Figured I would post all the pictures here, instead of Kevin post. Hes a good sport about it, but its for his boat. Bismarck wiring, was not happy with the pump. Got a flow meter, been emailing Chris back and forth, finally got a motor I'm happy with. As you can see it only has 1 pump. Still using the belt drive, took it out for a bit and had push rods, but was not happy with them, after testing in the water. Charlie looked at this and said he thought I needed a tensioner. Its not in the picture, but I added another pulley wheel by drilling a 1/4 inch hole to the left of the belt, and it gives the required tension. Have tried it many times now in the test pond with no slipping. I really like the belt setup, mush better control of the rudder throw. This was not long after I got the hull. The center was sticking up about 1/2 inch. Used some resin, and red fiberboard, added allot of weight, and the clamps. The next day bottom was nice and flat. New props Charlie and I worked on, I pushed Charlie to draw them, and he finally did it for me. lol. I got a fellow on Shapeways to modify the size of his forward superstructure for me, and then draw the rear superstructure for me. Got it all painted now. Just need to add the 2 fake forward gun barrels. Everything else is working great, well it is right now of course, we will have to see come Nats. Its a tad fast, so will need to be slowed down to get on speed. Shot with the radio modded for the 4 quadrant firing on the Bismarck So No questions are asked about the armour belt. Ran a compass set to 1/8 inch down the length of them, then set to 1/4 inch down the ribs. I should have moved that one rib over a bit, not sure what I was thinking? Gun magnets Testing pool, she was in it many times a day for almost 2 weeks. The most I have ever tested a boat.
Ok, took some updated pictures. Belt rudder with the tensioner pulley added, free floating on 1/4 inch shaft. Side mounted the servo, saved a little bit of room. When I first started this boat, I thought, wow so much room, I will have lots of free space, when I was nearing the end of building, I'm like where will this thing fit, no room. You can also see the cork, rubber mix, with adhesive gasket material I got from McMaster-Carr. $19 for 100 ft. So far has not come off, been wet many times now. Easily cuts, available in different thicknesses, but min width is 1/2 inch. You can always cut narrower as needed. New pump setup, looks kind of Frankenstein, but boy oh boy does she pump, draws 28 amps full speed, 2.5 gpm. The extra hoses come off the side of the pump on a barb, run into the motor, and from the motor into the ESC, water cooling. Shoots up around 18 inches with a gentle stream. Will hit the deck above and spray back down onto the motor and ESC so should help add additional cooling. When this thing runs the whole inside of the boat looks like I flushed the toilet, all the water becomes a giant whirlpool around the pump. Did not see that with the brushed motors, this thing has some torque. And turned down just a little, runs 18 amps, and still does 2 gpm. So I can adjust the flow as needed, and save power. Motor setup, all three motors are 80 turn, max draw for all 3 running is 5 amps. Closeup of the Super after painting, the stack comes off as the float.
Very nice Dave. I'm sad that I won't get to shoot at it at Nats, I think my poorly aimed stern guns could do a number to that superstructure, fun points would be off the chart!
The super is solid, the boat rails, and railing will get blown off, The super is made of nylon, actually very strong except for the small thin parts. it was very hard to drill through. I filled the super with light weight smooth on product to give it strength, plus make it float.
Yes it does, I just don't like how the center shafted ships back up with just the center shaft powered, curving off to the side. I have a Foch I never use, just loan it out to people who need a boat just because of that. So on the Bismarck I powered all 3 shafts, and with the new rule that passed last year, the outer shafts have to run both forward and reversed. Flawed rule of course as Marty just figured out a month or 2 ago, I knew as soon as they wrote it up, but that's what they wanted. I'm actually not taking advantage of the flaw, but others might. But totally legal under the new rule. None of the Bismarck's were displaying any super reverse tendencies 2 years ago at Nats, all were checked, yet they still thought they needed to pass a rule. Allies are trying what ever they can to try and equalize the ships. But it will be pretty much impossible, just due to the gun turret configuration. The VV Italian is a 24 second boat, but with only 3 turrets, how many of those do we see on the water? Bismarck, and Nagato with 4 turrets will remain King, pretty much no matter what is done. I got Mike M Vanguard which has a single rudder, and we have seen it can be a effective ship. I will have to check it over, and rebuild it. Maybe we can get all the guys with Vanguards next year to bring to Nats. 5 or 6 of them out there. We should just pass a new rule, that lets all ships use 2 rudders, cant see them under water so what does it matter? That way the ships that turn poorly can at least balance the other ships that have 2 rudders.
Why not, makes for a easier drive setup. But with the single rear turret on the Allied ships that are class 6, will not help that much, if you use a single prop or not. With the new side-mount rule, it just benefits the rear dual mounted turreted ships, having both sides covered. The only thing that will help, make all holes 10 points. And rely on ship sink points to carry you to the win. The Axis boats will start moving back to duels off the stern, just to get more points, in case the boat does not sink. The Allied points will more balance the Axis points. Well lots of good boats are coming to Nats on both sides, lets look at what happens with all the changes that were made last year.
Last picture, she is fully checked out, ready to rumble. Till something breaks at Nats of course. Built a PVC launcher transporter for it. Actually need to drill some holes in the top and bottom of the launcher transporter, so it don't float.
Looks good Dave, I'm assuming you did the automobile geometric constraints test already? I'd recommend adding a tether to hook onto the bow so it doesn't slide around, also might have trouble with the wheels in the mud, and probably another bottom cross member further aft to prevent tipping when water all goes to the aft end when pulling the boat out
Its too long, going to cut the rear back around 6 inches. It fits in the van fine, but the boat slides back and forth more than I like. That should take care of the excess water, if it ever has any in it, remember I'm fighting Allied's. No Yamato for me, Bis is heavy enough. I already have a Iowa sitting on the shelf, been there 10 years, used one weekend. My daughters boat. And a Nagato that Rick gave me, I need to rebuild, that may be this winters project, oh yes, a Vanguard that also needs rebuilding.
Cut 7 inches from the rear, solves the length issue, and Kevin's suggestion about adding another bottom cross member in the back of it.
Bismarck with some added paint, and protection on the transporter, may not be much of a launcher with all the noodles on it. But the plan was a transporter first, to save my back as much as possible. She is ready as can be. And why would I need a 22 second Pensacola, when a 22 sec Kumano is even better? Silly people Tanker is in the far back left you can see the side sliver of it. Finished fully checking it out this morning also, still has the original skin from the first time I used it, at the first MWC Nats in Minnesota, 08 or 09. Tyler hit it with his cruiser triples about 5 foot from port and it got tangled in some weeds and sank, only time that has happened so far. With the IRC rules it has hardly been hit, everyone just tries to stay away so they don't get touched. A couple of years back, I had Bob, and Andy I think? both in QE's tied up on the beach for 10 or 15 minutes. They finally promised not to shoot at me so they could sail away.
It was at MN NATS in 08. Andy shot you with his Baltimore, Tyler had the USS Minneapolis, both were rookies that year. Yes, you played tag with Andy & I and Zach in his cruiser. We might have been the only Allies on the water at the time and you might have had the only convoy on the water. Might as well play with it.
It may well have been Andy, they were both sitting around the port. I would have made it still, but the weeds tangled my prop and were still attached to the bottom, pulled me backwards, and down she went.
