some people swear by a box and so did I doing exactly what you are proposing until a solenoid got stuck open and fried the insulation on a wire all the way inside the box. There was no way to repair it on the spot.....done for the weekend. If you are trying to eliminate failure points then this box is not the way.
Wires in the box could be made with a bigger gauge wire than outside. This way wires that would fry would be outside the box. I use 20 gauge with Xt30s to the solenoids, bump that up to 16 in the box Plus they are only short extensions coming from the board to the lid. Thus if something was to happen to a wire coming from the board, just take the top off, unplug the wires and default back to running the wires from each component to the board. The box is only being used to mount the receiver up higher and to help clean up some wires, not keep anything from getting wet. There will be a hole in each side and one on the top as well. The esc signal wire will come on through the side, a servo extension from the other, those 2 and the 3 from the multi board will then run up to the reciever through a hole in the top. I think the only thing would be the battery parallel adapter, which I already have a 2 battery one, I was planning for a 4 with the box. I can just keep backups there and be good. If I had to pop the top, I can default the reciever to bring attached to the side of the subdeck. Another way to look at it, is it's not even in a box. I'm just having short extensions off of the multiboard to add tags to keep things organized within the ship. Putting it in a box only hides them
Solder Sunday Drive Motor, Shorten up the pump lead, XT30 parallel wire for the duals, quad battery parallel adapter. Also make the short extensions to label coming off of the board for everything
In theory it's ready for water. Need the guns and air put in. Took a break from soldering to finish up the drive and steering upgrade. Still need to do the solenoid connection, and then I would be done. Do want to do a different battery connector to get it out of the way a bit more from the bottle, as well as being able to hook up 2 more batteries As Kas would say "It worked on the bench" Hopefully it will be buttoned up before the next battle.
Itemized lost of the things I still have to Reinforce the rudder servo mount (have the materials) Prop and rudder Shaft flats (just got to get a round tuit) Water channel the stern (will need the stuff, have 1/4" square balsa to make a frame. Drill new hole for pump outlet (need to figure out angling, 10 degrees off port and towards stern I do believe is what I want to do) Waterproof the parts of the ship I opened up (not sure how I am going to get at those areas) Mount the guns and solenoids (have guns, solenoids, hose and connectors, need to figure out mounting and get them in. I do want to solder the mags so they are 100% solid once in position) Finish the electronics box (Might just cut some strips of the 1/4" pvc sheet and e6000 each component down to one, then drill holes in the current bottom plate and zip tie them down.)
Work has started once more on the Baden. I now have something to cut with, sometime to get some stuff done Dont worry about the got glue gun, that's just temporary.
It's a mess, but it'll work. I have the esc e6000d to a plate that is bolted down on the main electronics plate. RX is zip tied to the lid that covers the multiboard, the lid is held down by a single magnet on the opposite side of the RX. I'm going to get some kind of clip to hold the antennas up on the edge of the subdeck. Did a full electronics check, hooked up all 4 solenoids and everything works. Still need to mount guns, run air lines, mount solenoids, file shaft flats, and cut and sheet casemates.
I finally got around to filing the flats on all the shafts. Decided to reduce my gear ratio from a 47t on the shafts to a 39. Should make fitting the motor easier. Waiting on that to get it all back in. While it's out I did pick up.some epoxy and hopefully today or tomorrow I will get the stern area filled in so it won't retain water. I've kind of lost the motivation to finish it. I haven't figured out at all how I want to/should go about mounting the guns, so I haven't did anything really since the I finished the electronics holder, which I might redo entirely as well.
All shafts are back in with flats filed and loctite on the set screws. Fill for the stern area behind the motor is currently setting up. Rudders still need epoxy filled in to hold the shaft, that will be done once I can flip the boat. Need to get a smaller gear for the motor but it'll work for now. Guns should be getting installed Sunday. Once that happens, weighing and ballasting can be done, and she should be ready for the first battle. Casemates still need to be cut and sheeted as well, but that can wait for a bit, need to get it on the water asap. Also need to change the drag props to bigger discs. Not sure exactly how I want to go about it, since the prop is moved back a bit from where it was.
So after some criticism, it looks like the pump mount is coming out ( already done, since it broke loose after trying to cut the bolts for the wood shorter) and probably also the drive setup. Not sure how I'm going to get that out though, will take some work. Will also need to redo the entire shaft assembly to make it longer to fit. And will need a new gearbox and motor mount that sits much lower, I am doubting a Traxxas gearbox is even short enough. I think I'll have to make my own where the motor meshes underneath the prop shaft, unless I go with a smaller prop to reduce the angle that was already installed when I got the boat. I think at this point I'm also going to take the rudders out and square them up as well. So much for having it on the water this year. 2022 looks much better. Maybe then it'll finally make it to a pond. It looks like to make progress at this point, I need to undo everything I've did. Might end up just selling the ship and leaving the hobby
Dude, get it on the water and battle her. Doesn't matter if it's not "the best" setup or anything like that. It can be crappy. Just get it on the water and battle. That's where you'll figure out what does (and doesn't) work, and how to build an effective boat. My first boat didn't have guns its first battle, it listed terribly and sank with just a few holes. Second battle it went dead in the water and got sunk. You know what tho, I learned from every one of those experiences and came back with better and better boats. It's a learning experience, man. And it all comes down to battling. So my advice, just throw it together. Get everything running, doesn't have to be great or even acceptable. Just get her so she drives, pumps, hopefully shoots, and go battle her. Take what you learn from battling and refine. Repeat. First boats suck. Always. Gotta get her on the water so you can progress past this. Trust me.
Rebuilding ships happens all the time. My first cruiser sucked. Was redone with guns air and electric. It was better. Then it got newer guns and a new deck. Then it got even better guns and a deck that actually stayed glued in. That’s when it got good. My first battleship sucked. Got new guns better water channel. Then more new guns. New electrical. New drive system. Then better rudders. Another deck install. I’d say I’ve built each ship 3+ times to get them the best they could be. Now my 4,5,6,7-16 ships started out in really good shape and needed a lot less reworking. It’s the way it works. Building without direct stand next to you help is hard. Taking advice or the forum is better. But some advice isn’t the best advice. It’s hard for a new guy to sort out. Also new guys fall into the thought that they’ll invent new stuff. Save that for later. Find the guy at the battle who is sinking other guys and helping other guys with their ships while not working on his. He knows what’s going on. Copy his stuff. Invent your own later on ship 3-4.
Almost had it on the water. Just needed guns installed, solenoids mounted, and then ballast it to make it battle ready. But felt defeating to be told what I did to get it to that point was wrong to do so. I don't think I was trying to invent anything. I used a BC gearbox and a pump mount I was told was fine before I put it in. But it was the location of where I put the motor mount that was a problem there, even though it would have taken a lot of reconstruction on the hull to fit the 2" prop I was told I'd want, and to use the BC gearbox where it needed to be. For the pump mlint it was fine, but than I was told it was too big and in the way, and was pretty much garbage. I guess I can say luckily it came out when I tried to cut the bolts down more, so now I can redo the pump mount 100% and get it right. As for the pump mount I have cut out a new peice and skeletonized it so to speak. I still have the old one that I can donthe same and keep the 4 bolts, but if the 3 bolt design here is good enough, than I should be easily able to squeeze the guns over on that side. Will need to move the motor back though so the one stern of the duals can make it to that side. The motor is in the way to have all 3 aft guns on one side.
In all of this stuff, there are a lot of ways that will work. when something works, please give it a try on the water and see how it works. We all do things a little differently and none is necessarily the right way. you know what they say about opinions... The WeeVee in my picture here is one I helped a friend build that I used at a Nats when he could not make it. I wanted to take what I learned and do better with one for me. I have built and rebuilt it several times and still was not happy with it at Nats. Being site host, I did not have time to practice much with it and so went with my small ship. It is a process. I will follow my own advice and get it on the water as is for the Fall battle here. Hope you can make it. Your pump and motor mounts looked good to go. For what it is worth, I do not bolt my pump down. I just make a square frame that it sits in and that has worked in 5 boats over 20 years. I had a lock down latch at first but did away with it - you could argue to add it back and I might. The rose box works well. Some changes may be necessary but a lot of "criticism" is just " I do it this way". Feel freee to say " huh ok " and move on. good luck and try not to get discouraged. Nate G Pres, IRCWCC
Quick post before leaving for work. Here's the speak now or forever hold your peice moment for the bildge pump mount. It hasn't been attached, so revision is still possible, and I do need tonget it coated, which I'll do once it's finalized. But once it's in, I don't want to hear about it unless I ask, lol. Version 3.75 of the original design. From what was previously installed, I have cut down the studs to just barely above the wood. I did use a fresh peice to make a skeletonized version of the holder as well, and took out one stud to make some more room for the gun mags, they should easily fit now. Since I have crappy spade bits to cut out the hole for the motor, it is a bit loose. I previously had a peice of wood going across the front 2 stufs to fully enclose it. But since the studs are much shorter, I added some smaller ones inboard and made a small peice of plastic to do the same job. I waa going to use rubber bands, but since I dont have any, would rather not have to keep a bunch on hand, as well as I have a ton of that plastic, I used that instead. To take the pump out, I just have to lift the one side up, and then spin it out of the way. I do need to swap sides, as right now it will spin towards the discharge hole. Nothing that can't be fixed when I reassemble it after coating the wood. But it holds the pump in tights, and makes up for the egg shape the spade bit cuts. I think it should work just fine, but I'd rather post now and give some time to hopefully get criticism now, before it gets epoxied back in. But I guess now that I have an Oscillating tool, it would be easier to get at if I should need to cut it back out. (even though the tool is quite bulky.) The big task still is that I need to get the guns in, but also need to resolder some points on it, mostly where the air hooks into the magazine so they point the right way. Im going to try amd keep the motor where it is, if I can't get the guns in, than the motor mount needs to come out, and the entire shaft assembly redone, and will need to rework that entire section of the hull. Being a slow ship it definitely should have a gearbox for the torque, especially using a brushed motor to start with.
This is the only picture I have before the v 3.75. I'd call it v 1.9, as I did have the bolts cut down a lot from how they are in this picture before I installed it, but not as much as they are now.
Thanks. I just put the first coat of spar varnish on it. I may remake it out of the pvc though, would be a bit thinner, and waterproof from the get go. While I'm waiting, I also mixed up a little bit of epoxy and filled the rudders. If it's one skill I am glad I get to improve on from being in this hobby, it's using epoxy. It was always a scary thing to me, and I would either use a putty or shoe goo (e6000 works too, just shoe goo was a little more flexible in Rc truck bodies so the repairs lasted a bit longer, so always had that instead of e6000). But after using a few of the cheap 2 in one popsicles as I started calling them (push up the stick and out comes the epoxy) and then mixing up the 5 minute stuff to fill in the motor area so it doesn't retain water, I'm feeling much better about continuing on with better stuff eventually
