Torpedo
 

The Top Guns face-off against The Chairmen in a watery race. Each team must build a torpedo (no warhead) that they can fire at the opposing team's battleship (a cardboard cut out). The first team to land 3 hits (bow, mid-ships, stern) and sink the opposition wins. Two wrinkles though. First, should either torpedo (fired singly) hit the side of the pool or a rock in the middle of the pool, it's considered a miss. Secondly, should both teams make their first shots, the third will be a shoot-out. Each team will fire at the same time with the first team to make the third hit will win.

The Chairmen are going to build a standard looking torpedo. It will be self-contained with two propellers (one on each side). It will also be radio-controlled. They will have to make it negatively-bouyant (it floats in the water, not on the top of the water) and be wary of the weight. They will also have to build an antenna for the R/C controls as radio waves don't travel that well under water.

The Top Guns are building a traditional torpedo. It will have a single propeller and be guided by a wire that trails out the back. They too will have to be concerned by weight and bouyancy. They'll need a LOT of wire to reach the other team's ship, especially with 5 wires streaming out the back, which will also add weight to their torpedo.
 
 

The Chairmen
l to r; Captain Gary, Gerard & Ron
inset; expert Steve Takel
The Top Guns
l to r; Rob, Captain Baz & Arthur
inset; expert Dave Jackson
 
 
The Chairmen want to build a radio
controlled 2 prop torpedo
The Top Guns will build a "hard wired"
torpedo
 
 
Look out Robert!
Look out Scrapheap Donger!
 
 
The multimeter shows current is flowing
Cool idea...a festive torpedo
 
 
The judge this week,
Commander Mike Finney
Fortunately this cooling fan works...but
will it work as a propeller?
 
 
Find what you're looking for?
Teams, you have 5 hours construction
time remaining...
 
 
It works!  Look at the froth
But will this fan do a similar task?
 
 
The total weight of the Chairmen's
torpedo comes in at a hefty 84Kg
The batteries go into the Chairmen's
torpedo
 
 
The water ski on the top of the torpedo
will help stabilize it
Oh no! For some reason the propeller
isn't turning! Is the problem within 250
meters of wire?
next set of images
 
 

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