Hey, congratz on getting your bote back. I hope she's still in good shape. Just a note: You might want to put her on a diet, she was looking pretty heavy in that video. Too much equipment under the belt, no doubt.
thanks bud, looking forward to seeing you guys this weekend & hearing NATS stories! I’m happy to have her back for sure! I’ll have the dive video posted soon. …and yea, she needs a diet.
I think @Commodore nailed it. She is just too heavy & is just sits too low in the water. When she goes around hard turns as full speed, the aft goes under water. The pump can keep up for a turn or two, but she eventually has to take a break or sink. On her last cruise, I removed two valves trying to make weight. Clearly wasn’t enough. In the next revision, I’ll go to a single battery & plastic hose barbs. Not sure where else to save weight yet….. maybe a 380 motor for the pump. Is Deutschland class eligible for hull depth increase in IRCWCC?
Best I understand it we are more concerned with the minimum freeboard of 1/2" and minimum penatrable area of 1" under the waterline. I know some fast gun molds have been deepened from scale to make this easier. Our rules state: So that leaves a bit of room for hull deepening to meet the other requirements. We do have a rule proposal on the ballot coming in the fall to increase our max allowed weight as long as the 1/2" freeboard is maintained.
One thing that I noticed in the recovery video was the rear turret popped up. I've seen people on this forum use magnetic to seal up lower areas like your turret.
Update - Batteries are done for. I’ll need replacements before I can test the other electronics. I can say the amount of rust was surprising, most things with +12V has rust. The solenoids unexpectedly rusted too, possibly since they were attached to +12V instead of constant GND. Next revision, the switch boards will have +12 & the solenoids will be GND only. Issues with the current hull: - I have a weight problem - Water doesn't flow past the motors to the pump. - CO2 bottle is mounted backwards, increasing the chance of frozen lines. - Wires and tubes have no ORGANIZATION. - Solenoids need a real home, not just shoved next to the CO2 bottle. - Electronics need a real home, not just shoved on top of the batteries. - Deck needs sealed - Deck split is not convenient for CO2 - Deck split is not convenient for SS ... and I'm open for more observations? With all that plus new batteries; I decided I might as well re-spin the next hull revision. Since both IRCWCC and NTXBG ruleset will allow a Deutschland and extra 3/8" at the bottom of the ship, I figure I might as well take advantage. This should help my weight problem as well as some cannon rotational issues. Can someone from IRCWCC check my re-done windows for compatibility? - The only difference is the vertical scaling; the number & size of ribs is the same as before. - I have the water line at the stringer, but it's likely to be much higher based on the alpha unit ship.
Don't think it needs extra depth, just hardware arrangement. Use your current hull to play around and test-fit things until you're completely satisfied, then update the model. You'll save a lot of plastic. Don't be afraid to attack the hull with a dremel, either, if that's what it takes to solve some of the design I only needed to print TWO complete prototype Mikasa hulls and a few extra hull segments before I had something good enough for battling.
Please check me; I don’t want to make an illegal IRC spec ship. Here are the IRC rules that seem related: Maximum ship weight shall not exceed the heavy model weight (as listed in the Ship List) plus 10%. Class 2 and lower ships using CO2 may add 25% or one (1) pound (whichever is greater) to their maximum model weight, but they shall have a minimum of 1/2" of freeboard at the ship's lowest point. Hull depth shall be adjusted as required. The allowable error in the beam of a model ship shall be +/- 1/8" or 2% of the listed scale dimension, whichever is greater. The allowable error in the length of a model ship shall be +/- 1/2" or 2% of the listed scale dimension, whichever is greater. The way I understand it, I just can’t go over the l weight limits. —— On her on the last day, she weighed in at 12.7lbs. IRC site says she should weigh between 12.15 & 13.37 lbs. She should have been golden, the only conclusion I have is the she isn’t deep enough for IRC rules. Please check my logic. I know there are a lot of pocket battleships out there, maybe someone can measure their hull depth for me?
It's quite easy for certain hulls to flat out not work right at certain weights. Some ships at max weight are totally fine. Some are sluggish surfboards that can't handle any sort of wave action at all. Your lack of a deck/good deck seal isn't helping either. Cruisers in IRC rely on deck seal to remain afloat for any period of time because they're tippy and ship water in turns. Only class 2 and below are allowed to modify hull draft for additional weight. All other classes, since not granted an exemption to add hull depth, are implied not permitted to adjust hull draft/depth and are required to be "reasonably scale". Your ship does look heavy, and that's not even with a deck and superstructure on it.
FYI, mine runs about 1.5" freeboard in the bow and 1/2" in the stern and is a bit on the portly side itself @ 13.28lbs (for comparison, my Z-Boat has the exact same freeboard). Call it about 2 1/8" average draft. The stern deck is sealed shut with silicone and screwed down. The only thing under it is the rudder servo and control arms, so no need to regularly access at all. That helps a ton. The bow is also well sealed back to the forward turret. A wise person once told me to shoot for ~2" freeboard in the bow and between 3/4"-1" in the stern for generic boat seaworthiness. Note my Lutzow is not the best example as the original owner used concrete sealer for the water channel which is quite heavy and not a great idea on a ship that needs to be relatively light and nimble. It's workable, but there's not a lot of room for error in taking damage or high seas.
Awesome! Your numbers are approximately where I’m at after adding 3/8” at the bottom. Can do me a favor and measure this height?
