Greetings from Astatula, FLA: Now that I have a hull for the steampunk/predred ship, I did some shopping for wood and tools. Tug was a great host for building and supplying me advice and materials. A. Hobby Lobby was dumping one width of 1/32" balsa and replacing it with another width. The old sheets were $4.60 total for enough wood to cover the boat with leftover. B. At the local hobby shop, I got a balsa block and wood pack for $5.00. the large block goes for the bow and I have plenty of assorted pieces for the superstructure. While I was there, I picked up a set of 2 used but still functional RC servos for $15.00. C. I needed a new dremal tool. Harbor Freight has an 80 piece set for $10.00 till end of July. D. The Admiral was impressed with the extra lumber .I was reminded of austerity. I try my best. Now I have some cutting, shaping, and gluing to do. As I move along, I will update this build and show how I navigate quality work with the austerity. I am still looking at drawings for cannon placement. I have to integrate the cannons as part of the steampunk theme. I will use 3 single 50 round cannons in 3 spots instead of a dual barrel and a single. In theory, each cannon is to be independent from the other. Manuel Mejia, Jr.
Greetings: Over the last few days, I have added the transom and the forepeak blocks to the bow and stern of the steampunk boat. I am waiting for the bilge pump that goes with the boat to arrive. From there, I can start looking at an internal layout. In the meantime, I will varnish those parts of the boat that will not be in contact with future glue attachments and parts for the vessel. Manuel Mejia, Jr.
This sounds logical to me Anyhow, there have been concerns about hull strength. During the installation of the forepeak blocks, I actually sat on the boat while it was on the floor. I wish my office chair was as sturdy. This adds to the arguement about no ramming. The ribs are strong enough to block any ram. Its the internal components that will be flying about after the impact. That's what will disable the boat. Manuel Mejia, Jr.
Greetings one and all: After a month of periodically looking at various predred images from 1875-1905, I finally selected a boat that I plan to model: USS Texas (1895, ACR-1,BB-000) The BB-000 was the first predred for the US Navy (launching a few weeks before the USS Maine (BB-00). The main armament for the ship was 2 12 inch, breach loading black powder guns, one for each circular turret. The turrets were mounted in echelon. Since I have 2 BB cannons, I can fully arm this ship with no issues. The superstructure is quite basic. It is a perfect design for a newbie builder. A veteran of the Spanish American War in 1898 at Santiago de Cuba, the ship was used for target practice and sunk at Cheasapeake Bay in 1911 around the same time the BB35 USS Texas Dreadnaught's keel was laid down. One can visit BB35 if they go to Galveston TX. BB-000's spirit lives on ! Manuel Mejia, Jr.
I'm not sure how you are trying to upload images, but it is not working in any useful manner. Please consider using an outside image host such as imgur, photobucket, picasa, or flickr, and link the images after you upload them there.
Funky looking ship with the two single turrets in an armored citadel, casemates in the hull, open gun shields, and a single funnel. I've been thinking hard about the early Japanese dreadnoughts/semi-dreadnoughts. They have a hexagon layout that is very flexible for cannon placement, but when decorated with some Japanese style steampunk stuff they should be pretty cool. I'm tempted by the swooping funnels the WW2 cruisers had, but I don't know how well that would fit the earlier time period. At the very least I'm gonna have a huge decoration on the bow, possibly a winged trilobite in place of the chrysanthemum (that's more gas lamp fantasy or mad science than steampunk, though).
Hey, given that one of the founding fathers of this sub-genre (Tuggy) uses Othar as his avatar, gas lamp fantasy / mad (MAD!!) science is fair game. For any who are curious as to the reference: www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php
The Texas is a great choice! I love those citadel ships. Speaking of avatars, who can guess which admiral of the steampunk era my head is photoshopped on top of?
Greetings: Can someone in the Steampunk group find a picture of BB-000 on the web and link it to this forum ? I am a linguist, not a computer engineer ! Manuel Mejia, Jr.
Greetings one and all: 1. To those who posted images of BB-000 for me, thanks. My 1985 graduation class was the last one to go into the world without having any computer training--just a class on typing using IBM selectrics. 2. I had a failed boat experiment--not enough displacement and an ever increasing amount of weight. Rather than have a Costa Concordia moment, I scrapped the hull and retrieved enough parts to assemble the hardware gear for the BB-000. All I need now is a 6 channel transmitter and receiver. 3. On another thread, Crazyhawk had an issue regarding captains that go into reverse and dump, say, 75 bbs to ensure a sink. S/he may have a point on that issue. I will not be doing that with BB-000 since none of my boats have a reverse function on them. I just practice moving forward, stopping, and turning around on the pond. I have gotten good at that. I also save on not having to install a ESC that burns out everytime the prop gets fowled. Manuel Mejia, Jr.
That is what the water is for. The Steampunk hull creates a good deal of water friction. When the motor is shut off, the boat will slow to a quick stop. I noticed this on my Bebop. The Bebop is my practice ship until BB-000 is done. Manuel Mejia, Jr.
Every ruleset I'm aware of requires the ability to move in reverse, although some prohibit 'combat reverse' (i.e. backing into combat). If you insist on not having a reverse, I will cheerfully use that omission to take your lunch money on the pond. Not having reverse is NOT a trivial omission.
Tuggy: I will have $2.75 on hand when we meet on the pond. Lunch is cheap at the school I teach (half the time, I pay $.50) Given these hulls, I have to wonder if reverse would even amount to anything. I will give forward only a shot. Besides, the 1:1 scales were not that good in reverse. MMJR
