There is also the option of ensuring that there are a couple of suitable battery configurations to recommend to rookie builders; some may already have lithium-polymer or Ni-MH packs and it would probably help to compile a short list of a couple recommended battery configurations (possibly paired with corresponding motor(s) and props).
I was planning on sealing the shrink-wrap with RTV or something similar. The problem with the open packs is that they are not made to be immersed and rust will immediately set in on the springs and contacts. If you want 7.2V, add 29g to my pack weight. Or add 58g on top of that for 9.6V. Personally, I plan on buying a bulk pack of NiMH AA's with tabs. You buy 120, they're $1.50 each. Even only buying 20 they cost $1.70 each. I'm not on fire for the Emile Bertin per se, but a Z-boat or Akizuki or Gearing would be rraarr! So I'm all for saving weight and space I might be driving one someday, after all...
I have to admit that given an availability of sufficient options for weapons configuration/strength, I may reach the point of never building any ships larger than a destroyer in the foreseeable future. While I've already installed the motors and associated running gear (minus speed controllers and a steering servo) in my Z-25, does anybody already have a smaller destroyer built who'd be in a position to potentially test some candidate propulsion configurations that we might be able to apply to a Gearing class destroyer?
The only reasons I wouldn't care to introduce that as an option at this point is that there were only two vessels in the class and it has a size significantly larger than destroyers. While there's nothing that would prevent us from developing a model design from a technical perspective, having the foundation for large flotillas of lightly-armed destroyers that can be built with limited difficulty by newcomers to the hobby is more in-line with my interpretations of our goals for a second "rookie ship" than would immediately developing another cruiser. Otherwise, I don't see any reason somebody else couldn't take on the task of developing a suitable design from which to create a "starter kit." I'm pretty certain that your spelling is correct.
I asked this on the Rookie ship design project part 1, but I dont know if anyone is on that one now. Question: Have you decided what ship you are going to build?
Unless I've overlooked objections, I believe we were defaulting to the Gearing class destroyers, to be followed by some number of additional (and larger) destroyer classes presuming that our efforts meet sufficient success at producing a ship that isn't too difficult to get onto the water and into battle with reasonable reliability.
While I had to poke around to find some fittings at the office today, I ran into these which might be usable on the pressure-regulated side of the plumbing to help reduce overall weight: Visit this site Visit this site and for anybody who may be trying to locate an alternative to some of the adapters and fittings that otherwise might be sourced through Clippard, here's another one: Visit this site Has anybody looked into aluminum fittings and tubing in general for light weight cannons?
Argh, I should have just copied the part numbers instead. Anyhow the parts I dug up from Visit this site were as follows: 5058K214 barbed 10-32 to 1/16" tubing adapter 5058K544 1/16" barbed T-fitting and the third link can be located with "brass barbed tube fittings" as the search terms
As of right now, I've started some rough work on the Gearing class superstructure while I contemplate how I'm going to address the Emile Bertin if I can't find a means of getting a hard copy of drawings.
The numbers just aren't adding up as I've been trying to take measurements off the .tiff files for the Emile Bertin from within software so I'll need to see if I can run off a copy on the plotter at work or if I need to get it printed somewhere else (a 30 minute drive until sometime after next week). The whole issue will probably resolve itself as soon as I've gotten through an in-progress packing/moving/unpacking sequence that's happening in the coming couple of weeks.
Here's a bit of an update for those of you who have been following the "Rookie Ship Development Program" over the past weeks. While I've been holding off on Working over the superstructure of the Emilé Bertin, I've been doing the exact opposite to the Gearing class. All of the superstructure decks are modeled in the computer and have centers indicated for the B turret and gun director along with a means of alignment for the funnels (although they have yet to be finished). The model is, thus far, currently based upon a presumption that construction of the superstructure will be with a combination of 1/8" and 1/16" thick material (for the purposes of weight computation, the decks are light ply while the walls are balsa); for the more ambitious, it could easily be assembled using the builder's choice of material thickness by simply using the decks as a starting point to size the walls. While I'd personally be inclined to go with a very lightweight hollow superstructure of balsa and light ply (possibly covered with thin styrene sheet to reduce the likelihood of damage), are there any other methods of superstructure construction besides a hollow shell that anybody would like to suggest? Using the worst-case density values I could find for both the balsa and light ply, the current approximate weight of the design is 60g (without turrets and/or detail fittings that some may wish to add) and my current design goal is to keep the entire superstructure (in balsa/light ply form without detail parts) under 90g which would leave the vast majority of displacement available to components in the hull. If somebody has the weight for a 5" Turret and 5" gun director from Battlers Connection, I can add those weight values into the model tonight to improve the above-deck weight estimates. I have no doubts that as long as we approach these tin cans with the assumption that they will behave like tin cans on the water, we'll be able to make them quite buildable for first-time captains.
Webwookie, sounds like you've got things well under way. For superstructure, I know of several methods: 1) 1/8" balsa decks, with 1/8" balsa sides and thin lexan plating. The lexan prevents shots from penetrating and/or denting, and the whole ship rocks and rolls to absorb the shock of impact. Not recommended for anything bigger than a light cruiser, and may fail if hit point-blank, but on a lightweight destroyer it's perfect. 2) 1/16" or 1/8" aircraft plywood, with 1/16" rubber sides hung from the top (and free to move at the bottom). The wooden decks provide the shape, and the thin rubber sides provide the form. When hit, the rubber simply flexes aside, letting the shots to go straight through without causing any damage. I haven't tested this one yet, but it's my latest theory on superstructure construction.
Does anybody know how heavy/dense that termite armor might happen to be? Once I get my Z-25 running on the water (with or without its armament ready), I might start building-out a Gearing class ship as a sort of alpha/beta test prove-out vessel.
I don't know for sure how much a set would weigh, but it's more than I'd strap to a destroyer. If you reeeaaalllly want to know, I'll ask Brian (who makes it). He'll need to know how many square inches of surface you want to cover. The armor itself is about 1/8" thick.
