After bringing my son to the battle in Hagerstown, he became very interested in the hobby. Though his dozens of conversations with the various members there, he decided he would like to build a Prinz Eugen. It just so happened that a member had a PE hull with them, which he generously gifted to my son (on a gentleman's agreement). Before we begin working on it (I want us to get it into driving shape before I go back to finishing my Derf so we can attend build sessions together and be at the same 'point' in our builds) I am going to need some advice. Since this is a 3 prop ship, and only the center will be powered (for now?) what size prop would be recommended? I can fit a 1.5 (same as on the Derf) without much of a down angle to clear and not sticking out too far from the prop tunnel/center skeg, going to a 1.75 pitches the prop too far back and too far down angle, 2" is right out unless I clearance the hull. A 1.25" would clear with very little down angle if any at all, and this being a 15lb ship, it might be able to move it. As for motors, I have a 12t 550 which will probably spin too fast, even geared down, an unknown RPM 550 in my Derf (I need to replace them since one is bad and I will replace both with new), and a 775 from my Bis. OR, since I need to buy an ESC for it, go with a brushless set up (in which case, I have no idea what to go for) My desire for this boat is to make it competitive in acceleration. I know if my son gets it out on the water and he cant bob-and-weave like the boats he saw at Hagerstown, he might get discouraged. This is the first actual hobby that he has expressed interest in so I would like to avoid that.
A long cruiser like PE is not a great turning ship. It’s a back up and shoot then run type of ship. Matt from TX has good PE. I’m not positive on his prop size but 1.5” could be right. Typically you’d only power the center shaft. A 550 motor with a 2:1 gear box on an 1.5” should get you close to speed. Brushless and ESC are the most popular way to set up ships. Tyler isn’t really far on this rebuilt below. I don’t have any photos of Grants PE from back in 2013-14. http://www.portpolarbear.com/reports/PE.html Try and get a hold of Matt (TX) on the IRC mailing list.
I did something similar with my son started him on a cruiser he sort of had fun but when I put him on a Deutschland pre-dread it turned from sort of fun into tons of fun. I am honestly not sold at all anymore on cruisers for beginners especially the younger more video game prone crowds, after watching the difference in both ease of battling ease of understanding how it works and fun level differences that my son had.
That is what I was initially thinking. a 550 geared 2:1 or a brushless, but I know nothing of brushless or why they are rated in Kv Im more concerned with him being able to get in and out of the fight, not so much spinning. I was thinking of running it dual sterns since he has a thing for going in reverse anyway He went round and round with different boats and the PE was suggested by several of the members there as a decent starting boat which is why he decided on that one. I figured, it was light enough so he could lift it, only 3.5 units so not many gunning options for him to worry about, and small enough for him to not be overwhelmed by the build.
I'm the TX Matt. My build used a 1.75" prop. I had to cut the underside of the hull a little and glass it to get the prop all the way back to the skeg. The big prop was good for acceleration and can turn in fairly tight circles (for a cruiser) with drag disks installed, but it will 360 slowly. I started with a 550 brushed and later switched to a 550-sized 35mm brushless motor. Both were direct driven. If you have questions about my build you can dm me.
I started my son out in a cruiser when he was 6. He pretty much just drove around and didn’t do anything the first couple years. I took him with to an out of town battle when he was 7. He battle his first nats at 8. By the time he was 11 other battlers asked me if they could start shooting him because he was ripping them up. He moved into an IBoat at 13. Kongo at 17. Nagato at 18. I’ve seen that same type of progress from others kids. Get him on the water in a working ship. He can pick out the second one. If he likes the hobby they’ll be more than one.
Awesome! I think if I change the prop shaft from the 4mm to the ⅛” I might be able to make up the space to squeeze a 1.75 under her butt without surgery since the ⅛” shaft uses a smaller stuffing tube. And maybe a 750Kv brushless?
The shaft I used was a hand me down 1/8" shaft from another battler's rebuild. I fit the hull to the prop, so I had to cut the hull a little to get it the way I wanted it. As for motors, I don't know what voltage you're running. Brushless motors are measured in Kv because you can use them over a range of voltages. Kv tells you the motor's rpm per volt. A theoretical 1000Kv brushless motor and ESC combination rated for 6-12 volts would be 6000 rpm at 6V up to 12000 rpm at 12V. I know I used a motor faster than that at 2S and dialed the forward down about 25-30% to make speed but I'm not home so I can't give you any details at the moment.
I’m using 4s 11v/5000mAh Goldbat LiPo’s. So a 750 at the 4s would be about 8k…? I would prefer direct drive for simplicity sake. 1.65” prop (what I had on hand in ⅛” shaft) as close to the skeg as I can get. I have some wiggle room for clearance. I’m worried about the down angle. My Bis had a hard time keeping her bow up under acceleration but I’m not sure if it was from the prop angle or weight shifting. So I always worry about that down angle pushing the bow under.
