Skipjack 1/72

[SSBN659]

Wow, finally a shaft alley easy to work in. Like it.

SSBN659

[greenman407]

Unfortunately, it wont be easy to work in for long. Once I glue down the upper part of the cone. Then we will need a long, long allen wrench to get up in there to tighten the upper rudder grub screw.

[greenman407]

Here is a link to all the instructions and Cabal reports on assembling your Skipjack. All in one place for easy reference. Save the link. Just scroll down thru it to get all the info that youll need.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-submarines-119/10776725-new-moeibus-1-72-skipjack.html

[greenman407]

Finally! With oilite bearings and shaft in there place along with the control surface gizmos.................IT IS DONE!

[greenman407]

Im going to take a stab at this. Nobody laugh! OK, so you know I bought the foam and weight kit for my little Scamper here. Only thing was somebody forgot to include instructions as to where everything goes. Dave helped me earlier with the weights. Now for the foam. There are two purpose built shapes of foam. Using my massive cerebral powers of deduction(ahem..ahem) I deduce that the smaller one goes back in that very difficult spot to conform foam to, the rearmost point of the waterline which I believe is the purpose for this scribed line in the hull. Notice the neat little cutout for the magnet attachment thingy. Unless I hear differently Ill be attaching that to the underside of the upper hull just in front of the hold down screw.

[greenman407]

As for the other little bugger, Im going to say that it goes forward. Just behind the torpedo nest area. You can see a circular depression formed in it, possibly for clearance to the Subdriver. AM I RIGHT??!! AM I RIGHT??!! HUH, HUH???

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

proceed

M

[greenman407]

If all goes according to plan Ill have this thing in the water in a couple of weeks. No paint until all bugs and adjustments are nailed down. In the meantime she and the Albacore are staring each other down. Actually, I think that they are good buddys, they just dont want me to know it.

[greenman407]

Where am I?.................Who are you?...............OH....I Remember now! SORRY! OLd Tmers is setting in. Just an update to this thread. I didnt have enough of the supplied hose to plumb the SAS so I substituted some silicone hose. It worked OK but then I found some of the good hose so I have replaced it since this picture was shot. Note also the placement of additional weight and foam.

[greenman407]

Youll notice that some of the additional weight had to be moved off of centerline to counter a list in the boat to port. Now its dead on. I dont know if anyone else is having this problem but, Im having trouble getting it to float at the design waterline. I have trimmed it for perfect submerged trim, but when you surface it it sits too high in the rear. If you were to add weight to the stern to get it to sit lower in the water then you would upset the submerged trim. The stern would sink like a rock. Its functional as it is, its just off the design waterline.

[greenman407]

Also there is NO WHOOSH! When you operate the SAS and bring the boat to the surface there is no Whoosh. After 30 seconds or so you hear some groaning and other weird noises as the pressure equalizes. If I were a betting man I would say that the Safety valve is bad. I wonder what the prospects are of getting another one?

[trout]

Yes, Mark, I went through that! I shifted the weight back to the aft end (not adding more weight). Then adjusted the foam to compensate.
As far as the valve, if no water is getting sucked in, the seal is good, but is it sliding down O.K. Is your foam float rubbing against the sail? Does it travel just by turning your sail upside-down?

[alad61]

Ditto with the aft high issue. It drove my starkers trying to get the rear end to sit down. Like Tom I added, reduced and shifted weight around' In the end I just kept it on a level trim both submerged and on the surface. What I did find was that once the sas had raised the boat proper I then opened the vent for a bit so it would sit just below the waterline mark and then add a little rise on the rear plane as I cruise on the surface which helps the prop bite better.

[greenman407]

Thanks Alec. So Tom, You say that you have got yours to ride the inscribed waterline in the hull by shifting weight and foam and still having good submerged trim? As far as the safety valve is concerned, it doesnt matter whether I use the snorkel valve or a pluged off piece of hose. The vacuum inside the Subdriver only slowly equalizes unless I hit the schrader valve in the endcap.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Sounds like the safety float-valve is stuck closed. Remove the Schrader valve, and pressurize the inside a bit (hold the motor-bulkhead and forward bulkhead so they don't pop off). That will break the seal within the safety-float valve -- likely too much silicon grease in there. Sorry bout that.

M