Phil and Lou, this looks like a very interesting project and a good product for the hobby. nice build log. I have been in the hobby now for 17 years and while I like the smaller boats, they have been a challenge for me to build. I have several in various stages of building and never quite manage to get them to the point that I am happy enough with any to take them to a battle. a lot of work for 1 unit is. that said, I still like them and the quick destroyers do zip around and are fun to run. I would be interested in one of your kits when they are ready. My comments and concerns: 1. instructions, p 25 at the bottom. you describe wiring the twin motors in "series". I think you meant to say parallel, yes? 2. having played with smaller ships, I would be more interested in 1.5 units as my minimum and would recommend that you produce Gearing rather than Fletcher. 3. Take Bob Pottle's advice and add the extra 10 mm or so to the hull depth, it will handle better and be less likely to swamp. good luck and let us all know when u reach production.
I agree with your thoughts on a small boat, however this boat might work for someone else, like one that a rookie could build, get started, and after a while might want to build another bigger boat. Rookie= fun to battle easy to build cheap Also we get them used to being on the allied side lol
I must say , I love the idea of sealing the little ship at the sundeck level and the deck and gun are a separate unit that works independently. I have not sen that before. I just think it will be a better ship for all concerned with the above mentioned tweaks. They are changes, V1.2 if you will, that are easy to do and increase fun factor and survivability. these things take on water very easily. their technology using styrene instead of wood - glass-resin is quite a change and should be encouraged. The lighter weight is quite a plus. if you ever get the chance to check out Tom Tanner's Oki, do so. he built it very light with only a few layers, I think 2-3, of 5 ounce glass. it has survived well due to his excellent build and understanding of the proper battling style for a 1.5 unit ship. just my ,hopefully constructive, critique.
If this is a success (i think it will be), we will see more small ships on the water and new battlers is this a 3D printer ship?
Nate, Thanks for finding the mistake. They are wired in parallel. Already corrected and uploaded the instruction PDF. All help is appreciated! I am writing instructions for folks new to RC Warship Combat, and probably new to RC boats as well. It helps that I am new to RC Warship Combat as well. I'll have my first official battle next weekend. That is why the hundreds of photos and way too much rambling on what to do next in the instructions. Last year, I was developing a 1:144 scale Fletcher ,non-Combat, destroyer as my first military ship. Figured it might help generate interest in the hobby to pass this on to future generations and no one else had ever made a vacuum-formed destroyer that I knew of. John wanted one to cut holes in the sides of it for RC Warship Combat use. What?! Knowing the limitations of the materials, I put the civilian version on hold, and went to work on the combat version. The first four prototype kits had ribs that were reinforced with bamboo (light, water-resistant and strong) and had internal hardware mostly 3d printed as Bob is highly skilled CAD and 3D printing and the process allowed for frequent changes and adjustments as we learned what worked and what didn't. Lou dove in with little direction and did a great job. Shaking out those first kits, one of which Lou used for this post, involved no written instructions and a fair amount of difference between what was in my head and what ended up working in the end. Bamboo gave way to 2mm carbon fiber rod set in a bed of polyurethane sealant. Spurt guns became real 50-round cannons. Scale rudders were resized to take better advantage of the twin prop wash and stay within the 1.5 cu in rule. Styrene 5" gun barrels were changed to brass to they wouldn't snap off in normal handling. Stern guns became more aggressive looking bow cannons. 3d printed prototype hardware was changed into production vacuum-formed parts like the sub-deck, and resin parts like the magnetic regulator mount and servo-poppet trigger assembly. Definitely a group effort. Based on these first builds, I produced an initial run of 10 complete kits that included just the hull construction outlined in the posted instructions. In building two of these kits, my first two RC Warship Combat ships that I have ever built, I made further adjustments, dropping in revised or new parts into the remaining boxes and distributing parts to those who already had theirs. Little things that make construction easier or gave you a ship that could take a little more abuse in combat. These additions included the balsa pattern, brass barrels, small stainless screws to further anchor the 5-inch guns so they wouldn't fly off when hit, and vacuum-formed hatches to accommodate the BC Micro Pump and the bow cannon's receiver. The original concept was to take a ship that was Advanced and make it relatively easy. The hull was scale because it was originally a scale model. The balsa adds to the dimensions, making it more of a Sumner, width-wise. A Gearing is planned to make it a true 1.5 unit ship. For our local informal battles, we are running it as a 1.5 unit ship already. Today, I had a completed and equipped Fletcher in the water for the first time. Weighing in at a whopping 2 pounds 9 ounces, it had a pretty good waterline and ran well. To do this, there were lots of things done that hadn't been done before that were necessary to stick to our weight budget. In the end, it seems to have worked. We will know for sure once we get shot up a few times and see how well it holds up. Hopefully these will get some new captains to the pond. I'd like to thank John, Lou, Bob and Heiko for the team effort. Here is a photo from today, ready to battle. The only thing missing was there were no bb's in the cannon or gas in the 16g CO2 cartridge. I still have 2 kits available.
Phil, Fantastic work on this project. Looks like you'll be matched up against my Mogador Memorial weekend. Looking forward to meeting Mr. Vacu-Boat in the flesh!
I'll buy a kit if still available! These are cool! Should be easy to get a friend hooked with this. Send me payment information here or in a PM if you please.
Wow, Great Picture, that is a good looking boat, you guys did a fantastic job with it! Thank you for sharing the journey as well. Ill buy a kit as well if you want to sell it, just message me the info and ill send payment asap. Thanks craig
are any of you, Phil, Lou or the others in the group, going to come to Nats? if so, bring some kits and some of your fast electrics. I am thinking of making a vac-u-tow for ship recovery.
let's see if I can make this reply look the way I want - not the best at using the features of this forum - yet discussion in the text of quote. no problem. that is what fresh eyes are for. Mom's proofing skills rubbed off. Ramble on. that is how you get constructive responses. Lou does a terrific job. glad you two met. can't wait to try this myself. I have some that are about 3.5 - 4mm i picked up for a nice price twin rudders on the Gearing will be fun to see. If I can get a Gearing with the mods suggested, I would build it at Nats. again, I hope you can succeed. regards, Nate G
the simplest way to set up a multi-quote reply is to highlight each section you want to reply to, a little box that says 'reply' should appear by the selection. click that and it adds it to the reply box down here. I usually pick all the sections i want to reply to before i actually start doing any replies, but you don't have to do it that way if you want to break up a single quote manually, you need to use the quote tags to delineate the quote vs your reply.
Hi Guys, Life has been crazy but starting to see the light at the end so I will be getting back to the fletcher and more importantly battling with friends. Phil has done an amazing job with this build, he brings a "production eye" when looking at how to make the kits. I will start up a new thread on my build of a gearing, Phil will be making one soon for all that want 1.5 units. If you are like me, I don't want to wait and will use the fletcher and stretch it like the real one.
