Mark, James, thank you for your kind words. Mark, I say yes if you can shoot me "between the eyes" without putting one out. James, as the resident pre-dread historian do you have any information on the filigree/detail/ crest/eagle/thingy on the bow of the breakwater?
So I finished a project at work today and my boss gave me the rest of the day off! I took advantage of the time and ordered some clippard stuff, three PERS and a relay from Hansen Hobbies, and 1 ml of Loctite 680 retaining compound to attach my stainless steel riser tubes to my brass breech. That makes all of my components ordered! I also painted my launches, so actual progress before 5PM.
I don't know that the monitors were equipped with anything more fancy than the simple shield. Not every ship had fancy work beyond that. Olympia did not get hers until after the Battle of Manila Bay IIRC, while Texas had it from day one.
***WARNING!*** GRAPHIC CONTENT AHEAD! I'M IN THE BUFF! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO LOOK AWAY!!!! SOME THINGS CANNOT BE UNSEEN! I tried to warn you....
looking good! ummm anyone else see the ninja monkey head formed out of the velcro straps in the background or am I going insane?
After being out of town for a week, my Strike order, Loctite 680, Hansen Hobbies order, and solenoid came in. I need to make a run to Radio Shack for a diode and the hardware store for a few fasteners, then I will have all needed supplies in hand. I hope to get some shop time in and make some serious progress this weekend.
The diode for the relay was included, but the PERS do not include one whereas the NERS does. The solenoid is rated at 1W, so that should be easy to find at the local Shack.
Today I got the solenoid wired up to the PERS and diode, a rudder servo mount fabricated waterproofed and installed, rudder installed and linkage done, wired the motors up to the ESCs, and set up the ESCs individually in the throttle channel. I spent some time reading about mixing until my head hurt, then decided to make some pretty:
Got some busy items knocked out this afternoon: The water channel is narrowed, the pump mount and outlet is done and I reinforced the cannon mounting. Weight at this point with all of the components is sitting at 6lbs 6.4oz. I will have to add ballast and will wait to lay down the self-leveling sealant until I have that done, so I can add lead shot between the ribs to keep the weight low in the boat.
James, Thanks! More work accomplished: My bottle bracket is fabricated, then it and the water channel narrowing inserts (patent pending) were sealed with yet more finish grade epoxy. My balsa had the interior silkspan applied with a 50/50 mix of MEK and Weldwood, and I finally figured out how I was going to make the deck 2-3 "hatch" removable and not move around if hit by shot (a very likely possibility). Now I am off to wire a Y-harness for my drive battery and cap and wire the pump. Speaking about that pump, it will be on its own power source and will not be connected to the receiver, should I still cap it? Ill be running 2.4Ghz and is is activated by the receiver sending a signal to a solid-state switch, which activates a relay which is connected to a separate battery pack.
Ok, I changed my mind for tonight's activities. I started thinking about ballast and decided I really need to do a float test, but the only thing preventing me from performing a float test was getting the boat sheeted. So I sheeted the boat instead of working on wiring. And I must say, this was the most difficult sheeting job I have ever performed including my Gustav and Richelieu (which was my first sheeting job ever). At the turn of the bilge and 1" mark I had almost nothing to adhere to and I split the balsa many times trying to get it to make the bend.
