Skipjack 1/72

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

It is the tube pictured here, Weld-On #16.
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The plastic hobby type glue, I have heard David explain, has been made so safe that it is useless for our work (David please correct me if I misquote you). I do not know if it will hold well in water or not. Maybe someone else could add to this conversation.

I was talking about hobby-shop air-dry putties like, Green-Stuff. It's crap!

The only thing hobby shops are good for today is glue, RTR toys, magazines and bad advice issued by tattooed idiots who would be better employed laying shingles atop roofs, doing web design for Obama, or flipping burgers.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I think that Im going to use "Testors" cement for plastic models. It smells real bad, auter work pretty good. Dave?........................

Fine...................

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

In this one the VLF loop antenna is the front bump indicated by the arrow. Looks like it is partially recessed. I can take mine and sand off the bottom to represent that. The back bump, I havent got a clue. Some of the pictures have it, some dont. Therefore I am safe to leave it off, since I dont know what it is anyway.
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For some reason, way-back-when, someone re-touched the photo of the SCORPEON (the last shot). Note that there is no induction ventilation grating at the lower portion of the sails trailing edge .... huh!?

What else did they 'alter' about the record of the boats last days? One more thing about that boat: Why is an Atlantic boat painted in the Pacific scheme?

That hemispherical bump is the top of the ECM antenna array.

M

[greenman407]

Alrighty then, with that info, a plan is in place. I will take these two antennas and carve them up and install the remains in their respective positions atop the sail.

[greenman407]

As far as the "glueing" of the two lower hulls together, This is what I have at my disposal. Notice the old wooden desk. I used a long straight edge to first determine that the table top is indeed ,flat. Then I marked out a centerline in pencil on the table top and center marks on the ends of the plastic hull for alignment. This handy little adjustable clamp squeezes the front hull together at the joint to mate with the rear hull piece. The clamp wants to fall over so I use various odds and ends to prop it up. The rechargeable cordless drill battery is used as a weight to apply downward motivation. Put your eyeball down at the joint so that you can see if everything is in alignment, so that you can make minor adjustments before it hardens. I followed HWSNBN instructions on first, applying the thin plastic weld liberally at the joint and then applying the model airplane glue generously but not excessively after that and then putting it all together. Now for at least 12 hrs. dont move it. Oh...and please note the wax paper under the joint and the large Mcdonalds sweet iced tea nearby, both essentials to this operation.....Kapeesh?:biggrin:

[greenman407]

Dave, why do they call the windows in the sail "Deadlights"?

[trout]

I was talking about hobby-shop air-dry putties like, Green-Stuff. It's crap!

The only thing hobby shops are good for today is glue, RTR toys, magazines and bad advice issued by tattooed idiots who would be better employed laying shingles atop roofs, doing web design for Obama, or flipping burgers.

M

Thank you David for the correction. I remember as a kid that if you put too much of the tube glue down, several weeks later or sometime down the road (I do not remember how long it took) the middle of the blob of glue would cause the surface of the opposing side to ripple or indent. That was a lesson to reduce the amount I put on. Later, MUCH later, as I got older I moved to liquid glues.

Mark, I love the renewed enthusiasm you are putting in the Skipjack and the way you are showing your steps and thoughts. Really well done sir! Thank you.

[greenman407]

Thanks, between paying the bills, Baker acting the kid, divorcing the wife, and keeping the blood pressure down, its hard to find time to squeeze a hobby in. I guess you can say this is good therapy for me.

[greenman407]

Its a start.

[greenman407]

The next two steps will be to construct a wooden display mount. Also to glue the two top halves together using the bottom halves as a guide.
I also placed my order for (3) servos, a speed control, a lipo guard, a BEC and a water proof switch. The rest of the stuff I already have. Should have them by 10-24-13

[greenman407]

Today at lunch I assembled the two top sections on the bottom sections and glued using the same procedures as before. Holding it in place until overnight dry using rubber bands. As has been suggested, I used two small pieces of wax paper to keep glue from dripping down into places that it dare not go.

[greenman407]

Using Alecs and also Toms build threads to copy from, and from some pictures Ive seen Im endeavoring to add a little detail to the top of this sail. As you can see Ive already added the top of the ECM/DF antenna. As for the VLF loop antenna, that was an accident waiting to happen. I wanted to sand it down a bit to give it the illusion of being somewhat recessed(sneeky). I could see that going awry so I left the antenna atop the mast for sanding and gluing. That will make it easier to hold and then I can just snip the mast off when Im done. Im also going to leave a stub sticking out of the forward retractable whip antenna to imitate a picture that I have seen and to add a bit of variation. HEY! All these Skipjacks cant look a like ya know.

[greenman407]

Heres a picture of Shark in 1989. Notice all the extra sensors and doodads. Should I, or shouldnt I?

[greenman407]

Theres one sticking up on the front of the top of the sail, one on the bow, one almost to the stern on deck and some kinda tapered box structure just behind amidships starboard of the exhaust fairing.

[Peter W]

" Should I, or shouldnt I?"

Yes, yes you should. That would then make 2 of us that are going over the top.

Peter