The ship is propelled by four of these SPPS drives. The entire propeller and nozzle rotates for steering.
There is a sealing o-ring on the base of the drive.
The two front SPPS drives, motors and rudder control are mounted in this preformed tray.
The tray height needs to be cut down. To make the job easy, I mounted my dremel with a cutting blade at the correct height.
The motors mount at the ends of the tray. There is no indication on the tray of where they should mount but it can be determined by taking measurements off of the full size diagram.
The holes for the SPPS shafts are drilled in the indentations.
The rudder servo hole is drilled next. There is no mounting hardware included. I made a couple of standoffs from a piece of hollow plastic tubing to hold it fast.
To connect the motor to the SPPS drive, I used Traxxas couplers. They are cheap and easy to find. A shim must be made for the motor end as the motor shaft diameter is too small for the coupler.
The SPPS drives are installed into the tray using four screws that are glued to the bottom of the tray. It is important that the shafts from the motor and SPPS are aligned before drilling the holes for the screws.
I found it easier to take the SPPS drive apart to position and drill the mounting holes. The red nozzle section is held on by two tabs. The main gear is held in by the black gear and shaft collar which is a press fit. It took a decent amount of pressure to take it apart, it probably would have been safer making a template of the holes instead of ripping it apart. It took a couple of attempts to get it back together again because I misaligned the shaft with the steering gear.
Here is the layout with the motor installed using the Traxxas coupler.
