I'd like to share my latest project which had its first battle this past weekend. I hadn't created a build thread since I never remember to take pictures when I get zoned in during build sessions. Here is a beauty shot just before the bbs started flying: The hull, turrets and decks are from Strike Model. Most of the superstructure is 3D printed. Taking a look at the inside starting with the bow section: The bow section houses the 50z bottle and BC lightweight regulator. I'm not too happy with my regulator air distribution but it works for now. I still need to add some hose clamps but I'm debating switching over to push-to-disconnect fittings. To the left of the bottle can be seen the BC solenoid for the bow gun. Above the bottle is a wire bundle containing the voltage sensor and Turnigy bilge pump ESC. Moving amidships: Power distribution via the BC Multi-B board coated in E6000 and placed in a 3D printed housing. The water channeling is the self leveling concrete sealer. Engineering: The large space forward of the bilge pump is for the 12v 9ah SLA battery that powers the ship. One battery per sortie. The drivetrain consists of a Hobbywing 860 dual brushed ESC and a pair of 550 motors turning a BC single output gearbox. The magazine for the stern side mount can be seen wrapping around the bilge pump. Accumulators for the dual sterns can be seen outside of the drive motors. On to the stern: Solenoids for the dual sterns as well as the stern side mount can be seen. Additional water channeling was used to create a shelf to prevent too much water from pooling in the stern. The infamous $5 HK waterproof servo operates the rudder gear assembly. Under the stern: Pushing power is provided via a 2" BC propeller. The rudders are 3D printed and coated in XTC-3D. Drag props are 1.5". Bayern did better than expected for her first battle. No drivetrain issues and turning was excellent. Acceleration and deceleration was pretty good and I felt that overall I had good directional control. She completed 4 sorties without sinking although there was a close moment when she was taking on water from unknown ram damage. The 12V bilge pump emptied her out real quick though. All 4 guns fired without issue although they probably needed a little more tweaking for optimal discharge rate velocity.
Cool setup, dude! I like the tidiness of the interior. FYI, I've gone with a half-fittings, half PTC mix for hoses in my boats. Fittings stay tight, PTC can get finnicky if the lines aren't in there 100% straight. Could you post some pics of your decks etc? I'd like to see how you mounted those cannons. the C turret cannon in particular. Are you able to dismount that cannon pretty easily? Also, did you build the Casemates with layered plywood?
The rudder gears are standard BC gears so I think they're 2"/1". The casemates are layered plywood, well almost. The top layer is 1/4" ply that was part of the Strike models deck kit. I then used an additional layer of 1/4" ply in the middle. The bottom part which had the elevated mounts for the secondaries is 1/8" ply and then 1/16" bass. I couldn't readily find 3/16" ply or 1/16" ply so that's what I went with. I wanted to get the height as accurate as possible. All the guns have a sleeve soldered to a brass machine screw to hold down the barrel. Then somewhere along the magazine I have it attached to the underside of the deck in one fashion or another. All the turret covers have a pretty snug fit so this helps as well. The only two hard connections on C turret are the barrel holder and then a zip tie located starboard of the bilge pump and under the casemate deck. Removing the C turret gun is not impossible but not easy. Bilge pump has to come out, which is actually easier to do than it looks. Unscrew the barrel and, since it's a BC gun, the magazine is also unscrewed from the uptube. Then I can wiggle the curved magazine out from around the gear box. The dual sterns have a little more complicated of a setup involving a 3D printed holder, the barrel holders and then once again a zip tie towards the end of each magazine although with all the crap in the stern they pretty much stay where they belong.
I love the mounts you fabricated. Glad the BC guns come apart like that stock. I had a similar mount for one of my guns on Texas, but without the breakdown joints on the gun, so it was a nightmare to take that gun out. What sort of waterproof coating are you putting on the deck pieces? are you coating them with spar varnish, or epoxy or what?
