Moebius Skipjack

[Bob Gato]

Silly obvious question-and I know the answer...did you pull the red wire out of the ESC's plug where it gets signal from the receiver?

[Ken_NJ]

Thanks Bob and David. I'm good with the light on the rudder.

Having an issue with electronics. I believe David said the motor on his SJ SD has capacitors built in. If I use a receiver battery or a power supply the motor runs smoothly. If I use a BEC the motor studders quite a bit. I tried 2 different BECs and both cause the motor to studder. Running everything I can as a load, the current draw stays below 500ma and the voltage stays steady at 5ish volts. Anyone have any ideas about this?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I'm late to this party, but thought I'd chime in as I don't think it's too late. That control shaft should be able to be popped out with a pair of pliers and 3.5 seconds of work. I don't think the shaft is notched, so just a bit of rotary pressure and it will snap free of the resin. Pull it free, run up a tube for your lighting, and you're done.

If it's being ornery, heat up the shaft tip with a torch and it will come free more easily.


Bob

No, that won't work in this case (I assume he's using my 1/72 SKIPJACK fittings kit).

Prior to casting the resin end of the rudder operating shafts they were peened from cylindrical to flat to prevent independent rotation or removal of the operating shaft from the rudder.

Removal will entail some rather ugly surgery and back-fill with a two-part filler.



David

[RCSubGuy]

I'm late to this party, but thought I'd chime in as I don't think it's too late. That control shaft should be able to be popped out with a pair of pliers and 3.5 seconds of work. I don't think the shaft is notched, so just a bit of rotary pressure and it will snap free of the resin. Pull it free, run up a tube for your lighting, and you're done.

If it's being ornery, heat up the shaft tip with a torch and it will come free more easily.


Bob

[Ken_NJ]

I never worked with fiber optics. What would you use for the cable and what source for illumination? I planned on using a micro size LED which I did use on another sub.

[Scott T]

I was looking at the light you are mounting on the fin and a bright idea hit me. What if instead of mounting a led on the fin you put fiber optic through as a light pipe. LED could be in the hull.



Drilled a 5/64 hole from the top. Smallest bit I had with length that would work. Stopped short from the bottom then drilled a hole from the bottom at an angle to meet the other hole. Could of drilled straight through but I didn't. I was able to run a thick wire right thru. Yeah!! I'm going the route the wires will flex with the rotation of the rudder. Hopefully the flexing does not wear them to the breaking point. Where they enter the hull needs to be away from where the rudder post enters.






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[Ken_NJ]

I like having a nice stand to display my models. I duplicated the style of the stand I made for the Marlin. Same size length by width. I think the Marlin stand is pine, I used poplar on the new stand. I like how the stained wood came out on the new stand. I used a Minwax stain after wood conditioner. The finish is indoor-outdoor Urethane that has UV protectant in it. It was always a problem with me is where do you put the upper hull when you have it off? I made a pair of arms which hang off the main stand. I set keyhole hangers in the arms and they connect with the hull supports. This way they are removable. Now I have a place to put the upper hull for display purposes.

[Ken_NJ]

To fill the gap from cutting the z-cut I applied a thickness of styrene that fit in the gap and faired this into the hull. The upper tail cone was glued to the lower hull and the seams were faired with Euro-Soft. The radial flange was glued in place. Once the flange was on and I placed the upper hull on and there was a gap in the longitudinal seam along the side of the hull. I used a curved Exacto knife and scraped the upper surface of the radial flange and the underside of the upper hull away until the longitudinal seam gap closed up. I decided to beef up the radial flange by applying a layer of 0.040 styrene on the inside. The instructions call for a single 4-40 flat head machine screw to hold the upper and lower hulls together. Instead I decided to use two 2-56 machine screws on the sides. I added a backing piece of styrene where the screws would go thru so the threads had more meat to anchor in. Lastly, my big hands and a short Allen wrench presented a problem tightening the grub screws in the yoke. I bought a spare 0.050 Allen wrench and cut the bent end off. Both ends were inserted into brass tube and crimped and soldered. This extended Allen wrench so far seems pretty solid and it makes it easier to get into the tail cone area. Pictures tell the story...

[Ken_NJ]

Anyone that knows what I did with Skip's Marlin knows I don't take the easy route. (Tom, David, Manfred) Maybe I make things more complicated than they need be and do things that might not be the norm. But I'm learning and having fun doing it. And hopefully it gives people ideas on doing something different. Step it up! That's what forums are for, showing off and learning.

[Ken_NJ]

Well-if it was easy, Ken wouldn't be asking..I should have known that.

Right on Bob!

I haven't given many time to answer, and I was working on it, so wanted to do something, I get impatient, so I did this...

Removed the faux light at the top and marked where the rudder post is.


Drilled a 5/64 hole from the top. Smallest bit I had with length that would work. Stopped short from the bottom then drilled a hole from the bottom at an angle to meet the other hole. Could of drilled straight through but I didn't. I was able to run a thick wire right thru. Yeah!! I'm going the route the wires will flex with the rotation of the rudder. Hopefully the flexing does not wear them to the breaking point. Where they enter the hull needs to be away from where the rudder post enters.

[type7]

You can trench the wires into the rudder and fill over them but jumping from the rudder into the hull is going to be a bit messy.

[Bob Gato]

Well-if it was easy, Ken wouldn't be asking..I should have known that. As I see it you have two choices: 1. Run the wires parallel to the post as you suggested..With the possibility of messing up the bodywork and the original, also having the wires being under constant bending stress and possible fowling . 2. You could cast a new rudder using the original as a master and cast in a tube from bottom to top-nothing ventured... then make that changeable friction fit LED with the long leads that will come out in the middle of that yoke assembly and be long enough to reach.

[Ken_NJ]

The rudder post is already set in the resin rudder and connects with the yoke in the hull. Don't think I want to *******ize the rudder and replace the rod with a tube, although that would be nice. And there is no room internally to solder connections to the tube. I'm have enough of a problem getting an Allen wrench in there to tighten the grub screws. Once the upper hull is glued to the lower hull it's difficult to get the 2 yokes in there, get the control surface in and tighten those grub screws.

[Bob Gato]

Ken -How about making the rudder post out of tubing -then route the leads inside the tube to exit inside hull to pick up its power? Or also think about using the rudder post (brass) as one leg of the circuit-this way you only have to snake one wire down the post. Make the other leg of the LED a friction fit to the outer end of the tube so you can easily change it if need be.

[Ken_NJ]

I want to put an LED Nav light at the top of the rudder. Anyone do this already? I think the only way is to drill a hole from where the LED will be and have it exit the bottom of the rudder before the rudder post. Then exit the rudder and enter the hull section.