RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Man that looks like it will be a pain to sheet. Could you imagine sheeting it for big gun? O_O haha looking good
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Heh. No playing with it for a while, surgery on the left hand in the morning. Not a big deal surgery-wise, but I can't use that hand for several weeks and THAT bugs me lol.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Hope the surgery went well. Malaya is looking good, and I'm looking forward to seeing her done. Beaver
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Well, we had a build session on Sunday, and people came! I couldn't do anything approaching real work, so I mainly did light stuff, like adding to the hard area on USS Basilone, my Gearing-class DD. It's sitting on top of Malaya, and Brian's QE is in the background. Brian made good progress on his hull, and is growing closer to telling his wife that he has a new ship so that he can work on it at home. HAHAHA Bwlow is the family photo, so to speak. The hull (not sanded to shape yet), the two small motors, and an ESC connected to the pump motor. The brass tube over the pump motor is the pump body. More details to come. The shaft with the bright blue gear on it is the2mm shaft that will be cut to form the driveshafts. A bit worried about a plastic gear, but they ARE made to be used in model airplane gearboxes. We shall see how it holds up. I soldered connectors on the ESCs and programmed them, and then they were tested to make sure all was copasetic. It was. The big gold motor is the pump motor for Malaya. Special shout-out to Chase (Absolutek) for giving me the lightweight CO2 cartridge holder/regulator from Strike Models for the Basilone. Thanks! Speaking of Malaya, here's a side view. You can see that it's mostly cut out, although much trimming remains to be done on stringers and ribs. As Brian was cutting though his hull, he kept remarking on how thick Ralph's hulls are. Very high standard of craftsmanship there. Below, the drive motors mounted on gearboxes. Had to hunt for 48P gears for 4mm shafts, but I found them. The motors are 1000kV outrunners. The gearboxes and shafts are from BC. Much remains to be done, but Malaya will be ready soon! Just need the hands to heal fast enough to suit my desired battle schedule.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Build session!! It was fun, Brian and Stefan worked on their boats, and for me... lots and lots of hand-filing of ribs and stringers took place... For most of the hull's length, the stringers are far enough apart to pass a BB with some room to spare. But getting done with the filing meant that I was able to cut the holes for the drive system, and test-fit the stuffing tubes and gearboxes! I will need to trim the skeg a tiny bit, but she'll fit 1.75" props without them sticking down TOO far beneath the hull. Going to run out there after work and get the drive system epoxied in place. I made a prop jig to ensure that the shafts are where I want them for correct spacing, shouldn't involve too much drama. Now that the hard part is done, the fun part is beginning! Last, David W came over and worked furiously on his SoDak hull, which is now cut out!
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Looks awesome guys! I really do miss the build sessions. The ships look great!
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Tug, Looking at this its hard to tell the thickness of the sub-deck areas. Did you account for the casement deck being 1/8 inch at the edge of the hull? The angle of the photo doesn't show it very well.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth I laid out the hard area knowing that it would be scrutinized all to hell and back Hence, the hours of hand-filing with a caliper to check every inch of it The subdeck/caprail combo is 1/4" high over the entire length of the ship except for the aftmost 3" where there are no stringers. Therer is no casement deck, as I am doing the 1943 version of the ship, which had no casements at all, they were not just plated over, the hull was reshaped and the former casement areas were done away with. I checked with BOD members, and the opinion was that while the drawing in the rules applies to most QE-class ships, it does not apply to the 1943 refitted versions, as their hull is different than pre-1943. (at least one of the class (Warspite) never got the 1943 refit, so the drawing is always in effect for her). So: the subdeck is 1/4" high anywhere there are stringers, and both of those stringers are 1/8" high. Actually, in some spots, ribs and stringer are a tad thinner than allowed, in the name of making doggone sure that there are no legality issues. My ship is as sinkable as I would expect of any on the water,one pump and no craziness. I use brushless motors but I keep everything else as simple as I can to minimize reliability problems. I was honestly contemplating using MAVs and PAVs for the guns for a while. I just build a boat to go shoot at my friends' boats and socialize, really. Not really bleeding edge stuff
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Hey Tug, why do you use brushless motors? To me they seem like a real quick way to put your ship over budget. Are they worth the extra cost?
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth The brushless motors that I'm using were less than $15 each, and the ESCs were about the same (30A car ESCs). The pump is the same motor but runs on a 100A aircraft ESC (don't need reverse on a pump!), which is overkill but it only cost $17 so why NOT go crazy . I've been using brushless for more than 2 years, and I love it and it's been pretty straightforward and reliable. Others have had the exact opposite experience, no idea why. But my new convoys, destroyer, cruiser, and battleship all run brushless. #1 loaner boat (HMS Lion battlecruiser) is brushed, but when the motors wear out, it's going to go brushless as well. #2 loaner boat is in refit now, and will be going brushless. It's too easy. *If you buy from Hobby King or a few other places it's cheap and easy. If you buy brushless from Tower or the like, it's REALLY expensive. With great respect to those who do not agree with my reasoning or assertions... If you want to get into a brushless debate, please start a new thread, don't clutter up my build thread with the debate Likewise, I appreciate those who agree with me, but here is not the place Not picking on anyone, just avoiding it in advance because I have many friends who disagree with me on brushless technology.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth I do not disagree with ya, Clark. -- brushless battler since 2010 -- The ships look great and serves as inspiration to get started on the QE hull sitting in the garage.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth So those hulls are the 1943 version? I mean on the older version it was build like the Baden where the forcastle deck narrowed and left a gap/step down in the bow which created a small deck that the casements sat on. I seems like the pictures show a 1943 hull but I am not an expert on that. I suppose folks that build the older version would have had to cut down that hull, or is it short and the casement deck had to be built above it?
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth I don't think that many of the old ones running around were the Ralph Coles hull. I do know that there are a few people who have the Ralph Coles hull and that are planning on cutting it and fitting casements. I'm not, I build ships because they look cool, and I like the 1943 looks, even if the casements would give me useful hard area. I am ALL ABOUT THE PRETTY!!
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Way back when... Ted took the casement QE hull and made it into the refit with no casements QE. You could take this new hull without casements and add casements. The ships in the QE class were all refit in different ways at different times. Lots of hull and super structure combos to play with.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth So the one you have is a molded 1943 hull? And if you wanted to make an older version you would have to cut down the sides to mount the casements?
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth Sorry Clark, I re-read your first post and now it all makes sense.
RE: HMS Malaya and HMS Queen Elizabeth So, I got home after a freaking looooong day at work, but snuck out to the shop for some quality time with Malaya. I took the 8008135 tool (the 1.75" one), and fitted it to the ends of the propshafts. This locates the shafts relative to the hull for adequate clearance for 1.75" props. As you can see, the props will hang down about 1/4" to 3/8" below the hull. C'est la vie. Another view of the outside and the 8008135 tool. With the shafts in place in the tool, I arranged the gearbox ends to where I liked, making sure that I wasn't stressing the stuffing tubes (bending them, etc). Then, the blue tape goes around the shafts where they leave the hole, and a piece around the tool to hold it firmly against the hull. And then, some fiberglass and resin is applied to the inside... Fiberglass over where the stuffing tubes go out, and some resin under the gearboxes and the wood spacers beneath them... Coming together nicely! Tomorrow, the rudders!
