Well here we are at last. Montana is now ready for wiring battery harnesses and hook up of the ESC and other stuff. Normally I don't normally post projects that are non combat but this one began when the Montana kit first came out and some battler's wanted to see what I could do with it. Well it has been an on and off saga since I saw the post about the ship in the product review back in 2013. Life and other things caused long delays. Not to mention my Shoulder injures followed by Rotator Cuff surgery which I am now at only 40% use of my right shoulder. I had the surgery in April. So the last month and up to now I been trying to get this beast finished. I could keep going detailing but at this time I want to get back to the inside and finish it up for sea trials and videos before our short summer here is over. So with that like to thank the guys for support on this project with advice and tips and pics of course. Here is the Montana currently as it is . ...
Montana update. Well the ESC, RX, ESC ON/OFF Switch, Servo for activating pump switch, Pump switch, battery harness, basically the electrical and hookups are done. They have been all tested and some minor tweeks were made to the ruddrs and pump servo. The first on table test went well. I then hooked up the Smoker to the ESC engine wires and tested the smoker. It produced lots of smoke at top speed and little smoke at low speeds and in between. Both smoke uptake pipes produced smoke . Now just have to mount the uptakes inside the fore and aft stackes and tidy up the wiring everywhere else. Once that is done just need to rebend the railings that were flattened out during this work put the hatches back on and weigh the beast before I bring it to the pond for a float test and sea trial.
Montana update. Well I sanded the edges of the removable hatches to make it easier to remove them from the deck . Reinstalled the smoke plumbing however during that process I accidentally popped both smokestacks along with the rear mast off the superstructure. I caused a crack about midway at the rear of the fore superstructure between 02 and 03 level. After reattaching the smoke stacks again the forward stack was out of alignment with the hole that was drilled at the top of the upper level 05 I think. The pipe would not insert properly. So I add to unweld the plumbing and start over. After breaking off more pieces of superstructure I finally was able to get it all back to together and repaired. I had to relocate 2 sets of 20 MM platform mounts to the aft quarterdeck as their overhang made it difficult to slide the main hatch with superstructure affixed to the hatch, back in place when putting the hatches back on. This occurred fore and aft of the main superstructure . I removed badly damaged railings from those ends and trimmed or shortened the length of the railing running along the deck edge of the quarterdeck and fore deck. I needed open area to place my fingers for handling the model. I may remove them entirely as they do get in the way and are not strong enough to handle the abuse. The forcastle railings are still intact since that area is sealed and there is little handling by my hands there in that section. So just getting used to handling this beast. Ballast wise I added another 4.4 lb SLA brick battery tying it into the bilge pump so now the pump is operating off of 6v 24 amphr whilest the engines and smoke generator servos and ESC are operating off of 6v 36 amphr . Battery weight is 22lbs alone. With additional ballast the model is around 50 lbs maybe more maybe less. Hard to get an accurate weight measure but the Float test will let me know if I am ballast properly. I just need to secure the additional ballast along with the Rudder servo/switch for pump control. That platform I trimmed in half and the RX is nestled between that and the Additional battery forward of the A turret. No change to the aft section equipment. I may need to add ballast near the stern but I have space there if I need it. I tidied up some of the harnesses and will finally secure them in wire clamp holders. These will be mounted along the narrow alleys that run port and starboard of the battery tray. So Electrical wiring is running the port side aisle and the Servo Wires/harnesses are running in the starboard aisle. Just need to replace some damaged railings at the fore and aft ends of the superstructure abreast of the upper barbettes port and starboard. Then some touch up paint and place some stacked life-rafts in those areas now that the 20 MM AA sets are removed from those sections. I did fire up all the systems and ran the smoke generator again. This time the center hatch was able to seal with the deck while the smoke generator was attached to the upfeed plumbing for the stacks. I had to turn the generator sideways or abreast of the keel as opposed to longitudinal because the generator was bumping into the brick batteries. After firing up the engines the aft funnel bellowed smoke. The foreward funnel not as much but smoke did belch from it just not as much volume. Maybe I need to install a 2nd generator and have each stack with a dedicated smoke generator. After a few minutes and a smokey room I was pleased that it finally worked out. Next step is to get the ship to the pond and float and sea trial the Montana.
