Work went on with fully outfitting the ZB-1 dive cylinder with Servos, Speed Controller, Receiver and setting up the Sheerline Valve system. i used flat battery plugs instead of soldering the fuses to allow quick replacement.. I added one more Servo for independent operation of the forward planes and replaced the provided pushrod seals for 2,3mm diam. pushrods with the common Engel-Type Seal for 2mm pushrods. to install those in the existing openings i made two sockets from stainless hat-nuts that were glued in place with resin. i also introduced a new drive shaft as i learned David did not use 4mm shafts with a reduced diameter around the cup seal like my original one anymore but a shaft with consistant 4mm diameter. i also wanted to change the shaft length.
Building the Zero Bubble Model Design 1/120 Mike SSN
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some more pictures of the outfitting of the cylinder. After initial testing i replaced the large Endcap O-Rings with bigger and wider ones as over time the existing ones lost seal and i had leaks on both sides during initial testing. to do so, i had to enlarge the grooves. i made a simple depth gauge for a fine file and removed the material carefully, using Edding marker in the groove to identify the areas still beeing not deep enough after every filing cycle. i also shortened the lexan tube and milled in a wider cone at both end faces.
Last edited by JHapprich; 04-03-2022, 11:20 AM.Comment
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Finally it was time for testing, however without the ballast tank that had not been constructed yet. The boat sat upright on the pool bottom. I decided to add some masts to bring in more details. So i made some after consulting Pictures of the original vessel for a proper combination. I used brass for the mast heads from rods and sheets that were soldered together. Antenna and attack scope are 2mm stainless steel, the Radar and Satellite Navigation array received 3mm Stainless tube over the 2mm rod to thicken up the mast appropriately. all that was CA`d together and mounted on an ABS tray just under the Sail.
sandblasting prior to painting
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Now that the look was about right, i turned my attention towards ballast tank construction. I used PVC Pipe, PVC Endcaps and slosh baffles. the inlet pipe was made from brass and press-fitted into the tank with a piece of silicon tube so i could remove it for emptying the tank after a run and allow for some maintenace of the otherwise entirely sealed tank construction. again, i used a PP bracket for the installation. also drilled some holes to vent the air. tried to persue the pattern on the genuine KOMSOMOLETS.Comment
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A small sidenote concerning my Robbe Futaba F-14 radio: As mentioned before, i changed the receiver of the ZB-1 cylinder to accept the F-14 instead of the simple Wfly 4ch device. My F-14 is specifically set up for controlling rc submarines with the Navy twin stick and two linenar modules. One major disadvantage is the lack of a servo reverse switch common to modern radios that in the past prevented me from using it for more than one model at once as the servo direction had to be determined internally on the mainboard of the F-14. In case of a change it had to be opened and set up again. However as being of modular design, that old system offers many slots for upgrades and so i installed 8 double-pole/three position switches both to change the servo direction and shut off unused controllers. I also found some information in the internet of others having done so before. As of now, it's one for all !
A pair of three pole switches will be installed up-left in the future to change between the blue proportional and the linear controllers in the center.
JörgComment
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Hello!
I have recently been notified by DavidH that i did not conclude my build report. It seems i actually forgot about that over some very important business issues at the end of 2021, even though i thought i already wrote about that! Actually i am not quite sure there is Page 7 of this thread missing at all. Whatever....
So the following describes what i did in Autumn and Winter 2021...
I experimented withe several balast tank sizes and construction that basically differed in capacity and weight in order to find a working design, together with different SLA battery sizes.
This is the last of the 3 balast tanks and as of now the operational model, that allows me to run at the surface slighly lower than waterline and a bit stern heavy to have enogh distance beetween water surfae and propeller. I decided that would be "scale" enough after having found some actual pictures of Komsomolets at that depht.
One thing i found really bad about the original Sheerline tank was the inability to easily vent it after a run due to its all-sealed cunstruction. as you can see in the last picture there is a piece of silicon rubber protruding from the endcap around the brass pipe inlet. this is the seal of that brass pipe. the entire pipe can simply be pulled out of the tank for maintenance and put back in using the perforation of the center slosh baffle as guidance. My approach, self-sealing with rising inner pressure.Last edited by JHapprich; 04-03-2022, 12:55 PM.Comment
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Some pictures of the ZB-1 Watertight Cylinder provided by Zero Bubble Model Design after upgrading to the Corona receiver. As of now, i am using a 5-channel configuration with seperate control of bow- and stern planes. During bassin trials, i used a simple 4-ch WFly radio, now changed for the F-14. I will see if i need to install a levelling module for automated stern plane operations and maybe an external BEC if necessary. Spring has arrived in Germany and i hope to find time for proper "sea" trials.
Best regards & stay healthy!
Jörg
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