Bronco Type XXIII by Ken

[goshawk823]

I’m sure David will chime in, but IIRC, the two items on the left were for mounting a camera in the tower.

[Ken_NJ]

I agree Manfred. Moving the hull around on the bench I'm already knocking them into things, they get in the way sticking out like that.

If I look back at David's fitting kit, at this point I have already made most of what was in the kit, those with the X. The figures, do not need. Not sure what the question mark items may be for, or the ones that are circled. The ones in the square, not sure either, but I suspect something to do with attaching the sail to the deck. Maybe magnetic contacts?



This week I hope to finish up stuffing the SD. David sent me synthesized receivers I hope work for me. Groton is not far away. Have to get the sail on and the boat trimmed out. Find where the heck I can stuff foam. Getting deja vu on the foam problem like the Skipjack. By no means will it be finished, but hope to run it at SubEx25.

Left to do before Groton...
Get Sub driver stuffed and tested
Make linkages to dive planes
Linkage SD to prop dive shaft
Hold downs for main deck and rudder cover
Get the sail on in some manner
If time, get some detail on the deck and sail
Install weights
Install foam
Trim the boat in the test tank (bath tub)
And whatever else I can think of

Even after getting all that done, after Groton over the winter will still have much to do.

[MFR1964]

Ken,
You made the right decision to beef up the guards, mine where allready several times nocked off, strangely only the front guards not the one's on the rear

Manfred.

[Ken_NJ]

Dive plane guards

Is that the technical name? Just glueing these to the hull seemed like a small bump and they could be knocked off. So I went with how David did it fastening them to the hull, with my twist.

The bow guards are solid, they were placed in a vise and a series of holes were drilled to accept a 1/16" piece of GRP. The aft guards had part of the inner edge removed to accept a section of GRP. The GRP was notched to help hold them in place. For the aft planes the GRP was tacked in place on one half with CA. Then the other half was applied and solvent was used to join them together. For the bow guards, I put some G-Flex epoxy in the hole and on the GRP, shoved them in then wiped away the excess.






With the halves joined together, the aft guards had this hollow cheapish feeling to them. So they get filled with epoxy.

Like I did with the rudder and dive planes I drilled fill and vent hole in the aft guards, then drop by drop filled them with epoxy resin. Once it was set the next day, topped the holes off with baking power and thin CA.

Once the tabs were in place, all of the guards were sanded smooth.



Getting ready for bow guards.



The bow guards were held in place then Weldon solvent was applied to the guard-hull joint. I had to make sure the guards were perfectly horizontal to each other. Then solvent was applied along the perimeter. They were then tacked on the inside with CA.



The aft guards were more difficult. Here is the setup. I had to raise the boat up so I get a better view of attaching them. A brass rod was inserted through the dive plane stuffing tube and used as a reference.



The GRP tabs were cut to length, notched and a hole was drilled for an additional holding power from the epoxy. And retaining clips were made.



Needed four hands for this but managed with two. Held the guard in place then applied the first application of solvent. Once both were 'tacked' to the hull, additional solvent was applied around the perimeter.



Interior of the aft guard.



The hull sections were then taken apart removing all of the machine screws. That only takes five minutes. Here we have the inside of the aft guard.



Notice the gap in the hole perimeter. When applying the epoxy I made sure the epoxy displaced any air in this gap.



And how the retaining clip will work.



Epoxy resin with micro balloons was mixed up. Some epoxy was applied making sure there were no air bubbles in the joint, then the clip was pushed in place. Then the thickened epoxy was dribbled around the GRP. The styrene hull was roughed up before this step.






The bow guard was done the same way. Dribbled epoxy on the GRP. You can see the styrene hull was already roughed up.









All done! Before adding the epoxy, and just using the solvent, the guards felt pretty solid on the hull. Maybe it was overkill but I feel much better having the guards attached to the hull this way. Very solid feeling of the guards. Now just need to sand the areas again where the solvent is at the joint.

[Ken_NJ]

Interesting XXIII drydock diorama on Facebook. A well weathered boat. Might have to scroll down to the builder Terrance Power.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B4xkRu1Wf/

[Ken_NJ]

Progress is slow. The crimping toll arrived today. Looking forward to using it making some wires shorter. I'll have other uses for it.



Had this watt meter for a while. Finally got around to putting connectors on it. Will probably make up a few more adapter cables.

[Ken_NJ]

Deck and hull alignment tabs

While I'm waiting for receivers and the servo wire crimping tool I've also been working on the tabs to alignment the deck to the hull.

I added a tab on either side forward first, in the corner. These helped align and slide the deck assembly in easier.



The rest of the tabs alternated between the upper and lower hull sections. OR, a tab was added where one was needed most to keep the hull parts in alignment.






Each tab was pre-bent before using solvent to join it to the hull. This was an approximate bend. Once they were on the hull I used a shaped piece of wood to help bend it further. Pressure was applied with the wood so it would not inadvertently break the joint and come off. I worked forward to aft and as each one was added it was fine tuned in the bend so the deck seated properly. That way I was not trying to bend them all and figure out which one was causing a problem.



BUT, once they were all on they still required fine tuning so the parts seated correctly.



There is still some spring in the tabs that require adjusting.

[Ken_NJ]

LOL, I was snapping away trying to make sure the drone was not going to go in the drink since it was the first time from the boat. Carol just went to the back of the boat.

[wlambing]

You two should maybe try to look more happier, maybe??? ;)

[Ken_NJ]

If you spend upwards of a few hundred dollars for electronics plus the cost of the boat. Then take all of those electronic parts and stick it in a plastic cylinder, put some end caps on to supposedly prevent water from getting to the electronics. Then put that cylinder in a free flooding boat expecting it to stay dry. Spend 1-12 months of your time putting it all together. And expect it to go underwater and it comes back. Yea maybe it does not come back, something that occasionally does happen. Even if that does happen. You are no idiot. You built something expecting it to work and it does. As David said, you are a craftsman to do what you just did. There are craftsmen all over this forum of different calibers. I never used an airbrush until I did the Skipjack. I had a test subject to practice on. I'm no expert at it, I got by. I followed what David did and I did OK, at least I think I did. I learned how to scribe and did a pretty decent job on my Marlin. I've spent a few days building something on some boats. It wasn't to my liking so it went in the trash and I started over. Second time comes out much better. I'm not afraid of do-overs, you learn from it. Watch here and other forums, and Youtube. Practice at it and make mistakes and learn.

OK enough, blah blah blah, anyone that reads this should get it and anyone here is a craftsman, no idiots!







And now I'm going to brag. It was a beautiful boating day on Saturday, Sunday will be the same. This is our boat, picture taken in May. We are anchored in Kingfisher Cove in the Metedeconk River which is on the north end of Barnegat Bay in New Jersey. We love it and we love boating and I love building model boats. So although I am not a licensed captain, I do have a boating license, you have to, you can still call me captain. Usually its Captain Ken. The name Wavelength is from a Van Morrison song. The album version is the best version. AND, this is the first time ever I used my drone from the boat over water.

https://youtu.be/YCptjDrd8SU?si=0ujmBVGaLNwVDShV

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I feel like the town idiot. I am just watching the royalty build. Thanks Ken for your creativity and thanks David for inspiring builds. I got to get better…..

We are all humble students of the Craft, Tom.

[trout]

I feel like the town idiot. I am just watching the royalty build. Thanks Ken for your creativity and thanks David for inspiring builds. I got to get better…..

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Thank you for this info David!

Pump - Good to know, did not know this. Makes things much easier.

Receivers - Thank you again. Was using the 2.4 one so I could get started on placement of things.

Crimper - On order now. Was something I kept procrastinating at getting. Now is the time to get it.

Taking a break - Oh yes. Weekends are a no model work time. Going to be a gorgeous boating weekend so Carol and I will enjoy two days on the river and ocean!

Already drew up a modified diagram from the Skipjack. Will make it nice and put it in the computer once it is final.

Ouhhhh! I like that: you're running the LPB off the receiver/hotel services bus. As long as you have unused ports on the receiver this is a better alternative than tapping into the main power bus -- with the added complexity of a voltage dropping resister and soldering into the main bus eliminated. Your method simplifies things a great deal -- I'm going to steal that hack, and claim authorship. No one will ever know! You clever SOB, you!

Be safe, pal. You two enjoy the water.



David

[Ken_NJ]

Thank you for this info David!

Pump - Good to know, did not know this. Makes things much easier.

Receivers - Thank you again. Was using the 2.4 one so I could get started on placement of things.

Crimper - On order now. Was something I kept procrastinating at getting. Now is the time to get it.

Taking a break - Oh yes. Weekends are a no model work time. Going to be a gorgeous boating weekend so Carol and I will enjoy two days on the river and ocean!

Already drew up a modified diagram from the Skipjack. Will make it nice and put it in the computer once it is final.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Thanks Manfred. The sample articles are in German, which I don't know. Not sure what I can get from there.



Question answered. I wired up as I described and the micro switch activated the pump just fine. Only question is which direction will the pump run? Will figure that out once everything is in place and run a test in water. If I need to switch two wires to change the direction, easy peasy.

Not that the following pictures are helpful. Wired up the 2.4 receiver, AD2, BLM, BEC. Going to try using these WAGO lever connectors from Amazon instead of soldering the ends. Everything works fine. Did some preliminary setup procedures on the BLM and AD2. Will redo and finalize it all once they are all in place.






Even the 2.4 receiver might not fit well. Started figuring where to put each component. The Viper 10 mounts on the bottom under the servos. The AD2 and BLM are mounted on the servos with double face tape. I removed the connectors that came on the Viper 10 and used 2mm bullet connectors for the motor. The battery side goes into the WAGO connector. Still have to mount the BEC and WAGO's. Not putting the DC3 depth controller in until after Groton, unless I find time. Can due without it for now. Everything still works after mounting them.

What to do with all the long wires, mostly servo wires? Fold them and bury them. Or cut them and splice them? Or cut and put new contact ends on? I don't have the crimper for these small wires. Might be a good investment.






Blah blah blah

It's a two-banger diaphragm pump -- it will only pump in one direction, no matter the motor shaft direction of spin.

Your small receivers are on the way, stop sweating it... take you're gal to a movie or something. Take a break!

Yeah... as in, DUH! get the wire crimper kit. Be professional, damnit! What did I teach you???

Zhushan SN-02BM Wire Crimp Tool Kit AWG 28-20 (0.08-0.5mm˛) Wire Crimper with1550 PCS 2.54mm Dupont Connectors and 460 PCS 2.54mm JST-XH Connectors - Amazon.com