Same for me, I started this new job 2.5 years ago, and got 2.5 more till I get another week of payed vacation. Then I was thinking about the IRC Nats, 2 weeks in a row, sounds like fun.
Well all here she is, the mighty PE, baddest class 4 afloat. With all the high tech improvements that I could think of. 1. Concrete patch water channeling, really improved the stability with the weight down low. 2. Differential rudder steering, tight turns at high speed with no loss of speed in the turn, very nice. 3. Gun control, independant firing of the tripple cannons, or all at once. 4. Light weight scrap, missle, aircraft modeling resin superstructure, very strong. 5. 2 Secret improvements. Cannot discuss at this time, top secret. Well here she is, in all her glory. Next on the list the IJN Kumano starting week after next.
How did you set up the differential steering to work? How much does it help? Looks good, I like it. Especially the identical barrels, I can't tell which ones are armed.
Looking really sharp! As usual, clean ont he outside and the inside. And I like the green as well, which was one thing that always gets me about the Austro-Hungarian ships. All those casemate guns, I love it! Here's the refit finally finished on Fuso:
Yes the green is a nice change of pace, I think the red waterline complements the green and grey perfectly. I need something as barrels for the casemates. I rem seeing John's boat at Nats, and he had some kind of 1/8 dia rubber, so that when you came alongside, the barrels did not break off.
Gorgeous ship. Great clean work of the superstructure..perfect for RC combat. EXCELLETN 5 stars!! I got my work cut out for me.
Over time I can add the 2 masts, and 2 gun directors, but besides that all its really missing are all the search light platforms, and the boat storage rails. I have no plans on adding those.
Well that was my plan, they look like they will hit a hull at 14 to 15 inches, and waterline at about 18. I plan on just doing a high speed run at the target, and then turns to avoid getting hit. I will have to see how well it works. First battle is next weekend. Most people will not expect it I think. She turns at just about her lenght, at max speed with no drop off in speed. Well I'm off to another build session at Rick's tomorrow, Its nice when the wife keeps going out of town on the weekend.
Well Atleast some of us will know what to expect from your ship, but I am sure it will still catch even us off guard. See ya next Friday David.
WOW, I will say again, WOW. I have never had so much fun in this hobby. The PE is doing great. Those who say bow guns are a mistake are soooooo wrong. They may not work well in a WWII due to the high bow, but a WWI Dread is perfect for them. The last 2 days, I have done nothing but sail right up the the targets, and just blast away with the triples. They try to turn away, and I just follow then around, and keep firing. The class 6's one on one so far are like shooting fish in a barrel. When they come after me, I just get into a turning circle with them, wait till their speed bleeds off, while mine stays high due to the differential rudder control, then just run away for like 15 ft or so, and then do a tight turn, and I'm right back on them again. I did get ram sunk yesterday by Dons NC, but I put plenty of rounds into him. My new home made (helps to own a lathe) outlet and pump combo is pumping 4.8 GPM, so BB dam is not bothering her much at all, the big ram hole did slowly over around 3 mins or so, overcome the pump, and she very slowly went down on a even keel. Yesterday they were tag teaming me, since we only had 5 ships on the water, so I did take quite a bit of BB damage. Today with 10 ships, I was hit with a total of 6 BB's in 4 complete sorties. And helped sink 7 ships total. What fun. I think the Roma may go into retirement. No one expects me to shoot at them from the front, even the guys who have read all the posts, say they keep expecting me to turn around before I start firing at them. What fun. We must of had 20 + visitors today, we think we may actually pick up 3 or 4 of them as battlers. And they all live right here in Florida. A couple of them want to build the VDT as their first boats, they have been researching the BC site, and wanted to attend a battle before buying a boat, so we will have to see.
Sounds like you exceeded all the predictions, Dave. Great job! How useful was the fire control board? Did you use the single-shot feature very often, or were you mostly shredding? Your 4.8GPM pump has me intrigued. Did you make the housing and impeller yourself, or did you buy them, and if so then where from? What motor did you use? What's the current draw on that? What's so special about the outlet? Do you have any photos of the pump or the components? Most of the bilge pumps in my club can move about 2-3GPM through a 1/4" outlet. You're moving twice that through a 1/8" outlet, and I'd like to know how. I'm hoping to improve the survivability of the transports I'm building. If you don't want to post classified technology here then please PM me.
I only used the fire control to see where the bbs hit with the first or second shot, then blasted away. I think it will be the most usefull to the the ships with different size magazines. Ricks new Lutzow has 1, 50, and 1, 75 pointed in the same direction, so he can single fire the 75. I just use the standard pump that BC sells. I made the outlet on my lathe to correct a problem that I saw when using the outlets from BC, and Swampy. They both have a problem or 2, with either moving water, or operation. I just fiqured out how to correct for the issues with Don's help and input. Any motor on average will move 30 to 40% more water by themselves using my new outlet, or either correct the hose issue. I made the hose end barbed, so the hose cannot come off. And I found a different motor, that uses 4 more amps, than the Stinger that most of us use, which again increases the flow by a additional 20 to 25%. Both Don and myself has confirmed the 4.8 GPM with independant testing. With enough water in the PE, it shoots a solid stream of water out of the horizontal port mounted 1 inch or so above the waterline out about 16 ft before it drops the inch or so and hits the water. But it only runs on average 5 to 10 seconds and the boat is dry again. Hope this helps.
Dave E had his VU with triple sterns mounted, he was able to turn a hair better than mine, but looses about all his forward momentum in the tight turn, while I keep turning at about 2/3 speed I would say, and had no problem staying away from him. He commented on it today, that I was the only one that he could not hit, unless it was a suprise shot, where I was concentrating on someone else. We can't wait till they put us on the same side, we think anyone we want to sink will go down between us. I was able to hit him with making a complete turn anytime I wanted too. My motor is a Titan, made by Traxxis, same as the Stinger. You have to be careful, since traxis makes 2 motors called Titan, one a 12T, and one a 22T. Its $22.79 Visit this site Todays battle report. I fixed the center gun that was having firing issues the last 2 days, so all 3 were firing great today. By myself I was able with very little help, sink Pete's KG5 class 6, twice. While at the same time avoiding a Lion, I-boat, and a Chester CL that were all trying to assist the KG5. He was my target, and he was able to hit me with a side mount once. I ended up with a total of 12 hits over the 2 scoring sorties from the other boats, they just cannot keep up with my turning ability. With the left over BB's I shredded Mike Richeleu pretty well, it had nice large holes in it. Maybe Mike will post the dam for us. Everyone is having issues remembering that I fire the trips forward, while at the same time since the PE is hard to tell which way it is going from the balanced look of the ship. And to top it off my outlet sprays the water forward, not to the stern, people think I'm going in reverse, while moving towards them, so I can not shoot them. What a suprise for them. The 3rd sortie I did take alot of dam, but I never heard them say free for all, so I was stitting still, and 2 of my fellow ex team mates sailed along side, and blasted me, I said whats going on, were on the same side, but we were doing another demo battle, and letting future members run some of the ships. So I ran over and blasted the heck out of Mike's ship again, what fun. Peppered my ex team mates NC quite well also, she had lots of holes. My PE was never in any danger of sinking. Here are a couple of pictures of her dam, she looks worse than she is, I just slap on large patches, and my 2 new Mogami's with the supers just about done. You can all druel over them, LOL. []
Heh. Today was a blast. Dave's little ship is a bugger of a pest. It's going to take time to get used to that bow gun. Not to mention the thing turns on a dime. About the only option is to outrun him then try to catch him when he isn't looking. Yup, the Richelieu got some pretty big holes. Not sure how many are from Dave though because I was letting Brian's son have a few free whacks at her at the end of the free for all. It wasn't quite one sided either ... the Richelieu got on a few good hits on Dave too that last sortie. I just wish I did more, but it's hard to pin down that tight turning ship with a big BB. By the way, the differential rudder steering on Dave's ship works very nicely. His ship does NOT visibly slow down when turning. That means he completes his turn before the other guy ... and you always want to be ahead of the other guy.
Thanks Mike for the nice comment. Yes she is is a pest, but a pest with a big bite.[}] Damm I'm ready for the next battle right now, lol.
