Silkspan is on and Hull Red applied. The barrels are painted, as is the stern bollard. The above waterline white will be applied once the red dries.
One of these days, I will learn how to sheet properly... My pump outlet doubles as a porthole on deck one. Head on before the paint touch-ups and the barrels taped in place. Top view from the bow And side view
Do it! I even ended up getting a pint of Buff paint for any other members of the Great White Fleet who may need it (cough, Mark, cough). Next up are anchors and anchor chain, I just need to decide if I am going to put the anchors in the as built or ca. 1905 location...
You know, a couple of years ago I saw some artwork where somebody did a steampunk inspired version of Space Battleship Yamato type ships. I learned one thing, everything looks good in white & buff. Back on topic: Waterline tape is on, anchor chains and anchors are attached (in the 1905 location), and the first float test was successful. I need about 9 lbs 9 oz to float at the scale waterline, so I am going to shoot for a completed weight of about 8 lbs 9 oz to give me wiggle room for adjusting the trim. So I think I am going to add 1.5 lbs of lead shot to the bilge before I add in the self leveling sealant.
So I put in the 24 oz of shot in the bilge and began to lay in the polyurethane sealant. I really had to force to get it to come out. When it did it had the consistency of old toothpaste. I am pretty sure I got the right stuff (Loctite S20), so I think I have a bad tube... Well enough building for this three-day weekend. Off to bed!
It's looking absolutely spectacular Dustin. I've also opened a new tube of that polyurethane and had it be bad, so it happens.
Thanks Mark. My sheeting job was not so great, and the super structure is slightly out of alignment by about 2 degrees to port, and I had some issues with the paint crackling on the deck/level one piece and turret due to my three year old spar varnish not curing, but at 10 feet it is hard to notice. I picked up another tube of sealant and will lay that in tonight. I also got to thinking about mixing throttles for differential thrust and realised that the v-tail mixer from the Popov was sitting there not being used, so I think I will waterproof it and go with that for this build. If I do anything with the Popov, I'll get another mixer.
The sealant has cured, so back to work on the boat. I started installing internals, but ran into a slight problem. According to the instructions from Mtroniks, if running two ESCs and no receiver battery, you are supposed to clip the red wire on the lead for one of the ESCs. So I took a 6" servo lead extension and clipped the red wire, hooked everything up to my v-tail mixer and nothing on the ESC that has the clipped red wire. OK. I then connected only that ESC, skipping the clipped extension, and it worked. Hmm. Next check the Y-harness on my battery. That works. Checked the power switch on both ESCs, nothing. Then I took a Y servo adapter, hooked up the clipped extension, and rand the ESCs in parallel. same thing. Next I hooked one up to the throttle channel and one with a clipped extension to the rudder channel. Again, same thing. Right now I am a little stumped. The probes on my multi tester are not small enough to test the black and white leads on the clipped extension, but I am at a loss on what to do next. Thoughts? Edit: OK I tested the clipped lead. Thinking about going one ESC and no differential thrust for now.
The Floating Drydock and Maryland Silver Company have these. Be warned: they are almost impossible to read and this ship is VERY tiny in 1/144 scale. Only 1.33" keel to deck.
Progress tonight: The pump is wired, and the internals are 80% installed. I still need to put in the internal armor, fabricate a bracket for the CO2 Safe switch, fabricate a line well for my recovery float, and see if it is possible to add a depression servo. Oh, I put in a deck seal this week but forgot to mention it. I ran a full systems test, and apart from making some fine adjustments on my radio, everything worked without too much of a fuss! (Once I went to one ECS that is) There was a small CO2 leak that was easily fixed once I tracked it down by filling the hull with water. If I stay on schedule, sea trials will happen this weekend, just five weeks since first wood cut!!! I'm 95% sure I'll be ready for the battle in three weeks.
Sea trials have been run. I will need to run at 12V to acheive speed . I am a little stern heavy (expected) so I will need to add about 12 oz of ballast forward.Turning is not too bad with the tiny rudder. [
The depression servo was a no go. There just wasn't enough play in the tubing due to how short the gap between the risers and barrels had to be to fit the barrels in scale location. I've got two little things to knock out, then I'll call this one done until my new battery pack arrives.
