A Skipjack in Ireland

[The Boattrainman]

Here is the RX placement.



It's well away from any 12V circuit, plus even when the 12V is dead, I still have the twitching. No ferrite ring installed either.


Here is the servo and LR3 location.




The painting progresses, here is the full hull painted, still lots of work still to do to blend it all in, rattle cans for the main colours and I hand painted the sonar domes and emergency buoys.




The Boattrainman

[Pawly]

Hi Rob,

Do you have a ferrite ring installed near the Rx?

Regards

Pawly

[Subculture]

Unlikely the LR3 shouldn't is an issue, as they're designed to work down to 3.3v. A digital servo isn't required and won't offer any advantage. I would be inclined to try running on BEC, it may be that the servo you are using doesn't like the lower pack voltage, although it should by rights be okay on 4.8volts.

[The Boattrainman]

Hi David,

I'm powering the Receiver with a separate battery pack (4.8V 2,200mah) for the moment till I get this sorted. I'll use a BEC from the ESC later, but I have to solve this first.

Rob

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I've come up with a problem I can't seem to remedy.

I have servo twitch, but only on the servo with the Engel LR3 Mini Pitch Controller AND the servo doesn't twitch when the LR3 is not used (inline connection).

I had the LR3 tested by Engel and it is fine, plus I've isolated every circuit, changed TX and Rx crystals, re-routed the servo leads, checked every connection for continuity, tried 3 different servos from two different manufacturers (Turnigy and Emax). I wonder is a high quality digital servo needed at this stage just for the LR3.

The twitch is not bad, just a minor shudder every 3/4 seconds, but bloody iritating...........!

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

The Boattrainman

What is feeding the receiver bus? Maybe you're overloading a BEC?

David

[The Boattrainman]

I've come up with a problem I can't seem to remedy.

I have servo twitch, but only on the servo with the Engel LR3 Mini Pitch Controller AND the servo doesn't twitch when the LR3 is not used (inline connection).

I had the LR3 tested by Engel and it is fine, plus I've isolated every circuit, changed TX and Rx crystals, re-routed the servo leads, checked every connection for continuity, tried 3 different servos from two different manufacturers (Turnigy and Emax). I wonder is a high quality digital servo needed at this stage just for the LR3.

The twitch is not bad, just a minor shudder every 3/4 seconds, but bloody iritating...........!

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

The Boattrainman

[The Boattrainman]

There's not much to work with in terms of some light weathering, a bit of salt staining is applied by using a very dilute grey/white enamel.




The dilute mix is run into the recess lines on a small paintbrush and let dribble downwards, then before it dries it is wiped downwards with a rag damped with clean white spirit. It needs to be really dilute so that it runs around the recesses, if it doesn't run it's too thick. Too much application and it can simply be wiped off (always downward) with the rag.


The Boattrainman

[steveuk]

Hi Steve,

Nice to hear from someone on this side of the world.

You are correct, the pivot point for the rudders has been moved. I followed David's instructions in his report on the adaption of the Skipjack for his fittings. A link to the the full report is here, you can ignore whatever part does nor suit.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10776725/tm.htm

Happy modelling.

Rob

Thanks for the link Rob. That is exactly what I needed. I knew Dave had written a lengthy repor tsomewhere, I just couldn't find it again. So, its a 1/4 inch aft. Roger that.

[The Boattrainman]

Roger that Greevesman, I'll put up a full suite of photos on completion.

Here is as far as I've got, I can't paint the upper hull as I'm still trimming the model and adding flotation inside which will be painted over.






I'm taking my time on the painting as with only two basic hull colours this needs careful thought or it'll look like a grey featureless tube, and with applying multiple coats to try get some variation plus drying time and then going back over blemishes it's a time consuming process.






The Boattrainman

[Greevesman]

Amazing work. Could we see some photos of the painted assembled sub?
Thanks

[The Boattrainman]

The finished lower hull, I gave the inside a spray of primer, and the whole thing got a final spray of clear matt Rustoleum varnish.




The dive planes and rudders got the same treatment, the rear dive planes were a pig to mask and paint.




To my great surprise, the prop turned out well, I boiled it in white vinegar (etch priming?), and a cheap can of gold metallic paint was used after the primer coat. It's beside the brass nameplate for comparison.




The gratings look good,but will need work for definition, I prob should have put the wire mesh on the the inside of the model, you learn as you go!!




The Boattrainman

[The Boattrainman]

Hi Steve,

Nice to hear from someone on this side of the world.

You are correct, the pivot point for the rudders has been moved. I followed David's instructions in his report on the adaption of the Skipjack for his fittings. A link to the the full report is here, you can ignore whatever part does nor suit.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10776725/tm.htm

Happy modelling.

Rob

[steveuk]

Hi. I enjoyed reading your build. I am just starting on a Skipjack conversion to RC myself and I have noticed your rudder posts are in a different position to the kit. (seen on page 3 of your build).

Am I right? Do I need to move my rudder post positions back?

[The Boattrainman]

To get the painting started, I'm starting with the sail.

It begins with a bit of colour matching, Humbrol 67 (which will be used for tips and scratches) is matched to a couple of basic grey car spray rattle cans. One can is a fraction lighter and the other a fraction darker then the Humbrol enamel.




There are loads of ways to apply the basic hull colour, here is my method. Before the final grey's are applied three basic colours Grey Primer, Red Primer and Black are used.


The whole sail gets a coat of the Grey Primer, then all over Black, then a light dusting of the Red Primer, this simulates the aging process of the paint.




I then give the sail a coat of the two grey matched cans, spraying lightly with one shade and then the other, never using too much of either, and trying to vary the areas that I hit with more of the lighter shade at the top of the sail. I never direct the spray at the sail, just trying to 'float' the mist onto the model.

You get these variations of shading and It also has that slight undertone of red primer, it's fast and cheap, with about 15 minutes between coats, not bad for a few hours and a couple of cheap cans of paint. A final coat of Matt Varnish applied to seal it all in will be allowed to dry overnight.

A bit of light weathering will come later.

The Boattrainman

[The Boattrainman]

The ballast bars get a coat of primer and a good coat of enamel rust proofing before re-instatement. I don't want a load of rusting metal lying in the bottom of the boat




The forward ballast bars presented a different problem tucked into the nose, I don't want to glue them in, I dislike a lot of fixed ballast especially in hard to reach areas, what happens if I want to re-trim the model should there be, for example,a different battery used or other changes.

Again surrounds are made from L-shaped styrene to hold the bars from moving sideways.




The bars are doubled up and stuck together with a protruding piece to fit the space. A clip is made from a small piece of flat brass bar.




The clip is a tight fit and slides over the centre bar of the Caswell fittings, and presses the bars downward, they are now locked in place.




Easy to remove if there are any changes.


The Boattrainman