Engel Gato retacting bow planes...

[skiprch]

Hi all,
My Engel Gato is a few years old but I am in the process of a refit. I was wondering what others did for retracting bow planes on the Engel Gato as they come fixed. I worked up some but they are not scale. Like to see what you did.
Thanks, Walt

[steveuk]

I'm scratching my head on

I'm scratching my head on this one. I still can't figure out how the bar which deploys the planes down to diving mode doesn't interfere and stop the planes actually rotating. It's an engineering challenge.
If I can't figure it the planes on mine (Revell) will just have to stay down.

Here's hoping folks will post their solutions SkiprCH..

[jaschwink]

I have an Engel Gato

I have an Engel Gato class boat, and I pruchased and installed Engel's mechanism. I don't know if it would work in a Revell boat, as the plane tower in the front just fits the 1:48 Engel Gato.

The Engel device has a motor that is set up to turn 17 revolutions and has pre-set micro switches that stop the motor at the two extremes of movement (rigged in and rigged out). Typical Engel and German, the mechanism is complicated and costly, but once you play with it, it works great.

The motor spins a shaft that exits the WTC and goes to the plane tower. There it drives a toothed belt that turns a shaft with a bevel gear. The second bevel gear is attached to a hollow tube that is internally threaded and has left and right cardan shafts that run in and out as the center shaft spins. That's what rigs the planes in and out. Each cardan shaft has a tiny U-joint, and the end that attaches to the plane has a ball joint connector.

All of this wonderment of spinning devices has enough play to allow the shafts to turn for pitch when the planes are rigged out. The planes must be centered level or the planes won't rig in -- an interlock switch is attached on the plane pitch servo to prevent trying to rig in with the planes at an angle.

There are much simpler ways to get the bow planes to rig in and out and twist, but Engel's does work, and you have to admire all of the engineering that went into making the mechanism. See the Engel website for details.

jaschwink

[steveuk]

Thanks for the explanation, jaschwink.

Thanks for the explanation, jaschwink. I think I can just about visualise that now. The important bit for me was this

Each cardan shaft has a tiny U-joint, and the end that attaches to the plane has a ball joint connector.

All of this wonderment of spinning devices has enough play to allow the shafts to turn for pitch when the planes are rigged out.

Tricky stuff!

[crazy ivan]

SteveUK,

Here's how I did

SteveUK,

Here's how I did the linkage on my Revell Gato to get a really large pitch angle on the bow planes. I took a pair of swivel ball links from Dubro and whittled them down to scale size, and shortened them to about 7/16 inch long. I then spliced on a length of 3/32 inch brass tubing which I threaded internally. I soldered a tiny eye bolt together to screw into the end of the tubing for adjustment. The first pix shows the original link before and after this modification. The others show the sequence of assembly.

[Right click on "View Image" for larger view]








The gears are from an old VCR with bits of servo arms tacked on

[steveuk]

Ingenius!

Thanks for sharing that

Ingenius!

Thanks for sharing that George.

edit: Is that also how the real ones do it, ie the swivel ball socket

[crazy ivan]

Yes. You can see just

Yes. You can see just a bit of it in this shot of the Pampanito, which is located on the "W5BLT's Home Page" website. http://www.w5blt.com/

[boss subfixer]

Here is a planes down

Here is a planes down look at the USS Lionfish.

[steveuk]

Oh wow, thanks for that

Oh wow, thanks for that Don. Yeah I can really see that swivel ball socket design. It's a neat engineering solution.

Also thanks for the link to Pampanito, the site is a goldmine of reference pics for when I come to put my Revell Gato together.

I know they have done a wonderfull job with the kit, but I always like to see the real thing up close and then make some slight mods based on the photographic reference.

[skiprch]

I bought my Gato right

I bought my Gato right after they came out and Engel did not have the bow plane mechanism then. Dang. I did mine with the swivel ball links also but did a rotating wheel to retract the planes. It was the best I could figure out. At a distance they look scale. For the pivot up and down I inserted some large Robart hinge points and attatched airplane tail wheel collars. Pics below. Walt

PS-My push rods are not attached as my WTC is out during a refit.