working up an old SubTech ALBACORE kit

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Mr M. Wow that thing looks good in the water. Love stability of it and the responsive control.


Peter

P.S. All that water and you drive it straight into the buoy....

I know -- I'm such a dumb-ass: the only... AND I MEAN THE ONLY... surface obstruction in the entire frigg'n pool and I run smack dab into it!

This afternoon Ellie and I got some reasonably good underwater video of the thing. Will post that in a few hours. Also, a piece of spot-repair of damaged paint (I ran that damned thing into the deep-shallow pool ridge a few days ago) will be posted later today or tomorrow. The thing turns like a SKIPJACK, and the active dorsal rudder is a big help keeping the bubble when the rudder goes hard-over.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Some u/w video. Not edited. Tough sledding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_videoeditor&v=TSr41K5Uaj4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_videoeditor&v=3RnfxJINK3U

M

[redboat219]

I thought subs were suppose to run silent, this thing's roaring along like a Harley...

Now don't tell me that if I don't want to hear it I should turn off the volume...

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I thought subs were suppose to run silent, this thing's roaring along like a Harley...

Now don't tell me that if I don't want to hear it I should turn off the volume...

So. How loud is your KILO under the water? Oh, that's right. You have yet to put your KILO in the water. Sorry.

I suspect the source of the noise is the long intermediate drive-shaft between the SD and propeller shaft. (the shot of the 1/72 THRESHER running gear is representative). The slop between the Dumas dog-bones and couplers permit the rotating intermediate drive-shaft -- between SD motor output shaft and propeller shaft -- to rattle like a tuning fork. The noise produced in this arrangement is the price paid for ease of SD installation/removal from the hull.

M

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Static display models suffer handling accidents. R/c models suffer both handling, grounding, and collision damage. This is a quick look at how to repair collision and grounding damage resulting from the accidental (sometimes purposeful) impact between model and other surface.

It's prudent to anticipate such damage occurring to the r/c model ship or submarine. And it is wise to paint, weather, and clear-coat the model with mediums that are robust enough to resist minor abrasions that occur during casual use and handling. I use automotive grade paints and clear-coats for that reason.

No matter how careful a driver you are, a dynamic model -- the model in motion, in and out of its environment -- will invariably hit the bottom; collide with another mode; rub up hard against a pool wall or scale dock; roll over in the back-seat of the car; suffer the occasional enraged duck attack; and will be targeted by some stone-throwing, snot-nosed kid.


Presented here is how I make a quick-fix to a model that has suffered your typical slamming-the-model- into-the-deep/shallow-ledge-of-a-cement-lined-pool bow damage.

I was tooling my 1/60 ALBACORE r/c submarine around submerged in the deep end of the pool and decided to race into the shallow end... but misjudged the depth of the model. At the last moment, seeing that I was not going to clear the ledge, I slammed the throttle stick to 'back-Emergency'. I hit the ledge, but at a relatively slow speed.

So, the damage seen above, was a lot less than it could have been. However, on reflection (my mind in a more reflective, 'court of inquiry' mode), had I not been screaming around the pool ... submerged at a flank bell, maneuvering like a frigg'n idiot ... this would not have happened in the first place!

This video will take you to the scene and time of the crime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhAG-7W_5kA

Returning the model back at the shop for normal post-mission preservation and check-out chores, I added to the to-do list a fixing of the damaged bow. While at it I took the opportunity to darken the too-stark mottling effect I applied to the lower rudder during the weathering process. That rudder can be seen at the lower left of the above photo.

I was confronted by deep scratches and pits of lost substrate at the bow. Concrete pool liners are the equivalent of #36 sand-paper -- rub up against it at speed and you WILL lose paint and substrate at the very least. Structural failure at the worst.

Arrayed around the soon to be fixed bow and rudder are the filler and accelerator (CA for small stuff like this, Two part automotive fillers for major fills); abrading tools (to knock down excess CA filler); acrylic water-soluble emulsion paints to touch up the repaired areas; and the brushes used to apply the touch-up paint.

(I don't know what happened when I initially painted the lower rudder. But, as you can see, the light mottling is way too contrasty to the very dark-gray base color. After fixing the bow dings I scrubbed in the dark-gray paint over the mottling to tone it down so it matched the low-key mottling seen on the rest of the below waterline areas of the model).

The substrate on this model kit is high-impact polystyrene. The dings were deep and ugly; the collision with the pool ledge literally dug chunks of plastic away from the model! First step was to knock down the raised ridges around the gouges (think: meteor impact craters) with a small Jeweler's flat file.

To ease the application chore, a small amount of thick or medium-thick formula CA was placed on an inverted paint measuring cup. Small amounts of the adhesive was lifted with a small brass rod and dabbed into the gouges at the bow. Periodically I waved an accelerator damp cloth near the work -- the vapors immediately catalyzing the CA to a hard mass. The CA-accelerator step repeated till all depressions at the bow had been filled with the CA masses slightly projecting past what would be the normal surface contour of the bow.

The flat file was again employed, but this time to very carefully knock down the height of the CA filler to match the natural curve of the bow. The file marks were abraded off with a wet-and-dry sanding stick, used wet.

As it is my practice to apply at least two thick clear-coats (suitably flattened ) over the paint-markings-weathering work, the file and sanding stick did not abrade down any deeper than the first clear-coat. So, no surrounding paint and weathering was lost to the repair effort. This greatly reduced the amount of color matching (yes, yes, black and white are not colors ... work with me here!) and paint work coming up.

The physical damage to the model repaired, I mixed up some black and white to achieve several shades of the dark-gray that constituted the random mottling previously seen on all below waterline portions of the model. Water soluble acrylic emulsion type paint is pretty much the same no matter who makes it. I get mine from Wal-Mart or Hobby-Lobby. No big deal. Hobby shop paints are way over-rated.

The paint -- working one shade, then the other -- was stippled onto and around the CA filled areas to match the surrounding undamaged areas of the bow. The paint dries to a flat finish, which matched the sheen of the flattened clear-coat. So, there was no need to lay down a blending clear-coat.

And the repair was done.

... till the next encounter.

M

[bwi 971]

Stunning Sir.......she looks real flying by the camera hope I can achieve the same.....when I grow up.

- are u using an angle driver on the aft planes
- a transverse one on the dorsal rudder and
- manually command the depth with the fwd planes?

Conserning the repairs, I gues u used CA because the impact craters were to narrow and to deep to apply putty?

Grtz,
Bart

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Stunning Sir.......she looks real flying by the camera hope I can achieve the same.....when I grow up.

- are u using an angle driver on the aft planes
- a transverse one on the dorsal rudder and
- manually command the depth with the fwd planes?

Conserning the repairs, I gues u used CA because the impact craters were to narrow and to deep to apply putty?

Grtz,
Bart

Hey, Bart. Your three questions deserve some pictures to go along with my answers, so I'll defer answering those until I take more shots of the SD and other items you want me to expand on.

I'm trying to get the 'massive-vehicle-flying-over-the-camera' shot. First made famous in the opening of the first Star Wars film, and later done in the Hunt For Red October film -- both flicks worked on by the same guy, Richard Edlund (Boss Films, an effects house I did some work for through Greg Jein back when the world was still in a molten state).

M

[Von Hilde]

The dramatic shot when it passed by the camera close aboard was definately worth the effort, damage and all. Editing and slomo would give you some fine close up detail. I freeze framed it and was trying to figgure out how to save the still pic. No Can Do, from u tube, I guess.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Stunning Sir.......she looks real flying by the camera hope I can achieve the same.....when I grow up.

- are u using an angle driver on the aft planes
- a transverse one on the dorsal rudder and
- manually command the depth with the fwd planes?

Conserning the repairs, I gues u used CA because the impact craters were to narrow and to deep to apply putty?

Grtz,
Bart

You'll get there Bart. Sooner than you think, pal.

The photos identify the devices used on the ALBACORE and there arrangement hanging off the aluminum bulkhead and tray.

Kevin McLeod's ADF2 angle-keeper keeps you in the loop. The way I hook it up I assign ch-5 to the stern planes through the angle-keeper. That's the 'flap' assignment at the transmitter. That way I use the rotory 'flap' knob to set the 'zero' on the planes -- something I can adust through a slight twist of the knob as model submarine speed and proximity to the surface demand. Other than that, diver use of the stern planes is pretty much hands off.

That's right, Bart. the dorsal rudder (sensing roll and commanding the dorsal rudder servo to counter roll) angle-keeper is a stock unit that is simply mounted on the transverse aluminum bulkhead to sense displacement about the roll axis. Nothing too it! Not seen, but the dorsal rudder angle-keeper is servo-taped to the 5-Ampere BEC which in turn is servo-taped to the aluminum bulkhead.

No devices between me and the bow plane servo. It's used directly to effect depth control. With the stern planes dialed in, I don't touch them again -- doing all the depth control tasks with the bow planes. The above picture illustrates the linkages between SD and control surfaces. Magnetic couplers are used throughout to ease installation/removal of the SD and because they connect without any slop or back-lash -- very tight coupling between servo and control surface.
I use CA because it is fast and almost as hard as GRP.

M

[Albion]

It seems to bank over in the turns, is that the angle keeper on the sail rudder or is the angle keeper stopping it from going further over.

Thinking out loud, this is the only real boat with a sail rudder, but what if you were to use the whole sail of say the skipjack, would that improve the turns?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

It seems to bank over in the turns, is that the angle keeper on the sail rudder or is the angle keeper stopping it from going further over.

Thinking out loud, this is the only real boat with a sail rudder, but what if you were to use the whole sail of say the skipjack, would that improve the turns?

Yes, with the active dorsal rudder out of the loop the boat would have rolled much more than you observed in the video.

As the dorsal rudder is now it's toned down. I set a low value of 'sensitivity' at the angle-keeper to keep the servo twitching down. That twitching a result of unrelated device vibration (propulsion motor, servo block displacement, and LPB motor operation).

One fortunate accident: When the dorsal rudder twitches as a result of LPB motor operation, it serves as a visual cue that the LPB is running if not commanded from the transmitter, something that happens in either the fail-safe mode (loss of transmitted signal), or when the Lipo-Guard activates due to low battery voltage. Useful stuff.

As it's set up now the dorsal rudder is a roll-sensor controlled, moderately sensitive 'reactive' device i.e., it responds only after the boat has started to roll.

A more responsive arrangement (and one eliminating the need of the angle-keeper roll-sensor) would be a pro-active dorsal rudder. It's arrangement is easier to install than the reactive: you simply run a Y-harness from the rudder port of the receiver (ch-1). One plug going to the normal rudder servo, and the other plug going to the dorsal rudder servo. This way, the dorsal rudder works immediately to kill the anticipated roll as the rudder swings to yaw the boat. Of course, there is no roll feed-back to the loop in this arrangement, so roll control will be optimized for only one spot (sweet-spot) on the speed curve.

Swing the whole sail?

.... are you nuts!?

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!!

The boat's too loud ... it still rolls ... it's too fast ... move the entire sail .... I don't like your weathering ...

**** it. I'm going back to bed!

M

[trout]

The dramatic shot when it passed by the camera close aboard was definately worth the effort, damage and all.

David,
i agree the fly by, like the great movies (Star Wars and Hunt for Red October), is stunning. It is noted in my mind to try that and see if I can capture those angles. The camera had to be away from the edge, how was it set up?
as far as noise, i can think of only one sub that I have seen that was "silent" when running. It was Will Oudmayer's Walrus. I tried to capture it underwater as it passed by. It still had a noise to it, but it was the quietest sub I have heard. Your Albacore is not that loud or noisy especially when you consider how sound is amplified underwater.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

David,
i agree the fly by, like the great movies (Star Wars and Hunt for Red October), is stunning. It is noted in my mind to try that and see if I can capture those angles. The camera had to be away from the edge, how was it set up?
as far as noise, i can think of only one sub that I have seen that was "silent" when running. It was Will Oudmayer's Walrus. I tried to capture it underwater as it passed by. It still had a noise to it, but it was the quietest sub I have heard. Your Albacore is not that loud or noisy especially when you consider how sound is amplified underwater.

Filmakers have a word for it: 'Signature shot'.

A uniquely choreographed scene unique to a Director. Richard Edlund, working as a second-unit director (effects miniatures) formulated the fly-over scene at the beginning of SW. It became so iconic that by the time his company, Boss Productions, was doing HFRO (they were later fired and replaced by ILM) he was able to work in the same choreography. This time a submarine, not a spaceship.

That's what I was going for, Tom: the Edlund shot.

Ellie bought me one of those neat little FujiFilm XP60 underwater video cameras. This one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/FUJIFILM-XP6.../dp/B00EB84XBO

This is the little tripod I used for the Edlund shot. The short legs put the lens about ten-inches off the bottom of the pool -- making the 'fly-over' shot easy to do. I wrapped lead sheet around each leg to make the entire assembly heavy enough not to bounce around when I walked around the set-up as I drove the model near the camera.

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSigEahwELEKjU2AQaAggKDAsQsIynCBpgCl4IAxIo-xLuEqAHnwe6B_1EB-hK3EtACuwfNJq02xjOwNq82kz6SPq424Ca0NhowP9lTKwp27q6q5M1Gz-FKXCCCaR9nbTw8-Gs5VQtVYqOXbtGuy6T6oEMvqlCTaFJvDAsQjq7-CBoKCggIARIE7W2WEAw&sa=X&ei=iQxhVaCrIoO0oQT0uIHoAg&ved=0CBoQwg4oAA&biw=1280&bih=923

I engineer for mass-production. Will Oudmayer is a frig'n Watch-Maker!

M

[bwi 971]

Hey, Bart. Your three questions deserve some pictures to go along with my answers, so I'll defer answering those until I take more shots of the SD and other items you want me to expand on.

I'm trying to get the 'massive-vehicle-flying-over-the-camera' shot. First made famous in the opening of the first Star Wars film, and later done in the Hunt For Red October film -- both flicks worked on by the same guy, Richard Edlund (Boss Films, an effects house I did some work for through Greg Jein back when the world was still in a molten state).

M

A www search on Richard Edlund and Greg Jein resulted in an interesting afternoon.

You'll get there Bart. Sooner than you think, pal.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31440[/ATTACH] The photos identify the devices used on the ALBACORE and there arrangement hanging off the aluminum bulkhead and tray.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31441[/ATTACH] Kevin McLeod's ADF2 angle-keeper keeps you in the loop. The way I hook it up I assign ch-5 to the stern planes through the angle-keeper. That's the 'flap' assignment at the transmitter. That way I use the rotory 'flap' knob to set the 'zero' on the planes -- something I can adust through a slight twist of the knob as model submarine speed and proximity to the surface demand. Other than that, diver use of the stern planes is pretty much hands off.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31442[/ATTACH] That's right, Bart. the dorsal rudder (sensing roll and commanding the dorsal rudder servo to counter roll) angle-keeper is a stock unit that is simply mounted on the transverse aluminum bulkhead to sense displacement about the roll axis. Nothing too it! Not seen, but the dorsal rudder angle-keeper is servo-taped to the 5-Ampere BEC which in turn is servo-taped to the aluminum bulkhead.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31443[/ATTACH] No devices between me and the bow plane servo. It's used directly to effect depth control. With the stern planes dialed in, I don't touch them again -- doing all the depth control tasks with the bow planes. The above picture illustrates the linkages between SD and control surfaces. Magnetic couplers are used throughout to ease installation/removal of the SD and because they connect without any slop or back-lash -- very tight coupling between servo and control surface.
I use CA because it is fast and almost as hard as GRP.

M

Crystal-clear now…….I know it takes time to edit the pictures….I don’t take it for granted, thanks.

Yes, with the active dorsal rudder out of the loop the boat would have rolled much more than you observed in the video.

As the dorsal rudder is now it's toned down. I set a low value of 'sensitivity' at the angle-keeper to keep the servo twitching down. That twitching a result of unrelated device vibration (propulsion motor, servo block displacement, and LPB motor operation).

One fortunate accident: When the dorsal rudder twitches as a result of LPB motor operation, it serves as a visual cue that the LPB is running if not commanded from the transmitter, something that happens in either the fail-safe mode (loss of transmitted signal), or when the Lipo-Guard activates due to low battery voltage. Useful stuff.

As it's set up now the dorsal rudder is a roll-sensor controlled, moderately sensitive 'reactive' device i.e., it responds only after the boat has started to roll.

A more responsive arrangement (and one eliminating the need of the angle-keeper roll-sensor) would be a pro-active dorsal rudder. It's arrangement is easier to install than the reactive: you simply run a Y-harness from the rudder port of the receiver (ch-1). One plug going to the normal rudder servo, and the other plug going to the dorsal rudder servo. This way, the dorsal rudder works immediately to kill the anticipated roll as the rudder swings to yaw the boat. Of course, there is no roll feed-back to the loop in this arrangement, so roll control will be optimized for only one spot (sweet-spot) on the speed curve.

Swing the whole sail?

.... are you nuts!?

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!!

The boat's too loud ... it still rolls ... it's too fast ... move the entire sail .... I don't like your weathering ...

**** it. I'm going back to bed!

M

David It sounds like she is a disaster......get writ of it sent it to Belgium, to do you a favor I will pay the shipping cost.

Another option is to make her compliant with the rules and regulations of the United States Coast Guard agency and the "Code of Federal Regulations" than and only than she might be accepted by everyone.

Grtz,
Bart

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Bart, your kind offer to take this pile of woe off my hands is appreciated .... but, respectfully declined sir.

Too fast, too loud, too maneuverable, and just plain old too good look'n suits me just fine. I'm keeping it!

M