Sounds like a successful first battle. Well done! Perhaps try 1" props to decrease the turning radius. It will cost some accel and decel, but on a lightweight ship like the Mog, it won't be hardly any. Dave R in Florida found a nice 16'ish gram refillable cartridge system that is lightweight and refillable ... perfect for destroyers. I'll try to contact Dave and get the info for here. Another way to save gas is to talk to Mark (of laser cut kits fame) and see if he has released his dwell timer switch. The switch can be set to limit how long it is "on" which can significantly lower the amount of wasted gas. Our cannons actually need a small amount of gas to fire a round and our thumbs (even mine) are too slow to release the button quickly. Oh, that particular triple bow VU is a mean sucker, isn't it?
Dave was at NAT's and had that cartridge. It was a 12 gram. I'd have to modify it a bit to fit the reg. Might be a viable option. That dwell switch would be an advantage. On the prop size and turn radius, believe me, I had no problem getting out of other battlers way as a few Axis captains can attest to. The real issue with the Mog was that swamp they call a battle pond. The park pushed us to an out of the way part of the lake this year and it was just about totally mossed out except for some thin swatches along the shore. Didn't leave much room for the Mog to run away too.
I can vouch for how pesky that Moggy can be. Tuesday's Campaign battle I was driving an Altmark (German tanker / convoy ship). This little wasp kept buzzing around and stinging me. I tried to chase it down to get it the "rammed convoy, go to shore" penalty, but no way was a 34 second tanker with a 15' turning circle gonna catch him. Well done Steve! I never would have guessed that was your debut battle in a brand new boat. Jeff
And as far as the moss goes, it was only a problem for ships with .00000000000000000000000001 Gross horse power. The Mogador was always in the moss at the edge of the pond and stuck burning out his main power plant, or zipping around keeping out of harms way (as he should). Good job Steve, that little thing is very hard to hit.
How did you like the TiteBond for holding the silkspan on? I like your speed loaders. Very neat idea.
So far I'm still liking the Titebond. I'll be using the method on my next boat but will probably experiment with thicker applications to increase water tightness. I thought the balsa was getting a little to soft by the end of the day. Steve
Steve don't listen to Ron, the holes you were taking last week are exactly what I like to see on the other fleet! (complete with nice chucks of balsa to help cog the pump screen) Also wasn't your hull skin a couple of years old? That can reduce the performance as well, especially if you left it in a warm or dry area. (On the fireplace mantle is pretty bad) Take a more Zen approach, accept the BB, be one with the BB, and resheet right before NATS!
Wet balsa, old dry balsa, oh the confusion! FYI, due to the dearth of targets for the Axis to shoot at this past NAT's, I've decided to re-shelve the VU and build something with more of an Allied bent. I've already got a hull lined up. Who wants to be a bored axis looking for non-existent targets when they can be a harried allied with a line of bb sponges stretching to the horizon? Steve "Pass the Pussers" Tyng
What...no French!!! What happened??? There seems to be a sudden influx of QE's being built. Tuggy is building one, Brian K is too. Plus I think VVaholic is building one or two. They sound like a pretty tough ship though, so maybe that is a good thing. Beware Axis balsa. Are you going to do a wood build or fiberglass?
I was all excited about QE until 3 or 4 more people started building one. I-boat is getting refitted (only one on the water in Region 3), and Evstafi will be in use also.
