Bob, I ordered some 7.2 volt NiMH packs. I've only used the SLA's in the past, but wanted something smaller and lighter. They should be coming in this week along with my BC order.
Got some more work done today (which is surprising considering it's opening Sunday for Football!). I got my new class 3 rudder in as opposed to the over sized IRCWCC-legal rudder that was on the ship, and got it hooked up and working via radio control. I also installed the props and made a pump switch for it. I'm not sure exactly where I want to install the pump/outlet yet. I'm kind of thinking about trying to run the pump outlet up through one of the funnels along the side, but I'm not sure. It would probably be easier to just angle it out the side, but I'm undecided. No sign of my batteries yet, I'm a little surprised about that. I figured they should have come in during the week. Hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday will see their arrival.
Got a little more done on the Belleau Wood this weekend. ESC is in and props are turning via R/C. I'm afraid I need to replace the motors though; one of them has a really high pitched whine when electricity is applied and the other seems to visually turn at a slightly slower rpm, at least at low speeds. I guess I'll know more when I can put the hull on the water and see if she sails in a straight line. I also cut down the rudder post so the aft deck will actually fit.
Yeah I plan on that, I'm more concerned with the other one not turning as fast. The one with the whine makes that noise even when it's not turning....just a little power makes it whine.
Got some more work done on the Belleau Wood today. I did most of the wiring harness, motors are fully operational off both batteries. I got my ESC problem fixed; it seems that the esc does infact run on the RX battery as opposed to the main drive battery. Putting a better charge on the RX battery got the whole system up and running again. The only wiring left to do is hooking up the pump. I'm not terribly happy with how I am planning on hooking it up (basically I would prefer that the pump switch was on the other side of the tamiya connector) but I hadn't thought it out well enough before I actually started cutting and splicing and don't really have the length to do it properly the way I want, so I'll do it properly on the other side of the connector. It's not a HUGE deal, it just means a little more work if I need to swap out the pump. I'm not nearly annoyed about it enough to redo the work. As for the radio, I was going to put my Polk into the Salem and my ch61 Futaba into the Belleau Wood so the Salem would be available as a loaner (Invincible is on 2.4 as my primary) but I've changed my mind and will run the Polk in Belleau Wood and Salem on 61. The reason is, I want to be able to run the Belleau Wood in scenarios and my ch61 radio is in conflict with Roland. When the Salem is out for that reason, I'll just use the Belleau Wood as my loaner/backup.
The ESC runs on the main drive battery if there is no receiver battery hooked up.If you want to run a separate receiver battery you most remove the red wire from the wire coming from the ESC that plugs into the throttle chanel.
Thanks Phil, I made that change last night. I didn't notice any difference, but it still worked so I obviously didn't break anything. I also got the pump all wired in, so electronically she's functional. There are a few little clean up type things I need to get done, but everything works well...at least on the bench...
Got the Belleau Wood's plans tonight from BDE. Very nice, serviceable plans. I'm looking forward to getting on the superstructure.
Hoping to get a start on the superstructure this weekend; we'll see. I want to get her on the water because I think it's going to be a very fun ship.
Finally dusted the Belleau Wood off a little bit last night. I did a little work on the forward deck, as I needed to cut out a slot for the forward gun. I also ground off some old epoxy that was there from someone who owned the ship before me. I'm at least the 4th person to own the ship, which started off life as a Brooklyn class cruiser. Unfortunately, I didn't test to make sure I had cut a big enough notch before I put my tools away to get dinner. Due to the angle of the gun, the deck doesn't completely fit so I need to open it up a little more. I also need to work on the aft deck a little bit, so the fact I need to revisit the forward deck is no biggie. I also swapped out the test rudder servo I had been using in there for one that I had already waterproofed. This servo once served as the rotate servo in the Courageous and has been sunk a few times so I know I can trust it to get a little bit wet! In fact most of the innards of the Belleau Wood came from the Courageous at one point or another, in cluding one of the guns! It's kind of like how the real Courageous and Glorious provided turrets for the Vanguard! I'm rethinking my power supply though. I was originally planning on using two NiHM 4500 mah battery packs to provide power, but I am thinking of reducing this to only one battery. My thinking is that by lightening the ship up some, she'll be more responsive to helm and throttle. it will simply be less mass to move, and less water friction. Since we are allowed to change batteries every sortie, I don't need to run more then a single battery in the ship. Since the motors will be working less hard to move the ship, the drive system should be a little more efficient too. At least that's the though process I am using right now.
Got some more work done on the Belleau Wood today. I got both the bow and stern decks fit in, and decided to play around with the way I had some of the stuff arranged, and I really like the new layout a lot better. I removed one of the NiHM packs, so now there is only one 4500 mha battery in the ship to provide power and pump. A smaller RX battery will power the receiver and servos. I should probably look at running everything on one battery, but for now, a separate battery I know and trust. I originally had the ESC sitting forward underneath the regulator...the thinking is firing the guns would make the regulator cold, the cold regulator sitting on the esc would cool the esc. Well given the size of the motors I am running, the speeds we run in treaty, and the fact that I plan to run the ESC backwards (ie in reverse so that when I am forward, the ship will be running at 50% power, in reverse it will have 100% power) I expect the esc won't have heat issues. It now sits between the drive motors. The receiver is being relocated aft, behind the drive motors and shafts near the stern gun and rudder servo. Bottle, regulator and drive battery remain amidships, but with only 1 battery, and everything else being moved aft, the midships section of the hull is much cleaner and gives easier access to bottle and battery. I screwed the bracket down which holds the gun servo chassic and poppets, as the epoxy wasnt really getting the job down. It's nice and solid now. All in all, I am happy with the progress so far.
Mike, I was able to get to the port side windows on Bismarck today. All windows are cut except for the ones above the armor belt. I should be sheeting during this weekends build session.
Excellent. I'll bring up the Salem to work on sitting the gun a little bit deeper. I might bring up the Belleau Wood too. I'm not really sure how I want to do the superstructure above the hangar deck, and thought you might have some ideas.
I'm hoping you have some ideas for the pump discharge as well. I can't figure out where I want to put it at, and the flight deck just complicates things. I prefer to have a pump that shoots straight up in the air so I can see how hard I am pumping. I know a lot of guys like to have low angle pumps so they don't attract a lot of attention, but I want to make sure *I* can see when I am pumping hard. Then I can just leave the pump running and try to captain my way to survival. If I don't see the severity of how hard I am pumping I might shut it down and get myself past the point of no return.
