1:72 Los Angeles

[spankey]

So, marked, and cut the nose off on the lower hull half. Picture attached. I need to clean it up before it gets glassed onto the top half. I'll probably make the rear cut before I do any kind of glassing.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Offset the two stern planes and two rudder control surfaces to produce a roll counter to the propeller torque. Now you can fly!

David,

[spankey]

No Kidding!!! I love my skipjack! With the upgraded prop (I know its not scale), but that boat approaches 8-10kts submerged. Torque roll is a VERY real problem, and depth control is EASILY lost, but its only for short sprints. Believe it or not, I've had (accidentally) the skipjack come completely out of the water.

I promise I wont go overboard with this thing...I've put too much into it to pile it up into somebody's dock support or something.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Well, next to Norbert's little Delphine model, my 1/96 SKIPJACK is the most dangerous/fun r/c model submarine out there. And you enjoyed it.

OK, it's official, I'm dealing with a nut.

Yeah, spring for the two-motor version. But, tie that lead-foot of yours behind your back when you first operate your LA, OK?

[spankey]

The first ship I was on, somebody told me to go looking for that golden rivet, and a bucket of steam...I just went and took a nap for 4 hours.

Jokes aside, I really appreciate all the help I've been getting.

Is two 550 motors really too much?

[greenman407]

Thats tellin em Spankey!

[spankey]

I was also trying to find the golden rivet that somebody told me was someplace in this kit...

I've been driving your 1/96 skipjack, and a 1/72 Gato I converted for 5 or 6 years. For fun, I gave that Skipjack boat a 7 bladed scimitar prop, and that thing MOVES. I think I might need to get the twin motor setup....

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Daniel,

(I refused to address an adult as Spankey ... what's next, Buckwheat?!)

Two motors on a 1/72 LA is for crazy people!

Is this your first r/c sub? If so, start with the single-motor set-up till you get your confidence up. This way Mike and I can take you to the cleaners twice: first, the single-motor bulkhead; then, when you get cocky, we're in your pants again selling you a two-motor, single-shaft motor bulkhead.

Oh, and when you make out that Caswell order form, don't forget the relative bearing grease, water slugs, and magic-smoke.

What a country!

David

[spankey]

You think going with a single motor will do it? I was reading some other thread and I thought they were going to drive a 1/72 Permit with one of your 3.5" SD's with the two 550 speed motors geared into a single shaft. Is that overkill?

Roger on the sail...I think I'll go with the SSN 714, one of the last of the Flight 1 boats.

Daniel-

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Balsa, bad. RenShape, good. Get some the same time you make the SD order.

We have yet to update the catalog to show that there are three bulkheads that come with the 3.5 SD 'kit'. So, ask for the single-motor, single shaft motor bulkhead and you're gold. The kit comes to you with the after ballast bulkhead installed and the gas ballast sub-system installed and tested, you size the ballast tank to suit your boat and install the forward ballast bulkhead yourself, and cut off the forward portion of cylinder not needed as forward dry space (where the battery goes).

Keep in mind that that sail is for the Flight-1 boats, the ones with sail mounted dive planes.

David

[spankey]

So didnt order yet....
with the 3.5" SD, should I be going into the bulkhead section, and ordering the bulkhead with the 2 motors, and then ordering the ballast bulkhead, along with the 24" Lexan tube? I was thinking you said there was a kit that one could buy... Which part number is the one that I should get? Thanks.

[spankey]

I had a little bit of time, so went ahead and did the AFT MBT flood holes. I was dealing with scribing that already existed, so I missed the fact that the anchor (next to the secondary propulsion motor) should not have been cut out...ohh well, we'll get that later.
Have to fill a chip in the Gel coat too...Yippeee

Also, a photo of the sail with its scribing.

If anyone has any advice, I'm building up a full set of planes/rudders for this thing. Was starting with balsa, and then going to fill it, paint it, seal it, then make some molds using clay. Problems with that? ...

Just now ordering the 3.5" SD.

I think the longest lead item will be the Prop, but we'll see.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Good work opening up the flood-drain holes. Nice propeller. Yes, alternate the indexing tabs. It's good and an accepted practice.

Keep at it, Spanky.

David

[spankey]

Yeah, fair enough. I'll come back to it at some point in the future.

I did the FWD MBT flood holes this afternoon. Attached are a couple of shots of that progressing. The bottom half of the hull had been scribed with these holes prior to my receiving it, and they were not (1) straight, and (2) incorrect..i.e. not scale. SO, to the best of my knowledge, I corrected the flood holes, and cut them out, then filed them down.

You can see where I had tool chatter, and where the file dinged the hull in a couple of places, but it'll get filled and fixed.

Tomorrow, if I have time, I'm going to try to do the AFT MBT flood holes. They are also already scribed, so we'll see if they've been scribed straight.

Question... I got two ~55" long indexing strips with the hull when I bought it. It was suggested that I have some of the indexing lips on the top, and some on the bottom halves of the hull, alternating...if that makes any sense. Does this sound right, or just a way to complicate things?

Also, ordered the PropShopUK propeller today, a right handed, 7 bladed scimitar prop. 2.8" diameter was the closest thing that I could find to scale for that boat. My guestimation calcs were showing a 2.93" diameter prop....2.8 is pretty darn close, and prop shop has some nice stuff.

Photos...

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Don't agonize over your very ****py scribing effort -- move on! Not a big deal.

I want you to assemble this model, get the two hull halves to match and index together, get the running gear and control linkages worked out, SD installed and working, and this beast into primer gray and in the water!

Don't get bogged down in the small ****! Get it working. If you keep nit-picking this thing -- like so, so many others who attempted this activity -- you'll overwhelm yourself with useless stuff to the point where you quite the project in frustration and wind up off-loading this bag of tears to some poor, unsuspecting EBay dope.

Press on!

David,