Moebius (Revell) Skipjack Build

[greenman407]

AS the Klingons would say: "KAHBLAH! (success) Putting your first submarine in the water for the first time is thrilling to say the least! Its a mix of emotions, from sheer Terror to giddy elation. A high that will keep you going. And more than that. If you are in clear water where you can see the sub well as she maneuvers,down 20 or 30 feet, well then you take it to the next level. Its a certain "je na sais qua" if you catch my meaning. I remember well taking my 52" Seaview out with those eight front windows lit up like broadway, to a local pond at 10:00 at night. Now that was a sight to behold. As she came out of the turns heading straight for you with the Headlight beam on her nose showing as well, needless to say I was very pleased!

[trout]

Mark, those are good ideas. A soft silicon tube would work as a sleeve, but I do already have some solid magnets that I could use too. We will see how it goes at the pool. Should be leaving to go there within the hour......I am so excited!

[greenman407]

Lookin Good. Im still working on getting where you are now. It appears that the pushrods, at the klikon, are not in a straight line because the hookups are near the prop centerline. If the droop is not too much you could put a light weight sleeve over the klikons at the connection point, capturing them that way as well. You could also add an additional magnet to both sides and CA them in place.

[trout]

Added a small bracket to catch a disconnected magnet. I will try this because I am out of magnets to replace all of the connectors (and they do not need to be replaced). The one I am most worried about is the rudder, at extreme end of the swing, it will stick every so often. Before this bracket was installed there was zero chance of it reconnecting. Now, hopefully, the magnet connector will fall into the indentation which is close enough that the next time the pieces come close together they might re-engage.

I will run a bead of baking soda and CA to firm up the points that contact the hull.
This is light enough that I do not think it will make a big impact on the trim, so I will pool test and see!

Final checks are being done. I will use silicon on pushrods, o-rings, and motor shaft. Batteries are all charged.
I wonder what grandma is doing right now?

Peter, Thank you! I really appreciate that!

[Peter W]

Tom, That is looking really good.

Peter

[trout]

What a dummy I am, that did not even cross my mind......Mark thank you for that suggestion! So obvious. (Hope M does not read this - he will have choice words for me)

[greenman407]

Thatll do it but also you can adjust the trim on the radio, if there is room.

[trout]

To fix, I am guessing by adjusting the wheel collars inside the ballast tank?

[greenman407]

Thats usually easy to fix. You know how...right?

[trout]

Thanks Mark!
There was one thing that happened last night that I need to check into, air escaping from the SD vent. My son caught it and we watched the sub slowly, very slowly begin to settle into the water.

Will try to document it tonight.

[greenman407]

Lookin real good Sir!

[trout]

Final tub trim time. Say that fast three times.... Placed blue painters tape on the exterior of the hull to mark where the foam is on the inside. The thinking here is to avoid stacking foam on top of each other and respecting the limited space between the SD and hull. I had pre-shaped some blocks of closed cell foam to counter the additional weight from modifications.
Placed the sub in the tub and proceeded with a dive.

Then with ballast tanks blown.

Next stop grandma's pool!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

(in the voice of Lex Luthor) Those cat-like reflexes!

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

(in the voice of Lex Luthor) Those cat-like reflexes!

M

[trout]

Alec, Beautiful! It is good to hear from two sources that it will work. Thank you.

I did a very clumsy thing. Grabbing my top hull to work on it and apparently forgetting that I connected hose to the sail, yanked everything off the counter. My cat like reflexes (cough, cough) stopped a majority of the impact.
Damage was limited to the very corner of the rear plane, bent prop (again), and this....


None of the damage was panic worthy. Frustrating, only in myself. The broken tip is small, so I might not bother with it, the prop was easy enough to reshape, and the manifold was reattached with CA. Once the initial affixing was done, an extra bead of CA placed around the edge to seal it was applied.

A little change in priorities and did some sanding and painting.