From: DMeriman@aol.com

Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 2:47 PM

To: undisclosed-recipients:

Subject: R/C'ing the Trumpeter 1/144 SEAWOLF (SSN 21) Submarine, Part-9

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R/C'ing the Trumpeter 1/144 SEAWOLF (SSN 21) Submarine, Part-9

A report to the Cabal:

It's been some time since I've contributed an article to the Cabal Reports -- I've been busy with a job for Caltech.

I foolishly took on a job at the beginning of the year to build them a tow-tank vehicle. The work is done and out of here. However, I way underestimated the time and expense. Though I produced a quality product and it met the agreed specification, the vehicle arrived to the customer late. The delayed delivery of the product seriously put the client in a bind. Not good business, and simply not the way to treat someone who trusts your 'professional opinion', part of which is your estimate of time of delivery.

The day we got that thing out the door I promised Ellie that I would do something that will, from now on it, insure that most of our customers get the product they plunk down money for in a timely manner!

I can't sell to the general public and invent, build, and market product -- It's just Ellie, me and Rose here (Mr. Cat went tits-up a few months ago). So, to play to our strengths -- and delegate our weaknesses to others who do specific jobs better than we -- I've given up the marketing end of D&E Miniatures. We now only sell to established and well run vendors: Caswell Inc., Atomic Subs, and SubTech.

OK, that's what has been going on since the last Cabal Report. The principle reason for the absence was my involvement with the Caltech job (the client keeps the design to themselves, that's why I'm not blabbing about that work here) and working to get product off to Caswell, Inc. who have place major league orders with us.

(This'll make Mike Caswell crazy:) In the few weeks since freeing myself of the Caltech job I've played a little hookie from Caswell, and have snuck a few hours in to work on the Trumpeter 1/144 SEAWOLF's we're r/c'ing and will bring with us to Indiana. These r/c subs will be turned over to Fred Freketic to use at the 'Submarine School' he runs there at the SubRegatta (less than a month to go ... yikes!).

I've made some changes to the internals since I first packaged all the deviceswithin the WTC-2.5/SEAWOLF (AKA, SubDriver 2.5/SEAWOLF), and here's a quick look at some of them:

battery   We've shifted to an on-board Lithium-Polymer, 1500 mAh, two-cell battery. It's light weight, small size, and high capacity make it a natural for use within the tight confines of the SubDriver unit. Of course this means special care has to be taken with charging, and to insure the damn thing never gets wet. We'll see how this type battery works, long term, in this application. Caswell Inc. is stocking up on these, and their associated chargers as I write this.

Magnets   Brian Starks, at last years SubRegatta (man! Those events are such great information gathering opportunities!) put me onto the idea of using tiny powerful magnets to not only help with the closure of hull halves, but to make up the WTC-to-model control surface linkages. He took me aside, opened up his little 1/96 SKIPJACK and showed me how the magnets worked. It was so neat a packaging, and the magnets had more than enough force to hold things together, that I then and there promised myself to give it a try. The Trumpeter SEAWOLF models are my first attempt to use magnets and I gotta tell you: I'm sold!

Here's the source where Brian pointed to get the magnets:  http://www.gaussboys.com/   Thanks, Brian!

ESC   From day-one I began using the SubTech SC-10 ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) I've had problems: sticking relay, glitching, inappropriate fail-safe shut-down of the motor in the middle of the lake, and the lack of a built-in BEC. Well, Caswell Inc. has started marketing a little ESC that has none of these vices and a few advantages as well -- and it's TINY! And it's waterproof! And it's programmable! It's the Viper Marine, Mini-10. I got one and have tested in the first of the little SEAWOLF's, and this ESC is amazing!

I was first put onto this thing in an article David Welch wrote up, he used one aboard one of his small'ish r/c submarines and had nothing but nice things to say about it. So, when Caswell announced that they had added this ESC to their line, I simply had to check it out. I am not dissapointe!

Toggle-Switch   I've also installed a mini-toggle switch to the outside of the motor bulkhead of the SubDriver 2.5/SEAWOLF. Made up to the ESC's BEC circuit this switch permits easy isolation of the entire system circuitry from the battery without need of breaking the SubDriver's seal -- just flip the switch and power is either on or off. Simple. A rubber boot over the toggle makes the unit watertight.

To refresh your memory -- it has been a number of months since I last reported on any 1/144 Trumpeter SEAWOLF kit work -- here's a shot of how I've arranged the internals needed to operate the kit.

If you want to get caught up on this project, go to: http://vabiz.com/d&e/articles.html Scroll down and find the chapters on the Trumpeter SEAWOLF build and read on.

I've since made two big improvements: I've replaced the SubTech SC-10 ESC to a more reliable Mini-10 (Thanks for the tip, Big Dave!), and I've employed the Gaussboys ( http://www.gaussboys.com/) magnets to interface between the model and SubDriver operating linkages (thanks, Brian!).

(in the voice of Goldfinger:)

"No, Mr. Bond ... I want you to Die!"

Final testing of the California Institute of Technology hydrodynamic vehicle before packaging and shipping off to the Left Coast.

The Caltech vehicle boxed up and ready for shipping.

And .... it's OUTA HERE!

Now that I'm enslaved by the great and powerful Caswell Empire I've been compelled to put my entire family to work (lucky cat, he's dead!). Here we see poor Ellie hard at work making shaft seal bodies. Amazingly, a careful inventory of her fingers at the end of the day produced a count of 10! Way to go, Ellie!

And this illustrats how things have been since we've signed on as Caswell's source of r/c model submarine product. Work, work, work ...

(We're lov'n it!)

The removed SubTech SC-10 next to its replacement, the Viper Marine, Mini-10. Up to this operation I had been having ESC caused r/c glitching and occasional sticking of the ESC polarity switching relay -- that damned relay is the Achilles' heel of the SC-10. Propulsion system reliability and performance went up markedly with the swap-out.

Recently Caswell Inc. began distributing an amazing line of electronic speed controllers (ESC's). These are available in a number of configurations (car, truck, boat, airplane) and current capacities. Shown here is their Viper Marine, Mini-10. Ideal for small motors and can even handle hot units like the Graupner Speed 380's, which my WTC-2.5/SEAWOLF employs.

The Viper Mini-10 was first suggested to me as I read one of David Welch's articles at the SC site ... at about the same time Mike Caswell was making purchases from the source (some outfit in the UK) and later put them in his catalog,  http://www.caswellplating.com/ .

I've run my little SEAWOLF a good bit now with this ESC and I must say that the Mini-10 is the best little ESC I've operated! It's smaller than the SC-10; it's waterproof; it's easy to program (if you want to); I'm told it has a thermal shut-down feature (didn't see that in the literature); has a BEC so you can get rid of that bulky BE/VR; and its high-low response to stick movement is broad and immediate. I love this little ESC!

What a joy to finally be able to say goodbye to those awful, sticking, fail-safe glitching, SubTech SC-10's that have given me so much grief over the years!

You can see the difference in size between the still installed SubTech SC-10 and its replacement, the Mini-10. This shot also illustrates the utility of mounting most of the system components to the motor bulkhead (not seen, but within the cup-shaped motor bulkhead are three micro-servos and the Graupner 380 motor) -- pulling the Lexan cylinder clear gives unobstructed access to the internal devices. Note that atop the motor bulkhead I've installed a little toggle-switch -- connected to the ESC this isolates the BEC circuit which basically turns everything on or off. Don't put the switch on the battery terminal -- if you did the high current spike of closing/opening would fry the little switch contacts. As long as the ESC's FET's exhibit little leakage current at shut-off you're battery should retain its charge even during long storage periods.

Mounted to the forward end of the Lexan cylinder is the ballast tank bulkhead and forward bulkhead, the space between them forming the ballast tank -- simple, small, reliable. The gas system is the way to go in my book. Believe it or not, the ballast tank seen here, as small as it is, produces about 125% of the required reserve buoyancy needed by the Trumpeter SEAWOLF to get that submarine to its designed waterline.

I'm pointing to the installed Mini-10. The SubDriver 2.5/SEAWOLF is small, but that little ESC is lost in there!

A better look at all the gizmo's needed to run the Trumpeter 1/144 SEAWOLF r/c submarine.

Caswell Inc. is now distributing little 1500 Ampere hour Lithium-Polymer batteries -- it's the availability of these small, light-weight, high capacity batteries that makes it possible for me to produce such small WTC packages to fit the line of 1/144 plastic model submarine kits now offered by Trumpeter. Here I'm using a Lithium-Polymer/Nickel Metal-Hydride/Nickel-Cadmium charger to bang up the WTC-2.5/SEAWOLF battery.

Here I'm putting together a plywood shipping/storage box that will eventually house four of the little 1/144 SEAWOLF models -- I'm building a fleet of these things that will be used by the 'Submarine School' at this years Indiana SubRegatta.

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The shipping/storage box going together. Jesus ... what a mess!

The models seen here will be used by Instructor Fred Freketic at his 'Submarine School'. Anyone expressing an interest at the event will be invited to take the sticks of a transmitter and to experience, first hand, the thrill of driving a fully capable statically diving r/c submarine.

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