Skipjack 1/72

[greenman407]

Now ,using your centerline again, hold the shock absorber up against the bulkhead and using a mechanical pencil with the lead extending out more than the usual, mark through the holes. Remove it and CAREFULLY
,drill out the 6 holes, perhaps starting with a 1/16" pilot bit and then move up to a 3/32" bit. Put it back on and make sure that the holes line up.
Now for the part that you should pay more than the usual attention to. Youll need to countersink the heads of the screws into the outside of the hull. Since most people dont have a countersink, you can use a common drill bit even though the angle of the cutting surfaces of the drill bit doesnt match the angle of the countersink heads of the screws. Itll still work, but great care must be taken or you will find yourself epoxying the holes up and trying again.Using a 3/16" drill bit and a small drill, just barely touch the drill bit to the surface of the hole. Then remove it and watch your progress and put the screw back in the hole to see when you have achieved a hole deep enough to bring the head even.
A word of warning. Over confidence will cause you to drill clean through before you know it. SLOW AND EASY. Keep in mind, this is soft plastic, not steel.

[greenman407]

As you can probably tell, most of what I am recording here is to those who are new to this sort of thing. To all you Grizzled Salts out there who have been around the block a few times, please disregard my ramblings.He's on his favorite

[greenman407]

When you are done it should look like this on one side, and this on the other side. Later on you can fill in the countersunk screw heads with a filler and sand it smooth.

[greenman407]

The suggested glue for this model is not an adhesive but a cohesive that melts the plastic together and gives a better bond than super glue(CA). Unfortunately the brush that comes with the bottle is a very slow means of applying it in my opinion. So what I did was use a piece of 3/32" brass tube as a straw. Stick it down in the bottle and put your finger over the top of the tube and then insert the tube down to where you want to apply it and then release your finger and Wallah. A good quantity will be released, depending on how deep you stuck it down into the bottle. You could probably use a coffee stirrer but youd have to try it first to see if this stuff melts the straw.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

As you can probably tell, most of what I am recording here is to those who are new to this sort of thing. To all you Grizzled Salts out there who have been around the block a few times, please disregard my ramblings.He's on his favorite

Ramble on. What you're putting out is stuff I gloss over too often -- can't be said enough. You're saving people grief. Keep at it!

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

As you can probably tell, most of what I am recording here is to those who are new to this sort of thing. To all you Grizzled Salts out there who have been around the block a few times, please disregard my ramblings.He's on his favorite

Ramble on. What you're putting out is stuff I gloss over too often -- can't be said enough. You're saving people grief. Keep at it!

M

[greenman407]

Im pretty sure that the "Gelled Solvent Cement" in the instructions refers to the standard model airplane glue that weve all come to know and love. If I dont hear otherwise from those in the know, Ill be using that tomorrow to attach the two lower units together.

[trout]

The suggested glue for this model is not an adhesive but a cohesive that melts the plastic together and gives a better bond than super glue(CA). Unfortunately the brush that comes with the bottle is a very slow means of applying it in my opinion. So what I did was use a piece of 3/32" brass tube as a straw. Stick it down in the bottle and put your finger over the top of the tube and then insert the tube down to where you want to apply it and then release your finger and Viola! A good quantity will be released, depending on how deep you stuck it down into the bottle. You could probably use a coffee stirrer but you'd have to try it first to see if this stuff melts the straw.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]23410[/ATTACH]

A pipette! Brilliant. Mark that is a tip that I will use. Thank you.

[trout]

Im pretty sure that the "Gelled Solvent Cement" in the instructions refers to the standard model airplane glue that weve all come to know and love. If I dont hear otherwise from those in the know, Ill be using that tomorrow to attach the two lower units together.

Mark, I used the cohesive first to soften the area to be bonded, then smeared on some weld-on. Joined the parts and added more cohesive. The Gato was welded together with just the thin cohesive glue.

Woot! look forward this build!

[greenman407]

COOL! Whats "weld on"?

[trout]

It is the tube pictured here, Weld-On #16.

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.

[greenman407]

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

[greenman407]

In the mean time ive zoomed and highlighted and over exposed some pictures to help me with the top of the sail.

[greenman407]

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.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

It is the tube pictured here, Weld-On #16.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]23434[/ATTACH]
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