Well, it's taken 2+ years, but I finally put the Tirpitz in the water for a test drive. The balance was good, and floated just above the water line. The regulator was missing so I don't think any adjustments are necessary. Stability was excellent. The speed looked a little slow. perhaps 25-26 seconds. Acceleration so-so. I am running a single prop, so I may have to go with a more blades, or a slightly larger prop (if it fits). The gearbox (a planetary set) was pretty noisy. The turning was not so good. Barely acceptable to port, barely noticeable to starboard - Although the turns seemed to get tighter and tighter as the boat went around. Not sure what's happening there. When I removed the boat from the water there was a lot of play in the rudders. Definitely a work item. The rudders are not vertical - they are angled a little out to the side as in the real ship. This led to some installation difficulties. The theory was that the ship wouldn't slow down in the corners, which it didn:t, but if the turning doesn't improve then the whole installation will need to be redone. The boat took on absolutley no water. I also floated and drove the Takao I built several years back. The boat had a servere list caused by the weight of the large battery, but turned okay etc. etc. Looked good.
Hey Rob my tirpitz has the rudders slightly angled out at the beginning but I found that it did not turn very well so I switched to a more conventional vertical arrangement. The turning improved dramatically as long as they get enough prop wash. How many working props do you have on yours?
High Rob. Great to hear you launched Tirpitz. Sounds like the planetary gears are turning the prop to slow. What size prop are you using? You need more thrust or wash over the rudder to get it to turn well. Large 3 blade 25 pitch with drag discs will work fine or go with 4 or 5 blade 2.5 or 2 in dia prop with drad discs direct drive will work even better. If you have an ESC you can combine that with drag discs and your ship will turn very well. I had many comments as to why my Bismarck was turning so well with the NCs and Sodaks. My Rudders are not angled out but straight down. They are the pate style fat airfoil shape. I used 1.75 5 blade 35 pitch and I still had excellent maneuverabilty and tight turning circle but was a too fast due to the smaller prop turning faster however I moved it up to a 2..25 inch 5 blade 25 pitch with drag discs 1.75 dia and had excellent maneuverbilty losing little speed in turns. Most use direct drive with drag discs or escs on direct drive with drag discs in combo with 3 or 4 blade props. Curt
