Revell 1/232 scale Skipjack

[Trout Fry]

Hello,my name is sam and I am about to start to build my first sub. I am 10 and will be building this with my dad (Trout).
My dad is making me sign a contract with ground rules for the build.

[trout]

Can you see my grin from where you are at? I am very proud of my boy!

[Scott T]

Looking forward to see your build Trout Fry.

Scott T

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Welcome aboard, Sam.

OK ... talking part's done. To WORK!

M

[MFR1964]

Hmmm Sam, a contract???, give a yell when you need a good lawyer, if dad makes trouble, he will be banned from the dark side during a certain period.

Oh, by the way, welcome aboard, show us how it should be done.


Manfred.

[Trout Fry]

Thank you for your kind comments.
Let me begin by reviewing the kit by Revell
meh on the box art, I'm more interested in the contents.


The instructions were interesting they looked pretty simple.
however, we don't need no stinking instructions :)


The back of the instructions were more of the same but
dad showed me some of the parts are not accurate.


I really liked the decals they are simple and for my first sub
that is not bad.


I was surprised to see how small the sub is.


That is the base and the sail.



Next I will review the fittings kit. Mr. Merriman did a fine job on the fittings kit.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

fine?....FINE!!.... JUST, FINE???!!!!!!!

[MFR1964]

Hey, drama-queen, it's a kid, don't scare him away, he's the next generation



Manfred.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Hey, drama-queen, it's a kid, don't scare him away, he's the next generation



Manfred.

Ooop's...

Carry on, Sam.

M

[trout]

This is Tom posting for Sam. He had to get ready for bed.
Sam really liked the propellor and the way David made the aft end fittings. He cannot wait to put this together.



The sub-driver really got Sam excited. It was hard to keep him from playing with it. he likes the ability to convert the power output between one or two shafts. I showed him how the servos transferred their motion through the top to the push rods - that was a hit! I noticed there are two holders, I am assuming we need to find magnets to fit?


It was too much for him to bear. We had to see how it looked in the sub (I was curious as well).

Wow not much room. I did not share with Sam, but if I need to add weight, where do I? I guess the extreme ends.

This is exciting to me. I bought 3 additional ESCs from Adam Carlson. These are the ones he developed and one was already in the Aluminaut. Two more are going to finish the needed controls for the tiny sub. The third one is to experiment with. We talked and he believes it could run this Skipjack. If I blow it out, Adam said he would replace it.


Then to add to the fun, a friend, Will, offered to help Sam on his build. Will O. said here and gave Sam a fittings kit and this Switch - How cool is that? So, no rubber boot to worry about.

The clear shrink tube is used after all connections are soldered and cleaned.

The battery.


The Receiver is a Lepton 6 with the box removed. You might be able to still get some here (http://www.sub-driver.com/electronic...er-75-mhz.html)


So, we are saving up for the remaining items. Linear servos, ADF2 and LiPo Guard. In the meantime, the build continues - albeit slow (between school, Scouts, Horseback riding, Piano lessons, and friend gatherings it gets delayed).
We are getting excited because next I see cutting the lower bow and tail sections. An area that concerns me a little is this:

There is a distinctive gap with the Sub-Driver installed. I know I will need to help Sam by removing any molded in ridges and maybe rounding the bottom of the center section of the Sub-Driver. Any other suggestions?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Thin strips of lead sheet ahead and aft of the servo box -- you want to pack the fixed ballast weight as near the c.g. as you can -- less 'dumb-bell' effect.

The gap between the two hull halves will be filled with CA and baking soda ... you know the drill, Tom. But don't address that till you replace the tail-feathers and make up the bow piece and contour it with Bondo.

Neat little devices there. Has Adam gone commercial on us? Hope so, he's a real talent. And one hell of a nice guy to boot.

M

[Trout Fry]

I'm a little scared about the gap in the submarine. My dad feels confident we can fix it.


My dad thought to round the Sub-Driver to fit inside the sub and to make the gap smaller. It didn't really change the gap much.


You can see one side is round and the other is not. It will be rounded evenly on both sides.


This is the stand piece with the seams on. I learned to take off the seams.


This is the piece without the seams, I used a x-acto knife and file to do it.

[Trout Fry]

Here are my other pictures from last night.

This is my stand and the round object is my nuclear reactor. I kinda like the reactor but we're not going to put it in.


This is my piece that holds my reactor and walls and we're going to sand it off.


This is my hatch that we're going to fill in with plastic. We're going to sand the bumps out on each side of it.


I'm trying to clip of the bumps on each side of the piece that holds the reactor in place and I'm going to sand that to.




This is what the sanded version of the submarine. I also used a x-acto knife to shave plastic off.


I've learned how to put plastic in the gaps inside the hatch on the submarine. Using cohesive glue to melt the sprue, it was smashed into the gaps.


Here is my hatch and I'm using a x-acto knife to push the softened plastic in place.


Here is what the hatch looks like with the plastic in place. I learned the difference of cohesive and adhesive glues.


My dad thought we should mark the bow with a sharpie.


We did the same thing here but we will cut it off. Dad felt it is important to place the aft end in for prop alignment.


This is the bottom half of the sub with the Sub-Driver in the submarine.


This is what the aft pieces looked like after we cut it using a saw.


This is what our sub looked liked after we temporarily put the aft pieces in.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Tought Sam to weld. Excellent. There's hope for the future!

Keep him away from CAD and CNC tools, Dad.

M

[MFR1964]

I only can agree with David, i wished i had a dad at that age which is building subs, go get them tiger!!!!, and keep us updated.


Manfred.