Seems like a lot of work when I can just keep her on the bench with the excuse that the flagpole isn't working.
I think I said it before, but I'm bringing Suffren to NATS, plus I'm going to try and get her mostly operational. I'm just not going to battle her. I'd just don't think I'm ready to battle yet. I think going to NATS and talking and watching other people battle will be much more fun than pulling my hair out wondering why the motor won't run, or something to that extent. Plus I'm only going to be able to make it down two days. If I bring Suffren as a battling ship, I'll have to come down Sunday and Monday to get her drop tested and speed tested. That leaves just the later part of Monday to battle. I hope you guys understand that it's not that I don't want to battle, it's just that if I do, I don't think it will be as much fun as if I were just a spectator. If you don't agree, you can dispute it with me at NATS. Beaver
We can dispute it then. But bring all your stuff. So after we win, you can get on the water Honestly, we'll need everything to get a good ballast done, whether you battle or not.
wouldn't surprise me if they could sneak in a drop test and quick speed demo for a rookie cruiser to get you in to a sortie... don't close doors before you have to
That would be great, but one of the other things that kind of gets in the way of me battling is the fee. Well, I'm going to keep plugging away at getting Suffren at least on the water by NATS. Working on sheeting the starboard side right now. @tuggy, I'll bring all the stuff. With all the internals and the decks, she comes out to about 8 pounds. Here are some pics of yesterday's progress. I've gotten from the deck step forward to the bow sheeted on the starboard side. The port side. The stern sheeting. It's rough bending balsa around those curves. The propeller I made. It has a nut welded to it and the shaft is threaded to accept the nut. It's stainless steel and 1 3/4 inches in diameter. Not sure of the pitch, don't know how to measure that. Here is the propeller mounted on the shaft. I also took a piece of angle aluminum and drilled holes in it for the MAV-2's and MPA-3's.
Nice prop I like the valve mount, too. I did that before I had the 3D printer and they last effectively forever.
I think the sheeting job looks great. Sterns are always problematic. An old trick was to pat down the outside of the sheet with a bit of white vinager. Helps make the bending easier. I haven't used that one in a long while so i'm not guarantying the process. Most everyone has a few spots to go over with CA to tack down after sheeting. I think you just need to tack down anything sticking up, sand & bevel the edges, put on the final silkspan if you haven't already, paint it, waterline it and the hull will be done. Looks great I want to shoot it! Barry
By the way, my first superstructure was carved from a big block of pink foam insulation. It was pretty laughable, I'll bring it to Nats, but nobody laughed they just welcomed me out on the water and helped me have the best time of my life. You can't do anything wrong dude except not have fun! bgt
@Tug: Thanks! It took a few try to get that nut on the prop. After a couple different solders and then finally welding, it stayed on there. @bgt0990: Thanks, yes the stern was frustrating. I've got everything sheeted but the last few ribs in the stern. Looks like sea trials will be soon. Now about that vinegar, I read that it makes sheeting easier because it breaks down the fibers in the balsa. In the same article, it said that when the vinegar breaks down the fibers it make the balsa brittle and bb's tend to blow out big chunks. Is that true? Ok, looking forward to NATS. Thanks,
Like I said I have not used this in a lot of years. I'm not sure about the brittle part. When I re-did my Von Der Tann last week I used weldwood and using that seemed to give me plenty of flexibility to make the corner (the vdt stern is pretty tight). I did still have a couple areas that wanted to lift up but a little CA glue fixed that. I think keeping the panels in the stern fairly short 3-4" may help also. I'm glad your coming to Nats. Even if your boat isn't 100% there might be a spare boat lying about you can get your feet wet with.
Well I'm not even sure where I read about the vinegar doing that, heh. The hull is sheeted and the outer coating of tissue paper is on. Might throw some paint on her. Can anybody say "sea trials"? That would be cool. Even a convoy ship would be fun IMO.
Beaver. Take ir from someone who battled a convoy ship there fun, but slow.. Large fat slow targets :-D
First sea trials today weren't so great. Motor would only go backwards most of the time, plus there were quite a few leaks. And with no pump, I had to bring her back to shore after only a little while to keep her from sinking. Later on, the propeller was spinning down the shaft and getting stuck on the rudders resulting in no propulsion. All this is fixed now, so hopefully second sea trials today will be less troublesome. Photos and VIDEO tonight.
