HMS Abdiel is ready for call to action stations. Little Rock is not quite there yet. I probably could have had her on the water but didn't want to rush things. She will be ready for the next battle(in 2 weeks??)
I've spent all day working on the armored cruisers. Black Prince was nearly done but needed testing of the new CO2 capsule system and guns. Everything turned out OK. It's going to have a float test in the tub this evening to adjust the trim a little more. It's no longer bow heavy. I hadn't done anything to Minotaur until today. Gave it the same pump and drive motors as Black Prince and same 25mm props, switched the pump from an old Foster or Goff type to a Camurati. Test firing the guns showed a block in the forward cannon, which had been installed and loaded but not used in the last battle (2005) - the second dual stern gun was hooked up instead. Although the model wasn't sunk the BB's had corroded in the magazine. Soaking in WD 40 and a lot of careful tapping cleared the mag after an hour. A second test just now showed another BB stuck in the T fitting. Hope to have it out shortly. If not I'll switch back to the dual stern guns, both of which are working fine. After the float tests both models will be ready for launch on arrival at the lake. Ralph has confirmed he'll be at the helm of the Black Prince. Bob
The NATCF has held it's first battle, possibly the first Washington Treaty Combat style battle in Canada. After an initial problem with the fill station valve it worked fine and provided fills for the Minotaur, New Jersey, VdT and Konig. Black Prince was equipped with CO2 capsules. Not surprisingly for a fleet of ships that were either new or had not been used in 2-3 years there were many technical problems. I got an email from Scott Foster that his new HMS Abdiel had lost a servo in preparation for battle so he didn't attend. Black Prince had run perfectly in speed trials and worked fine on the table last night, but as it was about to be launched the rudder servo suddenly failed. There were no spares on hand but I have several at home so it will be ready for the next battle. Ralph didn't get to batt;e but shot photos of the first sortie. Minotaur has another BB jam in the forward mag that I spent an hour clearing yesterday so ran with it's Treaty 2.5 units (pump and 1.5 unit stern gun. It had been agreed to use the ACs with their IRCWCC units (3.0 and 3.5) under local rules. Otherwise Minotaur ran well though fast, even with tiny new props and after drag discs were added to the slowest set of props from trials. I kept blipping the throttle instead of keeping it on, to slow down. Konig was about to be launched when there was an electrical short that knocked out the throttle switches. Rob was unable to compete but should have the ship repaired in time for some after-work battles in early Sept. That left the VdT and New Jersey which had a few problems but were able to battle after some tinkering. Jason's NJ had Schrader (?) type CO2 bottles that couldn't be filled with the NABS station, so used my 7 oz bottle (rather small for 6 guns!). VdT was still running a little fast and was piloted by Jason's dad Henry. We had two enjoyable sorties with Minotaur and VdT versus the New Jersey. Although NJ turned surprisingly well for its length it was constsntly out-turned by the small ships and took minor dage in the first sortie, while giving out a few hits on the VdT. The second sortie was more interesting. VdT ran aground solidly, NJ tried to sidemount VdT and ran aground nearby, allowing Minotaur to make undisturbed target practice. NJ eventually got off, losing a prop in the sand, then began sidemounting VdT, getting several good hits with the duals. Minotaur continued to attack but NJ kept after the grounded VdT. VdT suddenly showed it was playing possum, opening up with the stern sidemount and shooting a few holes in NJ's bow below the waterline. NJ's pump had failed after the first sortie and it began settling after calling 'five'. There was concern it eould sink when some longish gashes shot by Minotaur's oblique fire reached the waterline. However it reached it's 5 minute mark and was then allowed to sink while Jason filmed, taking another 3-4 minutes to go under. The little guys won by less than 200 points, Minotaur being unscathed excpet for two holes from a dual sidemount below the waterline. Paul MacKinnon of NABS was on hand to observe the first local Treaty battle. He may join us for a battle after the Prinz Eugen arrives from Nfld. A good time was had by all. Next battle TBA as soon as possible. Bob
Thanks Mike! Hope we get to battle together next year. It was difficult not to fire as fast s possible when the shots were on target but we got the hang of it. I found there was much more time to plan a maneuver and to take aim than in IRCWCC style. EJ, I don't know which ships Ralph photographed. Hope he posts a few shots. Jason may post some video of the NJ sinking with Minotaur standing by to rescue survivors. [] Bob
Hi, Konig is being fitted with an ESC. This frees up a servo and lets me redo the gun servo setup to elimate the loose pieces that caused the short which burned out the throttle. Should be done this weekend sometime.
