Skipjack 1/72

[greenman407]

[greenman407]

Text at 11:00

[trout]

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

[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.

[greenman407]

Also, in the process of trolling the bottom, the dual magnets for the rudders got jarred loose. And.....would not reattach. So, I found a piece of heavy walled shrink tube that fits just perfect, without shrinking it. Itll give a nice little tunnel to keep the rods from dis-engaging and falling down into the bilge. Just toggle the control back and forth and it should reacquire. At least it better. After the rudder came loose and was stuck in maximum deflection starboard, it took some doing to coax it closer to shore. Anyway, I went thru the ADF setup procedure as well as zero bubble. Ill have it back at the pond tomorrow for another stab at it.While I was at it I put a notch in the endcap and the Lexan tube to help me align the thing when I put it back together.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Wow! Keep at it, Mark!

David

[greenman407]

Well...........................Its cold outside today, sea state 6, wind state 5. I think tomorrow will be a better day.

[greenman407]

Good as my Word. Today, I headed back to Clearwater, even though its overcast. To really wring this sub out as far as its capabilitys are concerned I need bright sun , so that I can see down into the water, to see obstacles and dramatic changes in depth. When I feel confident in these things we can fully open it up.
First of all I was quite surprised at its submerged turning radius. Its quite good. I dont have a floating tape measure but I would estimate a slow speed submerged turning radius of 3 ft. Thats because the whole rudder turns ,not just part of it as with some other subs. Using the first(least sensitive) setting on the ADF and using the first hole on the servo arm, to try to reduce the flutter that the ADF generates in the stern planes due to picking up motor vibrations, it produced quite acceptable results. Running at periscope depth or below , it was stable. I opened it up to 3/4 throttle and was quite pleased at its speed. Looks like its going to give my Albacore(mod) a run for its money. When water visibility is better , well let her go all the way. The next step will be to increase the throw of the stern planes and see if it has a negative affect on high speed driveability.
However, I must say that I see no good use for the sail planes. If your moving along with 1/2" of sail sticking out of the water but maintaining that depth, and try to use the sail planes to coax her under, it wont work. It just increases turbulance around the sail. However, if you are under and engage the sail planes, it will push you up on the surface. But, what good is that? If you are under and put the sail planes to a downward position, it will give the sub a more downward angle but it doesnt change the subs depth. So far as I can see, I can do everything I need using the stern planes only.

[greenman407]

As you can see I went dredging the bottom again. My shrink sleeve system on the rudder worked well as it didnt become disengaged. Because the sub is still in its grey extruded original colors, visibility is pretty good. Once its painted , black water will soak it up.
So far I am very pleased with her. More to come.

[trout]

Mark,
I am learning from you. I put the leveler all the way out at the end of the servo arm. So that it does not need to move as much for correction therefore a quicker response. Look forward to your test results. You bring up a good point about twitching too!

After a few more passes with your sub and the area will be weed free. That is an impressive collection.

Congratulations on the good run!

[greenman407]

Yes, thats my lawn mower. I wouldnt have this problem if I was content to putts around on the surface or just under the waves at creeping speed. This pond has a few underwater mountains.....if ya know what I mean.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Once you get a bit more stick-time under your belt with this ride, you'll find the sail planes to be most useful at depth keeping.

Good show!

M

[Slats]

Mark, with all that pubic hair wrapped around the prop can we call the boat the USS Growler?????

J

[greenman407]

I think that this must be one of those trick questions where your wrong no matter what you say.

[Sublime]

Your Skip Jack is a pretty boat.

Note to self... Before testing my first model sub, call my lawnmower repair guy and inquire about "blade sharpening".