Revell Gato 1/72 - Newbie no more Part duex

[trout]

Last night there was a pool test. There were some hiccups, but overall a success!
So here is a little celebration video.

[Nige1912]

Alternatively be one of the lucky guys who manages to avoid the marriage trap and stay single - like me!!! That way you can please your bloody self and forget whatever day you desire!!!!!!!!!!!
Give him a soapbox!

[trout]

There is a phrase i have learned early in our marriage, "I blame myself"
I caught the subtle nuance of messing up fortunately it was prior not after. And yes I have my ID ten T moments (ID10T).

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

You IDIOT!

What?!... you momentarily lost your Will To Live?

Even I have the survival instinct engaged enough to get a few of those 'special days of the year' set aside for the Lady.

Ellie never shouts or says much. She's one of those tough, little Filipino types who can kill with a simple 'look'.

There was this one time I really ****ed her off about something. We were freshly married -- I was a loud-mouthed, cocky, Navy Diver when this happened. After the tiff she acted like it was all behind us and carried on with her little Wifely duties. Cooked up a nice evening meal as usual, fed me a big, juicy steak with all the trimmings. By candle-light of all things. I took it (stupidly) as an apology for the earlier spat. As I started to get up from the table she slide in behind me, silently as a Ninja, her lips up against my ear, her hands lightly resting on my shoulders, and in a very soft voice said: "ya gotta sleep sometime, round-eye!"

I didn't sleep right for a month!

Two rules to a successful marriage:

1. It's ALWAYS your fault
2. Don't forget her birth-day and Mother's Day

And NEVER cross the little-lady.

David

[trout]

Just a heads up for those married.....
I was giving Tina the run down about tonight working on the inflatable pool, Friday going to grandma's pool, Saturday another run at grandma's pool, then Sunday going to the pond and doing a run. It was at the Sunday plans that it got rough....Tina shot me a look that would make Hercules get weak knee. Remember this Sunday is Mother's Day for those that celebrate that - don't do as I did and forget about it. Move over dog, I am moving in.

[trout]

Thank you David!I will re-check the connectors (I do have an extension) and if it does freeze up again, I will try moving the servo and see.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Check your lead connections -- there are three, maybe even four of them (if you use a lead extension between ADF and ballast sub-system servo): receiver-to-Lipo Guard; Lipo Guard-to-ADF; and ADF to ballast sub-system servo.

Check how firmly the connectors are made up.

Next time you can't get the servo to move, apply force to its pushrod and see if it then starts responding -- if so: you have a dead-spot on the feed-back potentiometer and you have to replace the servo. I think this the most likely cause of your intermittent problem, Tom.

David

[trout]

Last night I did the pre-checkup to putting the sub in the water. Placed the sub in the inflatable pool. It went well, for the most part. After awhile, I gave it the command to dive/vent and nothing happened. I had done this several times this night, but all of a sudden nothing. The dive planes responded fine, throttle - no issues, Rudder - check, and snort was O.K. - all other features were quick and showed no signs of low battery issue or reception problems.
Pulled the sub and removed the deck. All was dry - no lights indicating a problem. Tried the vent/blow and still nothing. Tried turning off the transmitter.... nothing. Turned transmitter on, turned off the sub main power and then turned off transmitter. Put my son to bed and returned to troubleshoot. When everything was powered up, all was fine. I put the sub in the water and vented the tank, that worked fine. Using the snort system, filled the tank. Went to vent and nothing.......I applied a little reverse and then forward and the venting started. Interference? Loose wire? What in the world is going on? The rest of the night putting her through the paces was flawless. No further issues. After the test I checked the sub over and found no issues. I did not see any wiring issues and there were no lights indicating a problem. Thoughts? Troubleshooting tips? I will test again tonight, hopefully get a pool run Friday and if all goes well..... pond. Until this issue of the unresponsive vent/blow, I will always have a nervousness about the open water test. Best bring my dive gear.....at least snorkel and fins!

[trout]

THE WFLY REPLACEMENT TRANSMITTER IS IN! Thank you Mike!
I boxed up the old and will send it back tomorrow.
So, any ideas what I did tonight? That's right, got it adjusted and set up for the Gato! Back in the saddle again.....

[trout]

An simpler alternative to the magnets would be to use short lengths of brass or stainless steel tubing so you can just plug the stanchions in.

Yep - absolutely a make it simple solution! That is a great idea. Will have to make that plan "B" if this does not work!

[redboat219]

An simpler alternative to the magnets would be to use short lengths of brass or stainless steel tubing so you can just plug the stanchions in.

[trout]

yes, that may be true that it is more of a challenge! LOL It is not a challenge to modify as much as it is fill in the time for me at the moment. I am not even sure the deck railing will work, time will tell. In my head it will work but there is that separation of reality, you know what I mean? If you decide on lights, hopefully posts coming later will help. Alec, straight out of the box is a beautiful sub! I like what you are doing.

[alad61]

Nice enhancements Tom.

I haven't done much with magnets to date... I though about lights in mine to but opted to go with a pretty much straight out of the box job. I reckon it's more of a challenge not to add the extras and just do an o.o.b job...

[trout]

The replacement WFLY radio should be here Monday or Tuesday. I have been antsy and felt the need to make some progress on the sub. It has been real hard not to put things on the sub that I probably would just knock off. In the conning tower, I put the shim in to get the rack foot to touch the floor. I have ordered LEDs and played with different resistors to vary the brightness. It seems that red LEDs are brighter than green LEDs so to get an even brightness I have to put a higher resistance on the red LED. I got some warm white LEDs for running lights and a Bright warm LED for the search light.


There is so much variation among the subs for port/starboard running lights. Some had them on the side in an opening like

and others had their running lights further back like these

That I am having a hard time selecting what sub I want to model this Gato after. I may even go for the all black finish like the '44 Barb or Mingo. There is still time to make that decision. The aft running light seems to be the same on all (like the Revell has it right mostly). The forward running light has severe variances from in front of the conning tower below the venturi to on a jackstaff in the bow, so that will come with a final decision of which boat to do.
I began to work on the aft running light creating a housing in brass. I will get photos on another post.
The deck railing is a standard look (most sub pictures have them in place) and when on a patrol they could be removed and stowed away. I wanted to have the option to have them on or not. Being a Magnetaholic, I drilled 1/16" holes in the rail recesses and marked the top of a 1/16" disk magnet just prior to installation. This helped me keep track of the polarity and to keep them all aligned in the same direction.

Then using tweezers, slide the magnet in place.

Drop some CA and baking powder to secure and support the back.

The thickness of the deck's plastic that is drilled out is about equal to the magnet, so the magnet is mostly flush on the deck railing recess.

I will need to seal these and paint. Then work on rails.
This is all fluff when you come right down to it. The focus was and is get it running. It is just during the delays that I need to be doing something.

[trout]

Goofed around with some more stuff. Since I can not find a reference, drawing, chart, of what the inside of the conning tower looks like with lockers for semi-accuracy I decided to wing it. Heck, it's my sub and I will do what I want.
Made the tubes for the lockers.

Then installed them. Talk about backward design. In future builds, put details in, then floor.

I will need to put some shims in to make it fit closer. It gives the appearance I was going for.