Skipjack 1/72

[greenman407]

Shes ready to go. Just add water

[greenman407]

I am happy to report that after the modifications were made I reinstalled my ratty looking copper cylinder back into the Sub-driver, along with a homemade diffuser/atomizer thingy. I then tested it for leaks and for operation. I can already tell the difference. The blows are more controlled and I get many more of them. Thanks Dave for the construction info. Using the componants of a purchased SAS Subdriver, I constructed this one almost three years ago to increase ballast and battery compartment sizes. When drilling the holes for the screws that hold the forward ballast tank bulkhead, it was accepted practise to countersink the holes so that the screws could be recessesd. Well one of those holes has started to have cracks radiating out from it.So, I filled up the hole with thin CA. I hope that will stop them from getting any bigger. If not.....I will make another one. However this time there will be no countersinking of screw heads. I think that its better to let the screw head remain on the outside, you just have to seal around them with CA. Now Ive got to get the forward ballast bulkhead back into position. Not an easy task considering the battery confinement rails I CAed into place. Not so much room to work with.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Point well taken. You can tell I dont do it for a living. But it holds the Propel and Ive gotten much better since then. That bottle is 3 years old.......EXCUSES EXCUSES! Would you like to hear a few more?

... YOU PEOPLE!

M

[greenman407]

Point well taken. You can tell I dont do it for a living. But it holds the Propel and Ive gotten much better since then. That bottle is 3 years old.......EXCUSES EXCUSES! Would you like to hear a few more?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Nice soldering job! What did you use ... hot coals? Yikes!

M

[greenman407]

Here is a picture of my home made shade-tree gas back up copper reservoir. Its only 1/2" pipe, to keep from taking too much volume away from my ballast tank. Remember this is an SAS system, Well my gas backup system did work but, as I discovered , it had a few flaws. One was that the outlet line was just that.....an outlet. According to Dave, it has to serve as a stand pipe as well. So it should go up inside all the way to the top, to keep, as much as possible, only the gas that boils off the liquid propel from going out into the ballast tank. He explained that if liquid goes out it can explosively damage bulkheads, not to mention , waste gas and give you far fewer blows. Well I didnt have any problems with damage but I did have only a few blows out of it.......which did cause me to almost lose the boat. Well also, Ive had problems with the hose from blowing off of the tube......repeatedly, so here I am to address those issues. Ive extended the tube all the way up inside as far as it will go and Im going to rough up the smooth surface of the tube to grip the hose more securely.
Also, I did not have a atomizer in the line. This helps slow down the gas entering the ballast tank. Im going to make one and install it.

[greenman407]

Also The Onboard gas copper reservoirs that you were making for your Sub-drivers. When I took one of them apart, I noticed at least on that particular one, the small output line was pushed all the way up inside against the roof. Is this to keep only gas, not liquid from coming out?

[greenman407]

Dave, Due to my being a Blithering idiot, I cut away all the pins that align the top and bottom hulls. Can you send me some of those hull indexers , like comes in the type 23 fittings kit? You know, those little tabs That are green with a slight curve in them. Im probably calling them the wrong thing. Much Obliged Senor Merriman. I sent this request by Email but maybe it ended up in the Spam file.

[greenman407]

I have outfitted this boat with a lot of foam. More of necessity than by design. I am still fine tuning, I wont put it away until I am happy with the set-up. We cant have it torque rolling.

[greenman407]

The default setting for the ADF2 is maximum sensitivity. None of my subs have ever needed max sensitivity to operate even at high speeds. Also this high of a sensitivity setting causes an extreme amount of flutter in the dive planes. So I always back it off to mid range setting.
And on that subject, I always save the instruction manual that I get with these products. I date the top of it with the name of the vender from where it came. That way, If there is an issue, I dont need to guess. Also, there is no way I would be able to remember all this stuff. When an adjustment needs to be made, I just pull out the manual and there it is at your grubby lil fingertips.

[SSN SonarTech]

Looks great

[greenman407]

This afternoon I got her into the kiddie pool. It was not without incident. For some reason, the rear planes servo lost its centering capability, so I cut it out and replaced it with a similar sized Hitec metal gear servo, HS-82MG. Ive had very good service from these little guys over the years. Just install and forget about it. I think that this servo works in reverse to the servos I was using, I had to re-calibrate the ADF2. Then the hose blew off of the gas ballast back-up. So much for a quick easy trim job.
Because I added quite a bit of weight to her keel, it was soon apparent that I needed more foam. So tonight I added foam in various places. Tomorrow morning we will pick up where I left off from there. I am pleased with the brightness of the four LEDs. I am sure that it will help me to keep up with it in Duck lake.

[greenman407]

If youll recall, I almost lost it last time out. Now with this paint job, itll be even harder to see. Thats where I am hopeing that the LEDs will shine thru the inky black water and betray its position. That way Ill feel more in touch with it and let it move out without undue concern.

[Peter W]

Love the paint job Mark ! I assume that it is a Pacific boat based on the colour of the sail ??? No wonder those things are fast that prop is all business !

Peter

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Thanks greenman, your comments were very helpful, I'm sure I'll have more questions as I build the boat. I wear dolphins so I'm pretty much aware of how a real sub operates, the model is a whole different story.

I found being 'qualified in submarines' of little use in this game. But, it does put you steps ahead in the 'get-it-done-no-matter-what' department.

David