Converting the Bronco type XXIII to RC

[MFR1964]

Thanks Sam,

It's becoming even more slick when you get the hang of it, after making the vid i seperated the boat a few times more for practice, once you get more experience in doing this you can take this baby apart in a few seconds.

Making the connection between the SD and the proplsion shaft was tricky, at first i wanted to use a magnet, but i went for the mechanical way, i'll try to explain.



If you look at the shaft on the SD you can see there is a piece grinded away, giving you a step.



At this picture the connection is made between the SD and the shaft with the propellor, the brass connector has on the SD side a opposite grinded step inside as well, actually the same shape as on the SD shaft, placed at this position it will interlock with the shaft from the SD, both halves will unite as one when placed together.
The brass connector itself is locked onto the propellorshaft with two grubscrews, one near the SD and another one near the brass bearing, it's securing the connector from both sides on the propellor shaft, once you pull out the SD, the connector will stay at it's place complete with the propellor shaft.
Making this special connector took some time to measure up, and it took some more time on the lathe to turn it to my specs.


Manfred.

[goshawk823]

that is pretty slick, Manfred. nice, clean break area, and once you've got your SD aligned, it looks like it's a simple fit.
how do you keep the prop shaft in the SD and the rear shaft to the propeller coupled tightly enough to prevent one shaft spinning without the other (with such a simple connection)?

[MFR1964]

Skunkworks is running at topspeed, today i tagged the rear unit with CA, this step allows me to give a little demonstration how things work in the real live, enjoy the vid.

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

It's my pleasure Sam,

Taking different approaches create problems on their own, if my approach of using the vertical split works, it can also be done by other people, unfortunally i'm not into making commercial molds, so duplicating the bulkheads will be something people have to do on their own, this fact leaves me thinking to start learning pouring some resin.


Manfred.

[goshawk823]

Manfred- thanks for detailing your build. It's really cool to see two completely different approaches for making this kit functional. Neat stuff!

[MFR1964]

David,

Wether you hate me or not, i think i'm on to something, yes, the vertical split is a sceptical thingy and will give you hard times, you always have to think ahead, me like this chess game, on the other hand we provide people with two options for building this boat using the same SD.
I have to admit, i was a bit worried about your waterline cut, it turned out very nice, if my vertical split system would fail i would have followed the same way.
For now it's looking good, allready have some idea's for running the scope and snorkelmast, first finish up some more work on the propulsion shaft and torpedo tubes mounting and steering.


Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

"Argh! ... I hate magnets!!"

LOL. They do get in the way sometimes.

Beautiful work, Manfred. I hate you! Your good work here flies in the face of my skepticism at the radial-break approach.

David

[MFR1964]

It has been a few busy days inside the Skunkworks, solved the magnetic connection for both the divingplanes and rudders, made a connector to the drivingshaft and placed the float for using SAS.
To tread you guys even more i also made a vid to show how things work, it will solve a lot of questions.



This is the solution i've used, made some brass tubes which hold the magnets from the rudder and diveplanes inside, when you shuff the SD in, the magnetic connection will be made.



Most tricky part was, making the lenght in such way that the connectors won't fall out at maximum deflection, the rearpart will be glued tight for ever, i hope.



When you pull on your SD, the propulsion shaft and the magnetic links will get free, leaving you able to slide the SD out.
Making the connection to the propulsion shaft took me some hours on the lathe, main goal is, it's working like intended.



This is my set up for the float, by using a small silicone flexible hose provided by David, you can slide the SD in/out without any problems, the float itself can be removed for maintenance, simple by untightening the grubscrew at the base.
Those marked area's are for the scope and snorkelmast, have to keep them as free as possible for the future.



At this pic you can clearly see the instant connection between the float and the rearpart, this way i hope to prevent forgetting to connect the float before running.



When you pull both parts apart, the connection will release itself, i just have to add some vaseline to keep it running smooth.



Last little issue was, since i don't place the float at the rearpart of the conningtower, i had to made some rods, these will prefent the float to swiffle.

If you guys are not satified yet, then watch the vid, enjoy

Manfred.

[MFR1964]

I've started to cut away some of the rearpart bulkhead, you may not noticed the strange brass tube on top of the SD, the pictures will explaine this.



First i had to make some room for the brass tube and the added styrene antenna tube.



This is the idea, it's a instand connector for the SAS float, due to the vertical split i can't reach inside the boat to connect the hose, so i came up with this solution, the brass tube itself is sealed airtight by using a lipseal which is placed inside the receiving part.
So it's back to the Skunkworks to get me some connections for the rudder, diveplanes and the shaft.


Manfred.

[MFR1964]

Tom,

I was searching a way to keep both halves together, machinescrews where the first option, untill i stumbled on these magnets in the spare draw, i had totally forgotten about them, did some testing and decided to run the gauntlett.

David,

You warned me, it's your fault this is happening the way it does, boggle the brains pal, and dodge the arrows.

To please you guys even more, i'm modifing the SD to my use, almost halfway to what i want, enjoy



The middle part was giving me the most work, allmost all components are at their places, it's dryfitted for now, added a extra brass tube for running more wires at the front compartment, power wires will be inside the smaller one, and signalwires inside the bigger one, a old method of getting less interference on your stuff.



The frontpart with the modified power switch, i ran a styrene tube all over the SD for the antenna wire, due to my split it has to be tidy.



The rear end, instead of using the plastick hoses all the way, i made some aluminum tubing which replaces the plastick hoses, made adaptors and glued this tight, yet again it has to be slick and tidy.



Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I hate to say it, but I'm liking what Manfred's doing here.

David

[trout]

I love magnets! Manfred, that is a great way to hold things together.

[MFR1964]

Steve,

I fear i haven't been clear enough, this is the vertical splitsystem, some time ago i ordered some rare earth magnets for my OSA 2 boat, wanted to make a "click on" system for the upperstructure, you could only buy them by 10.
Decided to give it a try at the type XXIII, they are quite strong and do the job well.



You can see the four magnets glued on the rearpart.



On the front part they are hidden behind the circuitboard frame, even without the SD inside i can turn the boat upside down without splitting it, when you insert the SD it acts like a backbone, even giving me more rigidity, seperating both halves with the SD inside needs more strenght compared to a empty boat, giving me two things at the same time, no machinescrews needed and no extra tools to split the boat.


Manfred.

[Warpatroller]

Will be interesting to see how your vertical hull split works out.

[trout]

Are you kidding me? Don't slow down (getting up to grab some popcorn).