USS Washington is getting to be an old ship. I build to what I call stand off scale. You can tell what ship out on the water, but I don't bother with a bunch of stuff that will just get shot off anyway. She was built in 2001 and battled successfully for 2-3 years before I took a 10 year break from the hobby. She is an old school build by today’s standards, but can still hold her own on the pond. Classic Gun placement for a North Carolina class battle ship Tripp Afts with two front bow guns. She was built from one of the old Swampworks hulls. Thin with no skeggs. I built the skeggs with three layers of 1/8” plywood and used the skeggs to support the prop shafts. Props are 1 ¾” Swampworks / Strike. I had lost all but one blade so one is a BC prop pond side replacement. Rudders are close to the props. I added fishtails to them before this years battle season. I run her with 1 ¾” drag disks. Superstructure is built with ½” X ¼” bass wood and 1/8” plywood. I use PVC pipe for all round & half round structure. The stacks were built using paper towel rolls with spacers wrapped with fiberglass. Light weight and very durable. The Aft guns are mounted through a wood block to give a solid mount and consistent aim. This year I have been fighting with the guns. They were working intermittently or not at all. In the week leading up to our last battle of the year I yanked the old KIP solenoids and replaced them with new Spartan solenoids. I then rebuilt the bow cannons with “my” new design https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/maxspin-mk-1-prototype.444506/ They mount securely on the bottom of the deck. In the bow we see the water channeling, built with ¼” balsa wood. It is built two layers deep, and taper throughout the width to move water quickly to the water channel. The old KIP solenoids used an expansion tank that also served to hold the CO2 tank. With the new cannon design the expansion tank is not needed. I filled the recessed expansion tank mount with lead to help balance out the ship. You can also see the jar of lead shot used to basalt the ship. Mid-ship we see the two 6v 12ah batteries used to run the Washington. I have never run out of power running two sorties. I am moving from a 7oz tank to a 9oz tank and moving it from the bow to mid-ship between the batteries. I will need to build a new bottle holder for the CO2 bottle. The batteries are all the way on the bottom of the boat inside built in tubs so that they will not move. Moving farther aft we see the radio box. It is a waterproof Otter Box. I like these type of boxes as they are easily accessible, but remain water proof. Farther aft we see the bilge pump. It is a Swampworks pump with the standard Johnson motor it came with. I will replace the motor this year just for maintenance. Drive system for the Washington are Mabuchi 550s in TRAXXAS gearboxes. Inside the radio box. To the left you see the MAG switch. Forward and Reverse full speed!!! In the middle is the pump switch. To the Right are the gun switches. The receiver is Velcroed to the lid. In the far aft is the rudder gear system. The servo is sealed as best as possible, with spares on hand. You can see the old mounting system for the KIP solenoids. The KIP solenoids have 10/32 screws that were drilled tapped and soldered to ¾” copper expansion tanks. The Spartan's use 1/8NPT. I will need to clean up the plumbing it was a rush job to get her on the pond. The sub-deck is make from ¼ X ¼ basswood with cross braces. I have fought with it from the start trying to get it to stay glued. More work will be needed this off season. I much prefer the fiberglass sub-decks and decks that I build now. Internal armor is made from 2Liter Pop bottles.
Nice job! Might I inquire as to the method you use to insure a watertight seal when routing wires out of your otter box?
Drill as close tolerance size hole as you can. Pass wire through seal with supper glue. I covered that with tool dip when I built it for double coverage. I would now look at a silicon adhesive.
