She was so great even done half-arsed, she'll be more fun fully-arsed! I have got half the hull sheeting removed, and all the guts are out. Rick from BC did a fantastic job getting my order out the door quickly; Core parts for the rebuild are on their way: 1-into-2 gearbox so I can drive the props with one motor; a pair of 1" props to cut the turning radius down, and a half-unit pump to allow me to mount a third gun, which will go in the stern turret. I'm running a 3.5 ounce CO2 bottle, so it'll easily fire three guns for a sortie. Batteries will be upgrades of the ones used in battle (borrowed from Brian K and Steve)... either C or D-cell NiMH's which will give plenty of juice.
Got some work done this morning prior to having to clean upto go to a wedding... The shafts are removed, several ribs have been clearanced for the gearbox and universals and the new pump well. I do need to figure out how to fit in the stern gun; I have a sidemount that'll fit, but until (or if) the rule passes that lets PDNs mount a sidemount, I can't point a gun that way. Zack came over and we also got all the windows on his VDT cut out. Next Saturday we plan to get the motors and shafts mounted, get some water channeling done, and get the pump mounted. My package from BC took 3 days to get here; slightly stoked at how cool the 1-into-2 gearbox is. I had a new 400-size motor slightly bigger than the one that comes with the 1/2 unit pump, so I mounted that sucker up and can't wait for testing Tomorrow I am going to be packing stuff for Strike Models and cutting some wood for Ioann Zlataost so I can get that out the door, too. But Effie is coming along fine as part of the Red Menace' 5 week plan'. Long Live the Glorious Revolution!
A rear stinger is something that Izzie is going to want. Is it a deck clearance issue or a reorganization of the machinery spaces that is called for?
Machinery spaces are the problem. I can build a new gun that'll fit for dead astern firing; just I have a known good gun that's a sidemount... If I was keeping the twin 400 direct drive arrangement then it wouldn't be an issue (gun could slot down between the motors), going to the single 500 with gearbox changed things. Definately saved room with the change, just doesn't allow any of the stern guns I have on hand to fit easily. I'm going to say that short of a muffin mag, there's no room for a haymaker in back (height issue of the gun). Although I will pester Brian K to work on one of his muffin mags for me when he and Pete D are over tomorrow for a build session (yeah... no school means I can build on Saturday AND Sunday!!!)
Late update, this is work done over the weekend around shipping out one of the two Alaskas that I owed people... All the balsa is stripped off the hull, more water channelling got done, and the driveshafts are properly mounted where they belong reeeeaalllll close to the rudder. Oh, yeah, I found a class 3 rudder that I'd cast a year ago so she got a new rudder. This one is 1" high by 2" long. Once I get Effie on the water for testing, I'm going to see how she turns with this setup (1" props and a long skinny rudder), and then see how she does with a suggested setup from Marty (1" props and a taller, shorter rudder). Nice thing about a 31.5" boat is ease of testing in the pool. Oh, the gearbox fits in nicely between the driveshafts and the large-ish knuckle I put in the water channelling. And Brian K is loaning me a Muffin-mag gun from his Vanguard to test the proposed 'Sidemounts on PDNs' rule that's to be voted on soon. The sidemount will be mounted in the 'X' turret (since my 'A' turret has the dual bow guns. If no one believed David when he said how much fun multiple bow guns are, believe it. You can't stop laughing as you violate the enemy. Hopefully the stern gun will add some additional merriment. The pump is slightly offset to port to accomodate the drive motor, but the ship is so small, I think that the water channeling will keep us doing well. Pics will be posted tonite, as I have to run to work now.
This may be rehash, but is there a problem with the stern gun if one goes with two drive motors? I need to keep it simple as my building skills are those of the workers paradise.
J, it's not a problem... in Effie's first battle, I ran two 400-size drive motors and had the pump stashed between them... So you have plenty of room in between the motors for a stern gun (or two). It's a surprisingly roomy little ship. I'm at work... just got on the intarwebz and ordered three (3) 7.2V 4000mAH NiMH battery packs and a fancypants charger that can charge up to 4 batteries at once, and can plug into a PC and generate Volt-Amp curves and all that goodness. Price was $135 for all of the above with shipping! I will post reviews once it all gets here. Effie will be partying in the pool by end of the day on Sunday. With luck, I'm going to get a superstructure mounted before the October battle.
I ran Effie with 2 400-size motors (and a full unit pump) at the last battle with 3AH and 3.5AH batteries with no trouble. Switching to a single 550size drive and a half-unit pump I should be easily good for a whole sortie on one battery. Brian's coming over this weekend, I'm putting him to work helping get Izzie done. You want her as a frame, or do you want hull plating and a layer of glass?
Wow, it's been a WHILE! My necromantic skills are in full swing! I pulled Evie (decided that she was an 'Evie' because it's EVstafi, not EFFstavi, da?) off the wall where she'd sat for more than 4 years... After clearing out some dust, I assessed our status now, and where we needed to go. Okay stuff: Rudder post Basic hull (apart from my original mistake in which I thought that the first level of casements was more than 1/2" in from the edge and thus impenetrable) Front deck Not okay stuff: No motors - Added two 380 brushed motors (direct drive via dogbones) and mounts, plus an Mtronics Marine15 ESC. Got two spares of the ESC. No pump - Designed and printed half-unit pump for brushless motors, got it in apart from the impeller that needs a collar welded in it. Needs wiring. No electrics - Needs basic harness. Batteries are in stock already, 2.2AH 3S LiPO. No gas system - Needs everything, will be running MAVs for guns. No guns - Needs guns, have 2 on hand for the bow. Will be running dual bows and a stern sidemount. No rudder - Rudder fabbed and installed, waterproof rudder servo installed in existing quick-release mount. Homebrew rudder arm installed on rudder. No hull sheeting - Sheeting at build session next week. No SS - need to fix hull with casement deck on the 01 level of the stern deck. Started building the stern 01 level at the back end where it's legally solid. It's gonna look Boss. Below, taken yesterday, the motor mounts are going in. The odd looking thing aft of the C-clamp is the quick-release rudder servo mount. The blue thing next to the CO2 bottle is the battery. Below, amidst the sawdust, my new half-unit pump is snugly fitted between and forward of the main engines. Below, a port-side view of the same area. The three pieces of plywood are the start of the hull/SS 01 level, tacked in place. Need sanding, but a deck will be fitted over top of them. Lastly, a beauty shot, Evie looking much longer than she is! That long piece of deck on the lower level will be cut open in the center after I get the casements added, since they're technically 'hull', and I really want Evie to look good and be legal when next she battles. Last time it was an honest mistake, but now that I know, it would not be if I left it So fixed it shall be! Oh, and for the curious, she's running 1.25" 4-blade props, with a rudder 1.25" tall, and just over 1.5" long, for a total of 2 square inches. The rudder is a flat piece of 1/8" plywood with one layer of thin fiberglass on it. No fanciness.
