Lil Scharnie winter of 2012 refit

Herr Bob was right, I guess I couldn't stop myself from being Axis That and while I know that people have yet to sign up for Nats and that some will switch sides between now and then... I cannot imagine that the Axis will be close to even with the Allies by July. Which will make Nats more fun if you're Axis. Additionally, the IRCWCC has changed the Nats date to June. With my wife's gracious permission, I get to go to BOTH Natses in 2013!! So, going to both Natses, it'll be less stress to drive Lil Scharnie, much easier to maintain than my battleship. And so Scharnie gets a refit, and a pretty, new carrying crate that I'm making with my new dovetail jig and router
Refit items: brushless drive, new decks, new pump (old one finally died, I blame bad maintenance), new dual stern guns, new rudder, more superstructure. Also, the hull does not have all the stringers it should (hard to believe, I know...) and that will be remedied. The locals are learning where the soft spots are!
Pics to follow, using the new Ipad with it's much-nicer-than-my-cellphone camera.
*Allied friends - I've already put a rule on my gmail account that autodeletes the Allied list messages until Brian K gets back to town and can remove me. I will go on to honorable victory, or honorable defeat. No espionage.
**Funny thing is, 'keep driving Scharnie' was the heartfelt advice from two of my Allied friends, TimK and Lou. Thanks, guys!
For those who haven't seen Scharnie... This was at MWC Nats 2012 before the detail was violated heinously

 

No pics yet. but I noticed that the old subdeck (original to the first build) had separated from the hull in several places. So OMG the old subdeck is out. A little more work but it'll make it easier to add the stringers that need added. Also helping improve the maintainability of the stern section.

Thus far the only survivors of the original build are the BC gearbox, driveshaft and stuffing tube, and the rudder post. While I have the subdecks out, I saw that putting in good water channeling will be easier to do sans-subdeck. So that's getting done today while I'm doing the stringers.

 

She WAS looking great I am uploading pics from my Ipad; she's been gutted to rebuild her stronger and better (but no faster, there's a speed limit) than before.

 

Below is Lil scharnie with most of her guts ripped out. The stern subdeck will also be going the way of the dodo; the wood was not the highest quality in the first place, and the new subdecks will be better installed and cut to fit a little tighter. What a difference a few years makes, ja? The red stuff in the hull is silicon that held down the old water channeling. The crap wood in the middle is there to hold the hull at its proper width (14.9cm if you're curious).

More! I relaized at some point that I could've had more stringers, and with even the local 9-yr old captain learning where to shoot me, I decided that I would install those stringers. I suppose I could always learn to drive like a cruiser captain instead of hanging out in the middle of the furball, but where's the fun in that? I have thoughtfully circled the added stringerage in RED. Note that I didn't get a stringer in that one center window; that's because the rules state that the stringer can extend one (and one only, Vassily) rib past where a 'feature' ends. I decided that the big casement amidships probably didn't count as a 'casement deck', and thus no stringer extension into the window there. So that lonely window will bravely face enemy fire stringerless. The solid area above the dual-stringered section (above the middle red circle) would normally have to be cut to be only 1/4" tall, but it's more than 1/2" back from the edge and is thus all solid.

Below, you can see how I fitted the 1/8" ply to the forward window that needed a stringer. In this pic, it's just tacked in place with CA glue. I later went back and added some wood braces above and below, using West System to secure it all. Later, I will run a few layers of fine fiberglass along the ribs to really hold it good. **In this view, the stringer and some of the ribs look really thick, because they're thicker on the inside than on the outside. This is because the BC hull is as thick as 1/2" in places, especially where the casements and casement decks are. Very tricky to lay up, hats off to their fiberglass guy. But the facing surface is 1/8" and tapers inward. The local Allies have inspected her unsheeted and are fine with the work.

Still deciding which solenoids to use, Clippard or Kip. Got spares of each (a prime consideration for me, gotta have at least one spare in the box). The kips are a little smaller, but the Clippards flow more gas. Weight is pretty much a waash, I think. I'll post weights this afternoon. The Kips can run on 6V, the Clippards won't open at less than 12V. Not a big deal as I can run 14.4V batteries and had been thinking about it, although running my 7.2V's would mean no new battery purchases. But I'm still undecided.

I got the forward subdeck traced out last night, will be cutting and fitting it today, as well as stringers on the stbd side. Still deciding on gun arrangement: dual sterns, dual bows, or one in each (my previous setup). Feel free to opine More to follow!

 

I think you guys are going to pick up a fast battleship or two. I do feel some bad for switching, but its not like I'm doing it the week before Nats I do know a few secrets, but nothing will be revealed. As I posted above, I fight to honorable victory or honorable defeat. The secrets I know are mainly 'surprise' ships that will be immediately obvious when they show up at Nats. No deep strategy stuff. Pete D will be unhappy that I'm not showing up (Allied)
with my convoys though.

But from what the hardcore who did both Nats last year told me, POW would probably be too much for me at two Nats. Scharnie is manageable. Mostly.

I got the forward subdeck cut out and fitted today. Spent more time planning layout and moving crap around than I did cutting and fitting. I think this will be my design yet for ease-of-maintenance. I also decided to stick to fore-and-aft guns, and I will be using Kips to fire them, because even though they're heavier, they're more compact, which allows for some neat packaging, which will be revealed later. It also simplifies the electrical system, never a bad thing.

 

Was going to do the stringers on the stbd side today, but I got all ecited over subdecks... So I traced the hull on a sheet of pretty 1/4" birch plywood, cut it out, and then sliced a little off each side on the stern part. This is how I do the subdeck fitting. I'm sure there are other, better ways to do this, too.In the pic below, you can see the tail end of the subdeck fits between the sides of the hull, but that the stuff where it spreads out in the middle (like so many of us do) doesn't slide between the sides of the hull. Must trim these!!!

And so, after much cutting and sanding and more sanding and yet more sanding... You see the forward subdeck below. The ship is 15cm wide, counting balsa on both sides, well withing the 1/8" beam allowance (from 14.9cm). The forward subdeck isn't epoxied in yet, as I want to get the stbd side stringers in, and get the stern subdeck cut out and fitted, so I can do both subdecks at once.

Below is a top view of the back end of the hull, showing the layout as it stands now. The rudder servo mount will be replaced; the wood is really aging! The BC gearbox and homemade stuffing tube stay, along with the shaft and prop. New gears are coming, although I've got standard 2.5:1 gears mounted for testing. The piece of PVC pipe is standing in for the pump. The seemingly-large space between the pump and drive motor is to allow for channeling, screen house, and ease of maintenance. The CO2 bottle is on a temp mount but is where it goes. The LiPO battery fits lengthwise along the centerline, above the water channel.

Final pic is the front end; the tape on the bottle indicates that it is one that Brian Koehler left in my shop. The barely-visible circle of silver Sharpie ink indicates where the forward turret is (and thus where I need room for the bow gun to stick down.

Time is getting tight around the holidays, but I am going to try to sneak out to the shop and get the stern subdeck fitted, and the stbd stringers done.

 

3.5oz tank is plenty. I could probably fit a 5oz tank but not much point (and I've only got one 5oz tank right now).

 

Honestly, I almost ordered a new hull to start fresh with. But $130+S/H is a good chunk of the money I'll need for hotel rooms And the existing hull has an emotional bond and glorious battle history (ok, some not-so-glorious, too)

Wait'll you see the travel box I'm building with my Christmas presents Dovetailed corners!

 

I will build the Frau one day soon. I have 3 Deutschland class PDN hulls that need finishing so I can put them up for sale to help pay for going to 2 Natses. After that, we shall see. But Frau Blucher will hit the water at some point. Tempted by Georgios Averoff, too. I pray Averoff survives the present Greek financial crisis intact.

 

Blows my mind that we can blow $500k studying the sexual habits of snail in the mojave, but can't spare $500k to Olympia. Anyhow, I will get back to posting on Scharnie-related topics.

Thanks to Absolutek (my roomie for IRC Nats next year), I now have some fabulous plans of Scharnie and will be adding some nice topside detail.