How did you manage to solve your printer problems with your turrets? Looks like you used a separate part for the roof. Did you use support for the rangefinders?
Switched from my resin printer to an FDM printer for starters. Yes, the roof is a separate piece. Two reasons for that. When I was printing them in resin it prevented thin layer blow out. Secondly when I went to FDM I didnt need supports for the roof. Third, it allows access to the internals where I plan to have the magizines to quickly refill. Fourth I can print the tops in different colors to change at whim Yeah the range finders needed support
I just ordered my 3d printer and would like to explore what all can be done. I was thinking of trying to build the integrated 3d printed duels like GregMcFadden's Provence. I saw your turrets came out well with good details and wished to see what might be done with the cannons and magazine integrated into the barbette. By the way, I'm also building a Bismarck, just got the ribs, keel, and subdeck dry fitted together. I'll probably start a parallel build thread here soon.
For what group? I will pass to you the wisdom passed to me. Big boats arent cheap. Not cheap to arm. Not cheap to power. Not cheap to build. Not cheap to maintain. Almost exactly like the capital ships they represent. What boat plans are you using? I posted the super structure I printed. If you want my turrets and secondaries I can send those to you.
Any group in or around Arkansas, I suppose. I got interested in the hobby 20 years ago when I was young and poorer I've been able to finally get the time and finances to get started, and I have a good sized pond to do some shakedowns in.
I'm using plans from various sources including the ones from the Resources section that you posted. Many thanks for your effort there. Some other golden references for your Bismarck build: The Battleship Bismarck(Anatomy of The Ship) by Stefan Draminski Battleship Bismarck Manual 1936-41: An insight into the design, contruction and operation of Nazi Germany's most famous and feared battleship (Owners' Workshop Manual) by Angus Konstam
For those wondering how "my" prototype valve should work. Just replace the red LP line with a return spring (at this stage the HP is on/off from a solenoid so the spring only functions as a return. In later stages it may be a 5v solenoid which would increase efficiency and RoF)
It seems awfully complex to try and miniaturize down to fire .177 BBs. Most captains have enough trouble with our relatively simple o-ring breach piston interrupted cannons, I feel like you are over engineering and in this hobby that is rarely a good thing. If cost is a problem, which you stated just a few posts ago, do you really want to spend the time money and energy trying to r&d a new type of Cannon when you haven't even seen what traditional cannons do? Or built a functioning cannon? Once again, I'm not trying to rain on your parade here, I'm just trying to be a realist.
This isnt a thing for right now. Its just a little prototype Im playing with while waiting for supplies to come in since local hobby shops are milked dry of modeling and RC equipment. And the "cost" issue is when people say "you need to spend this much or buy this or set it up this exact way or it wont be fun. Everyone builds a Bismarck like this so you should too" When you are prepared to spend $X and someone chimes in and says "well it wont be fun unless you completely redo it and spend more than you were anticipating". I take offense to people telling me how to have what they consider to be fun or how to do something because well thats just how everyone else does it and thats what works. I dont WANT to build a speed boat. I dont NEED to have a boat that throws a roostertail or does 0-60 like a Formula 1 car. But everyone is telling me it wont be any fun unless it does just that. Which is the discouraging part that we have talked about. It is my boat. If I build it with a pull-back spring motor and a sail and rubber band powered bb-guns and thats how I build it, who is anyone to say what will or will not be fun for me? At this point I dont want to bother building it for combat because apparently I wont have fun unless it is built to someone elses standards. Im not going to put on massively oversized whale tail rudders either. So if I want to build it my way and that isnt up to the minimum standard for what is "fun" to someone else, well OK, I guess it wont be fun for someone else to pilot my boat. Like we have talked about. Ive been that guy telling new players to a sport how to have fun at my level using the equipment I would use and completely forgetting the journey I took to get there. It is hard to convey that from the bottom up view when people are saying "well you should just listen to this person. They know what they are talking about."
Brilliant design, though it looks like it will require a machined piston/chamber(orange thingy) with smooth sides to function reliably.
IRCWCC is a club that has been around since 1978 and has a rulebook that is ~50 pages long. Ships have predetermined speeds they must run, combat units, etc. There are rules for how big your rudder can be, the size of the orifice on your pump, the penetrability of the hull, etc. There are rules for the number of guns that can point where, how much ammo they can have, and if they can rotate. (They all can't rotate). The club has insurance because remote controlled boats armed with cannons that shoot each other is kinda dangerous. To comply with that insurance, you need to meet certain requirements for CO2 and cannon systems. At events, your boat needs to be checked in for compliance to the rules both in performance and construction. Yes, you're totally allowed to go slower than your legal maximum speed. Yes, you're allowed to have catastrophically undersized rudders that makes your boat maneuver like a lame dog. If you do this, you will be pounded every sortie by captains in boats that otherwise might not be a threat. This is a competitive hobby. I am all for "you do you, leave me alone if you don't like it" which seems to be your attitude. We aren't trying to give you a "top down" attitude. We are trying to keep you from hardcore failure when you show up to an event with a boat that may not even be legal to battle. Bismarck's speed is 24 seconds over 100ft. If you brought a bismarck that can't even make 28 seconds, which is what the slowest dreadnoughts can do, you're going to get slaughtered by boats you should otherwise be able to avoid. If you show up with cannons that don't work, everyone will know you are free food. You showed up to the paintball fight with a spring loaded single shot gun that you load like a musket that you built yourself and then got hosed by the guy with a Tippman A5 on auto. One of you listened and made an educated beginner choice, the other just showed up doing his own thing and then is going to be upset that he was so massively outclassed. In our private conversation, you compared your bismarck to your first ever paintball gun. A cheap spyder compact you got used. You tore it down and figured out how it worked and then went up from there. That gun, while cheap, shared all the same design principles as other guns. It was cut from the same cloth, worked in the same ways, threw paintballs just as good just maybe not as rapidly or accurately and maybe it chopped every 6th and jammed with crap at least twice a day. This isn't that. This is showing up to a competitive paintball game with your spring loaded copper plumbing tube musket gun. If you want to build it to battle, you are ignoring all the advice of those who build boats to battle. If you want to build it to have a lake cruiser that has aesthetic gun turrets that rotate and all that jazz, that's totally fine too but it's not fastgun and I worry when other new people start posting in your thread thinking that this is the way the hobby is.
I think everyone should take a breath. I'm not sure what discussions you've been having offline, or who you've been talking to. It's very difficult to judge tone on a forum. You are certainly right that there are many ways to enjoy a hobby. While I agree with Will that at the top tier of the IRC it can be quite competitive, but for most captains it's a very collaborative group. If your boat underperforms it usually won't get pounded (at a regional event), maybe a few shots to get the heartbeat up until the boat is functional / captain is having a good time. At an event, there is a general correlation between having a functioning boat and having a good time. As an active battler, my goal is to always inform new people of best practices in order for them to have the best chances of having a functioning boat. I've seen way too many times when a new guy shows up with something unreliable at a battle that he was told to do on a forum (generally for someone described above in Will's post about issues with a forum). They typically get frustrated when their ship doesn't work - sometimes the battlers at an event can cobble something together to get the boat running, sometimes the ask is too big. Typically we don't see them again. My definition of a functioning boat is one that has a functioning drive train (get on speed), doesn't go out of control, the pump works (doesn't clog, get vapor locked), and the guns are functional (sort of bonus). All of my recommendations are towards that end. I draw my recommendations from current and past experience - seeing what works for people, what doesn't work - what do the captains with the most reliable boats use for components? From a cost perspective, identifying a reliable or optimum solution takes trial and error. There can be educated guesses about which motor would be best, or what battery to use - but the data used to formulate the initial approach should generally come from those that have already put the time/money/effort into trying several things to see what works and what doesn't in the applicable format. For example, I went through 5x different motors until I found the best set up for my Missouri. I don't see the value in each new person having to start that process from scratch. In my view, an elitist mentality would be saying "good luck rookie, you're on your own." When I said "use a 700" series motor ($10), that meant "don't waste your money on parts that you'd probably want to change out after the first event." I could have recommended a $50 brushless motor if you wanted to go all out. There are many ways to innovate - the printed deck you made looks awesome - but I always recommend starting with something that's proven / works, then make your changes after you go through an event. Every boat on the water goes through several refits before the captain is satisfied with performance. If you want to do your own thing then best of luck. For me, testing my boats on a pond is about a 3/10 on the fun scale - it's enjoyable to see the hard work pay off as something functional, see how my ideas about performance manifest on the water - but battling with 10, 20, or 30+ other captains is about an 11/10 on my fun scale. If you're still interested, you'd be welcome to borrow one of my boats at an event (would need membership and insurance), just let me know.
Might as well revive this. So shes been on the water and makes OK speed. I didnt measure as I’m still playing with prop sizes. 22lb of ballast puts her right on the water line. So I know how much extra I have to work with. And then she fell off my deck and broke. I was never happy with the rib shape and the subdeck materials were less than quality (ribs were 5 ply marine grade, subdeck was 3 ply home store grade.. it got wet and warped to heck.) So since my CNC is back up and running I am going to take the time to correct the ribs and make it a battler. I am building a new Bis as a lake cruiser and my finer details and fun things like rotate/elevate, etc will be on that boat. The new ribs should make sheeting easier as well. Since I need to cut the boat apart to make any repairs I might as well replace the bad with good. I have quality 5 ply being delivered today. This should make for a new subdeck and the 19 ribs that are being replaced.
Thankfully there are only a few broken ribs, however the shape of ribs 14-21 is wrong, and since I need to replace the subdeck anyway I might as well replace the ribs that arent right. And If I’m replacing those I might as well replace the rest that make up the armor belt, too. Honestly it is less work than it sounds like. I already have them laid out for CAM. Just trying to figure out how I want to lock the new with the old. Instead of getting super fancy, I will probably just make a small tab on the bottom of each new section and cut a corresponding keyway into the old rib.
