FN France - The Black Death

About 7-10 minutes before it starts to set up. Idk how well it would hold up to BB fire. Maybe if you cast turrets and fiberglassed them they'd hold up.

Nice work on the build there. Wouldn't mind seeing more pics.

 

I'll finish the build thread when the build is done. Work's a lot less scatterbrained now that I can just email/call/text the guys I know instead of turning it into an incoherent mess that I can't keep track of. I've managed to learn a lot in the process. it's nice.

 

Work continues.

Added drag props. Last ship didn't get any. Looking forward to the performance increase.

Tacked them in with E6000. Used cotter pins for struts.

Fiberglassed in proper. Came out super solid.


Used the painters tape method to make the rear deck.


Sanded to fit and deck stiffeners.

Glued on with E6000. Put a coat of epoxy on the deck beforehand to start the waterproofing process. This is the first piece of wood in the whole ship.

Those holes will come in handy for mounting the guns.


Mounted the drive ESC using a threaded stud in the Featherlite. Seems like it will hold.




Redid the buttons on the radio so it's more like your standard setup.


Oh yeah, added the vital good luck coin. 1943 Vichy franc. This boat is French to the core lol


That's it for now. Working on wiring and Co2 next.

Vive La France!

 

Little more progress this week.

Got the Co2 supply pretty much figured out.
Solenoid for the bow gun. (Needs some sort of mount)


Single hose runs to the stern where it splits for the stern sidemounts. Check valves in line. Once I get some 10/32 PTC fittings the hoses will be connected to the solenoids.


Soldered up the main wiring harness. Just a simple series connection with a 3 XT60 bus. One connection for drive, pump, and guns. Simple.

Gun boards, wired and waterproofed.

Spare drive ESC was also wired and potted.


Worked on the guns some. This is the 75rnd haymaker. Shoots like a champ, hard and fast.

I'm loving this setup.

These deck stiffeners are making gun mounting a breeze!


Fabbed up some deck hold downs. Turn the wing nuts to secure the deck.

Side profile.

Little spacers were added to the subdeck to make it a snug fit.


That's it for now.

Vive La France!

 

Okay. Wow.

First off, I love how you took all of the bends out of your lines using PTC fittings. I was *literally* just on BC trying to figure out how to do something similar.

Second. Cannons. Would you mind posting a parts list? doing a How-To?
I'm looking at the haymaker, and I'm seeing some resemblance to Steve's PTC tube gun from last year, but this is evolved. I'm fixing to build my guns soon for a battle in May, and that looks way more slick than my plan. Mind sharing on these things?

Also, 100% honest, I suck at the McMaster-Carr Kung fu. I would really appreciate links to some of those fittings.

 

Caleb, as I'm sure I've mentioned as we've chit chatted the past few weeks, your mag cap idea is too good to not try out on a future build of mine. So simple. And the deck tiedowns, bent socket head screw and a wingnut jam nutted in place so you spin the whole assembly. Liking it the more I look at it.

 

I've stolen a good deal from Steve's ideas so I'm not surprised at the resemblance. I'd be happy to offer any advice I can. What do you want to know?

Which fittings? The PTC ones?

Feel free to copy!

 

Everything you wish to disclose. I see how you mated the mag tube to the brass fitting, but what material did you use for the haymaker mag? How did you bend it, heat gun? do you have a link for it? do you have links for the end parts on the mag? Like, the cannon itself I've already messed with. but info and building tips on everything having to do with the magazine and the end cap would be really appreciated.

Yeah all of the PTC fittings you used in making all of those bends.

Dude, the more I look at the pics, the slicker your boat is. Now I'm really hoping I'll have enough cash saved up for Bradford this year.

 

The magazine for the haymaker is 1/4" steel brake line. Used a simple Harbor Freight tubing bender to shape it. The mag is attached to the Tee with half a brass ferrule soldered on. (See pic) The cap is a simple PTC cap with a 1/16" hose barb threaded in the end. If you want to know more, you can always DM me.

1/4" PTC Tee fitting
1/4" PTC Elbow

Hope you can! Would love to meet up!

 

Do you ever have feed issues with that bent magazine? I've always thought that sharp angles could cause problems.

 

That's a neat little half-a-ferrule there. How did you make it? Was that a dremel, or belt sander, or what?

 

Nah. Only if you kink the tubing.

I like to solder it half way onto a short piece of brake line then chuck it in a drill press and use a file to remove the other half. Then unsolder it and attach to the magazine.

 

Neat, I'll keep that in mind for my next build.

 

Cool, thanks for the info. what about that plastic tubing you're using on the other sidemount? got a link to that guy?

So that PTC cap on the end of the mag. did you yourself tap and thread it, and then put on the 1/16 nipple?

 

Nylon tubing for the Tyng mag.

https://www.mcmaster.com/5173K36

I drilled it out slightly smaller than a 10/32 thread and screwed the barb in with a little E6000 to secure and seal it.

 

Oh DUDE. that's awesome. I can do that with the tools I have.

 

Hey, any reason you wouldn't just use this instead of a custom-cap?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-1-4-...llReductionWeb&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

Should work the same. Only difference is it might be a tad longer. Nice find!

 

Rad.

I'll add some to the pile and test them out. get back to ye.

 

Not as productive this week.

Made a mount for the aft solenoids.


Used Featherlite to create a flat spot to glue it down.


Solenoids mounted and hoses run.


Gonna be a little tight for the D turret gun but it should fit.


Since I'm out a 3d printer right now Will (@bsgkid117) was nice enough to print the SS for me.


Building the WW1 superstructure. 3 funnels? Hell yeah!


Need to tweak the design some. This was long.


And then I realized I shouldn't have added the deck hold downs till I had the SS. Bzz bzz lol


Really looking forward to using these guns.


Also got these 24v Spartans from Will. Gonna use the coils on my solenoids. 6v coils won't handle that voltage I'm guessing. Lol

That's all for now. Hopefully more progress next week.

Vive La France!