Skipjack.part 2

Ballast pump is now fitted and plumbed in...next job, wiring it up.

This is the final dry run of the cylinder before the wiring and plumbing commences...tomorrow's job, my hands are telling me 'enough'.

Just waiting on the end caps for the ballast tank to arrive, then the cylinder is completed.





(And David, if you're wondering why your board isn't included in this cylinder, I'm saving it for my Type XX111)

Did the switcher work Ok with your setup?

David

I haven't tried it yet, David....I've been making the most of cooperating fingers and cracking on with fitting out the Skipkack's cylinder. The board you sent me is reserved for my Type XX111, it will have the same setup as the Skipjack (more or less), just a bigger diameter cylinder.
I hope to give it a try out later this week...fingers permitting, of course.

Sorry to hear about the fingers.

Any feedback on these things would be appreciated.

David

I'll do my best to do a write up on the boards, David...if anyone can destroy them, it'll be me!

In between dodging the decorators and waiting on bits arriving, I've been doing more dry runs of things...one of which has been the rudder and rear plane linkages.

Who was it who invented those tiny little magnetic couplings that connect the brass wires from the servos to the rudder and plane operating rods? What a brilliant idea they are...I've never used them before, but I'm sold on them now. Cut the rods to length...a coupling on each end of the rods...snap them together, job done. No more fiddling about with connectors with grub screws(which I always manage to loose)no more readjusting of rod lengths...just snap the connectors on and off and nothing needs adjusting, a perfect hook up every time.

Whoever the man was who came up with the idea...I salute you, sir.

Richard(Admin) wrote:In between dodging the decorators and waiting on bits arriving, I've been doing more dry runs of things...one of which has been the rudder and rear plane linkages.

Who was it who invented those tiny little magnetic couplings that connect the brass wires from the servos to the rudder and plane operating rods? What a brilliant idea they are...I've never used them before, but I'm sold on them now. Cut the rods to length...a coupling on each end of the rods...snap them together, job done. No more fiddling about with connectors with grub screws(which I always manage to loose)no more readjusting of rod lengths...just snap the connectors on and off and nothing needs adjusting, a perfect hook up every time.

Whoever the man was who came up with the idea...I salute you, sir.

The inventors name of these little magnetic linkage couplers is Brian Stark. A Master model Builder.

Brian showed me his magnetic couplers, used in one of our little 1/96 SKIPJACK kits, at a SubRegatta about ten years ago. I was amazed at the utility these little linkage make-up points presented. No one, in the field, enjoys messing around with linkage connectors under a hot June sun (or, for you Brit's, a driving rain!). Brian suggested I go commercial with his little magnetic couplers. The rest is history.

My Boss, Mike Caswell, of Caswell Inc. put them in the catalog. Here they are: http://www.sub-driver.com/accessories/couplers-bearings-seals-and-rods/klik-ons.html

David

Mr Stark, I stand to attention and salute you, sir...

An incredible idea, so simple to use, and with so many uses...I guess you could use them for prop shaft connections on the small, lower powered boats too.

Why didn't I think of these...

Hull closures, removable sail, reed-switch actuators, linkage breaks, servo-savers, transmission couplers (your above propeller shaft coupling), marker-buoy release mechanism, etc.

David

The list seems to be limited only by your imagination, then... I can see I'm going to have to get some more of these little babies.

Richard(Admin) wrote:The list seems to be limited only by your imagination, then... I can see I'm going to have to get some more of these little babies.

Here's my source:

http://www.gaussboys.com/

Thanks for that link, David..a very interesting read.

Today's little job was to make up a tray to sit the battery pack on(in it's own little wtc), inbetween avoiding wet paint, decorators armed with paint loaded brushes, and having to succumb to my carer insisting that I took a shower today.

So, the tray has been made up from 1.5mm styrene sheet, and much to my surprise, everything fitted first time.





The cylinder fits up to the small bulkhead you can see right up in the bows, the two upright pieces of styrene stop it from rolling about, and eventually there will be two blocks of styrene with brass hooks in them glued either side of the cylinder with an elastic band stretched over it to secure the whole lot in place.

Today's little job was to install the top and bottom rudders...I did make a bit of a cock of installing my own, but now I have the proper fittings for the job, I ripped out mine and fitted both rudders using the parts David M sent me.

Everything fitted first time round, nothing binds or touches where it shouldn't, and now I have a boat with operating top and bottom rudders. It'll be interesting to see how having two rudders works...my Patrick Henry only had an operating bottom rudder, as did the Kilo and the Dragonfish, so this will be new ground for me.

Just a bit of tidying up to do, and a final drop of epoxy around the bottom rudder bush, and it's job done...thanks David.

It may be of little surprise to those in this game -- both the rudder and stern plane yokes are based on prototype. Form followes function, as they say.

I know those shots show a test-fit, but do remember to reverse that stern plane yoke -- you need to access those two set-screws once the top of the tail-cone is permanently bonded in place.

David

Good thinking, sir...there would have been much bad language if I'd have glued all that down and found that I couldn't access those screws...

Thinking aloud here, David...but why do we bond that tail cone down permanently? Why not make it removable using styrene tabs and small self tapping screws? I guess there is a viable reason for not doing so...

Richard(Admin) wrote:Thinking aloud here, David...but why do we bond that tail cone down permanently? Why not make it removable using styrene tabs and small self tapping screws? I guess there is a viable reason for not doing so...

A tight, non-wiggling propeller shaft bearing; ease of access without concern of making up the damned upper rudder each time you attach/remove the upper hull; the ease of removing only one machine screw to access the interior of the model (using the classic Z-cut), rather than dealing with multiple screws if you make the upper-lower hull break a complete equatorial separation plane; and scale effect -- why suffer another unsightly seam (the stern cone) when you don't' have to.

David

Fair points...a good case for bonding the stern cone down, then. Information taken on board...

The long awaited parts have finally arrived for the Skipjack...it's a real bad hand day today (I think I did too much sawing and filing yesterday, and today I'm paying for it...big time) but I did manage a test fit of the ballast tank end caps, and everything fits perfectly.





Huge thanks to Andy for the s/steel prop shaft and to Nigel for the ballast tank caps....I'm so grateful to you guys.

I should have done this from the start...I admit I've struggled with installing the cylinder in the Skipjack, but I just cannot get on with the things, no matter how hard I try. Maybe I'm too 'old school', but I was brought up to use the good old fashioned radio box, so that's what's now going into the Skipjack. This box is the original one as supplied with the X craft kit, and it fits perfectly into the Skipjack hull. I have a new watertight 16" propshaft on order for it, complete with three internal bearings and an oiler tube, that should be here by Wednesday, so I have ample time to prepare the hull in readiness to install the box.

An alloy flange around the top lip of the box, a decent clear lid ( I can almost hear Andy trembling from here...) and we're away.



(I bet Andy's phone will be turned off from the minute he reads this...)

RICHARD ,
Do You want to say , after all that work do You intend to change WTC with "that UGLY BOX?!?!?!" only for "old time sake"???.   HA , HA , HA.

I was joking of course , but You start from beginning on that box right?.Is not to much effort regarding Your HANDS?.

MARIUS

It's practically done, Marius...the equipment tray from the cylinder fitted into the box perfectly, just a little application of the file to ease the opening by a millimetre or two, and it dropped straight in. Two holes drilled to allow the control rods to go through the wall of the box, I have yet to fix the bellows over the rods, and I'm almost there. It's coffee break time now!

my phone will never be turned off for you mate