Skipjack 1/72

[greenman407]

Is it 11:00 yet? About 1:00 I arrived at the sub pond in Clearwater, about an hour and 15 from my home in Zephyrhills. Wouldnt you know it, it started raining. After a while I was able to get it in the water, feeling her out. I initially had the ADF set on the least sensitive setting. It appears that, that setting is not sensitive enough. So I pulled her out to advance to the next setting. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, I must have mistakenly entered into the setup mode and screwed everything up Royally. After putting things back together and sticking it back in the water, all it would do was go straight to the bottom. Its at that point that I picked up all the junk on the prop. After getting it back in, I realized that the dive planes operated correctly to command from the radio, but it was the ADF that was working backwards! Since I needed the instruction manual to the ADF to correct matters, it was time to pack it in and go home, to where the instruction manual was.

[trout]

Well you do not have an empty seat going home.......will wait for the details.

[greenman407]

Text at 11:00

[greenman407]

[greenman407]

Good as my word. Look at the pictures first, then I will tell you of my adventures.

[greenman407]

She goes in the pond Tuesday afternoon. If you hear about me on the Six Oclock news, you know what happened.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I, on the other hand, am perfect.

Therefore, I have no idea what you two idiots are talking about!

M

[trout]

Your build is excellent. I can be clear as mud, so no judgement from me.

[greenman407]

Tom, you mentioned a while back that you had trouble understanding my ramblings about the float valve. Well.................I have trouble understanding me, so therefore it only makes sence that others would have the same problem. Its a good thing that I go back and edit my stuff, otherwise I would completely confuse myself the next time I would read it...............seriously.

[greenman407]

Thanks. Obviously the purpose of the bellcrank is to eliminate the bending forces on the pushrod exiting the Subdriver. This way, those forces are taken up by the central post that the vertical arm pivots on. I CAed it to the back of the motor bulkhead. Knowing this I soldered on a foot plate so that there would be a greater footprint for attachment purposes. The only disadvantage that I can think of is that when you need to pull the motor bulkhead off the Subdriver, youll need to remove the upper magnetic connection rod. Best that I put some kinda mark on it for easy reattachment and alignment. Also, Ill put some kinda indexing mark on the motor bulkhead for radial alignment.

[trout]

Kudos to you! I like the battery holder. It is a pain in the tuckus when the battery shifts and you sail at an angle. Good solution. Then the cam, very creative!
Can't wait to see her sail.

[greenman407]

The next ones are of the bellcrank assm. The picture you see of the vertical arm , well, it had to be cut down a little more as it was hitting under the hull, not allowing it to go down all the way for attachment. I took it off and used the Dremel to shave it down some what. After some fine tuning and servo reversal, I now have a much more positive command of the sail planes.
I will give a full report of the Scamps performance with and without the use of the sail planes.

[greenman407]

OK, I am happy to announce that all is well with the Scampy. The Bellcrank mech. is a success. Since the bellcrank hit some of the foam installed under the upper hull in the rear, I had to cut a groove in the foam. Ill need to refloat it to see where, if any, ill need to put a little more foam back.
Just a side note. The foam that comes with the "Foam and Weight " kit appears to be of the open cell type. Which means that if you cut into it, you open up those cells in that area. Which means that it will absorb water at that point. Make sure that you put a thin layer of silicone seal over those affected areas.
The following pictures are the final state of weight and foam placement, just in case someone with limited experience would like a starting point. The first two are the rails to hold the battery from shifting around.

[greenman407]

well Dave, the bellcrank is your idea anyway. I first saw it on your Gato......dude.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Hurumph!!!!!!