It is suggested in the building instructions of the model, to construct the steering using one rod from the servo and connect it to one of the rudders. Then use another rod to connect the two rudders. After reading up a bit on the subject though, it seems people generally prefer the “push/pull”-method, where both rudders are connected to the servo separately. As the servo spins, one rudder is “pushed” and the other is “pulled”. I decided to use this approach.
But, in order to mount the steering servo and still be able to mount the other electronics, I had to construct some kind of “platform”. This required substantial thinking, testing and re-doing, but I think the result became pretty nice. Let’s start.
First I placed a small platform between the propeller axis. This has nothing to do with the steering though, as it will be used for the ESC and power-switch. See separate page on that, and why it needs to be placed there. But this platform needed to go there first, as it would be hard to mount it properly when a larger platform is in place above it.
The platform was cut from left-over wood and glued into place using two-part epoxy.
Next, I cut out a larger platform. Didn’t care too much about fitting it exactly to the hull.
Again, left-over wood and two-part epoxy-glue.
The smaller platform sits about a centimeter or two below the larger. The servo will be placed in the cut-out part to the aft.
Then, in order to mount the servo at the appropriate height, and to have something to secure (screw) it to, two thin strips of wood are glued to the platform with normal 60 seconds glue.
Two holes in each strip were drilled to prepare for the screws (the wood would break if we just tried to mount the screws with pure force).
Note that I just said “the appropriate height”. I don’t know if I did something wrong here or if the model design is slightly flawed, but check this out.
When the deck is mounted, one of the linking-arms of the rudders is almost inaccessible.
Note the one on the left. There is no way you can mount a servo-rod from the top of the linking-arm, without having the rod touch the “H”-bar below the deck. Upon discovering this, I decided to mount the rod from the bottom-up instead of the other way around. No major issue, apart from the fact that it will be “impossible” to replace the rod if necessary.
On to the server rods. I used the 2mm wire that we normally have in the electric fences for our horses 🙂
