I predict that as more and more RC warship combat enthusiasts adopt this technology, we will begin to build a virtual library of drawings that we can share. One challenge is going to be the sheer number of subjects. Of course, certain parts are fairly generic per country per era, such as some gun houses for mains, secondaries, ship's boats, searchlights, etc., and many guys in this hobby are not too particular when it comes to nit-picky scale fidelity, so that helps. For scale enthusiasts, though, this is pretty exciting, because if one drawing is produced accurately, and then it's shared, anyone who wants that same accuracy can simply print the part (or have it printed). Take a look at this project I've been working on for the past 10 years, off and on. Everything on this ship is accurate to the 1:1 prototype, except for the main gun barrels, and the distance between them which, unfortunately, I'm stuck with. While only the B turret gun house is 3D-printed, the secondaries, AA mounts, dome range finders and ship's boats are all dead-on scale, molded. If we all can agree on the scale proportions of SS and parts for at least a few of the most popular ships, such as the Bismarck, then a guy with access to the library can print a part and know it's going to fit: Another hopeful aspect is that this sort of "cross-cultural," mutually beneficial design work does not rely on niche: The Fast Gun builders have the same objective as the Big Gun builders, and scale doesn't matter, does it, as long as the width>length>height is proportionately correct. A 1:144 superstructure drawing can easily be scaled to 1:96 or 1:72. The chief limit on the hobby end of things seems to be the print area of affordable printers. Rob
Honestly not sure I'll finish Malaya. Tim Beckett's Vangaurd was at the battle today and pretty much anything it could catch, it could sink pretty handily. I will probably finish my Gearing or a light cruiser (22 sec) instead. I just don't have the money or time or energy to compete with that. His ship was totally legal, not saying it wasn't. I'm saying that it's that good. I just can't do that.
You should finish the Malaya. You have been working on it for so long now. If you have brushless and solenoids there is nothing else you could buy to make a 5.5 unit ship the equal of the Vanguard. Just built it and turn out of his attacks. Its a nice ship.. you should finish it.
For what it's worth, I wouldn't worry about competing with him. I'd suggest that you finish Malaya, you have been working on her for a while, and just have fun with her. If you'd like to improve her, you could always finish her now and slowly replace the parts with others as time goes on; and the takeoff parts could be used to build more ships But as always, build whatever makes you happy, and battle for fun.
Or you could send your ship in as a decoy. Take the brunt of it while the rest of the fleet moves in and who know's get's sunk.
"If you gave Tim a stale loaf of bread with guns he'd sink you before the fish ate his ship." Allied Captain NATS 06 talking about Tim's Bismark. Tim's really good building and battling not many can match him. That doesn't mean we should all take our ball and go home. Learn and improve your equipment.
Part of that was that I was feeling pretty bad physically yesterday. Didn't figure out till about midnight that it was from being in the early stages of passing a kidney stone. Got pain meds now.
Ugh. Kidney stones are probably the second worst pain humans can have. I am biologically exempt from the first.
Since I figured it out, I've been drinking more than a liter of water per hour. The endocet is making me a bit loopy though. Got tired of being tough around 10 this morning and took it
That's some nasty pain right there. Yeah, better to be comfortable. Even loopy, you can keep yer head in the game.
Clark I'm sorry to hear about your health going south. I hope you are feeling better soon. Finish Malaya, the faster ships might be able to dictate when they fight but just turn out and blast them with sterns/haymakers if they try to force the issue. You should always be able to win that exchange, you just don't have a choice when it happens.
We were having trouble with the gears on the motors... the stainless setscrews from McMaster are not threaded for their full length, resulting in them jamming in the setscrew bores on the gears, without engaging the motor shaft. Crap. Had no solution for 3 weeks, but managed to get the setscrews out of a pair of gears (2 still useless), and was going to order longersetscrews, when I saw on the shelf... a bottle with 3/8" 4-40 brass Allen screws! Sure enough, they work! And they look cool, and at the speeds my motors are going, they're not posing a balance issue! Fix applied, and tested sat Also got a little work done on the plumbing for the guns, and got the gun barrels reinstalled. They had been pulled and sent to Brian to get the hole for the safety pin drilled in them. Almost combat-ready!
Hey Tuggy, Status of build for you and Brian? I'm hoping to have a pair of QE's for my Baden to play with in May
With 2 weekends left... Malaya is a definite GO. Brian's QE is a little further behind but not by much. This past weekend, I got the stern guns properly wired up, installed plastic wire loom around the magazines, installed the internal armor, and verified that my batteries can supply enough voltage to fire the solenoids even with the drive and pump running. Aside from printing the rest of the SS, all that's left are drag props, wiring the forward sidemount, and final ballasting. At this point, she weighs 23# 10oz, so plenty of room for ballasting.
I like this plexiglass deck.... gave me a great idea on how to finish off the display ship we are putting in the local hobby store. I am going to use clear plastic to skin over a few windows so they can see inside and still keep little fingers OUT! I can now also use a plexiglass deck! This way they can look down into the hull....
