until the driving power is expended.