Converting the Bronco type XXIII to RC

[MFR1964]

Thanks Gary,

It has been hectic times over here, She Who Must Be Obeyed is whipping my back with the honeydo list, my job eating up most of the time, so progress is slow, i've finished up the painting on the tower, and started playing around with the bollards, Tom has given me a idea which i want to sort out, did some of my homework allready, pictures



Did the last paintjob on the flagpoles and finished up the tower, moving on to the bollards.



Like Tom i took the effort to hollow them out, i copied the bar inside from pictures i've seen from the type IX, i know the one's on my type VII and XVII are different, so taking the type IX model is my best guess.



Had to put the XXIII together once again for testing, to me retracted bollards are logical, less noise underwater.



You can pull them up with a pair of tweezers, normally the crew had to lift them by hand, rotate them 90 degrees and lower them again, there is a kind of bajonetlock underneath the bollard, i know this first hand from Kriegsmarine survivors, interviewed them during the early 90's, those guys earned my respect, working on that boats under horrible conditions.



After pulling those bollards up they stay tight into the deck, a slight touch pushed them inside the deck again, so i'm playing around with little magnets to get them firm above the deck.
Plan will be, prepare the bollards for some magnets and make me a mockup, simply to check if this will work.


Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I'm loath to post unless I have something critical or positive to contribute to the thread; I hate those pointless, "Gee, nice job" comments. Yet here I am, gushing out praise for this wonderful example of the model-builder's craft. You are amazing!

M

[crazygary]

Amazing, indeed!!

Excellent modeling, Sir!!

CG

[MFR1964]

Thanks Guys,

Still in the crawling proces, the positive side is, the bucketlist is getting shorter, to entertain you i'll sum things up.

- tinkering the magnet adjustments for firing the torpedo's
- testing if everything works like intended on dry land, if not, i'll have to rip her open to alter that.
- trimming the beast again, because i've altered the tubes into a lighter construction
- testing firing the torpedo's inside the water testing facility
- and finally doing my outdoor maiden run in open water

As you can see, there is light at the end of the tunnel, my estimate will be, a few months.

Manfred.

[trout]

No matter how long it takes, it is always a learning experience from you. So, thank you!

[MFR1964]

Thanks Tom,

Time is not a issue, allready playing around for almost a year with the XXIII, so a few months more or less won't hurt, i get at least higher tempartures for the maiden trip.
For now playing around with my magnetic bollard, allready made a mockup, which works promising, later in the week i'll post some new pics, have to dodge She Who Must Be Obeyed, whipping with her honeydo list, as far i'm concerned i've never posted this, i'm not here, whaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!, she spotted me !!!!!, gotta run!!!!!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Run!... save yourself!!!!

M

[MFR1964]

Sorry David,

I didn't made it, she caught me on the run, the arms of She Who Must Be Obeyed are too long, i did try to hide myself on the attic, but she narrowed me into one corner, waving with the honeydo list, i was screwed.

Today she gave me a brake after a foltering working session, i decided to play around with the magnetic trigger mechanism, only thing to do was, tinkering the magnets to give me the right moment of launch.
Made a short vid, which will be part of a longer session, this will be placed on youtube, enjoy

http://s276.photobucket.com/user/MFR1964/media/Type%20XXIII/P1010016_zps3723a305.mp4.html

Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

That is sooo slick, Manfred. You are amazing, sir.

M

[crazygary]

Excellent micro engineering, Manfred!!

Your cleverness never ceases to amaze!!

Thank you so much for doing what you do!!

I salute you, Sir!!

CG

[MFR1964]

Next hurdle to be taken was, making those bollards magnetic, and most important, make them work.



From a cell phone flipcover i recovered some very flat and small magnets, took the step to get them glued to the bollards, magnetic enough?, yep, i can lift a pair of tweezers with one bollard.



To test if this will work inside the sub i made a testframe which can hold the two bollards.



Another test to see if both pieces will stay into their positions, at least i knew at that moment i could work, next stage was building a construction which wasn't that flimsy as my prototype.



I decided to place a large piece of metal inside the hull, giving me more surface to glue and more magnetic grip.



Eureka!!!!, it works.



Both bollards at their up position, the only catch was, i had to make up the height difference, solved that by using some cutted styrene rods, still have to paint the metal plate inside the hull and do some paintwork on the magnets, when done, i'll close her up yet again, and will take the plunge of testing the torpedo system and some trimming.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

For those who wondered if i'm still alive, yep, i've been filling up the test facility today to make my last run for trimming the beast, i made some testruns, as suspected the new tubes are much lighter in weight.
Played around with the foam and lead, took her apart to glue in the foam, tomorrow the next run to get the lead right, also did a test with the torpedos inside, on the surface no big difference, under water major difference, have to think about a simple counter balance system if i want to fire them underwater.
A few years ago Romel had the idea of lead counterweights, which will be disposed when firing a torpedo, have to see if this can be placed inside the boat, first complete the trimming and the maiden trip, after seeing the pics and vids of Tom and Mark i know we have a winner.
Tomorrow i'll take some pics to show the progress, and if everything goes well i want to test my torpedo system, charging up the cameras.


Manfred.

[greenman407]

Nice to hear from the Manfred! I was beginning to think that I had a major problem with mine, but I kept turning up the APC sensitivity and it now runs better than good.

[MFR1964]

Yep, up and running,

As for the setting you use with your APC, do you run it most sensitive or less?, it will be most usefull to know, so i can allready adjust the ADF for the coming maidenrun.
You provided some nice pics running at peroscope depth, hope to get mine as good as yours, it's funny, i started sooner as you guys, and ended up last.

Manfred.

[greenman407]

Well keep in mind, I have been unemployed since mid December, so Ive had more time than you for this most serious of business. The APC im using is not an ADF2. Its an older model of a "Thor" Mfg. Anyway it has a potentiometer to set sensitivity. I would say that its set for high sensitivity.