Moebius (Revell) Skipjack Build

[trout]

The dumbbell is a resin piece, I believe it is this:

Dave, Thank you and good advice.
I will break out the Type XXIII.

(sorry, I was too slow in pushing send - the question was already answered)

[greenman407]

OH! I was wondering what that little doohickey was for. Thats the first time Ive seen that picture. The puzzle is slowly coming together. Thanks

[alad61]

OK, I'm a dumb-ass: It's marked, 'dog-bone'. What I meant was 'dumb-bell'. Duh!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]24074[/ATTACH]

Dog bone works too...

[trout]

Amazing what a good night of sleep does. I was about to cut open an access hatch, then it came to me to measure from a fixed point to the end of the magnet. I used the aft seam as my point of reference.

It was 6 7/8" then when I measured the top section, it was 1/4" too long. So the magnets were connecting on the back side and would work for awhile then slip off. The next picture was the rod already shortened.

Reassembled the sub and it connected! I then used the End Point to adjust the throw. Down 87% and up 50% seemed to give me plenty of play. What a relief. I will have to sail it in the pool this weekend.

[greenman407]

Good Job. You know where your other pushrods come together, you can bend them so that the magnets hit straight.

[trout]

Thank you Mark. You are correct it would make better contact if I did that.

[greenman407]

Keep me updated with pictures on your sail pushrod situation. Im always ready to cheat and copy every chance we get.

[trout]

You got it sir. We learn from each other! I feel really good about getting it fixed, but the test will be at waters edge where I have found things just seem to happen.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Tom,

Don't they!??....

I wish I had a dollar for each time I had a system working perfectly on the bench during the pre-mission check-up, only to have things literally fall apart at the waters edge. Murphy reigns supreme in the real-world!

Keep plugging away. Like Alec alluded here, your SKIPJACK will be a much more enjoyable ride once you have the sail-planes working for you. Can't wait till we hear back from you about the second sea-trial.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Tom,

Don't they!??....

I wish I had a dollar for each time I had a system working perfectly on the bench during the pre-mission check-up, only to have things literally fall apart at the waters edge. Murphy reigns supreme in the real-world!

Keep plugging away. Like Alec alluded here, your SKIPJACK will be a much more enjoyable ride once you have the sail-planes working for you. Can't wait till we hear back from you about the second sea-trial.

M

[trout]

More enjoyable? I can hardly imagine that. Seriously. Hard to imagine.
As far as water's edge and murphy, I have caught myself getting so excited to get it in the water that I need to step back and go over the basics. I am probably going to laminate a check list to keep with me. Pilots do it on commercial airlines, why not?

[trout]

The Scamp was fun to drive, again.

Rudder respond'ed' very well with the new magnets. (Had to put the ed in single quotes because apparently if the letters d e d are put together you get this ded )

Playing around for 10 to 15 minutes, I noticed it was tough to keep level.

Brought it out of the water. There was a fine mist on the cylinder. The issue for running funny was the connector to the leveler disconnected when I did a quick reverse.

After about 45 minutes, the sub was running with the aft end down. This time the cylinder condensation/spray was noticeably greater with a small amount of water at the bottom. The reservoir was drained by blocking the air intake forcing. Some water came out (it did work), but not a tremendous amount of water came out. Indicating to me that the water was not entirely from the SAS.

The battery compartment had just a small amount of water - a couple of drops. There was a noise in the drive train. I will open it up after everything dries out.
Took some video from above, below and while attached. Will edit that later. Sam got a chance to drive, he liked it.

[trout]

The moisture build up concerns me, as time goes on that has got to take a toll on the electronics. As much moisture as there was, I am beginning to think water is getting in somewhere else like drive shaft. If it is still from the SAS, I think I can fix that. So, tonight I will pressure test the sub-driver and look for bubbles and vacuum test too!

Because both Sam and I drove it, we made many emergency stops. On reverse the leveler seems to work against you and lifts the aft end up. That made the prop so much less effective (a lot of air being churned up, but little response) - I do not know if there is an effective solution to this. I did find that aside from disconnecting, the planes would move on the rod. I thought everything was tight, but I will check again.

[greenman407]

If thats Sam, hes one happy kid!

[greenman407]

The last time I had a water leak on mine ,after I had missed it again and again, I put it in the bathtub while pulling a vacuum with a test tool hooked to the schrader valve with the valve core removed. I used a flashlight while leaning over the tub and looking at everything real closely, I finally spotted the little bugger. AH-HA! There you are!