Nothing special to update. I did finally get around to putting my rubber switch cap things on. Not sure if I ever posted but I did put in the self centering left stick. Just need to bump it down when turning on, but it works fine. Also put on my black sticks instead of the pink the x version comes with. For the caps I put blue on the switch for my pump. I want to get 1 more color to replace one of the blacks though so as can color coordinate switches. Right now the rest have no use though, so not in a hurry there. I did get a phone holder so I could leave a timer up on my phone, but it doesn't come complete I guess, there is a 3d printable file they dont include, or let you know you need, that you have to use to mount the kit. I'll probably find a cheap digital timer on Amazon and figure out a way to mount it instead though. I also am redoing the cross pattern for the right stick, I want to make it easily removable, and have it have all 4 ways open. Last one was just wood with 3, tacked down with some e6000. Came off easily, but I think I'm going to use some kind of plastic as well as magnets or a couple nuts and bolts (bolt up through the plastic of the transmitter and cross pad thing, and a small but to keep it on. Probably e6000 or epoxy the bolt so it doesnt spin.)
No progress to update on. have a plan of attack on the casemates, turret caps, and deck sections. However those are not important until I get the guns working. Seems it's something I cannot accomplish, as I spent about 8 hours today screwing with 1 gun, and could not get any kind of consistency, let alone it to shoot a single BB. Always a massive spurt.
Were they commercial (BS or otherwise) cannons? (I find those usually work - when we build them ourselves there are lots of little things to look out for that can cause spurting, depending on the design). I would keep working on things to get her completely built (worst case, you would bring it to your first battle and one of the vets could help run through things to get them working.... my first ship I actually drove all the way to Florida to a battle without the cannons installed. I checked into the same hotel as the others, tucked my family into bed, then went over to another room and two veterans (Charley and Tony) held me mount and finish the cannons so I could battle the next day!)
They are brand new BC cannons, yes. I'm at the point I've spent so much time trying to get them to fire. I've tried to get local help from veterans to no avail, was suppose to ge them mounted and firing at a special build day, but that didn't pan out. Got them mounted myself, but of course they don't fire right, and like I've said, spent 8 hours screwing around with one to not get it to work. I'm frustrated enough that I'm about to just toss the ships in with the trash and be done with the hobby
I feel your pain man, I’m fortunate enough that I have a experienced builder within 20mins of me but am usually too busy to make it over to build with him like I used to as a single man. It would be awesome if you could post a video. I have a feeling though since the gun is atleast firing in spurts it has to do with your piston height in the t-fitting. It must be too low so it needs to be turned in some more to raise the piston height. I’d also verify with no bb’s in the magazine that when you shoot the gun you hear the piston moving up and down when you shoot air.
I wouldn't do that! (it will probably turn out to be one small thing thing you did not yet now to check, but that you were doing everything else perfectly correct - same as the process many of us went through) Let me ask about your firing setup: 1) I assume you have a CO2 tank and fill station, so you keep your bottle full? -- I ask as when a bottle gets low it can get hard to adjust AND sometimes not have enough flow to hold the piston.... sppppurrtt! ;-) 2) Are you hooking them up to a solenoid to fire them? -- or are you using MAV's mechanical valves and manually pushing them to test fire the cannons? (sorry if you've covered this in earlier post - I saw 13 pages in this thread and was too intimidated to read through that many, lol ;-) I bet we can get to the bottom of this (and/or easily set up a video meet using ZOOM, or the BC Discord channel, and do a "virtual build session" to get some extra eyes on the issue) BrianK
I'm using my air compressor at 150psi. Using solenoids. I made up a test button thing I can hook into a battery and hook into the solenoid. It definitely seems like a piston height issue with the cap. But it's either full spurt or nothing firing at all, and I haven't been able to find a sweet spot, sometimes one spot will spurt, adjust it and it quits firing, go back past that spot and it still doesn't fire. I figured it would be just easy enough to slowly turn the cap until it fires once from not firing or spurt firing, but it doesn't seem like there is a specific spot that works. The mags are soldered onto the T, so the option of checking via that spot isn't an option. I think my best bet at this point it to sell it or send it to someone who knows what they are doing to finish it up. Shipping is going to suck, but I do get 4 day weekends so a road trip, while probably ending upnmore expensive, could be arranged.
Do you have magnets installed? If not, glue some on like pictured. Now screw the cap all the way up tight. Drop one BB down the magazine and slowly unscrew the bottom cap till you hear the BB fall in. Unscrew just a little more, maybe 1/4 turn, and test in that position. If it works lock the cap with some CA. If it still spurts, pinch the magazine air supply tube and see if that fixes the spurt.
I imagine he does (he mentioned they were BC cannons - and missing springs usually slows down fire rate, or in rare cases slips up with the piston and jams it in the upright position) I don't know if Wdodge already did what Beaver suggested, but that is the best way to go. I might modify it to: 1) remove barrel and o-ring (bb's will come out but no force - easier while testing piston operation) 2) pinch-close the secondary hose running up to near the fill port on the magazine - just checking to make sure gas going in bottom of tee (if all to magazine, all you get is spurt and pressure problems like you described) 3) Tighten bottom nut all the way - roll 1 bb' down magazine and make sure it does NOT go into tee *you could tip cannon forward/down and make sure bb'd does not roll up the uptube and out the top ***if bb comes out, then piston is too short (not likely w/ BC cannon) or perhaps something is stopping turning nut all the way up Put another bb in the magazine 4) holding cannon level again, unscrew the bottom nut until you hear the bb drop/roll into the tee (then turn a little bit more, perhaps 1/4 turn like Beaver suggested *you can do the tip forward to see if bb rolls out test if you want to make sure the piston lowered enough and bb went in 5) now put 10-15 bb's in the magazine and see if firing will roll one bb out the top with each firing ***note, if nothing fired (insufficient gas flow) with the magazine supply hose pinched close, we'll take a look to make sure gas is getting into the cannon from the bottom of the tee (I did suddenly realize that if all the CO2 was trying to feed past the bb's in the magazine, it would not lift the piston (spurt) and also reduce pressure (all the bb's) such that you would not be able to tweak the cannons. Also, like I mentioned, I would be willing (or other veterans I am sure) to try a video phone chat while tweaking (can see and hear your work) sometime. Earlier in the "time of the COVID" we even had a "virtual build session" with several of our SAS (southeast captains) members logging in while we all worked on boats. BrianK
The last video on this post covers setting piston height https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/building-an-rc-warship-videos.446640/
A few other things not mentioned in the video (I think) - I would start my unscrewing the end cap, remove the piston and spring. Take a picture of that stuff and post it here to help T/S. Piston should be about 5/8” long total, stainless steel. The symptoms you describe make it seem like piston is too short. Check the t with a flashlight for any abnormalities. With gun inverted, put piston and spring back in gun, cycle piston by hand making sure it doesn’t bind- if it does, drill the t out with 3/16” bit, use q tips to remove shavings from t and up tube/elbow. Roll bb through t and out up tube to verify clear path. Disconnect hose from solenoid, blow through the hose and verify air flow into base of mag cap - if obstructed, drill out 1/16” bit and retest. Once that is all done / verified, reassemble, screwing end cap all the way up, then back off end cap as described above and in video. I use very small increments, as shown. This process should identify or fix the issues you describe.
I'm just gonna shelf it until I can get some in person help. gonna try to make a trip come April, on one of my 2 weekends off (4 day weekends every toher now that I'm on first) and if all else fails, I should hopefully be able to get some help pondside come May battles at the GLAS pond
so, I took a stab at the other stern. and guess what, got it to fire. guess i should have worked on that one first. I still want an expert to take a look at it before I commit the glue on the cap. but it fires one single BB per push of the button. I did mark it with a sharpie, and wont touch it. However, I took a gander at my mounting, and wanted to make a change, to cut down on the amount of zip ties holding it all together. Since the guns were loose anyways, figured now is a good time. went to do so and they aim up so looks like I need to redo a lot more than I had anticipated. Probably need to get longer uptubes, as they are cut too short to really move the guns around. I have some so I'm gonna look at using those. I'm about to head back out, going to make a plug for the hookup where the sterns go and test the sidemounts. EDIT: As the plug was drying, I worked on the working gun getting it mounted, and so far it shoots. Now just to work on the other one. I might just switch out to one of the guns I have for the Deutschland for now.
It fell apart, The guns were still hit or miss whether they would fire or not, and the pump wasn't reliable. The way the wing side mounts sat in the boat, you had to twist the deck to get it in, which slowly bowed the hull outwards. that in turn slowly broke away the subdeck. the weight of the deck and everything on it sitting on a fraction of the lip put extra stress on it and it slowly broke away. It was too the point that the deck didn't have anything to sit on, either it was broke away, or the hull was bowed outwards too much. I did try my hand at fixing it, and did get the deck to sit again, as well as an extra cross piece to keep the hull from bowing outwards again. I also went to change the gun layouts, instead of the wing turrets being side mounts and the stern being a stern, I was going to make the bow and stern side mounts, and the aft wing turret a stern gun, I started by taking apart the bow turret and the cap, barbette, superstructure, and deck were all put together to make up that section, like it had all been pieced together. I had already bought the Baden well before starting on the work on the Australia, so I traded the Australia for a boat I later sold, since the Australia needed a lot more work than the Baden did. I was doing everything I had to do to Baden, and then some, minus mounting the motors. I didn't think it would take 2 or so years to get a boat going. I've been slow at it, but also do need some help on things I am unfamiliar with, such as the guns. I've tried my best, and at least right now as the Baden sits, it has mounted 1 stern for sure working, 2 side mounts I need to get out and test, and all the other electronics and everything ready to go. Literally getting the guns working and mounted have been the hang up for over a year now. I replaced the shaft and put a bigger prop on the ship, put the motor mount in (to which some say was the wrong spot) but I did them myself. I also filled in the void under the new shaft so it wouldn't hold water in the back, to help with the water channeling and the pump. I made a pump mount and got that mounted securely, with a way i came up with so I didn't have to put holes in the bottom and worry about a possible leak. It is also quickly removable as well. I also replaced the rudders and the rudder system with a gear system for more travel instead of just 2 arms. I used a 3d printed part I designed and mocked up with cheap plywood, and had a local printer print it for me. I also drew up the c02 and battery holder that i am using in the boat and had the local print shop print that as well. I got some brass fittings for air and made a manifold that works to hook up the solenoids, and got them mounted. the last 3 things the ship needs to battle is working guns, the guns covered with tubing to protect from dings, and then casemates cut and sheeted. that's it.
worked a bit yesterday on the gun with the issue. It needs a good angle on the T to get it to work properly. With the current up tube, it won't work to fit into the ship as it's too short. Too long of an up tube to get a good angle, and it won't fit into the ship, the height of the T hits the bottom of the hull. Replacing the up tube would need to be done entirely at this point, which I have started on with a spare I have, but I'm going to see if there is something else I can do first before I really start messing with that.
Hey, that's progress - I've found that about 15 degrees is a sweet spot for down angle on the magazine. You should have room in the back end of a baden, but yeah, it can be tough sometimes. Hang in there, you'll get it done.
Update on Baden, it was sent to rehab back in May, it completed treatment, and just needs the fair to get home now.
