Hi Dean,

Here are a few build-up tips etc.

Take care when bending the strap that holds the battery in place. I some how screwed up on this and made it too short and ended up cutting it and adding a piece in!. (see attached photo). Also I would recommend that you file or drill out the two brass tubes that support the bowden cables at the servo end as I found that the outer tubes would not easily pass through these and had to enlarge them in situe which is not easy once they have been soldered into the plate. The bowdens should not be a loose fit, but should push in with without too much force.

Don't forget to drill all the holes in all the brass parts before soldering!

Another tip, is to be very careful when bending the wires on the 2 'reed' switches, as they are sealed in glass and it is easy to break them where the wires exit the glass housing. I was very careful and still managed to break one, so I have now include a couple of spares with each kit. I also insulated the sides of the brass tray with electrical tape where the 'Magneswitch' and 'Aqualarm' are mounted, as the tracks on the pcb's run very close to the sides of the tray, and can short out.

(I keep a range of spares for the kits including pumps, motors, seals, electrical components and resin castings. so if you ever need anything, I can always express mail the parts to you.)

More later.

Best Regards,
Dave - Pandan Model Boats

Hi Dean,

Here are some more Hermelin pictures:

This time of the Magneswitch and Aqualarm.

The Magneswitch photo shows the best way of bending the reed switches to avoid cracking the glass.

More later.

Cheers,

Dave 

Hi Dean,

Here are some pictures of my tail cone assembly.

I made the holes for the Bowden cables a tight fit so that I could push them in and out without gluing the outer in place to assist removal if required at a later date.

I had a few problems with leaks through the Bowden cables, not between the inner and outer cables but between the inner metal core and the nylon cover. The problem was that when I screwed the kwik links onto the outer cover, it tended to push the metal core backwards and I ended up with the kwik link just attached to the nylon outer instead of over both, so it leaked past the metal core. As long as you make sure that the kwik links go over BOTH the metal core AND the nylon outer you should have no problems. 

The small seals that seal between the inner and outer covers of the Bowden cable are a bit fiddly to assemble into part 36, but they work well. The only problem is if you want to remove the rear cone at any time, then you have to break the joint where the outer cover goes into part 36 (the white plastic tube).  

One other thing to be aware of is that once the Bowden cables are connected to the servos you will get too much movement using the standard throw on the servos. You need to reduce the throws using adjustable rates, so If you don't have a transmitter with adjustable rate throws you could have a problem.

Lastly the long grub screws that hold the rudder and dive planes in position have to be screwed through the resin and I found that they became very tight and got very hot when trying to screw them all the way through the resin. I used a Vaseline to try to reduce the friction, but I guess if you could find a very slightly larger drill, than that specified this would make it a lot easier.

Best Regards,
Dave - Pandan Model Boats