You wanna do a 1:96 ALSACE? Man, what a monster. You might actually consider the Gascoigne, though, it drops displacement and one quad turret to gain several knots of speed. It also... never mind I've said too much already.
glazilla, on the other hand is a combat vertern who happens to be a personal trainer in civy life. (Oh, and a young pup if the second youngest member of the club does say so: it's not the years, it's the milage). He has a Scharnhorst and an Iowa class in his 1/96 shipyard--he would be game for the Tillman. I would help by carrying the radio. The Gascoigne does have balanced firepower, but there is something to be said for concentrated firepower.....
with your added support i belive the tillman is possible...i was just hung up on how to carry the radio with the model...i thought about a lanyard, but your willingness to aid me in having large unweiding ships fosters great inspiration....we shall see lol great build Dustin, the PinkoRuskies are switch hitters too i belive, so really the only dedicated "good guy" is my Jeresy, incase you wanted to shoot at them vichie frogs! lol
Quick update before bed: The SS is done except for turrets, splinter-sheilds, and detail work. The torpedoes are mounted. Pictures coming soon...
hey Dustin, What is the time table for her being at the battle in four weeks??? And May I hold her for a few minutes??? Nikki
She should be at the battle, and should be on the water. She may not have turrets covers. Yes you can hold her
Hey Dustin, Nice work! I'm enjoying the build thread. One question: will your torps actually fire, or was that too much weight? Carl
The torps will fire. The reloading tube for one barrel binds a little and might not load consistantly. Sorry for the slow updates, my internet is out, so I am using my phone ATM.
Ok, my internet is back (for now), however, my parents' 50th anniversary is this week, so I am heading back home to NW Arkansas for the party. (109 degrees tomorrow!!!!!! In the 80's here today) I'm sorry with no pictures from my camera, but Mikey added some here: http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/Forum/...fault.aspx Above decks, I now have small details, AAA, and turrets left. The turret covers will most likely not be present for the August 19-21 joint Treaty event. yes, I got the launches crooked, this new CA cured on contact---right now, I'm flashing a gang sign while typing Internally, I have the forward cannon mount, and to wire /plumb everything, plus armor. Structurally, I have to glass the bow/stern, epoxy the "lite-ply" decks, and spar-varnish the rest of the wood. I traded Matt a new HiTec sail winch servo for a to-be-ordered Strike one for the weight savings, but Steven has been going to a WHOLE HECKAVA LOT of nats/meets/battles/etc...doing the most important part of running a small business -- customer facing. Who cares if I rotate? Shooting after 10-11 weeks is great progress IMHO. The stern gun is looking really iffy right now--weight and time.
A semi-quick update: The new forward cannon mount is done and the rotate servo mount has epoxy curing. Matt delivered the Vigor sail-winch we traded for. Detail is 95% done--lots of pretties for Phil to shoot at. My set of plans show a single torpedo reload on deck, so I made one. (Phil hates me. I think it was too cool NOT to do.) I decided to go with styrene clabbard siding for modell railroad houses for the vents and styrene strip rounded off for the hatches. No AAA or turret covers at this point. These might not be present for the battle next weekend, as I will have to scale them up. It will likely need several prototypes to get them big enough to fit over the barrels, but small enough to not hinder rotation or field of fire for the B turret. (The bane of big-gunners everywhere, I'm sure) I have some life rafts on the way from Strike Models that should arrive Monday or Tuesday. I managed to taunt Mark with a plastic 1/96 Higgins PT boat model I picked up in Indy last weekend. It is a 2006 re-issue of the 1960 Revell PT-212 mold. I gave it to him with some casting supplies I had. He is a much better caster than I. The stern gun is a matter of time at this point. Realistically, dual fastguns seem the way to go, but I lack cannons and traded away my MAV-2s. I have a single Arizona made, but have not figured out mounting, magazine, etc... I keep going back and forth on this decision. If I have time during the week, I might finish the Arizona installation. Maybe. The waterproofing is about 80% done. Phil turned me on to Z-Poxy, and I have to say I like it better than the "local hobby shop" brand finish epoxy. It cures faster and handles temps below 80F better. I would love to get some West, but that is a bit pricey for me at this point. I'm sorry for the lack of pics, but the last few weeks have been very hectic for me. OT: my parents' 50th anniversary went very well last weekend back in Arkansas. Yes, my family likes to get married in early August in the south. It was a mere 109 degrees this past weekend! Only one member of the wedding party was not able to make it for the party, but made it to the family reunion on Monday. According to my sister, only 1 in 768 make it to 50 years. Oh, and for the Golden Anniversary, my sisters concoted golden punch! I overheard several guests trying to figure that one out. I'm going back to Mikey's for another build session tomorrow. If no pics here soon, there should be some in the Battlestations shipyard thread in a few days. It looks like Steven M. will be able to attend the battle, and Keri might be able to come too. We're all very excited about this. Me especially because I want to BS about cannons for my next Battlestations build. BTW, Phil's Tashkent is getting closer to completion. That is going to be one MEAN boat. I will be totally outclassed in firepower, speed, and turning ability. He also has a 28 year captianing experience advantage. I just hope Mikey presents too much of an inviting target. Overall, I am very happy with my progress considering it is 10 weeks since I started work on this boat. One more week to go !!!!
Very quick update: The hull is now sheeted and silkspanned. The rotate mount is done, installed and tested. This thing rotates FAST. Mikey did get some pics up in the photos section. Stephen M called today and I should get my life rafts on Wednesday. I have started to paint the hull grey. SS will wait until Thursday or Friday once I determine what I can get done on the remaining detail. Hull Red will wait until I have everything installed, done a float/trim test and checked against the plans. Waterline can vary +/- 1/2" from scale location. I just might be able to mount the stern gun afterall. Tomorrow will be internal armor cutting/installation, and motor prep/pump install. I have already done the armor mounts with velcro. Wednesday I will wire electrical. Everything should just drop in if I have done my layout prep properly. Oh, and program my radio, Thrusday is pneumatics and float test/paint hull red & waterline. Friday is finish detail or install stern gun or complete unfinished tasks, and paint SS. Saturday morning-afternoon: Treaty battles & sea trials on this boat in between. Saturday night: fix any bugs. Sunday: Treaty battle, then BATTLESTATIONS! aaaand try to avoid getting hit by the USS New Jersey's broadside. If things go well
Those Vigor sail-winches are great, aren't they! No torpedo-boats dare sneak up on my VU; they learned the hard way that I'd catch 'em no matter what. Good luck at the battle, and make sure someone is taking lots of photos!
The internals are done except for wiring the pump switch and mounting the stern gun/making the magazine. No float test or additional painting yet. The radio is still not programed. The front barrels are not installed. I really need another full day to finish basics. Two and I could probably get the stern gun finished, make turret covers, and add extra pretties for Phil to shoot at. The stern gun will be an Arizona with a remote accumulator under the battery---if i can make it work. The accumulator/MJV-2/MPA-3 assembly is hooked up to the system, but I might just remove it and plug the hoses.
Well tonight was a bit of a step back. My carefully laid out internals, with multiple test fittings missed something... The short version is that the stern gun is untenable. The torpedoes may be as well. Weight wise, I am 4oz under scale max displacement without CO2 or ammo. I have a 3.5oz tank. The extra waterline rule will really help. I gave myself too much "slack" in my CO2 lines and will likely re-plumb tomorrow. I will miss the morning treaty event at least and probably all day Saturday getting this boat and Mikey's Terrible ready for Sunday. Honestly, I have about decided to pull the Torps out at this point. Lee is building an Oi for this fall or next season, and his primary guns will be fast gun cannons, so getting it to fit would be easier. I need to charge batteries, and then off to bed.
Well, I couldn't sleep, so I re-plumbed and redid the layout. I got everything to fit except for the stern gun, but it ain't pretty. My tank is over my shafts & my electrical/radio. CO2 manifold, battery, and MAR-1s are in an eight inch section
She ran sea trials and battled today. One Battlestations sortie where I took a non-penetrating ram and got stuck under the New Jersey's guns, so I gave him a few love taps with my torpedoes Mark's St. George had to push us in because the big Iowa lost forward power. Somewhere in all this one of my torpedo mounts broke, but I did not lose the barrels. The Maxon motors did not get me up to speed (I'd say 70 seconds or so), so they were the "bad" kind. Mikey and Phil each contributed a speed 280, and it ran a lot better. The second sortie I ran as an Vichy heavy cruiser for Treaty sans torpedoes. Made a few hits and took some from the Free-French Tourville, the Hood, the Roanoke, and the South Carolina. Amazingly, I had to add every single lead weight I had to get it to float close to the waterline (raised 3/8" from scale). The boat was VERY tippy until the ballast was added. I am very tired and will add some pictures in the next few days--after I get caught up on three days of little sleep
The Mogador looked great, Dustin! The added deck/SS detail was really a nice touch. I was very impressed that you got it done in time for the Battlestations! inaugural battle here in the US. Everything worked, and the motor swap really did the trick. I loved the rotating bow guns, and those torps are deadly. That's a small hull to try and fit in that much stuff, so it's no wonder you had to make adjustments as the build progressed. You've given me hope for finishing my Shimakaze some day (after the VU is done, of course). I was also amazed at just how much lead you had to add to float at the waterline. But after you got that put in she was so smooth in the water! That, too, will be good news for the Shimakaze, though I bet trying so hard to keep the weight down during the build was frustrating for you. I've learned a lot from your Mogador build. Thanks for posting it! And I'm very glad I got to see some of the final build in person this weekend. ;-) Well done, mate! Carl
Additional update: Today I pulled out all the plumbing and torpedo system. I might put in an Arizona based system, and I might not. I will be putting in fixed sterns; probably duals. The total weight I had to add for additional ballast was 37 oz. Now I need to find an additional 16oz on top of that for the absent torpedo system. If I can find some old-school lead flashing, I'll run it between th bilge keels and along the bottom of the water channel The speed 280s drew about 3 amps with no load, so those got yanked out as well. I might try the BC 280s as they only draw about .4A under load. I finished the electrical in a bit of a hurry, so I am going to clean it up a bit for the October battle. I also repaired the damage to my former float. That section is going to be glued down, and I will have to come up with another solution for a recovery float.
Space and maintenance issues mainly. The torp launcher as attached to the bottom of the deck and made getting the top on and off a bit of a challenge. The hoses to the launcher always got in the way as well. That launcher was pretty large, and had a high center of gravity. I just feel it would give me more options.
