Moebius (Revell) Skipjack Build

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

how bout this!

[trout]

Alec,
Thanks, but that is not the case. It is over 44 degrees Celsius or 111 degrees Fahrenheit in the garage on nice days and so I work on the kitchen table or the patio table. When I do work in the garage I come out soaking wet.
My bench looks like a disaster depending on the number of projects I have going on.
Thank you for your kind words. More to come!

[alad61]

Struth Tom your bench is way go clean and organized...:biggrin: Your boats looking good so far, look forward to seeing more.

[trout]

The lower two quarters get bonded together with cohesive glue. The guide is pretty clear as to why and how. So far I have not washed my parts, I am waiting for such a time as this. My thinking is I am handling the parts and my grubby, greasy, fingers are putting all sorts of schmuts all over it. So, I washed the quarters and sanded the areas to be affixed together and applied liquid cohesive, then thicker cohesive to the parts, quickly strapped it all down to the board.

<12 hours later>
Removed the lower hull and tested the rear quarter panel.

Yikes, I have a bow in my sub. That warpage might cause me some grief, but I will plod forward. I am thinking when the forward quarter is joined to the rear quarter, it may put enough force to over come that slight arch. If not, well I'll just bin this project.
Or come up with something.
Cut some strips of wax paper and placed them at the juncture of the top quarters and lower hull.

Washed and sanded the parts. Sanding under the forward quarter was especially important because of some molding flash or injection points.

Same as lower hull, liquid cohesive then thicker. Then quickly strapped it all together with rubber bands. Time to kick back and relax - tomorrow we will see how it all looks.

[trout]

All great solutions, I ended up doing something more primative. I did not have the proper equipment or funding to spend at this time.
I remember from my past "Never measure distance with string" - I guess it is because string can stretch. So, what I did is take some wire and measured it to the hull so that the wire went from edge to edge. Rolled some blue painter's tape in the approximate middle and measured against a ruler for the center. Marked on the tape the center according to the ruler.

I reversed the wire on the ruler to make sure the center was the same (which it should be if it is truly the center) and once satisfied, I marked my center on the hull.




Once having the center marked, I was able to continue on the install.
Reading the instructions carefully, David warns about the sub-driver foundations and the proper installation.
One end is larger than the other and the larger end needs to be up (there are two sets larger one pictured here and a smaller one that will go aft - pictured later). I marked mine up to remind me.

I placed the foundations in for distance and marked the holes to drill out with a mechanical pencil - I needed to extend that lead out enough to mark.

Then drilled out the holes using 3/32" drill. tested the fit. Below you can see one screw is counter sunk - the others will get the same treatment.


The strap foundation install is relatively simple - this is not rocket science I am told. Like the other foundations orientation of this piece is important, the larger or taller side goes forward, I marked mine to reflect that.

I had a concern. The hole further aft was mighty close to the opening I cut out (shoot maybe I should not have cut that one out?) anyways it means I needed to move the hole a little further back. Marked a spot that I liked and drilled out the holes. On the foundation, I tapped a 2-56 thread into the location I marked.

Test the fit.

You can see the flood hole opening is mostly covered by the strap foundation, so those looking for suggestions on their build, do not cut out that small grid.

[greenman407]

I like using those inexpensive contractors lasers that Home Depot and others sell. I bought one for my Employer years ago and when I need it I just borrow it. Or you could use those grille edges that your cutting out as a reference and put a tape measure between them and make a mark. Do that where ever possible and then join the lines.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Waterline marking tool (surface gauge) running against a straight edge set on the same worksurface as the hull and its edge parallel with the centerline of the hull quarter being marked out with the centerline. Duh!

You people!

M

[trout]

Down from the high of the regatta and now ready to get the Skipjack back on track.
Today was the mundane of cutting out the flood holes.
Drilled a hole for the blade to get through. Using a deep throat jewelers saw (coping saw) and a fine blade rough cut the openings.

Then began cleaning up the holes with files.


Any suggestions on how to measure and mark out the center line?

[trout]

Wow, that is cool and cheaper than the rubber I am pouring.........wish I had known about it earlier. Thanks for the link. I may need to get one.
Peace,
Tom

[alad61]

Way to go. Lego blocks have a miriad of uses but sadly as I don't have such skills plus I'm also lazy. So I have been checking out these on e-vil bay...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-waterproof-case-for-808-keychain-camera-3-11-16-18-20-26-Sport-action-camera-/390620022433?pt=AU_Home_Personal_Security&hash=item5af2c486a1&_uhb=1

I am thinkingof getting a couple of cameras & one of those before our subregatta in October.

[trout]

What are you saying Mark? :-)
I love Legos! But I felt guilty "borrowing" my son's blocks on a more permanent basis. When we were at Disneyland recently, we went to the Lego store and I bought a small bucket of blocks.

[greenman407]

Now thats revealing, none of us would have dared suggest that you were a LEGO man.

[trout]

The piece of brass tube that I used to ream the sail plane bushings was misplaced, so here is the cheaper version of what I did.
I took a piece of 1/8” brass tube and using the coarsest grit paper (this sanding drum was in front of me), you could use a file or a concrete wall for that matter.





Pull the sandpaper along the length of brass tube. For the sail, the grooves that were cut into the tube spanned the distance of both bushings.





All that is needed is nice clean, deep scratches.





Then run the tube through both halves sail plane bushings and, with everything aligned, gently spin the tube. The scratches and grooves will act like a file. Remove tube and test fit. Repeat as necessary.


Taking Alec’s advice, the pin in the front is marked (bottom corner in photo).





I only removed one half, so that the receiving alignment pin can serve as the stop for the mounting foundation.





Pin gone.


Waiting for parts to come in and wanted to get some test molds/casts on the next version of 808 camera case.

[trout]

Alec,
Thank you for the clarification, I will correct that in my build! I will see how the klick-on holds out (thinking of a solution or enhancement). What I noticed is, when it disconnects, it has the sail plane in a dive configuration. Again thank you!

[alad61]

Tom the only indexing pin I left on for the sail was the stern one at the end of the exhaust fairing. Between the two screws and the indexing lip on the forward sail area it's a snug firm hold for the sail proper. I had a similar issue with the klick-on for the sail planes so I dialed back the epa on the tx. As I mentioned when cruising at PD you don't need much throw on those planes to dive or surface the boat.