Update: More foam channelling installed. Pump moved back to flat spot, resistor back in but tweaked. Need water test again. 2nd sla charged. 1/8 HOSE and addtional valve fittings installed now the hose is away from the motor can, receivor leads at the tips tool dipped. Just need to build the mount for the Light switch at the rudder platform.
I ordered 2 props one smaller than the other but both smaller than the prop I have on now plus 2 resistors. I suspect the resistor I am using is not quite the same as the original. If not I can swap out for smaller props. Their going to be sent out by UPS express or priority express which ever is the faster. Got the float platform attached to the GO PRO MOUNT. Just need a Bobber. Yamato deck is repainted. Touching up the detail paint work. Hoping to have Bismarck, Roma and Yamato all 3 out for maneuvers this Sunday. Probably get Tom to operate Roma and get my buddy operate Yamato and I will operate Bis. The Go Pro will be mounted on Bis and then switch over to Yamato to film.
Stephen called me regarding my order but I was at work. I received his email. He could send it out super fast but it's expensive. I asked him to send it the less expensive but still fast so that I could receive it by next week sometime. Hope this resovles teh speed issue. On another note I purchased another SLA. That allows Yamato, Roma and Bismarck to run together simultaneously with 2 other operaters .
Stephen called me regarding my order but I was at work. I received his email. He could send it out super fast but it's expensive. I asked him to send it the less expensive but still fast so that I could receive it by next week sometime. Hope this resovles teh speed issue. On another note I purchased another SLA. That allows Yamato, Roma and Bismarck to run together simultaneously with 2 other operaters .
UPDATE. I received my 2 new receivor 4.8 5000 mah nmhd batteries today. Just need to waterproof them. Also I hooked up my back up radio and receiveor and tested it. No issues there so I can now go ahead and waterproof the receivor. Gave the Bismarck a quick test with the resistor again. Still way too slow. I will have to wait till the new smaller props arrive and the resistors. Worse case scenario. Get an ESC. Had issues getting the main hatch back flush on the hull but that was sorted out. My pump switch end cap was off. Somehow it unscrewed itself off. I sealed it with Ca to prevent that.
Paul call me Sunday. Looks like the weather will be crap..again...sigh. I will be working on Bismarck. This time I will be tool dipping my new RX packs and waterproofing my Spectrum RX. My float recovery system is completed and installed on the GO PRO MOUNT. Works pretty good. I just came back from the yard. I had rearranged the hoses as there was a tangle and did more tidying up inside. I also rounded down the edges and cornes of the Radio box to make it easier to install back in the hull when I take it out to make repairs or adjustments. I tidied up the wiring some more. I secured the actuators and accumulator tanks with better strapping. I reattached the Futaba RX to the servos and secured the excess wiring bundle. I moved the radio box back further aft to allow the RX battery to lie flat alongside the radio box. I removed the momentary on/off push on and off from the radio box and will relocate that on the rudder servo mount so that the opposite side of the arm can activate the lights. I tested the stern poppet valve under pressure to see how it's responding. It worked just fine. It seemed spongy when no pressure in the poppet valve but with pressure it worked just fine . I reattached a pair of small lifeboats using velcro strips back on the deck. C- turret is bugging me. I like it sit flush so I am working on that. So at this point I am waiting for the new props to arrive so I can test them. I was checking out an old Nabs video where Bob Pottlle was testing Warspite for the first time, Eric Broderick launched ALABAMA for the first time and Ralph Coles launched YAMATO for the first time. Invincible was fresh from refit and Bismarck was there to observe teh new additions to the NABS FLEET. I paid close attention to the speed and there on the video it was running alongside Warspite to compare both ships speed and Bismarck pulled ahead of Warspite gradually. We were timing the ships. Alabama was running too fast, Invincible was good, WARSPITE was good and Bismarck was good. Yamato was good as well. Looking at Bismarck running and seeing how it ran yesterday briefly there was no comparison. Bis was running slower than a convoy boat yesterday and didn't even make a little ripple at the bow. Turning was so sad. By the time it completed it's turn it was almos stopped. Took up to 6 seconds to get up to speed if you can call it that and even longer to stop. That's with the resistor on board. So I am looking forward to getting the smaller props so I can open it up without the resistor.
SPeed issue update. Ok I was researching my motor and on RC GROUPS I found this The single output shaft version generally is a 10,000RPM+ speed motor which draws considerable amperage at 12V, and the double(both end) output shafts version is very torquie??(torque), runs about 5000RPM, and is very gentle on amperage. A member in our club has a 7.5 ft CDN frigate, runs 2 of these direct drive with 4 blade X 3.5" Rivabo props, and this large boat performs sweetly, and does not overheat the motors. I have 2 versions of this motor. One is aleady in Bismarck. Matches the description of the SINGLE output Shaft which runs at 10,000 RPM. I originally ran Bismarck on this motor using a single 12v 7 amphr SLA. Using the kit resistor it worked very well. When I switched to just 6volts I had the double output shaft version which I remember it was just 5000 rpm and i used the resistor but I would have the resistor opened up all the way to get the correct speed which worked just great. I have that motor too and I was going to use it as back up at Nats in case anything went wrong with the other one. I think I have found the solution. I am going to take out the current motor in Bismarck and install this other version motor and give that a test. If I suspect is true about this motor based on the videos and pictures and past experience I should be able to get Bis down to correct speed, increase the run time and run the motor cooler. Also I won't need to change the prop. If so I won't use the new ones coming however they will be used as back up and I can swap out the motor and install the 10,000rpm version and run the smaller props off of that. By George I think I got it! t n
Cool stuff to find out about with the motors. I thought I had my motor settled until I tangled someone's recovery float line this weekend. I held him in place while they sank him. Then he sank and held me in place while they tried to sink me. Killed the dogbone and sent me back to the drawing board on how to secure the mount. I was back out to battle the next time and I have a new upgrade because of it... I don't get the drag disc phobia so is it you dont want to have them or you can't have them? Even with the motor running correct speed with a resistor, it would start, stop and turn better with more thrust. I've seen people wth scale props and clear circles behind it for drag discs. That looks ok... Paul found out about the tiny prop thing his first battle of Nats... Speed testing is coming...July 18
Cool Iceman. Those motors are pretty strong that's for sure. I used to use drag discs a lot. I orignally did not use them for the first 6 yrs because I had no dummy shafts installed and I had the correct motor prop combo resistor setup so no issues there. After the main refit in 1999 I had the dummy shafts in place and used drag discs but found that they weren't required but I had large 3 blade octuras on the dummy shafts. Yamato on the other hand went through several sizes of drag discs. I hated the large whirlpools it created behind the stern and there was a loud shlucking sound when the model ran at speed. The discs would caught on a rock or hitch up plastic bags(modern industrial moss) . When I refitted the engine gear system I didn't need the discs anymore and found the correct balance for speed and turning. I will use them if need be. For bb26 PE I had only 2 main shafts installed and no dummy shafts. I had larger props on it and it ran well and fast but it was too fast. I didn't have a resistor at the time to slow it down using the larger props and had no flatter pitch props to use. The Props that were on it were 35 pitch. The model being 28 sec ran well and maneuvered no problem but as bb26 put it the problem wasn't the size of the props it was the moss that gathered around it that slowed him down even further. The boat ran more true without burying the bow under which is common for this class of boat when overpowered. However in retrospect I should have installed the dummy shafts, leave the larger props on and put on small drag discs. Probalby do that on the next PE I have here. Chris Osborne had enourmous Drag discs on his Veneto which had the distinction of getting caught in other ships props or bilge keels and causing damage to them. They slowed his boat down but not enough however at the high speed it was very maneuverable. I still have that option to use drag discs but if I have to use a 2 inch drag discs just to slow it down that's overkill. 1 or 1.5 dia discs won't slow it down enough on this motor but maybe on the smaller props it will. Meantime I'll switch out the motor and test it to see if I'm right about that and post the results. Good thing now is I have the specs finally.
Update: The backup Johnson 970 is installed and I tested it at full power without the resistor. Seems to have less spin than the first motor. I have the resistor in place to test it with the resistor so I can make the switch in a minute pond side. I managed to align the motor up to the universal and drive shaft even better so it's much smoother and quieter now on the table. Feeling good about this so far. I built the mount for the rudder servo platform that will hold the light switch. I need a new switch to install. I glued another arm off angled on the main one to activate the lights at full left rudder. I can make it blink on and off in mild turns or if the model is just parked it can still activate the lights by just throwing the rudder hard over. Just need to secure the switch and lengthen the wiring harness to the deans connector. What's that song by the "PEAS".? Oh yeah.. " I GOTTA FEELIN" WHOO HOOO
Ok well at least you have experience with discs and you have the shafts installed if you need them. I am glad to hear that you are happy with the set up you have. Moss was definitely a problem last year and hopefully won't be as bad this year.
Bis can handle Moss but the down side is with the big prop it can scoop up the entire pond. I rarely ran into the kind of moss you fellas get so I have to be careful.
UPDATE: YAHOO! Light activation switch by remote is working PERFECTLY! Just need to waterproof the light switch mount and that's it. I tested it tonight and had fun conducting morse code with the searchlights. I could also leave the lights on or activate them intermittently. It was easy to setup and install. Next on the list... THE SPEED TEST! We had a beautiful day today but I worked all day and into the evening. It was 10pm by the time I got back to work on Bis. Tomorrow's forcast calls for..you guessed it..Thundershowers and intermittent rain throughout the day. Hopefully there' s a break in the weather long enough for me to trial it as I have only 1 day off and that's not till next Saturday. On another note I got a "LABEL MAKER" to make plastic labels for all the servo plugs from both receivers and lable all my batteries and Transmitters. Finally no more made up lables of electrical tape or masking tape. I can't believe I'm at the stage where I don't much else to do with Bis except get some sea time and gunnery practice. Still waiting for my order from Strike that contains the new Bismarck Superstructure, subdeck and deck for the TIRPTIZ and replacment Secondary and Main Turrets for Bismarck. Also there's a deck for Tom's IOWA which I will use since he has mine from Mo installed in his. There's the Strike battery charger, another prop and resistor and other items. Been a few weeks now. Hope to receive that soon. Meanwhile my rush order for the other Bismarck back up props and resistors should be here by the end of next week with luck. Getting it nearly done.
Oh one more thing. I found 2 old pics of Bismarck's interior showing the 2 different 970 VERSION motors. I could see that both had the double end output shaft but one had a gold plate and the other the silver plate on the motor can. The Gold plate version was the high rpm 12 v motor 10,000 rpm and the other one was the 5000rpm high torque 6-v version. The pic also shows the resisitos in place on both motors and in identical speed settings.
Well had a great 3rd sea trial this time with Yamato to compare speeds. Even in strong winds and rough water Bismarck sped past Yamato I'd say running 22 seconds instead of 24. Course it slowed to 24 when it was half full of water heh heh.. Good thing is I know now how much speed needs to be knocked off and I think using a smaller prop will do the trick. Other problems I had on this sea leg was the pump. I think part of the reason the Bismarck was taking on so much water other than the large holes in Turret Dora and Caesor Barbette was the activation of the pump using the toggle switch on the transmitter. To turn the switch on I have to First Toggle to get the servo arm to depress the switch. The problem I been having with that is getting the endpoint to adjust so that it's not pressing down on the switch and making servo gear noise. The switch button once depressed stays on when released and then has to be pressed again to turn off. This involves me flipping the Toggle 4X which I found out is darn confusing. I can't hear the pump going and most times I think I inadvertently shut the pump off ergo I was not pumping the water out that nearly sank Bis on this sea trial. Granted I won't be fighting in these kind of conditions as the pump as activated and pump out the water when I flooded it during the first sea trial it worked just fine. On the 3rd sea trial I brought the Bis in 4 x and when I placed it on a park bench and turned the pump on it primed instantly and spewed water 20 ft in the air. On the water it didn't seem like it was priming.On inpsection the pump never moved from it's location in the hull. I believe I was the problem and the Toggle activation doesn't work well with me that way. Iam used to activating my pump in 2 clicks on/off using my ratchet stick on my TX. So what I am going to do is this. Where I installed the light activation switch to be activated by my rudder servo arm I am going to rewire that to make it my pump switch. Use the other switch to activate the lights. Simple readjustment and something that I have always been used to operating this way in Bismarck using the rudder servo to control my pump. Other than that seeing the hull interior half full of water was interesting. I HAD the floor of the radio box drilled out with muliple holes to allow water to drain from the box. Well when the pump pumped out the hull yep the water drained from the box no problem. All other systems worked just fine. The Rudder servo was immersed for quite some time and operated no problem. Other things I noticed. Water seem to have difficulty getting to the pump but when I look at the pics and vid the hull seemed pretty even on the trim so water was not bottled up in any one section. The model pitched as I would have expected and considering the conditions I thought it performed well. Praying for my stuff to arrive this week. My other Large order has not arrived yet from Strike. Hope nothing happened to it.
Sounds like more bugs getting shaken out... I run a garden hose in mine to see how the water moves and how well it pumps. Also if you float it and fill it with water, you can see if it lists or has a tendancy to favor front or back. I redid the water channeling in my carrier to sink evenly despite the big funnel on top. It can go all the way down to the deck and still remain pretty stable. My Arizona had a tendancy to roll to one side also. I removed some channeling so water weight would keep it more even. I still plan on making a auto switch for you so you can play with it at or after Nats....
Thanks Iceman. I did notice how well Bismarck remained pretty trimmed despite the heavy seas. Yamato's system works perfect but I had properly tested all aspects with pump and channelling with that beast. I just need to give BIS the same kind of attention in that area. Should have it resolved though. Good news the new props and resistors have arrived. They are much smaller than what I am used to using but I think one of them will work just fine. The resistors look more robust or better than what I was using but if the prop works out fine without the resistor that's the way I will keep it. On the bad side. My main battery charger crapped out. YUp I have no charger for my SLAS. My order that has my new charger from strike has not arrived yet. I am going to have to get a new one to continue working out the bugs. Looking forward to trying out this auto switch!
