I was just wondering has anyone ever thought of making a dry dock? I thought of it but could not aford it. If any of you made one post a picture. Ben Goodwin I only let pain slow me down not stop me. - me
What Joker said. What benefit would a drydock provide? Actually, I have considered building a fully automated torpedo-reloading dock for my destroyer that would look like a drydock. I decided that it was too much effort for too little gain.
Well one thing it would look cool and another you do not have to carry your boat to the pond or lake where ever you battle. Plus if you build it in the dry dock fill it with water and you ship you be with the water line when it goes up if it is built good. Oh yeah kotori87 I really like your youtube videos I am randomstuffdude1 on with the point. Plus how awesome would it look to have a drydock carry you boat to the battle think about it. Ben Goodwin I only let pain slow me down not stop me.-me
I did once consider building a powered floating dock, to recover stalled ships from the middle of the pond. (Once they had been declared lost of course) so that the battle could continue while the ship is recovered. My plan was to have the sides of the dock made from shot-proof polycarbonate high enough to contain fire from a ship out of control. The skipper gets his malfunctioning ship back safely, and the battle is allowed to proceed without interruption.
The key thing with why I don't need to think about how cool I would look with a drydock carrying my ship to battle is... I'd have to get the drydock there, ja? Ships are heavy enough even in 1/144 without adding more to it. Also, the structural requirements for a open-topped drydock are more demanding that for a ship which has a nice subdeck and braces across the top. Certainly do-able, but not trivial unless you've built a number of ships (this is not aimed at any battlers here, especially Darren whose expertise is well-known, just a general caution for those who haven't built a ship yet). @Mike M - the Masked Moderator might've intervened for the eye safety of all readers. Hiya, Silver, Awaaaayyy!
Well not exactly what I meant tugboat. I was trying to say but the dry dock close to where you battle and then a lot more people could use it. Like a club dry dock for like the Allies and the Axis. Ben Goodwin
You're assuming that clubs have their own ponds that they own; most do not. Even then, unless you have total access control, people can come by and jack up your equipment. Or injure themselves screwing around with it, and you get sued. Leaving/installing gear lakeside is asking for trouble.
The NTXBG installed a crane to launch multiple ships at a time. They only have that because it's on a lake at a privately owned ranch. The closest the WWCC comes to permanent installations is keeping the pond and surrounding shore clean and taking care of nearby shrubbery (although there are no herrings for us to cut down mighty trees with).
This is RC Combat, you're gonna get wet pants sooner than later. We all get used to the water. Or never sink The better ones tend to stay dryer I want air bladders for recovery..... and Robert Ballard
I have always wanted to build an LSD for use in the hobby. It's just a pipe dream however, I think it's feasible. The USN Casa Grande class is about 8000t. Hull construction and propulsion are easy enough. The only tricky part is the ballasting system. High pumping rates with an over-the-side overfill line. I imagine dropping it to max draft would need to occur in 10sec or less. Under 5sec would be ideal. Sealed tanks are a must as well as redundant pumps. What I debate about is two small pumps in parallel per tank for both port and starboard tanks for a total of 4 pumps. Or two larger pumps in parallel with a diverter valve so that they can fill either or both tanks. I love the idea of running out there with a small DD in the back then dropping it, it makes a run, slides back in and its home again home again jiggity jig. Difficult, for sure. Practical in most formats, not really. Would I still do it if I had time to kill? Heck yeah!
If you want a ballast system that works fast, consider open tanks with CO2 purge. With open holes at the bottom of the tank, the tank will fill as fast as the air can escape - which you can control with a valve. To purge the tank, just open a valve to 150psi CO2. Clippard even makes fill and bleed valve that will work perfectly. I've done a small scale experiment with a soda bottle and it empties too fast to time.
An LSD _has_ been built, and it has a well deck. The tricky part is building the ballast system such that it can't be used in a way that it makes the ship less sinkable, since most rule sets prohibit this. Launching a DD would be cool to see, but that's one less captain on the water the whole time that it's riding around in a defenseless convoy ship
IMO I would rather deal with batteries and positive displacement pumps than pneumatic connections as I believe it adds a little more precise control to the system. I am very familiar with standard ballast tank design, I was a submariner. As are several other forum members (Tugboat being one). The tanks for an amphib have 3 levels more or less. Completely empty which raises the well way out of the water and exposes the typically underwater portion of the hull if the vessel is empty. A nominal partial fill that alows the ship to cruise at the waterline when empty. Then completely full which drops the well deck well into the water and places the marked waterline well below the actual waterline at that time. The conflict does come where the operator whos ship takes hits in the aft end empties the tanks to raise it out of the water. That could be looked at two ways. That it is a viable combat tactic as that is something the real ship would be very likely to do in an instance of damage like that. Or the captain is required to maintain integrity and make a concentrated effort to maintain the ship at its marked waterline. If he is perceived to be abusing the innate abilities of his vessel by the "powers that be" he will be heavily penalized. As I said it would be an exercise of fun, not really practical, and would require rule set modification in most clubs. It is still massively intriguing to me. LSD's are generally considered warships by USN definition, but are definitely more useful as a convoy ship. BTW, does anyone know of any larger classes of amphibious ships? And not a self propelled drydock.
