Your welcome Kas, always willing to help you out. I know how the Allies hope they will win again some day, lol. Maybe this year, With the un-named one from Texas not coming with his Bismarck from Texas due to work, their will only be 5, maybe 6 Bismarck's. So an easy Allied win this year I thinking. I still hope to make it this year, got everything figured out except for Friday. My Daughter needs to take the van Friday morning, so I will need to catch a ride from someone, or just skip Friday. She will pick me up on Monday.
Dave you picked up THREE QE's on Tuesday. And the Score was stated every morning. It was very tight from tuesday on, but three QE's given to Axis.
Yes we got 3 QE, and the Allies got 1 Axis boat that switched to Allied, it was also a class 5, and he was running his Nassau as Axis, Mr Schultz, forgot what he was running, a California maybe? So we had a net gain of 2 boats on Tuesday, then one of the QE's went back to the Allied side on Thursday, so the Axis had a net gain of 1 boat for the last 2 days if I remember right. I'm getting old Karl. I did not care what the score was every day, I was having fun, what mattered to me. I don't even remember what the final score was, just that it was close.
Might I suggest that you two take this discussion somewhere private and give Kevin back his build thread? Thanks in advance...
The third QE. Me. Was told to flip back allied on Friday not Thursday. If the QEs don't flip at all NATS is a huge and very boring allied win. There were not enough axis to shoot Monday. After the flip there were not enough allies to shoot. Friday was a much closer battle. Should have just flipped two QEs. Oh well.
The issue as Dave said, in North Carolina we new it was a slaughter by lunch Monday and we did nothing. I am confused about when we go Allied /Axis or when we go flag -no-flag.
Right Kas, flipping the boats made it more enjoyable for everyone last year, but it did not make some people happy, but you can't all the time anyways. The one the year before, everyone was commenting on how much they disliked a few years before that when they had to go flag no flag, so I think that was why they did not swap out some boats. Was that you Bob, I knew someone switched back, but could not remember who it was. Yes Friday was the most balanced. Kevin don't care he's a great fellow. And now that hes bringing this boat to Nats, its a great discussion.
In NC Monday felt even, I even told Andy on the way back to the hotel that I thought the scores were close. Well is was 10K point wins both battles. Then the attrition started and the Allies started to lose ships and the score got more imbalanced.
So as we don't hijack Kevin thread too bad. Kevin what I put in my new Bismarck for the rudders. I can swap out a rudder servo in less than 30 seconds with this setup. Take out the screw on the servo, pull-up on the pulley gear, slide out the servo, nothing holding it in, then slide in a new one, push the pulley gear back on, and tighten the screw. OK, maybe 40 seconds. Parts all come from Servo City. The 2 smaller Pinion Pulleys are 10 tooth, with 4 mm center hole. I just cut off some 5/32 brass same height as the Pinion Pulley. Look closely you can see it, perfect fit, grind a hole in the side of it so the set screw can bite into the rudder shaft is all. https://www.servocity.com/10-tooth-pinion-pulleys#368=223 The one mounted on the servo is a 15 tooth, with 8 mm hole. I had to drill the hole to 3/8 inch size to fit the Servo Shaft. https://www.servocity.com/15-tooth-pinion-pulleys#368=225 The Servo Shaft is 1 inch long, after I drill the hole so it could fit, I just cut the top excess off, around 1/2 inch with a band-saw. It has the splines to fit on different servos. 24 for Hitec, 25 for Futaba. So just select which one you need. https://www.servocity.com/375-x-1-servo-shaft 3/8 inch wide XL Timing Belt, comes in various sizes, if you need smaller than 10 inches scroll down the list at the bottom you can get down to 5 inches. Mine in the picture is 11 inches. https://www.servocity.com/0-375-3-8-wide-timing-belts#429=425 You can find it all on E-bay, but I just found it easier to source everything from one source instead of going to multiple stores. Easier for me. Another plus with the servo sideways, frees up about another inch of the hull. As big as it is you can never have enough room.
I'm always a proponent of productive discussion. I got the skegs in the boat over the weekend. Made out of 1/8" ply. Side view. And underhull. View from stern. Square enough for government work. Taped them off and epoxied from inside. This will be epoxy job 1 of 3 or 4 to get them sturdy. I cut down some of the lip on the inboard edges today. I will try to fiberglass around the edge to make them stronger. Prop shafts will be toed in as much as possible, Traxxas motor mounts. Thanks for the info Dave, have you used the rubber belt before?
Not a whole lot to show, I added a layer of glass around the inner edges of the skegs semi-successfully. I couple of the pieces refused to maintain the 90 degree bend so they were removed. Peeled off the tape from the underside today Hopefully I will get the shafts in tomorrow. I was able to find a straighter 9/32" brass tube for the stuffing tubes. Will use Traxxas mounts. I might extend the shaft out about 1" beyond the skeg to limit cavitation. Shafts will be toed in along the outboard side of the skegs.
Unfortunately battling has got in the way of typing and building. Working on the shafts. Marked out the scale rudder location., and planned to bring the props to the rudder. had to drill out one of the kort props from 1/8" to 3/16." I've been 0/2 on not screwing this up in the past. This one came out the best thus far. I made a support for the blades to sit on (instead of the hubs), drilled it in 1/64" increments. Drilled holes for the shafts. Looks like I should have made the skegs about 1/16" further apart to allow for the toe in after the end of the skegs. They will probably end up getting mounted here. Side view. They are closer to the skegs then I would want for cavitation/reverse thrust stopping concerns. My plan is to fill the aft part of the skegs with epoxy and milled fibers, then shape down the skegs so the trailing edge comes to a point (a fatter version of what the real ship looked like). Rudders are BC class 6, plan is to mount them right up against the props. I'm having trouble deciding how far apart to make the rudders. Ideally there wont be a gap, but to get them out to the hubs of the props there might be a small one. Shafts sitting in the skegs. Will use Traxxas motor mounts, Hopefully I will epoxy the shafts in tomorrow afternoon, and get a lot of work done on the weekend.
Shafts are in, moving towards water channeling. Does anyone have advice for the best way to place two pumps in a large ship? I'm thinking side by side just forward of the motors. I remember hearing that they should be at least 3" apart. Any tips?
Thanks Caleb and Curt, I had spotted Charley's work previously. Us common folk can only strive to come close to his build quality haha. I got a fair amount of work done over the weekend Here are the shafts and motor mounts glued in, side first Overhead Next step was fill the aft end of skegs with polyester resin and milled fibers. I will probably end up filling the whole skegs this way to hold the shafts. Taped off the top to serve as a barrier Then I propped the boat up and poured the mix This boat takes up a lot of work space Once dry I marked the skegs to cut down to minimize potential flow obstruction to the prop. After 2 hours of straight dremeling the work was done. Removed gel coat in prep for fiberglassing the outside of skegs Kind of look like the skegs on the real ship Motor and prop placed in the hull for orientation/marking off the 'spin zone' I started on the waterchanneling by making a 'plate' to serve as a mold to fill the bow with foam. Here is 1/4" balsa with a layer of fiberglass Next I soldered the props on the shafts and test fit the spacing. There is one tip of one blade that probably should be trimmed, otherwise not too bad I got excited to drill holes for the rudders, so I did that next. They are spaced 1/78" apart, which does leave a gap in the middle when they are at full throw, but should still cover the props alright. This is my first dual rudder ship Just gravity holding them in, no posts yet. They will hopefully end of straight-ish Today I started looking at internal layout. Here is a real rough overview. Its hard to get the whole boat in one picture Clearance over 9oz bottle. Placement of this may change With the bottle slightly further forward Started to outline the deck, since my handheld jig saw is battery powered and it will probably take 4-5 charges to get through deck and sub deck. First I used duct tape to pull the sides in to the scale beam, then placed it on the 1/4" 5-ply for the subdeck. I traced the whole thing, then moved the hull around to inset another line 1/8" to account for fiberglass thickness. Hopefully it works out alright. Deck and subdeck will be two pieces of wood, since it only comes in 48" pieces Drilled out holes for the cross members. Plan is to have the aft magazines 'backwards' facing aft, with a cross brace just fwd of the aft turret, then a large open area for motors, pumps, and battery, then another cross member before the bow turrets. Finally I poured foam under the balsa in the bow. Alumilite 610 as recommended by ming Mixed 50/50, drill has a bent rod for speed mixing (30 sec). I mixed 1oz for the first pour, then 1.25oz for the second. Slight excess to cut away That's it for this weekend. I will continue cutting the deck, working on water channeling, and maybe drag shafts this week. I will also be wiring up the radio box at the same time as I do the box for the Seydlitz.
Progress looks good, Kevin. You're gonna have to watch though, you might run out of room in that hull.
