Tugboat's Evstafi

Yeah, I downloaded those, too I wanted to do Aurora, given its obvious relation to the Glorious Revolution(tm), but it was built before 1900... In any case, I'm looking forward to finishing your Evstafi and overhauling mine! After that, more Red ships Wait till you see the big campy red star that's gonna go on the side of the convoy ship

 

Okay, this last set of posting will end the Evstafi Build Diary... because she was (although rushed into combat) rediculously fun. She is going to be my main winter project as she gets rebuilt properly. The overhaul will be its own posting. Anyhow, below is Evstafi with her pondside-improvised superstructure... It was made from a cereal box with a stick and a piece of straw for the mast. Yes, that's an Imperial German naval flag on the mast. Once you've put the cereal box on, anything else is fair game. After the first sortie, two smokestacks were added using coke bottle tops. The once-realistic smoke (from silkspan) got a bit wet and so is not so realistic now The solid section up front was not completed but hey, it kept the water and BBs out. And I was just happy to make a battle with my own ship It'd been a while. Yes, that's a lot of holes int he back deck, but it fit well enough and did I mention that I made a battle?

Side note: Yes, it looks like a lot of down-angle on the bow guns... IT IS!! HAHAHHAHAH!!! Suitable for violating balsa from close range and even sinking North Carolinas...

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This is a zoomed in version of the last pic... You can see that for all her flaws, she floats at the waterline. The little piece of masking tape on the hard part up from covers a tiny tiny hole that is legally penetrable (2" from edge of hull). It's like 1/2" long and 1/4" high. The deck below it is the 1/8" stringer and above is the 3/8" thick deck. The rest of the casements are legally solid, either by being 1/2" in from the edge of the hull, or by being within 2" of the bow. I know that in this pic it looks like the bow guns have so much down-angle that they'll hit the deck but believe me, they don't. I felt a little bad about my improv SS, but I have a nice one that is on the bench in the shop and I didn't want to rush it into battle.

Once I get her turning like she should (props are too wide and too big, was using ones I had on hand [1.5"]), she will be my primary battling ship for 2010. The benefits of a 31.5", 11.5# ship are many, but best part was I could make the drive to the battle in my Avalon with leather seats, nice radio, and automatic climate control With all the gear in the trunk. It's easier for me to maintain as I get back into hardcore battling once nursing school is over in 2 days... And, you can drive it into the thick of a furball with a reasonable expectation of driving it out again Special thanks go to David, Don, and Rick for giving her a real pounding in the final sortie on Sunday so that she finally sank. I firmly believe that it's bad luck for a new ship to go unsunk on it's first battle weekend, and they saved her from that fate.
During the overhaul, I have a lengthy list of stuff to do, one of which will be switching to a half-unit restrictor and mounting the 3rd gun that MWC rules allow 3.5 unit PDNs... God help the battleships if the PDN sidemount rule gets passed cause I'm thinking Haymaker! Even if it's just a single stern, it'll make dancing in the furball a lot more fun...

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Here is Steve, pointing at the damage Effie did to the NC prior to it sinking. To be fair, he'd taken some belows ont he other side int he previous sortie. But I DID let him empty his guns into Effie as a stress test before I returned the favor. If you haven't battled with Steve, he's great fun lakeside and an inspiring opponent. I have nothing but good to say about the whole IRCWCC contingent who visited for the battle (Steve, Matt, and Marty who is a regular here). I look forward to driving the Avalon up north in the springtime for an IRC regional... Good sportsmen, and well-built ships. If anyone sees Steve, don't tell him I was ruining his reputation online

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This is what happens inside a small warship that you rush into battle ... Whatta snakepit! In the overhaul, I'm going to attempt a brushless pump motor, and move the props closer tot he rudder, going down to a 1" or 7/8" prop as well to get her turning better. Not sure what I'll do for drive motors and controller, as my trusty Mtronics 15A Marine ESC finally gave up after 3 years of use. I think that it was a combination of pushin two aging 400-size motors and a couple of mossing incidents over the weekend that pushed it over the edge. Planning on at least switching to a single larger drive motor and gearbox. I need to see what I can get away with whilst still fitting the stern gun. May try a brushless for drive as well, but it depends on how much a Marine-rated ESC (with reverse) costs... I'll ask Greg and Justin.
The 'Turtle' moniker on the stern was applied by Steve in honor of how hard it was to get good shots on it. Or because it looked like a turtle. Either way. The radio in view is my Spektrum, modified with a new voltage regulator and buttons. I like that radio! I did get some much-appreciated help from Marty with figuring out the menus (hadn't used it in a while!) and it was great. Had some servo issues but the quick-change mounts made that easy to fix between sorties, even changing between brands with different sizes of servo... An article is going to be written for the next issue of the Scuttlebutt on how to make the mounts; it's not hard to do. The servos themselves will be replaced with the Traxxas waterproof ones.

Anyhow, on to the overhaul!!