I wanted to chill a bit this afternoon, after spending most of the day on the honey-do list. After chatting with some people about the Orfey, my ADD triggered and I spent 4 hours out in the shop with some 1/8" wood and a scrollsaw. Below, the scrap of 1/8" left over after cutting out a Baden's deck. Can you fit everything on it (except the decks which are 1/16")? You betcha!
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) So, after hours of saw work, I sat down and sanded all the parts, checked fit, etc. With the 1/16" decks on, minus Frame 1 which is still out in the shop... the Almirante weighs in at about 5 ounces. The keel boards haven't been sanded to fit yet, though, so even with Frame one on, it should be less than 5 ounces with decks. Like Nick, I didn't notice that whole 'square off the back' thing until after I had cut the parts. Fortunately, the plans have the back deck squared appropriately, so I just need to fix the subdeck back there. In the pic below, you can see that the paper pattern is still on the deck... I left it on so I could mark some things on the wood, but it'll be off tomorrow, and that'll be a HUGE weight savings!
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) One more view of the Admiral... I love this view Yes, my desk is a little... busy.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Time to break out my HMS Swift plans I guess. Can I get an estimate on a Tugboat Armories spurt cannon?
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Gonna be working on one tomorrow; somewhere I have the plastic tubing that some use for flexible magazines. Weighs less than the copper. We shall see what we see. I am going to run by Walmart and get some CO2 cartridges for weighing as well.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Thats looking real good. In less than 6 hours youve completely outdone me! Definately interested in seeing your experiments with fitting a cannon on board. Any ideas on what your propulsion set up yet?
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Possibly a brushless outrunner, geared to both propshafts. I have some small ones coming over from China that are 43g (1.52 ounces) apiece, measure roughly 1" long by 1" diameter. Rated at 900kV, so they should be plenty fast at 6V. Contemplating using hollow tubes for propshafts, but need to be sure of the strength.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Its a complete rethink to make it so light. I was pondering how well would a plastic straw do. Maybe something like a coffee stirrer?
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Hahahaha... My great friend James is joking with me With the torque exerted, I'm looking at aluminum tubing, maybe brass for added stiffness. We'll see after I go play in the shop today. For those that are curious, the CO2 cartridge adapter with the Strike Models fixed pressure regulator weighs 6 ounces (~165g). The fixed weight reg alone comes in at 3.25 ounces (~90g). I do not have my CO2 cratridges yet, but several sources say 0.25 pounds (~115g). Gas system and batteries will likely be the two biggest loads. Without Strike's lightweight regulators, I'd say this would be impossible (barring a Rock-the-Boat from Palmer, but those have a mixed rep). I will be doing whatever I can to get a half-unit gun in the boat, but if that fails, I'll put in a spurt cannon. For the rest of the build, I will be mostly working in metric; it suits my inner scientist, and it's also easier for my addled brain to count up to 1,116g than to dance with pounds and ounces. Total as of 0945 Sunday 4/11/10: Hull frame, decks, and reg+adapter: 295g (10.2 ounces for the barbarians)
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Aluminum is probably the best option. I suppose Bill Gates would use all composites but that is possible if you have X billions. Though a drinking straw is about the right weight for superstructure. That or a thick paper.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) LOL, I will be putting the stack on her... using the Bill Gates method The previous owner of my house (and shop) made custom golf clubs for people. There are a bunch of 3-4 inch sections of super-light composite golf club shaft in my possession So I will have stacks without going over weight budget (I hope).
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) I considered going with non-brass shafts, and I'm actually doing aluminum stuffing tubes. Reason I'm opting for brass shafts: if theres anywhere in the hull that its hard to add ballast low, its the stern section. I think I should tape on some temporary sides onto mine and see how much weight I can take on and float anywhere near the waterline. With the plans as-is, I dont think youre going to be able to fit your1kg in without increasing hull depth or sinking yourself.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Hopefully this is more accurate than the 1/4 lb folk... 16 gram size (referring to the weight of the gas inside the cylinder) 3/8 thread. Weight: 2 oz. (56gms) for full CO2 cartridge. Length 3.25
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Excellent. We'll see how the displacement goes; After I get the last giant window blind (85" across) put up this morning, I'm free to play, and I plan to get the rudder and driveshafts installed,hull done and sheeted. I'll weigh her and then do some weight vs. waterline testing. Nick, I'm very glad to have someone else working on one at the same time so we can share ideas/results
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) You're going to be on the water and shooting people before I even get to mounting these neat little Maxons I got at this rate! I'm going to be driving mine with a pair of 22mm maxon motors, they're power sippers and should run plenty fast. free spin rpms is about 12k, might be a little high ungeared, but theres only one way to find out... Building up some 6v packs from AA nimhs to provide power. I've got 2 different sets of props to try, a set of 1 inch 3 blade and a set of 3/4 inch 3 blade, both 25deg pitch.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Today went a little slower than yesterday, as I was installing things and that required actual thought. The first bit was to give the Admiral a proper bow... so 2 pieces of 1/64" ply later is was done. (apologies for the blurring) Then I was working on the rudder and drive systems. I don't have any specific shots of the rudder, but it's there. The pic below is the underside of the stern. You can see the rudder on the right, and the props on their shafts. It looks a little odd because the props are staggered fore and aft. This puts them closer together, allowing me to use one shaft from the gearbox out to the prop with no universal. Save space AND weight at the same time. Some real ships actually have used this arrangement (French sub Surcouf, for example). The blue rectangle further left (peeking thru a hole in the hull) is the bottom of the gearbox designed by Greg McFadden. It powers 2 props with one 390/400 size motor. Decided to go with that and a brushed motor in the name of simplicity at the moment. Also, have parts on hand, so no cash outlay needed. Another view, this time from on top... You can see more of Greg's gearbox. Even his tiny gearbox (designed for light cruisers) had to be clearanced to fit into the Admiral. Almost forgot to mention, the props in the preceeding pic are 1" diameter 4 blade 25 pitch.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Another update! I was curious about if I could pull this off. Conventional wisdom dictates that destroyers are hard to get done under weight, and I do not regard myself as a particularly gifted shipwright. So I was worried. How to get an idea if we're on track? Put the hull on the scale, and pile on most of the junk needed to make it sail and shoot! Yes, ladies and gentlmen, it's almost all there! Some components were subbed in for stuff I haven't made yet (like a half-unit cannon). On the scale were: Hull+decks, CO2 adapter and regulator, 1 standard 50round straight-mag cannon, 1 S3003 servo, 1 MAV-2, rudder, rudder servo in mount, 75MHz receiver, 4 AA batteries, 400 motor, gearbox, shafts, props, and gears. Total weight of all this: 745 grams. I think it's doable!!! The half-unit gun will be a special lightweight one which should save some weight as well. I also plan to use LiFePO4 batteries since I have a charger that can do them, so battery weight should be lighter as well.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) I like the staggered props. It was a very common feature on late 19th century cruisers.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) Last update for the day; I was called in by the wifey to watch Ninja Warrior on G4. The tournament is only every 6 months, so I had to come in from the shop. I used the time to work on SS in front of the TV. Made some progress on the SS, although was sorely disappointed that Grand Champion Nagano failed to achieve total victory by like 3 seconds. If you haven't seen Ninja Warrior, it'll be on G4 on Saturday night, a supreme test of strength, agility and endurance. If you think I am exagerrating, watch the show. Only the Japanese can come up with events like this! Anyhow, below is the pic of the partial SS: Almirante Villar Actual, out.
RE: Almirante Villar (Orfey class) This is looking really good, I'm excited to see it get armed. Are you going to try to fit a pump in as well? I like the staggered props as a solution, it should give you a real tight prop wash over the rudder as well.
