Tom Chalfant - Bronco Type XXIII

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Take the receiver board(s) out of the plastic case, wrap them in heat-shrink and it will fit between the servos, Tom.



M

[trout]

Got the right temperament to tackle tightening the rudder's grub screw.
I needed to make a tool to reach. I took a length of brass rod and drilled a hole at the end slightly larger than the hex wrench (.050). Soldered a small cut off of the wrench into the end.

Took the hull outside and was able to finally get the rudder tight.
There are numerous ways to put your WTC together. So, here is mine. I placed the Mtroniks under the motor.

Placed some velcro on the tray and some under the RX.

Placing the RX sideways will not work. It is too wide especially when the servos get plugged in. I could mount it under the shelf where it is a wider part of the tube, but still too tight. Could not mount it vertically, the RX was too tall. I could cut a slot out of the tray, but it would interfere with the vent servo.

Fortunately, it looks like placing it this way it will just go over the servo.

The downside is my speed controller's connector is short going forward.

[trout]

Thank you George! Albion is really an accomplished builder.
It makes sense to me to mark the parts. Especially when they are so close looking. Would one torpedo door work in the other side? Don't know, but I do not want to be in the position of tearing it apart (done that too many times before).

Had I looked at the instructions earlier (like, oh I don't know - before putting the hulls together) I would have installed the torpedo doors first. Since I did not, we are at this point.
The port side was really easy because I could reach in from the starboard torpedo door opening to glue and make adjustments. I also left a slight proud fit for character. The door shows up slightly better.

On the starboard side I cannot reach in from the port opening since it is now closed. What I did was use a little tape to pull the door out and held it there while the glue set up.

The propellor gets a gold coat. The two pictures are the same coat just the one on the left is freshly painted and the right is mostly dried.

Sometimes watching paint dry is exciting. I will let the prop set for at least a day if not two and then add the bronze and gray flecks to weather up the prop.

[Albion]

Hello trout

Thank you for posting your build. Very helpful! I read in an earlier posting that you mention another builder: Albion, Koryu Type D build. I can`t find that. Could you post a link to it?

Thanks again for your posts, look forward to reading more and pictures.

George

http://forum.sub-driver.com/showthread.php?1577-Ballast-Shifter&highlight=koryu

http://forum.sub-driver.com/showthread.php?747-1-20-Koryu-Type-D-Japanese-Minisub&highlight=koryu

Try these. Needs remembering that the Koryu is a big dry hull boat with a lot of mass, hence i needed a pretty substantial weight to move around. A smaller wet hull boat wont need as much technology. It also uses a single Piston tank which also affects the trim when the tank is neither completely full or empty.

[george]

Hello trout

Thank you for posting your build. Very helpful! I read in an earlier posting that you mention another builder: Albion, Koryu Type D build. I can`t find that. Could you post a link to it?

Thanks again for your posts, look forward to reading more and pictures.

George

[trout]

Attached the plane guards.
Aft

then the bow

The prop was filed, sanded, and lightly polished. Then etched in ferric chloride. Now a primer coat....Time for all to dry.

[trout]

Thank you Gary!

Just a quick update, played with the servo arms and will need to trim only the longest one extending outward (just the last hole).


A little RTV silicon placed on the side of the servo and pressed against the plate is enough to hold these servos in. The brackets supplied (that I needed to trim to fit) will prevent forward and backward motion and what little outward motion, the silicon will be more than enough to hold (at least that has been my experience).
Now to figure out were to put things? I am reusing some parts I have until I can purchase new because I want to get this in the water soon.

[crazygary]

Wow, Tom!! Very interesting things here!

Kinda like trying to pack 10 pounds of groceries into a 3 pound bag!! Hah!!

"Inspirational Creativity"!! "Murphys Law" not withstanding!!

Excellent thread going!!! Liking it alot!!

[crazygary]

Thank you, M!!

"Knowledge is good"!! ( Faber University, "Animal House"!)

[trout]

Well, I should have put some kind of weight in. It still floats, but not as high.

My servos were a little too big.

Marked an approximate amount that needed to be removed.

Using a Foredom and a diamond cylinder bit. Like a mill, I worked the areas to be removed.

As I fit the servos in, it became clear the tabs would interfere . A quick clip with flush cut pliers

All four are in, yes four. One for rudder, bow planes, aft planes, and the final one is for the mechanism for moving the battery (maybe, if it will work).

The problem with this setup is the servos are high up and the arm will hit the cylinder if it is swinging outwardly.

Opened up the bottom of the servo by removing the aluminum tray. I learned from the Gato build that by cutting on each end of the tray and scoring the back portion, you can snap off the tray or bend it if it does not snap off and it will break along the scribe line.

Because of the pump beneath the forward most servos are the only ones that could be lowered and of those two only one even further lower. It was necessary to get the clearance I needed.

That was enough to get the swing I needed.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

It's to break the vacuum within the cylinder created when the LPB took a suction on the dry spaces of the cylinder to blow ballast water while the sail was submerged.

M

[crazygary]

Really like the float valve inside the sail!!
I'm guessing that its job is to release ballast tank internal pressure??
Very cool!
Am very much enjoying your thread, Tom!! Great stuff, here!

[trout]

Excavated the conning tower cylinder to lighten it yet still give the feel of being complete when installed. I am still dancing with the decision on using it or not. If I need to move the float forward the cylinder would be in the way or need to be chopped up more, but I like the feel that there is more than an empty shell.

The flat piece is opened up and I am ok with how it looks.

If you ever go to the urgent care or hospital and they put an I.V. in you, ask for the saline syringe when they are done with it. I got several from a visit earlier in the year. I trimmed the threaded end off just leaving the nipple.

Drilled two holes in each plane guard. One a small hole for venting air and another large enough to put the syringe nipple in.

Mixed up a batch of Evercoat Metal Glaze and scooped it into the syringe. With the syringe inserted into the larger hole, I positioned it so the vent hole was up and the tip of the guard was tilted down. Once the glaze was oozing out of the vent I placed the plane guard in an upright position to solidify. I thought I would put weight in, but I did not have any fine shot to go in. Had I filled this before I glued the hulls together, I would have drilled and tapped a 2-56 thread in there and screwed the guard to the hull. That would help prevent the piece from getting knocked off.

[trout]

Played a little with the innards and I felt comfortable sealing up the back of the conning tower.

I also checked out some of the other assemblies. There a some that I definitely will not use like the torpedo tube assembly. There are some that I probably will not use like the tubes and large cylinder (that is the conning tower proper). There are things like the plane guards and top of the conning tower that are of course going to be used.

The snorkel and radar antenna are attached to this plate which then gets covered by the top piece.

So, I will remove sections to allow air out and trim a small amount of weight.

The large cylinder fits to the conning tower top piece and is below the hatch opening. It will not be a necessary piece for the sub to run and just adds weight, it can go.

That being said, it does add a nice dimension of reality and is better than seeing air inside. If I kept it, the sides that do not face towards the holes will be removed to reduce weight and provide air flow.

There are two sets of guards for the dive planes. One set is solid plastic and the other needs to be assembled with two halves.

My issue with the ones that needed to be assembled is they are so light and one big trapped bubble. I was surprised just how buoyant they are once placed in water. That is not good low on the sub (granted not huge in the grand scheme of things) and look at how the solid ones handle in the bowl. They sink.

I am going to fill the hollow ones, maybe throw some weight in there too especially since these are low in the sub. Then seal them with resin or epoxy.

[trout]

Using David's build photos as a reference on where to put the snorkel valve assembly, I estimated an appropriate location.

The sail was put on to make sure there was plenty of clearance and there is. Now I am doing this the way David did, but if this sub will set with the rear low, I may nee to relocate this further towards the bow.

Using the seam where the two halves are glued together as my reference point or datum, 1/4" aft I drilled a 1/8" hole. The aft most line for the opening that the float will use is 5 3/8" from the datum.

There may need to be some tweaking necessary for the float to rise and lower properly.