RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth So exciting!!! You know I will be watching this one I love that hull.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Quick no-pic update, as Brian was out of town this weekend and the weather was MONSOON, I worked inside on the 3D printer (aka the Mendel). Mechanical construction is done, and I'm well into the wiring. Roughly 70 wires to hook up and test connections on. But necessary work, as the SS and barbettes will be printed in ABS. The ABS filament arrived last week, so as soon as I get the printer aligned and cal'd I can print I'll post a pic from home tonight. If you're on my Google+ circle, or on the Maker Camp circle on G+, you can see it right now
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Another no-pic update (so boring!)... The 3D printer is almost done (4 wires to hook up and then I can start testing after dinner). I ordered a pair of nice driveshafts from Battler's Connection (no slam on Strike, BC is almost next door so it gets here next day without paying for overnight ; ) and they've arrived and I can put them in this weekend! I'm planning on using 40mm printed props from my printer; if those fail in RD&T, I will get some appropriately-sized Kort props. With the printer, I can print new ones with changes in fairly short order to address shortcomings in a previous iteration. ABS is pretty strong stuff, though. Should do okay with 1/8" thick blades with a good fillet at the hub end.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth SO boring! (just kidding) Like someone said to me "Pics, or it didn't happen" he he he! This 3D printer stuff sounds really neat. Looking forward to seeing how the ABS props work. Beaver
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Woo-eeee! Brian came over after lunch and we got to work! He brought over the cannon barrels that he made from some thick-walled brass tubing that I had. Forgot to take pics of those, I'll get that tomorrow when I go out to take more pics! Anyhow, below is the workbench today... On the left is Queen E, where Brian has put in the stern subdeck and caprail like I did before, and he's fitted the forward subdeck and tacked it in place with CA glue. On the right is Malaya, with a looong piece of 1/4" ply being used to hold down the subdeck and caprail while the epoxy sets. Same technique as on the stern, but a longer piece of plywood on top because the front deck is much longer than the stern. I didn't want to cut a 5' long piece of virgin ply, so I used it as-is, and stuck a small piece of scrap wood under the unsupported end to keep it off the back deck, where we did some touching-up with epoxy in some small gaps that persisted. Barely visible in the background is part of the bow of HMS Lion, my first boat in the hobby. Brian gave her back to me; it's nice to have her home. After Malaya is done, Lion will be overhauled and be used for a loaner boat. Below is a closeup of Queen E's forward subdeck. 'Why is there fiberglass cloth between the subdeck and the hull,' inquiring minds might ask? Well, when we trimmed the subdecks, they fit pretty tight. But since then (2 or 3 weeks?), they no longer fit so tight. So there were some gaps. Better men than we would cut new subdecks. Lesser men than we would fill the gap with epoxy. We added a few layers of fiberglass to the hull to make it not so gappy Both of our hulls have this done, and with the epoxy in it, it looks nice and will be plenty solid. So during the course of the build session, I was searching for things, and found THINGS!! Like a pair of gearboxes and motors Alsways nice not having to buy something for a new project because you'd already bought it a while ago! I will likely use these motors; the 5mm shaft is no problem, as I've got several 48P pinions that are for 5mm shafts. On the right, I stuck one of my stuffing tubes into the gearbox. In the background, you can see an alternate motor. It's like half the kV value of the one on the gearbox now (2250). I am going to test the ship with the faster ones and see how the speed test shakes out. If it's waaay to fast with the 2250kV motors, the 1400 or 100kV motors will be swapped in. I want to be on speed (26 seconds/100') at around 80-85% of max throttle. Always nice to have some wiggle room, but be near the top of the range where the motor is most efficient. I will end this with a completely unrelated photo from the last battle... my battle flag (a vasectomy drape) laying over my last victim's B turret in celebration. Such things help me to remember while we build pretty ships, they are intended to go in harm's way.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth On a two powered shaft ship I found it useful to be around 60% throttle at ircwcc nats when a speed controller quit working. I didn't have a spare ready at the time so I jacked the throttle on the remaining controller up to 100%. Turning in one direction and acceleration weren't good but I was almost on speed which helped. Luckily it was campaign so I did ok bow gunning convoy ships. A lower throttle % might be worth considering. Ron Hunt
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Indeed. I hadn't thought about that. I do tend to have 2 or 3 spares on hand, but sometimes I will find that I forgot to solder connectors on them at home! Having the 'Emergency Power' option is very Navy-ish Part of my equation will be determined by the performance of the printed props. Not sure how fast they'll want to be for 26 seconds, I think the overlap of the blades will increase the rpm needed to make speed. Also, I don't think anyone has data on six-blade props yet. Brian and I are going to build a testbed, basically a box with a sloping back end (like the area around a prop on a ship) with a driveshaft and gearbox. We'll put a few instruments on it for current, rpm, and measuring thrust exerted, and compare props. We're building for 40mm dia props (about 1.6") and will work around that size.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth I've done the same thing during a Treaty Con, Ron. Right before the start of a sortie, there was a clunk from the boat and one shaft stopped spinning. Instead of delaying the sortie, I used the Transmitter's EPA to ramp up the throttle on the other motor, did a couple quick speed check passes, and battled that way. It was comical to see the huge wide left hand turns, but the ship would practically pivot to the right. lol/ That clunk noise? A motor broke loose from the motor mount. Was an easy fix between sorties.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Clark, think you'll find that the 2300kv motors, even geared, will be way overkill rpm. The ships may be much happier with a pair of 1200'ish kv motors (assuming 6v and geared).
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Malaya is 6V and geared, I've got 1400 and 1000kV motors to try out as well. They'll all slot into the modified BC gearboxes. I modified them to be similar to how Kess does his so that you just loosen the screws and the motors slide out so it's easy to lube the bearings at night during battles.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Went out into the freakishly hot shop to take the weight off of Malaya and see how it went. You can see that the wax paper is pretty smooth; it did a good job of keeping the plywood board separate from the plywood being epoxied to the hull. The wax paper came off easily, only sticking in one or two spots that were less than an inch long. There are several areas that need more epoxy; the pieces of fiberglass cloth indeed sucked up a good bit of it, but it's a solid join between the wood and the hull. Most pleased. I will work on it on Friday (I'm off!) and start cutting the hull. My second hand surgery is next Tuesday, and I've established that I can't use the dremel well one-handed. That's all for now! If it looks like Brian's getting behind, don't worry! Once his wife finds out that he's building another ship, he'll be living in my shop for a few weeks and he'll have plenty of time to catch up!
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth So you ended up with both my hulls and are building them side by side. Neat. Our group here in NC ordered 6 of the Coles hulls in 2009 and I got the two blue ones. Sold one to Mike Butts in 2011 and one to an unnamed Georgian at the mwci nats last year, after I decided to build Japanese only from now on. I intended to name them Warspite and Queen Elisabeth. I guess when i see them on the water they will be named Target One and Target Two. Need 8 guns and two rotates each to stand a chance against the IJN. Ron Hunt
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Actually, we have one of your two hulls... Mine is from Mike Butts. Brian's was hand-delivered from Canada by Chase Hargraves. I know the unnamed Georgian who has your other hull, and he plans to build it. Brian and I are keeping our Hochseeflotte ships combat-ready so that we can switch as needed to help encourage Axis-vs-Allied battles locally Also for loaner boats.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Yep, Mike the Mangler got Rich's grey hull. Straight from my garage to you. I'm not sure if Niel sold his grey hull or not ( maybe he sold it at mwci nats last year I don't remember ) and Rob's two grey hulls probably disappeared with his stuff and will never be seen again. Everyone's hull in the order was grey except for my blue ones that is why I assumed the second one in the picture was originally mine. I'm more inclined to build the Hood anyways if I started feeling British again. Ron Hunt
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth We had a build session yesterday, and it was very productive. Brian came over to work on his QE, and new battler David Winnette came over to work on his South Dakota (not sure which of the class he'll go with, yet). I got busy on Malaya. I want her done so bad, my Hawaiian name is K'mon Iwanna'Malaya. Anyhow... with the subdecks and caprails firmly in place, it's time to CUT! One of my least favorite parts of a fiberglass hull. Having duly taped all the solid parts, I set about drilling the holes in the corners so that I might do less cutting of parts I want to keep. Too easy to cut a little too much with the Dremel wheel. NOTE: I have found that it's a LOT easier to do this drilling with a 1/8" bit in a Dremel, than with any bit in a regular drill. Faster and less fatiguing. Below, you can see more of the hole-y work. But the point of this pic is to show the piece of oak plywood being fitted at the step in the deck, joining the two subdecks in blessed matrimony. View from above and ahead... She's fitted carefully such that the stern deck butts up to the aft facing of the step piece. The piece of plywood kinda sitting there is the main deck, which received a coating of West, so that I could use up the cup of epoxy I'd mixed in an efficient manner. And here's the view as I'm leaving the shop; she's ready for me to return and start the joyous task of cutting all those windows!! Such wonderful fun. On the way out, I stopped and took a pic of David's SoDak. She actually floated at the design waterline at like 32#2oz. At scale weight, she'd be deep. The spray foam was in the hull when we got it. We'll likely cut it flush with the bottoms of the windows and seal it with epoxy. And what shot of Tugboat's Shop would be complete without the chance to win fabulous prizes counting how many ships (finshed or not) are in view? More tonight after I fill a couple mask filters with blue dust!! Brian thinks we can have these ready by the Labor Day battle I think so, too. We'll see!
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Let me see, 1..2..3..4..5..6..maybe a 7th in the hull of the ship behind the SD. Do I see Scharnie in the right hand corner next to the broom? So, do I win the prize? Beaver
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Worked a few hours, cutting three windows between each pair of ribs takes a lot of effort! Didn't get both sides done, but made decent progress nonetheless. Mainly hindered by the Dremel getting really hot, faster than I'd expect. Here's a pic of the stbd side. I still have to trim a lot, but I have to make go/no-go gauges for the stringers and ribs, and THEN do the sanding to proper dimension. Oh, and a fun pic of a BB sitting in the gap between the stringers, early in the day... So a BB can fit there, just in case anyone was wondering.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Having cut out a fiberglass Nagato hull I feel your pain. I found a small flat file with relatively fine grooves works pretty well for flattening the edges of the ribs and stringers. Cutoff wheels and sanding doesn't usually produce clean edges, but a hand file gives you real control over the final feature width. Harbor freight carries a chicago electric 1/4hp foredom grinder clone for about $60 that works really really well, you will never use the dremel again, or pay close to $100 for a dremel that only lasts a month and barely has enough power to keep the wheel turning while cutting. Just squirt some oil in the flex shaft first or it will get hot and wear. Also I use a carbide cutoff wheel, which won't disintegrate or load up. Oh and grab an iv bag hanger if you can to hang the grinder and roll it around the shop. Has a nice foot pedal speed control. You can grab a harbor freight 20% off coupon in any popular mechanics magazine. My local library has a subscription. Ron Hunt
