How to R/C the Trumpter Kilo for Dummies

[Rogue Sub]

Oh dont give me to

Oh dont give me to much credit! Ive mearly advanced from novice to amateur. Besides all the fabrication is already done with this one. I keep reading that "ego maniac's" build threads and learning from them. I suggest anyone one else learning do the same for these models.
My next build will be the D&E Type VIID conversion kit, so keep an eye out its going to be a sweet build!

[Rogue Sub]

Well if you remember from

Well if you remember from last time you could see that I had added a brass strip into the bow of the boat to try and help align the hull. This was not the only measure I had to take to try and get this silly triple part hull to line up.
I also had to add one of those to the upper bow of the boat to close a monster gap between the two halves that made the boat look like it was smiling.
In addition to this I had to add hull alignment tabs to get the edges to line up more perfectly. Although the upper support bracings I had installed helped they did not finish the job all the way.
For my attempt I tried to just add small indexing tabs around the hull that were made out of sheet styrene plastic. This worked OK but, I wanted something a little stronger that could provided a "backbone" for me when I fill the final gap with Evercoat. For my final fix I ended up attaching four 6 in strips of sheet styrene to my upper hull for alignment.



Here you can see the extent of the indexing that I created for the sides.

This was not the only help that the top needed for indexing though. The aft end of the upper hull also did not want to stay in its place. To fix this I simply took a 1/16" rod and glued it to the bottom of the upper hull piece in the back. Now I can slid the upper hull piece on and the rod will help force the back end down when mated with the lower hull piece.



Here you can see the simple pin I made to hold the back down. You can also see the control rod I made for the bow planes.

Next will be the installation of the Kli-Cons and Bow plane control rods.

[Rogue Sub]

Now it is time to

Now it is time to get all the control surfaces working.

This is a fairly straight forward task and should really only take about an hour or so to accomplish.

I started off by connecting up my stern and rudder linkages. The first most important thing to do is to turn on the Sub Driver and radio and ensure that the servos are at their dead center. Next I swung each servo to see how far in they were drawn into the Sub Driver and made a mark with a sharpie a little ahead of that point. This will represent the farthest forward point I can attach my Kil-Cons without restricting movement. After doing this for all the servos I returned them to their center position and de-energized the Sub Driver then the transmitter.
Next I installed the Sub Driver into the boat with the dog gone. I then lined up the the control rods attached to the planes and rudder and trimmed them down so I would have room to work with.
Now do to the absolutely smallness of this boat the Kli-Cons are way to long to even begin to fit in there. To fix this I cut the threaded portion down by half on all of mine using a pair of wire cutters.
Next I held up one end of a Kli-Con to the control rod extending from the Sub Driver to give me an idea of how deep the rod would penetrate the Kli-Con. I held the Kli-Con just forward of the previously made line and marked on the aft end with a marker the end of the Kli-Cons "well" (for lack of a better term). I then trimmed the control rods extending out of the Sub Driver to my desired length. This would be the ones for the rudder and the stern planes or the center one and port one. I left the stbd most control rod alone because it will require something a bit different for the bow planes. To attach the Kli-Cons I simple used a bit of CA. I guess you could solder they in but I don't think they will see that much stress and I didn't want to damage the o-ring seals with excessive heat.
Now I attached the magnetically opposite Kli-Cons to the newly installed Kli-Cons. After ensuring that the rudder and stern planes were at their respective zero position I made marks where the rods needed to be cut for the Kli-Cons and made the cuts. Next I CA'd the other Kli-Cons on and this is how it looked.



Construction of the bow plane control linkage was simple and identical to the Seawolf. First I had to construct a fitting to connect to the forward bow plane.
To make this I took a 1/16" collet and drilled a 1/16" hole at 90degrees from the snubber. I then stuck one of my NiCu rods into the hole and soldered it into place. I then slid the set up onto the control rod all the way up to the aft bulk head of the Sub Driver. I then laid one of the Kli-Cos onto the top of the Sub Driver and marked how far up I needed to make a bend to meet the Kli-Con. The idea is to limit the height of the Kli-Con off the top of the Sub Driver. This is because their is very little space inside the model. Next I made a bend and trimmed the piece down and attached my Kli-Con with more CA. I then positioned it half way on the remaining control rod and snubbed it into place. You can also see this one in the above photo.

Now to make the control rod that connects to the actual bow planes I needed to know where in the sub it had to reach to. The first thing I did was mark on the side of the lower hull where the Kli-Con I just attached ended on the lower hull. I then put the upper hull on and transfered that mark to it. I then made a Z bend in one of my NiCu rods and attached it to the yoke arm of the bow planes so that it went through the top of the upper bracings. This may require you to first take the planes out and reinstall them wit the rod. I then made my planes level and trimmed the rod so that when the other Kli-Con was installed it would meet up at just that point. After everything was all glued up I made a test fit and found it was a little off. This is an easy enough fix because I left lots of room on the Sub Drivers control rod for adjustment. After a few tries I got everything right on the money. The upper control rod should hang down right next to the lower one.



Here is how mine looked when I was done. You can also see the bottom of the provided emergency buoy well that I will go over next time.

[Rogue Sub]

All that is left now

All that is left now is to fill the hull gaps, install the emergency buoy, ballast, and paint.

Filling the gaps is a new process for me. Ive always had kits the lined up or could be made to line up enough to never worry about this. I tried several methods to get this process down, most of them failing for me. When it comes down to it I think you just need to go with what your comfortable with. I will go ahead and describe the process I used, which is a mixtures of a few.

The first thing I did was decide which half of the boat was going to have the gap filler attached to it. I chose to have mine stick to the upper hull because it has a small indexing lip which would provide a large surface area for the Evercoat to stick to. To ensure that the Evercoat will adhere to the upper hull as much as possible I first gave the area a good rough sand, ensuring that there was just bare plastic showing. After I had the area good and clean I got some painters tape and cut it down the middle with an excato knife. I did this because the manufactured edge is not a perfect edge to work with. By cutting it down the line I am able to make a nice sharp edge. I then took the tape and lined the upper hull all the way around the upper hull right at the edge. I then put another layer around the top to widen the tape area. The idea here is that the more excess Evercoat you can peel away with tape the less you have to sand off later. A little good prep time here will save you a bunch of time later.
For the bottom of the hull I simply ran the tap around the edge with a bit of overhang. Now I took a very sharp exacto knife and ran it around the hull cutting off the excess tape leaving a tape band around the bottom flush with the edge of the hull. I then back this up with another tape band around the bottom of the tape.
Now I tried filling the gaps just using the above precautions and found that the Evercoat would fall apart by sticking to both halves. To fix this I found that applying car wax makes a decent release agent. So, I applied a healthy amount of car wax to the lower hull and let it dry.

Now I screwed the two hull halves together and made sure that the fit up was right. After everything checked out I mixed up a batch of Evercoat and filled all the gaps up.







I made sure to remove the tape after the Evercoat had just hardened. This make it a lot easier to remove the access since after the stuff has fully hardened it will crack off and the tape will rip.

Since Evercoat hardens so quickly it is possible to start sanding in 10 minutes. Don't do it. Take your time with this one. I tried to rush it and had the Evercoat fall apart on me. Let it dry for a day and reach full sure. Consider it an investment in not having to do it all over again. After it was completely done curing I got out the wet sand and went to work smoothing out the transition and making the boat look like one piece. After I was satisfied with the filling I gently tapped the hull to get it to separate. The next thing I did was use some thin set CA and line the back of the remaining Evercoat. This helps ensure that the Evercoat stays where you put it.

After all this was done I put the two halves together and shot it with some primer to find any seems or screw up. To fix the slits I used some glazing putty. If you have something bigger then that guess what. Back to the beginning.




Here is what mine looked like after all my hard work and a shot of primer.

[anonymous]

Well I figured it was

Well I figured it was about time someone reacted and posted a reply.

You've done just great. You never give up. and it gets better every post. A my Evercoat fill a gap system you got just perfect.

Big slap on the back Kevin. She's a fine boat.

Steve

[Rogue Sub]

Thanks Steve,

I really never give

Thanks Steve,

I really never give up once I start something. Ofcourse I came close while I was trying to fill that damn gap in. That can really bea alot of work.

We both know that my next challenge will be even more hair rasing for me. Soon I will haveto break away from kits aswell.

As for the Kilo the boat is almost done being painted. She looks like a fresh overhaul ready for the Chinese.

Kevin

[Rogue Sub]

Thanks Steve,

I really never give

Thanks Steve,

I really never give up once I start something. Ofcourse I came close while I was trying to fill that damn gap in. That can really bea alot of work.

We both know that my next challenge will be even more hair rasing for me. Soon I will haveto break away from kits aswell.

As for the Kilo the boat is almost done being painted. She looks like a fresh overhaul ready for the Chinese.

Kevin

[scott t]

Very good job. Thanks for

Very good job. Thanks for posting all your steps in making this
Kilo model.

-Scott

[Rogue Sub]

Thanks guys. It is nice

Thanks guys. It is nice to know someone out there is reading these things besides myself. It takes awhile to get these all posted and it would suck if no one found some use out of them.

All that is left for this boat now is the buoy, sail retentions system, ballast and paint. As usual I am not going to go over ballasting because I still feel that this is an article all by it self. I also believe it should be written by someone who has done it more then me because I still pull my hair out every time. Especially with this little model. Due to its size it is very sensitive to the smallest of weight shifts. Installing the battery a little off can result in a lop sided boat. YUCK. Oh a quick trick is to cut a bit of foam to wedge the battery into place. Also you can make marks with a sharpie where the battery belongs. Also notable is that you should only need about 2oz of weight for this model. Of course this will also depend on the battery you use. The given weight estimate is using the LIPO battery sold on Caswellplating.com Also, of worthy mention is that you will probably not be able to get the boat to float at the real waterline. You will more than likely only get it to float 1/4" low. If you can get it to do better and still submerge proper, please by all means tell me how!

OK, the buoy is a very easy thing to install. First thing you want to do is drill a pilot hole in the right location. Wheres the right location well, it is right in the middle of where the other one was supposed to go. Look at the Trumpter instructions and find the place where it was supposed to go and drill a 1/16" hole right in the middle. Now get a drill bit that is the same size as the buoy nest and drill the hole out. Don't have a drill bit that big? Well, you could just use the largest you've got and file the rest away. Once the hole is the right size CA the buoy nest in place. Now go back and fill in any gaps you have with glazing putty or Evercoat. You can add some Evercoat around the base on the bottom to add strength if you like.



Here you ca see the bottom of mine installed.

Since this kit attaches the two halves with a screw underneath the sail you need to have a way to remove the sail easily. The best way to do this is using magnets. I chose to use neodymium magnets(yeah ok I have no idea how it spelled, basically those really strong magnets). These can be purchased all over the place but, I got mine from Justelectronics.com really cheap. You will only need 2 for this if you use the right size. The first magnet should be installed right on the upper bracing just forward of the retainment screw. Make sure to rough up the bottom of the magnet and the upper brace with some sand paper and CA it in place with a generous amount.



Here you can just see the rectangular magnet forward of the screw.

Now you will need to make a plate for the sail to install the other magnet onto. To make this I used a 1 inch wide piece of scrap styrene. Make sure it is a fairly thick whatever you use or the flex in the plastic will cause the magnet to come off regardless of the CA you use. Trust me it sucks when it happens while your running. Now make a mark on the sail at the approximate spot the magnet is on the support bracing. Now place the sail over the styrene strip and trace the shape of the hull. Now it is a mater of filing this piece down till it is a very snug fit. The snug fit is important so take it slow and check often. After you have the piece sug inside put it at the very bottom of the sail. Now put your other magnet on top of the CA's magnet. Now install the sail. The magnet should force that snug piece of plastic up just enough to allow for the magnets. Check to make sure the plate it level in the sail. If it isn't retry till you get it where you want and CA it in place. After the sail piece has dried apply some very thick CA to the top of the other magnet and install the sail. Leave it alone for awhile to allow the CA to dry. If you did everything right you will know because you can now pull the sail off and the magnets separated. If the hull wont separate or the magnet came loose you'll have to start all over



Here you can see how mine looks after get it right the second time

You will also need to make a tether to attach the sail to the upper hull in the event of a collision or Murphy's Law. All you need to do is attach a small length of string, cable, fishing wire..... whatever, to both halves.

Well thats it guys. Nothing left to do but paint the darn thing. You can choose your own paint scheme of course. Just remember that the Russians generally painted black past the half way mark to limit visibility from the surface. I chose to paint my hull this way as adding the white "surface trim" line and draft markings. Of course I haven't made my draft markings yet but that is because I'm working up the courage lol.

So, here she is ready for duty. Photos and video will follow after she sails this weekend.

[petn7]

Nicely done

Nicely done