Moebius (Revell) Skipjack Build

[trout]

Last nights posting was long so I cut it short. The last thing to add was a modification to the Klick-On.

Cut a strip of brass and curved it to fit against the connector. Drilled a hole to go over the mating magnet on the sail.

Placed the brass piece on the sail dive plane control magnet and the magnet CA'd it in place.

Tested for fit again. It worked great and comes off easy when needed.

Then put a pin through the back end of the srip to keep it together better.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

That is SLICK!

M

[Scott T]

Looking good Tom. Neat mod on the klikon. If you say it fast enough the hypen is silent.
You are really churning on this build. Keep it up.

Scott T

[alad61]

Nice mod Tom. I might steal the idea...

[trout]

Thanks guys for the kind words.
Scott, call me warped, but if I read it fast, it will come out as Klingon.
Mark, no stealing needed. If you need me to pound out the brass for you let me know, it took a very short time.
i like it enough for this to be used with other controls, when I have time to play.

[trout]

I am out of town at the moment, but I ran out of time to post, so let me do that now.
Put all the parts together and tested fit and travel of controls. Check!

The forward bushing kept popping out, so I put avery small dab of RTV silicon to give it a bit of a hold.

There is something really pretty about brass and white metal - i almost looks steampunk. It is a beautiful design.

Top rudder placed in for no other reason than it looks cool. It is a shame this gets hidden.

Cohesive applied as in other parts of this build. Let it sit for 12 hours.

Checked it over this morning and the dive planes are real stiff. Will have to work on that when I get back.

[Capt_Christo]

No Matter how many time we tried, the bushed supplied would not stick to the inside of the sail, so we made new ones out of styrene.

[trout]

The instructions for installing this portion are very short, so I was not sure what needed to be sealed. When in doubt......
I placed a ring of RTV silicon where the mast of the SAS valve would go through.

Installed the SAS induction tube foundation.

Set up the rest of the system.

Making sure that just enough of the induction tube sticking through the hull for the 90 degree elbow to fully engage, yet remain in contact with the hull. I will seal around the elbow also with RTV.

Assembled the sail over the SAS assembly. The head valve has two cylindrical posts coming out the sides facing port and starboard. These posts caused the sail to deform. So much so that the top piece would not fit,

Using a mechanical pencil and extending a length of lead, drew the contour needing to be sanded down on the posts. It took a couple of tries.

The fit was good.

The top piece now fits.

On the top how did you guys open it up to let the air out? I do not plan to have the whole array up.

[trout]

No Matter how many time we tried, the bushed supplied would not stick to the inside of the sail, so we made new ones out of styrene.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]22072[/ATTACH]

Thanks Capt. Christo! I will watch mine to see what happens, so far, no issue with it coming loose.

[alad61]

The instructions for installing this portion are very short, so I was not sure what needed to be sealed. When in doubt......
I placed a ring of RTV silicon where the mast of the SAS valve would go through.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]22074[/ATTACH]
Installed the SAS induction tube foundation.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]22075[/ATTACH]
Set up the rest of the system.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]22076[/ATTACH]
Making sure that just enough of the induction tube sticking through the hull for the 90 degree elbow to fully engage, yet remain in contact with the hull. I will seal around the elbow also with RTV.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]22077[/ATTACH]


On the top how did you guys open it up to let the air out? I do not plan to have the whole array up.

Still looking good Tom. You mate are a force to be reckoned with, methodical and informative and clever to boot :biggrin:

Something I found during all the initial bench and tub tests was that silicon was not quite enough so I dusted in some baking soda along the join between the elbow block and foundation mount and then added some thin ca. Don't forget to add a section of styrene tubing behind the elbow block to take any strain on the induction line leading to the manifold block on the sub driver refer to the 25th post by David http://forum.sub-driver.com/showthre...nd-of-OZ/page3

What I did for letting out the air was a combined effort. Firstly I didn't add the window at the top of the sail and also channeled out the placement rib on the top sail piece to allow air out the open squares. Then I also drilled a hole in the top of the snorkle head and glued in a piece of styrene tube and shaped it to the right conture.

No Matter how many time we tried, the bushed supplied would not stick to the inside of the sail, so we made new ones out of styrene.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]22072[/ATTACH]

Capt Christo I hope you are planning to remove the indexing pin in the sail assembly? If not you are going to have a devil of a time installing the SAS float valve part of the system. I am also looking at the concave curve in the sail sides where the pin is... That alone is going to cause issues in fitting the sail firmly to the hull. By the way I like the styrene fix. Can I ask what CA you were using, I have found that the Zap brand is excellent for gluing resin to resin, resi to styrene and resin to brass. Also it seems to handle the water too. I assume you sanded the area where the bushes had to go to help with the ca adhesion. The mob in china that Moebius uses produces some of the best styrene I have come across but it can be left with an almost glazed finish from their molding process which can hinder getting ca to stick a bit.

[Capt_Christo]

Hi Alec,

Yes we sanded both surfaces prior to gluing. We are using the Zap CA (thin).

The indexing pin will be removedonce I am happy with the operation of the fins.

[alad61]

Hi Alec,

Yes we sanded both surfaces prior to gluing. We are using the Zap CA (thin).

The indexing pin will be removedonce I am happy with the operation of the fins.

Ok :biggrin:

[trout]

The prop is carefully packed.

Between the blades are some seams and rougher casting surfaces. Normal casting surface. There was no flash or major bubbles. Some minor pits, not a big deal.

Began by filing between the blades using small files (round and flat mostly).

Used sandpaper up to 600 grit to clean up the surfaces. Finishing with a little rouge polishing compound.

Scrubbed the propellor with soap and water. Just to be sure, I brought out a ultrasonic tank to make sure it was clean and grease free. To prepare the prop for paint it needs to be etched. Etching puts tiny pits into the metal giving the paint a surface to hold onto. Ferric chloride is what I used. It is not difficult to do, but ferric chloride is caustic acid, dangerous and you can get some serious burns from it. Use proper safety measures. Another alternative and safer is using vinegar, I have not used it yet, but others have successfully.
I had two jars, one to hold the acid and another to hold a neutralizing solution (baking soda and water).
Using a piece of sprue, melted and shaped to hold the prop, dipped the prop in the acid for about a minute. It will darken like the second picture.

Here is the prop placed in the neutralizing solution. A lot of reaction going on. When the bubbling stops, I rinse it in soap and water.

After acid wash, this is what I ended up with.

Coat of primer and time to let the paint dry.

[trout]

Work is getting very busy as we prepare for school to start, so I will try to get bit by bit done on the Skipjack and post if I can.
Using baking soda and CA filled the recessed screw heads and rough sanded to shape.

I think I am mixing the Evercoat with too much hardener. My working time is short. What is the proper mix ratio? So it gets put on......

And sanded off. As it jells, I ran a razor creating a finer line for the separation. I think I read that I will need to coat the glaze with some CA to make it harder and prevent it from flaking off. Did I dream this?

Put on and sand off. Wax on, wax off.... oh wait that was a flash back. I will be filling and smoothing this sub every night for awhile. After which I will wet sand to remove the deeper scratches and prepare for a coat of paint.

Then I will move to the sub-driver and trimming. After that works, then I will come back to paint and weather the sub.

[alad61]

Good stuff Tom. I use a different filler down under but to make the job somewhat easier where I can, I run masking tape either side of the seam or join for a couple of reasons. It lets me put the filler where it's needed most which makesit easier to sand back without having to worry about stuff smeared over everything. As for the ca, David suggested it to me when I did my akula and it's beyond a good idea.