I know, I'll probably start typing about my vast battle experience instead of attending events, boat reliability will tank, and then I'll show up to battles with a box of 3d printed parts instead of a boat. Really a troubling development. In actuality, the prospect of making two shipsets of everything pushed me over the edge, and I'm sticking to little things I can use on my other boats
Mid-day update Printed some battery holders This will be for Agincourt and others in future Also working on gun mounts. I’ve seen this style on several top captains’ boats A cradle for the elbow Clean routing Plan is to epoxy the elbow holder, then use E6000 to attach to underside of deck Turrets staged with deck coated in epoxy Plan is to continue on gun mounts
Mag support Moved onto dual bow guns Support, will epoxy then goop/e6000 in correct position. Needed here based on the outboard position of wing turrets Turret fits Finished printing battery mounts
Worked on pump mounts today. E6000-Ed on gun holders My standard pump holder, space was kind of tight, marking holes on hull here Dry fit, clearance from deck Line was for deck cross member that I should have put further forward Pump can be slid aft between sorties to clear screen, held by hose Will glue in over next few days
Glued gun mounts in, cradle came out in a good spot Forward guns, pretty straight mags Bow gun Duals, cradle just clears deck rim (intentionally) Turret fits on with no issue Full set of guns in number 9, need to bend mags for number 1 but all mounts are in place Glued pump mount in with e6000 since I didn’t have need for a full batch of west systems In other hull Glued bottle mount in, need to start wrapping up the smaller jobs than are mostly complete Next up is mags for hull 1, then probably internal armor before I start installing internals. Also gathering a big order from BC. I’m thinking of just using two 15Ah cylinder cells to power the whole thing, typically I use note batteries but I think those will be sufficient. Weight is looking good too, one of the boats was 12.5lbs with motors, guns, bottle, batt. Should be able to decide what final weight will be more so than other builds
Thanks Jeff An hour or so of work today bending mags for hull 1 Hull 1 is near And forward, mirror images Will need some slight tweaking to get angles right. Should be able to get them to hit where I want Sterns are same because of pump outlet Turrets I call the overall gun layout the ‘porcupine’ Internal armor next, also finishing stuff for guns (barrel holders, magnets, set T height, air T. Once internal armor is in I will start installing stuff and shift to CO2/ electronics.
Armor today, pet resistant dog screen, works real nice Cut to size, then gooped to deck rim (top edge is folded over flush with underside of deck rim, goop every 3-4 inches, used some hot glue to minimize clamp usage) Won’t impede water going into the hull, very effective at stopping bb's (don't listen to keyboard jockeys that might say otherwise, though it should be just as effective on the shelf as it is in battle) Repeat on other hull, will do the other sides over next few days hopefully. Once I had one piece cut, I traced it 3 more times for use on other side/hull Also gooped on gun magnets. I like goop here over e6000 because of how much e6000 runs, can gum up the threads without careful drying orientation. I CA the magnets on first, then goop edges and over the face, works pretty well. Place magnets slightly below center to prevent rip guns
Goop retains elasticity longer than ec6000. And doesn't shrink as much over time. I've used both to install prop tubes and motor mounts on my cruisers Also it's easier to say Randy
Side 2 done tonight Gun magnets came out good (enough) Next step on guns is set the T height, reinstall, make up CO2 hoses and barrel holders. Next on boat will be installing running gear, solenoid mounts, planning electronic placements
Working on odds and ends. Clippard parts showed up, happy with what I could find to minimize the number of fittings required for the duals, good volume/size. Check valve with female inlet and male outlet, 1” tank of better dimensions than brass version Also making little T fittings for gun hoses. Start with 1/4” square brass. Drill holes while piece is whole Tapped prop holes and flat spot on shaft, SS 6-32 set screws, red lock tight because I care about the props haha Props drying Blades seem less directional than prop shop (rip) Korts so Cant really put them on backwards Parts for T’s all cut up ready to go Solder on one side is good enough, flows through Drilled through first tube to connect the middle tube Now middle tube Ran out of butane so TBC. Once middle tube is in I’ll drill through tubes with 1/16” drill bit to clear out any solder that gets in there.
Set T height, piston drilled earlier and spring. check for free movement Screw the bottom cap up so piston blocks bb from mag Put bb in, slowly unscrew bottom cap, moving piston down until bb slides on top of piston. Can see BB on top of piston. By using the compression fittings it makes testing the piston height much easier, magnet helps too, but can use gravity if no magnet. Can also test fire before sealing with glue, but I've done this enough that there are generally no issues come test fire time seal the cap in place with CA, full coverage Overhead view Worked on gun barrel holders from aluminum. I used to not use them, but barrels get knocked around in battle, also need it to keep the bow guns at 15 degrees Aft sidemount, 6-32 screw through deck, will be epoxied in place cut off excess threads to prevent bb dents Haymaker Bow gun, need to get creative based on the narrow deck and A turret but I think it turned out OK Right on 15 degrees. Should hit the WL about an inch or two aft of the stem which was the desired location Duals, also had to get creative. Ran into interference with the magazine holders under the deck, but made it work. Checking the trajectory so BBs cross at point of hitting water, this point is probably 4 inches aft of stem for the angled attacks 15 as well, holder should keep it legal Hull 1 duals. Still need to cut down the excess threads and epoxy them in once I have enough other things to use up a batch Running out of things to do, waiting for a pretty big order from BC with solenoids and electronics for both. Maybe sheet over the weekend
Picked up butane Drilled through each way a few times, cleaned up edges Attached the turret mount things I made several weeks ago now that guns are set Aft guns With turrets in place Bondo on turrets
Thanks Nate, they are coming together well. Sheeting work was taking longer than planned yesterday at Marty's, so I switched to making gun pistons. Some parts from BC and others showed up so I'll have some things to do on the internals that will keep me busy for a bit. Today I epoxied the gun hold down screws and the turrets. Added a layer of cloth on some surfaces of turrets to increase BB resistance, my boats don't live on the shelf haha
Cleaned up turrets yesterday Dummy barrels, 1/4” fiberglass rod from McMaster. Holes printed in With barrels Testing alignment of duals Shafts and rudder in for real. Lubricated and locktite Will need to center rubber servo Now hull 1 Working on arrangement and balance 1” tanks and check valves Almost 15 lbs, max around 20. No electronics or superstructure, but will probably need to add 2ish pounds Balance not terrible. On a small level seen at the step. This would be bow heavy as the center of floatation is about 1” aft of step. Should be within ability of trim weights to correct Bottle is turned around compote originally planned. Still assessing, forward solenoids with tanks are in outboards I would like to keep the BC integrated board and ESC aft of batteries to minimize wiring runs. It should work out Ok Planning to give arrangement a shot on hull 1, then will re-evaluate for hull 9 before I make stuff ‘permanent’
A model for all other Courbet's to be judged by. Wonderful work. I like your expansion tanks, very simple, optimized. I've been making 2" long by 1/2 diameter copper pipe expansion tanks and soldering 1/8 npt male/male connectors on the ends to go straight from check valve to tank to solenoid, but yours is very clean and no soldering required. Funny you mention that it was a little bow heavy. The real life Courbet's were also, the french engineerings apparently didn't fully account for the weight of the superfiring forward turret.