I can see a need for: 1 throttle 1 rudder 1 gun depression 1 front gun rotate 1 rear gun rotate (I believe not needed) 1 front gun fire 1 rear gun fire 1 torpedoes only (if tirpitz, for example) 1 pump on/off/cycle 1 left secondaries fire (if equipped) 1 right secondaries fire (if equipped) 1 launch airplane (if equipped) 1 dive/surface (if submarine) What else do you have control over? Lights? anchors?
That's one of the great compromises ship builders have to consider: How to allocate a (usually) limited number of function channels for the greatest combat effectiveness. Although radios can be found with nearly unlimited functions/channels, they start getting pretty expensive at over 6-7 channels. Radios with lots of channels also ofetn come with mixers, computer functions, & other stuff that is usually overkill for model ships, & adds to the cost. A consideration that lots of captains overlook is that having to deal with a lot of inputs can be a real distraction in combat. There's a running joke in one club about a guy who added torpedos to a pocket battleship, but had a hard time firing to the correct side in combat. I know a guy in a non-combat R/C model ship club who has a Robbe F-14 Navy radio, fully loaded, that can control all sorts of functions such as lights, winches, water cannon, sound, etc. He's got all of his functions labeled on the transmitter, & still has trouble keeping them straight - without even having anybody shooting at him! If you've got too many functions going on, probably the best that you can hope for is that several of them will end up not being used, while you concentrate on the few that are most useful. Worst case: You spend all your time on the bench, troubleshooting all the crap, instead of out on the water fighting. 2nd worst case: You get blown out of the water by somebody with a simple, reliable ship while you sit there fiddling! Here's the setup I use on my BB-58 - a South Dakota-class battleship with the classic "2 forward/1 aft" turret arrangement of main armament: - Forward/reverse (throttle) - Helm - Rotate forward (#1 & #2 turrets) - Rotate aft (#3 turet) - Elevation (all turrets) - Fire forward (#1 & #2) - Fire aft (#3) That eats up all 7 channels on my radio. Throttle & helm are on the LH stick, rotate forward & rotate aft are on the RH stick. I've added a box on the RH side with a slider for elevation & 2 pushbuttons to fire, replacing the radio's standard controls for the non-stick functions. I run my pump full-time. 1 channel can be used to fire 2 (sets of) guns, just not both at the same time. This may or may not be an issue to captains, & can be dealt with by firing 1, then the other, in quick succession. I don't know why on Earth anybody would want to operate an anchor in combat, unless they've got some scenario that requires it. Stuff that's just "for show" has no place in combat, IMO, & is a distraction at best, but others have different opinions. Lights can be useful in a night battle, & I've seen & used a variety of different arrangements. Depending on your strategy - i.e., try to light up the other guys to help your own shots, remain stealthy yourself, etc. - a variety of combinations can be used. Myself, I go for simplicity & stealth: A pair of red/green "navigation" lights on either side, that turn on or off with the pump (here's where a user-controlled pump helps, & doesn't burn an extra channel) can give me a cue as to where the ship is pointed without being too well-lit to give the bad guys a good target. If the club allows it, a spotlight on a turret should be a great aiming aid. JM
I use 4 channels on my small-gun HMS Invincible. Here is my set up: - Throttle (forward/reverse) - Helm (port/starboard) - Sidemounts (port gun/starboard gun) - stern gun (aft cannon/pump) For most small gun applications, nothing more then a 4 channel radio is necessary. Even an 8 unit HIJMS Yamato can be easily run off a four channel radio using the set up I have laid out above using dual sidemounts on either side and triple stern guns. If lights for a night battle are desired, they can easily be attached to the pump, which is generally a push button switch (tap the "up" lever to turn the pump on, tap it up again to shut it off....back will fire the stern cannon). Mike D
I guess I'll list my (fast gun) Iowa configuration... -throttle -helm -forward guns fire (left and right will be mixed) -aft guns fire -all cannon rotate -all cannon depress -pump cycle
HMS Rodney's configuration: Throttle; fwd/rev, proportional. Helm; port/stbd proportional. Rotate; All port/stbd, proportional. Depress; All, proportional. Fire; All except when "X" is fouled, then "A" and"B" only. Momentary switch. She's a very all-or-nothing type of ship......
"fouled" probably means when the "X" turret is pointing directly at the barbette of "B" turret. Don't want to knock pieces off your own boat when your intent is to knock pieces off the other guy's boat.
Right.... Sorry, was expecting it to be called "C". Also, what mechanism do you use to detect "fouling"?
A clippard cam follwer part no.11925 picks up an interruptor on X turret, and a MAVO-2 shuts off gas flow to the MPA-7. Easy.
Using JM's Sodak as a base, the classic "2 forward/1 aft" turret arrangement of main armament: 1- Forward/reverse (throttle)[usually actual channel 3] 2- Helm [usually actually channel 4] 3- Rotate forward (#1 & #2 turrets)[usually actual channel 1 or 2] 4- Rotate aft (#3 turret)[usually actually the other of 1 or 2] 5- Elevation (all turrets)[usually 5 or 6] 6- Fire forward (#1 & #2 turret)[usually the other of 5 or 6] 7- Fire aft (#3 turret) Of course, for 6 channels, you can combine 6 and 7 to fire forward (all turrets)/fire aft on just channel 6 (assuming a 3 position channel 6). Cheers,
