-Tug I get the idea. What I was trying to say, but not being clear, is that a lot of people build ships because they like to build things themselves. I would spec the design and let them build it how they see best. And I was not trying to accuse you or anyone of attempting to price fix or war profiteering.
One prop on all boats. The same prop for all boats. Same motor for all boats. This way we ensure the same thrust across the board and let hull size dictate speed. For the motor I'm thinking an RS-555 in the 5k range. We could maintain a supply of matched "battle motors" that could be handed out by random lot at the beginning of an event. Similar to the way they hand out wheels at Soup Box derby. This ensures even wattage on the water and lets builders run other motors when not in a sanctioned event (ie: letting them compete with fastgun as suggested).
1:96 is the working hypothesis right now. Number of guns? We haven't broached that yet but maybe that could be based off of displacement or something. Rotate? Since Steampunk appears to be rapidly evolving into the "ease of entry" part of the hobby, I'd say no to that one. Same for torps for the same reason. As far as printed parts? I was at first hesitant with the idea because I thought there are perfectly viable prop and pump options from Strike and BC. But I realized that including printed parts might open the hobby to the very large Maker community (that have embraced 3D printing with an almost religious fervor). That couldn't be a bad thing?
In that case, I must be an angel. Very neat floating gun platform. Steve, what about sidemounts? Would they just be for battleships and maybe armored cruisers?
Its not that I don't want to see a Carnot on the pond, its that I think it would look far better under the pond than on it. Having been a leading wreck-recovery diver in the WWCC for several years, I have come to appreciate how much better a vessel looks through the lens of a few feet of water and framed by gently swaying sea weeds.
Ok, of the 5 half-sisters, Carnot is probably middle of the pack, looks wise. Messina, with the "snout nose", is by far the most bizzare, and probably the most lethal ram.
I don't like the box of random motors part. Some people do not care for their motors properly and I wouldn't want to be the 'lucky' one to draw a poorly-maintained motor out of the box. I like the spec motor part, but part of what will separate the ships is reliability, and that's in the hands of the captain/builder.
How do you know somebody isn't going to modify their motor? Its not like you're going to be able to tell easily. If you are going to do brushed, its cheap enough to just hand out a new motor at each event and include it in the 'fees'.
Not necessarily if everybody is running different ships. I think it would be easier to just let people run whatever motor they like and just restrict ship speed like it is normally done.
I dunno. I like the idea of letting the hull form dictate speed. It would be easier for newer people. All they have to do is build a ship and put a motor in it. They don't have to buy a motor, get the right gears to get to scale speed plus worry about propeller size like is the official clubs. Just build a ship, get the propeller and motor, slap them in and they're ready to go.
How is esc -> motor, and a quick speed check hard? You could easily specify a prop in the rules, those are easy to make or buy if you like, but its not like you can make a motor, or even be reasonably sure that all motors are the same model even if they look alike.
Why can't you buy large supply of motors and give/sell one to every contestant that has a complete ship? If you think somebody is running a different motor, or is hopping it up, just pop in a motor that you know is correct and compare speeds.
Who is going to volunteer to buy a big batch of motors? I think it would be better to just be able to buy my own or use what I have on hand and dual in to a set speed for the class of ship.
The 550 cans that I got from AllElectronics say 6-20 volts, but 2 of them (geared down) pushed my Malaya at about 30-32 seconds at 6V. If they weren't geared, it might be faster. I know the pump was uninspiring at 6V with that motor. Of course, one could run that pump with no restrictor and maybe get a little better flow from it. There are some smaller ones (380 size range) that do around 4500 at 6V. They're all of $1.25 each. I like these. I think that they'd do fine at 6V ungeared. Downside being that the shaft is only 2mm, but a lot of the cheap motors are like that. If we're talking about ordering a mess of cheap motors that will essentially be one-use items, we're looking at stuff like that and I'm sure people will think of ways to connect the motor to the propshaft. I'm thinking I'd print a connector, but there are other ways. 10 years before my printer, I used to super-glue a brass tube the next size up on the shaft and it was close enough to 1/8" O.D. that it didn't matter...
