GATO! (It has begun)

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Bilge keels act like external radial flow baffles in that they damp ship roll from wave action. However their effectiveness is inversely proportionate to speed; the faster you move, the less radial damping they provide. This is why you see both passive roll suppression (bilge keels) AND active roll suppression (fin stabilizers) devices fit to most ships.

Come on, Albion, don't chicken on us now ... install those bad-boys!

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Bilge keels act like external radial flow baffles in that they damp ship roll from wave action. However their effectiveness is inversely proportionate to speed; the faster you move, the less radial damping they provide. This is why you see both passive roll suppression (bilge keels) AND active roll suppression (fin stabilizers) devices fit to most ships.

Come on, Albion, don't chicken on us now ... install those bad-boys!

M

[matthewnimmo]

So, i just took these now as i finished cutting the hole for the snorkel for the SAS system. I think i have enough clearance, just needed to shave a little off the face of the cradle and around the sides after the initial cut to make sure i had enough room for the float to move.


As you can see the float is stopped by the side wall circled in read; but the next picture shows that the hole is open ... i think that should be good yes?


Few questions

1) Do i CA down the main resin piece to the upper hull? I'm assuming that i do and if i need to remove for whatever reason i can just take out the pin thats holding the float in place.
2) This bottom piece that fits on the underside of the upper hull ... do i use RTV on the piece or just keep it as it is since its pretty snug hand fitted?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

The after edge of the hole you cut out is a good 'stop' for the float arm, as it appears that you have at least a 1/16" gap between the induction nipple and the rubber element with the snorkel head-valve in the 'open' condition. Looks good.

Use RTV between the upper face of the 90-degree elbow, and the bottom of the hull. This will sandwich the head-valve to the upper hull, so there is no need to glue it to the deck. But, if you still want to glue it, use RTV so you can pry-things apart later as CA will require low-yield nuke's to break the bond should you want to service the head-valve sometime in the future.

Good looking stuff. Keep at it.

M

[alad61]

I still need to cut out the snorkel section of the top of the hull; but one thing i noticed was that the opening that which i would be cutting is in the way of one of the WTC cradles ... so i'm assuming that i just cut a chunk out of the cradle to make room for the float?

Thats pretty much what I did and the top hull still seems solid. I agree double action AB's can be a pain but like many ubiquitous things in life they are often necessary... David did you change this Gato sas snorkel? Because mine looks completely different...

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Yeah, I changed the design. The new one is easier to manufacture, more reliable, and can either be mounted as you have or hung from an overhead (bottom of gun platform/cigarette deck.

David

[matthewnimmo]

So, i think i fixed a lot of my ****ty filler work.

more sanding



Then re-primed



It still not perfect (as i see still some ****ty filler work; but i keep telling myself i'm going to weather the crap out of it ... so i think it'll be ok)



Question thought, so the next step is going through all the control components and before doing that i was trying to decide were the indexing pin is going to be. According to the DVD set the indexing pin location on the WTC is right before one of the large holes on the bottom of the WTC closest forward. But, on the WTC i see there is only one potential hole for an indexing pin right after the large hole and not directly on the bottom ... instead it is slightly to the side. Is this my indexing pin location? See picture below.


Thanks everyone,

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

No. That hole is to run an Allen-wrench through to adjust position of the blow-valve (if used). Indexing pin position is not critical -- just as long as its under the ballast tank.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Did you spring for a gallon of 131S? How much??????.....

M

[matthewnimmo]

About two years ago when i first started this project i had bought a gallon of it, but i cant remember how much i paid lol

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

131S is now over $160 here. You get about the same performance from the Nason scratch-and-fill acrylic lacquer primer, for 1/3 the price!

M

[matthewnimmo]

Wow! yeah, i wouldn't have paid 160 for it for sure. My gut says i paid about 50 bucks for it then from a small place called colormasters.

[matthewnimmo]

Progress!

I believe I'm done priming everything, including the indexing tabs


Got my indexing pin in. Also drilled my index pin hole within the WTC and of course test fitted everything. Seems to be fine and hopefully balanced enough


Lastly, built my dog bones for the drive shafts and test installed them. They seem to be fine. Got my prop shafts reinstalled along with washers (that are a lot larger in diameter than i thought they would be; but seem to be working fine ... but i guess i'll know more when i actually apply power to the motors and turn the shafts that way instead of free handed).


Edit: forgot that i secured the brass rods for my bow planes


Hoping to get the rudder and planes installed tomorrow (not quite sure on how long to make the brass shafts for those control pieces....figured i needed to get my WTC placed were i wanted and then do some guestimations from there.

[crazygary]

Looking good, Matt!!

Way to go!!

[matthewnimmo]

Ok, some progress made. I've got the rudder and the sterin planes in place! But, I have many questions about the electronics kit #1 that i purchased for the gato.

First, see the progress



Now the questions.

1) What the hell is this for? If this is the BEC, do i need it if the speed controller has one built into it? And if i need it how does it fit in?


2) How do i handle the switch? I'm assuming that I make some connections like the ones in demo'd in the picture below using the supplied red connectors?


3) I'm assuming i use a Tamiya connector for the other end of the wire to connect to the speed controller?


4) I believe I understand the angle keeper (simply connect the sterin plane servo to it and then the angle keeper to the receiver), but what about the lipo guard...how does that come into play? And then the Y connector, were should I use that?

*Lastly* 5) I want to add lights like Trout did with his Gato, what other arrangements do i need to buy and connect up to the electronics ... and were?


Thanks everyone, being going over this for a while before i do too much soddering