1/35 scale type 23

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Add a drop of CA into the space around pushrod Z-bend and bell-crank (leave them assembled when you do this). Let cure. Then work the rudder -- this, of course, will break the bond between pushrod and bell-crank. The glue remaining on the pushrod becomes a radial shim. Nice and tight and will last forever.

You people!

M

[greenman407]

One thing I noticed. The rudder has developed quite a bit of slop in it. I recommend that before the install of the white metal bellcrank on the 1/16" rudder shaft, that you put a close fitting washer down and tack it down. Otherwise the plastic of the model will wallow out and the rudder shaft will flop around, and get worse. I tried to get the belcrank off, but the set screw is stuck. What to do, what to do? I know. Ill make a 2 piece washer out of brass flat bar. Drill a 1/16" hole in each near the edge, and grind down the edge until only half a whole is left. I used a small rat tail file to open them up just a smidge. I put them in place, holding them one at a time against the shaft, and put a drop of CA out on the end, away from the shaft. That way there is less chance of the CA from seeping over to the shaft and locking it up. That tightened things up quite a bit. The rest of the slop is between the brass control rod and the soft white metal bellcrank. Ill keep an eye on it and perhaps make one later on out of harder materials.

[greenman407]

[greenman407]

As good as my word. To the Pond, to the Pond. Eventually everything worked great. I am very pleased with the way she ran. In the end she kept perfect periscope depth(if she had a periscope). Ill put that on after the paint. After a good hard run the motor,Speed 400, was just barely warm. However, when I first got there and into the water, she was playing "Hard to Get". Porpoising all over the place. Everything worked, but it was not smooth. I checked the balance again and the trim. So it boiled down to that it had to be the APC. On this one I used an older "Thor" Apc with two adjustable pots. So I kept increasing the sensitivity until it became smooth as silk. You can operate it hands off. So I cant think of another thing to do but paint it.Here she is "ON STEP".

[greenman407]

I was gonna call you a "smarty pants" but then I figured that you already knew that.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Gotcha! (it got me too, I'm only smart after the fact).

M

[greenman407]

Ok...................................that was it. Crisis over. She sits level now. Lets see how she does at the pond.

[greenman407]

Ooopppsss!

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

As the left and right sides of the hull were engineered, their assembly results in a little box over the sonar dome. Did you vent that box with big-ass holes, Mark?

M

[greenman407]

Got her into the Kiddie pool. Note that it is bow heavy. Its going back and forth on me. And each time Im making sure that I got all the air out.

[greenman407]

IT IS DONE!! 1/16" brass rod thru a 1/16" hole.Followed up with one drop of thin CA.

[greenman407]

With the 400 motor turning that prop, shell move right along too. Well wring her out......next time.

[greenman407]

As Promised, into the pond she went. Its amazing to me the difference two different bodies of water can make. In the bathtub, I thought that I had the trim dialed in pretty good. But, when I got to the pond, it didnt look like I had done a blessed thing to it. So , I spent somemore time trying to get her trimmed. This has got to be the most sensitive submarine to trim that I have yet to encounter. Just a 1/4 ounce moved just a quarter of an inch makes a huge difference. Anyway, when I got to the pond I noticed two things, one..that the right rear stern plane had broken loose from the shaft and was flopping around. That put an end to diving this thing, along with the fact that ....apparently , I had installed the APC in backwards. Well we will get the APC turned around, and as for the stern planes, Im going to drill and pin them tonight. As you can see I drove it around a little while on the surface. A big difference between the Skipjack and the type 23 as far as maneuverability is concerned. The Skipjack has two rudders and they are a lot bigger and therefore wheel that baby right around. The type 23 takes about 10' to turn her around. Going backwards, the rudder hard over, barely makes an impression. Enjoyable however. We will make some adjustments and be back at the pond next week, along with the Seaview.

[greenman407]

Nope....not me.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

The early SubTech angle-keepers employed a liquid type angle sensor. Over time they would dry out and get touchy, eventually not working at all.



Back 'in the day', Skip Asay's work (angle-keeper, fail-safe, depth-keeper and other model submarine specific devices perfected, mass produced and put on the market) was the prime reason this hobby started a growth spurt in the mid-80's.

Skip Asay is, in my opinion, the most influential guy on the US r/c submarine front, ever. He transitioned the hobby from the hands of the truly gifted mechanics and other practitioners of the black-arts and got it into the grubby hands of the great-unwashed idiots who, because of Skip's work, now only had to know how to plug a servo into a receiver.



It was Skip Asay who first hit on the idea of converting a commercial helicopter rate-gyro device into a gravity sensing device -- the grand-daddy of today's electronic angle-keeper.

Skip Asay is the Godfather of American r/c submarining. His research, innovations, articles, talks and regatta attendance is the reason why.

Any one want to challenge me on this? Anyone?.....

M