Fuso Refit

Just a couple pics of my Fuso's refit, abour 1/4 of the way finished but the pretty part is done! Comments/suggestions always appreciated.

 

Looks good! It's so... so... TALL. The Japanese were very good at building masculine ships. The Fuso is very impressive. Is the un-painted section a new addition, or repairs to an old section? Either way it looks good. I also like the dark stain on the deck. The ships with light grey or light wood decks tend to blind cameras, and don't look as crisp in combat photos. Plus the combination of dark grey, red, and deep stain looks particularly malevolent and mean, like the Fuso is ready to chew up anything that comes its way.

And now for the suggestions. I'm very opinionated when it comes to superstructure and detailing. Cover your ears, this might be harsh
First thing's first. Let's see some masts and rigging! Masts and rigging add soooo much to the appearance of a ship, especially if you use wooden masts and oversized black string for the rigging. Oversized black string shows up very well, even from 20+ feet away, and helps hold masts on the ship when the masts get hit. Wooden masts don't get hit very often but they look spectacular when they do get hit. Lastly, sailing a ship back after a battle, battered and bruised and trailing shattered masts and rigging, is a very satisfying feeling, especially when you can proudly say "you should see the other guy!" Rigging and masts are a small investment for the improvements they bring, so I would highly recommend that you add them.

Another thing I'd suggest is some sharpie details. Stuff like portholes, windows, and doors can easily be added with a waterproof felt-tip pen, hence the term "sharpie details". For example, hull portholes can be added just by laying a ruler along the side of the ship and putting a dot every 1/2". Rectangular windows on the bridge and hatches are slightly more complex, but also well-worth the effort. They show up well from 10-20 feet away, and just like masts and rigging they contribute a lot to the appearance of your ship.

The third thing I'd suggest is to unify your gun barrels. The most irritating thing to me about EVERY fast-gun ship I have ever seen is the inconsistency of barrels. Your dummy barrels stand out too much. If one barrel of a turret is made of brass, make all of the barrels from brass. If one barrel is depressed 10 degrees down, make all of the barrels depressed 10 degrees. If one barrel has an o-ring restrictor poking out the front of the turret, make the others look like they've got o-ring restrictors poking out the front of the turret. And try to be consistent from turret to turret, too. This will actually give you a noticeable advantage in combat, because your opponents will not know which of your guns is actually armed, and you can get the element of surprise. I've been saved when people back off when I'm bluffing about guns, and I've sunk people who thought I was bluffing when I really wasn't. Do not underestimate the benefits of confusion you can gain.

Lastly, for color. Your ship looks very good in red, dark grey, and stained wood. Those are a very malevolent combination that will strike fear into the hearts of those who stand in your way. However, I would suggest you add some highights to emphasize the particularly scary parts of your ship and to make it unique. For example, I like to paint turret tops a nice crimson red. That's a unique touch to my ships that makes them stand out in people's minds. It also draws their attention to the parts of my ship they should be especially afraid of, and helps me aim better. The overall effect is an aura of fear that surrounds my ship wherever it goes, and makes peoples' encounters with my ship just a little more memorable. For the Fuso, I would suggest painting the tops (and only the tops) of the turrets white, and add a nice large meatball. I don't know if that's entirely historically accurate, but if you're hoping for "most feared axis captain" at NATS then any little thing to make you stand out will help. Of course, the downside is that standing out may attract undesired attention from high-level Allied skippers, so only do this if you think you can survive.

Anyway, that's all. I hope I didn't ramble on too long or scare you off. Good luck with your refit and have fun.

 

Looking good, the wiring looks a bit of a mess, but no worse than Dana's. As long as it works is what matters.

 

The unpainted section near the stern is replacement for a nearly solid block of wood that was much heavier. It will be stained the same color as the decks, with the sides painted gray to match the hull of course. The tower now has the proper mast and boat crane attached to it. I'm not sure about rigging as the stern piece and center piece are seperate so anything running between them would be easilly broken by me as I take the ship apart after a sortie. I'll probably put portholes on the skin once I get the chewed up balsa off and fresh balsa on.

The wiring is chaotic, that's the next thing I'm working on. I need to visit Sandy's to get more connectors and some other goodies. I'll post a picture of my solenoid bank when I get home tonight. Thanks for the imput so far!

 

Nice work to the Fuso. I generally like to keep my barrels lined up but on the Roma I went the other direction. Though not too extreme however it is now easier to unpin the cannons. Don't forget to add the human factor to the modeL. A few "N"scale figures some painted with black uniforms to identify the officers and the rest of the crew in white. Place them in various locations throughot the superstructure. It gives a sense of scale and you can actually see the crew in white from a distance. I had 149 crew on Bismarck and after 6 years of battle there were only 47 of them left. Some were decapitated, some left their boots on, others parts of their anatomy were missing. My Yamato has about 30 on board.

Stokamoto

 

ON one more thing, a plane and a few lifeboats also covers in the open spaces. I had one of Bismarck's launches shot clean clear off the superstructure. It landed upright on the water and stayed their till the end of the sortie. I pulled Bismarck up alongside it to retrieve. We caught this on video.

Stokamoto

 

I think it looks great, but you've seen my VDT and my Brooklyn so you know what I think about stupid structure detail. I'm more interested in pics of the internals. The deck does look sweet like that.

 

Here's some pictures of the inside and systems in the 'before' stage. The wiring is a tangled mess, the plumbing is all over the place, and my c02 bottle is only half painted. It's really quite a shame, but she was reliable so I guess looks aren't everything. But, you can see my new batteries (the white NiMH packs) and the solenoid bank on the manifold (the little black things in the center of all the mess)

 

Being an electrical contractor I'm a wiring nut. Your wiring looks bad. Get rid of those push together spade fittings and get some Deans Altra connectors. The push on stuff will not last in the water. If you've crimped them on instead on soldered them on they will fall apart faster. Try twisting you wires, it makes thinks look better. When it looks better it is easier to trouble shoot. By twisting the wires I mean take the black and red (For say the motors) and twist them together from the box to the motors. This makes a "motor cable". I also color code my wires. Red & black for the motors & main power, white & black for the pump, yellow & black for the lights, smaller wires in different colors for each of the solenoids. Makes it hard to plug the wrong stuff together.

 

The main reason for the twisting is that it will dampen out the noise that the motor brush's generate, the caps help also. But it comes down to the more the merrier.

This year at Nats I spent alot of time working on both of Dana's boats, they both were failing every battle just about. We found that it was the same connector that you are using, he was having contact issues with them, so we replaced just about every connector in both boats, only issue was all he had was the same type so thats what we ended up putting back into his boat again.

 

The Deans are rated at 60 amps, what is the rating of the Powerpole connectors?

The inside copper connector of the powepoles that I have seen are much thinner that a Deans. I will have to look it up and see if you are right Tuggy.

Edited

Ok I just looked them up, they are rated for either 30 or 45 amps, acording to what size wire you are using, 14 to 18 AWG at 30 amps, and 10 to 14 AWG at 45 amps, 2 different sizes of connector.

So I do not see how they rate being better, since the Deans are rated at 60 amps. They may be easier to install than the Deans, but the specs are not even close.

I guess you get what you are willing to pay for.

 

How do the Tamiya connectors compare to the Dean's or Powerpoles? They are convenient to put in big gun cruisers, which often use 7.2v packs for power.

 

If you're drawing 30+ amps which connector you are using isn't your biggest problem.

That said I like the powerpoles cause they are easier to work with and cheaper, but i do use 3 pin deans for all my servo/TD board wires. Either of the two is a fine choice, go with what you want. But since it looks like you have some powerpole connectors in there already id say go with them.

 

The only connector getting close to 30 amps will be the pump motor connector, so the powerpoles will work fine for everything.

Wow I'm a captain now. [][]

The stingers are pulling between 27 and 29 amps when under full load, ie, pumping alot of water, with no water running, they are only doing around 2 amps.

 

Tuggy, I'll take all the powerpoles you can send me! (ok maybe like 10 then..) Shoot me an email for shipping, cost, etc. They're really hard to find out here. Not sure why but I can get spade style and other random ones but I don't recall seeing anything anderson when i was at the hobby shop today. Worked on boats today, mostly the Hood that a new captain out here is putting together. Forgot my camera though.

 

Well the 100 amp version is for wiring that we would never use in these boats, 4 to 8 AWG. And I have seen the powerpoles corroded. But any connector will corrode if not taken care of, no matter who makes it. Alot of the guys seem to be using knock-off Deans that are made in China, they are not coated, and do rust quite bad, but they are cheap, you get what you pay for. May of been what you seen. Rick has some in his old Lutzow, and they are getting quite corroded, and he takes care of them.

 

Here's some pictures of the Fuso's Water Channelling. I'm using a concrete patch sealant from a tube. It's kind of a mix between really thick milkshake and toothpaste in consistancy, but it dries pretty quickly and is easy to work with. First from the stern looking forward:



Then a shot at the middle section:


Next towards the gearboxes and motors:


And finally from the bow looking aft inside the boat:


I'm going to be adding another step in the bow area as well, but it will be somewhat smaller. I'll take pictures of that when it's finished drying!

 

And whats nice about the sealant is its water proof.