Big heavy boat, one prop and it tends to steer. I also have some things I want to do to it. I am sure it will improve. My drag discs might have been slowing it down also....
Now that I've settled in to NY, I've been feeling the drive to get a hobby. At least for now, I thought I would chronicle the continuation of my Tirpitz. First things first: Unboxing The Tirpitz has seemingly survived its 8 year slumber fairly well. Just a quick wash down from the hose and I have a pretty good foundation to start with. My first goal is to get propulsion back online. So last night I plugged in the remote and the 12V/18AH battery. By morning the remote seems 100%; and as I would have expected the battery isn't done charging. In a few hours I'll disconnect it and try to see if it's even taking a charge at all. The next order of business is finishing what I started on my last post. Since now there is a large hole in the bottom of the boat. Last night I put a light amount of fiberglass in place to act as a "scaffolding" for today's repair. I must say picking up this thread exactly where I left off 8 years ago is pretty unreal. The next thing I need to do is verify the large prop will be OK for IRCWCC. Which I'll verify next.
Battery is dead. New one now ordered from amazon. I must say I'm happy and surprised that the exact make/model is still available. Go Power Sonic for never developing new designs! While the ship is drying, I turned my attention to cannon building. These are Greg McFadden's old design, I'm not sure if he ever made any more. Here were these cannons 8+years ago chewing through 3/8" wood sheet:
those are several generations old. the latest design I am running in my Provence and it runs well. I don't plan on producing them, too much liability risk Strike models plastic pistons and springs work well in them
Yes, they are fast gun cannons run from a hopper magazine. I ran them as my twin sterns in the Provence (ask Nick how much he liked getting shot at by them). the newer designs run to a single central right angle push to connect fitting, that lets the cannons pivot easily (intent was easy rotation). the breech is self leveling, so if you buy same lot O-rings (basically, just make sure the O-rings are taken from the same bag at the same time), you don't get into a situation where one side is tweaked more than the other. They feed either BB or 3/16 ball bearings, just require changing out the O-ring depending on shot size. I used to have the design posted but when the 3d printing phase came about I took them down as the 3d printed plastic is totally unacceptable for use in making them, and I did not want someone blowing one up by trying. There are a few tweaks I need to do to the design before it is really ready to be made again, and I am working on a smaller set of half unit twins designed to be put in smaller light cruisers (prototype of them weighs less than one traditional fast gun cannon). If I can get them done this summer, I may release the files again
Yeah no limits on prop size and no one has, afaik, had more than a frownie face made for carving into the hull for prop clearance Welcome back to the hobby
Nice to have you back, Justin! What part of New York are you in? There is going to be a battle in Coxsackie 19-21 of this month. https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/battle-at-mings-moat-1-5-19-2017.445242/#post-514890
I'm in Rockland county. Barring any surprises I'll witnessing the carnage at Mings Moat! Not sure if Tirpitz will be ready to battle, however.
Spring battles tend to be low key, no pressure. 100 foot course set up to test. When we battle it tends to be fast and hot but with some heart and a chuckle or two. Shop has 60 feet of table space with 32 feet in the living room.
Sounds like fun. If my old solenoids work (or if I score some new ones from amazon); there's a chance she can fight. Stay tuned to this thread!
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]quote: deans and Power Pole [/FONT] Ummm... I can't remeber which is which any more. I use the ones on the battery. They seem to work just fine, and I will continue to use them. The one on the pump was put there by Greg. I will probably replace it as I'm wiring the ship. You have Deans on the pump and perhaps Andersons on the battery (hard to see in photos.
I can't tell either. I used to use a lot of Deans in that period of time when I got tired of breaking anderson's (they had some plastic issues in the mid 2000's where the red colored plastics would break frequently for me (and only the red color). I stopped using anderson's at that time). I've been on the XT60's for a while now after I got tired of forgetting the loop of line to make Dean's come apart easier.
Cannons are assembled; but I still need to decide on a good way of securing them to the deck. Today they would fall out like Yamato's once did.
New battery arrived, charged fits perfectly. Rudders with Traxxas waterproof servo installed and working. Brushless ESC installed, wired, and prop run while dry, working. Adjusted throttle trim, 30% power seems right. I'd like to find a local pond and give it a shake down.
