Initial test of NAUTILUS propeller pitching mechanism

About ten years ago I started to convert a Ray Mason Disney NAUTILUS kit to operate as a proper r/c submarine. I turned the job over to a friend. Recently we got back to work on this thing. What I'm showing here is the mechanism that controls the pitch angle of the propellers thrust-line -- this being the only 'almost scale looking' means of controlling the vehicle angle and depth once fully submerged.
As a practical matter the three sets of horizontal control surfaces buried within the hull stakes are useless at any angle of attack greater than zero as those strakes produce turbulence that all but blankets the planes from producing any useful up-down-or-pitching force.
The mechanism is still in the rough. Remaining tasks include tightening up the floating ball-and-socket universal; adjust the tension on the articulated intermediate drive-shaft counter-weight spring; reduce the moment arm at the gimbal control horn to reduce throw; and align the propeller neutral thrust line to the vehicle's longitudinal centerline.