Hi. I am building ( or getting ready to start building anyway) A USS Maryland to big gun rules. How do I mount my guns(I plan to buy them pre-made) ? How do i sync them to a radio with only 2 control sticks.......would one stick be ship control and one gun?
I'll answer your second question first. With two control sticks, the traditional layout is maneuvering (throttle, rudder) on the left stick, and gunnery (aiming, firing) on the right. The traditional gunnery control is rotate guns to port, rotate guns to starboard on the left/right stick, and fire front, fire back on the forward/backward stick. For mounting the cannons, most cannons (including BDE, etc) have a #10-32 hole in the bottom of the cannon, directly in line with the cannon's center of rotation. The first task of mounting a cannon is to use this threaded hole to screw the cannon to a plate. Then, a zip-tie, mounting blocks, or other techniques are used to prevent the cannon from left/right on the plate. Finally, the plate is mounted to the hull using two, three, or four screws. I'll see if I can dig up a photo later tonight.
I always drill the holes out oversize, tap, & install metal threaded inserts. The PVC valve bodies are just too soft, & the threads will strip out eventually, so I just get that out of the way up front. With inserts, they can tolerate higher torque on the screws as well as being removed & replaced multiple times. I also agree that a mounting plate is generally the handiest way to mount guns. However, some ships don't have enough depth inside to tolerate the extra height (thickness) of the plate. I have had good results just drilling through a hull & mounting from the underside with a small reinforcing plate. Leakage hasn't been a problem, but a dab of silicone never hurts & isn't tough to remove when it becomes necessary. JM
Remote from the cannon, usually... sometimes the rotation servo is lumped in with the mount for the cannon. The air actuation parts are mounted with the firing servos... Ntxbg has a good how to on the air systems. 10-32, hmm... might be best to upgrade to 1/4 20, if 1/4 20 is larger. I like squared accumulator blocks so the mount can be made from the side rather than the bottom. Most cannons have a flat built in on the bottom... but really early JC's do not Thing to keep in mind is that you want the components to be easily serviceable and removeable... keep that in mind and browse pics of other's boats. Is Maryland comparable to Pennsy? I have plans for that.
Ummm.........not sure about the comparability.....maryland has 1/8 inch armor and8 i/4 inch guns......about 4 foot 4 inches long
