Awesome! And a sincere thanks for starting up your business. This hobby needs more vendors, especially one who'll do 1/96! [] Carl
that was the primary concern (for clearance issues), but my other one is this: after I make the superstructure how much thickness will be added with the termite armor? And how flexible is the material its made from so that it can be bent and pushed into position just in case theres a difference between our measurements?
My suggestion on termite armor is to build the superstructure in about 1/8" from where the outside walls would normally be. The armor is 1/8" thick, not counting doors, etc, where it sticks out a tiny bit. The material is very flexible, and can be made to fit in tight spots, etc. Email me off list with your address and I'll mail a 3"-4" long piece that's laying around so you can get an idea. Carl, you're welcome. It's very cool for me, too
The motors should be in next week, I decided on 550 size, 75 turn from the local hobby shop. They will be direct drive with enough torque and shouldn't have to worry about wasted heat/energy though the motor controls or in-line resistors from trying to slow down the rpm's to get scale speed. I thought $18/motor wasn't a bad price considering Dumas wants $60 for their high torque motors, and on the ones I ordered they have replaceable brushes. now its finding the right motor control
Hey, in the confusion of the move, I forgot to mail those sample pieces, I'll get them sent out to you, Mark.
that's fine, I've been on vacation the past week so no work has been done on the boat. hows the new shop coming? get to play with any new toys yet?
Shop is mostly assembled. I built a heavy-duty workbench to hold the drill press and jigsaw, the big combo sander has it's own base. I still have to build the light-duty table for fiberglassing, but the wood is all here for it. I have done some work on the Hyuga and Agano plugs. They're at different stages of completion so when I'm tired of sanding, I can go work on the jigsaw some I have started doing the assembling of the Yammer main turret plug. It's the size of a bicycle helmet! I hope to start putting the primary angles on it tonite and sanding on it tomorrow. And, since I have to wait on the lamination of masonite to dry, I went ahead and started on the secondaries. Why not, they gotta get done, right? For those reading this who are interested in the 1/96 Mogami hull, I have made the copies of the hull sections drawing for when I get done with Hyuga & Agano. For Allied vermin in Battlestations, while I was keeping the wife company at her office on Sunday, I made copies of HMS Warspite's hull sections in 1/96 on their copier, so you know that'll be down the pike somewhere. My plans for the US 40mm quad Bofors and the plug for the Kingfisher are still packed in a box somewhere, so I can't work on those any more yet... But they are both coming out in 1/144 and 1/96, in time. Brian K came over and we had a nice chat about the coming build session and RCA's relationship to GW and BC. It's looking like an Entente Cordiale... I will post a list on my site with all the hulls that I know are available, and links to where they are. Kind of like Macy's Santa in Miracle on 34th street. Tim from BC actually referred someone to me today who wants to sell a 1/144 hull plug, so I would say we're all friends
Made a LOT of progress today on the Yammer's Hammers... The mains are taking a lot of time, laminating thinner wood to thickness, leaving the center hollow, but it's looking huger every minute. The secondaries are actually well under way, I will have the basic 3D shape established tomorrow, and may start working on detailing. I will definately be working on the rough shape of the mains, and if I can find the cursed digital camera, I'll post some pics of both tomorrow afternoon/evening. The secondaries are bigger than 1/144 North Carolina turrets, and the mains are almost the size of a bicycle helmet.
Mark is building as-launched. I suspect it's to gain the extra two secondary turrets. If I was building a Yamato, I would, for that reason Making good progress on the 1/144 Hyuga hull, as well. Why should that matter to diehard Battlestations members? Because the 1/96 Mogami hull is next in line, that's why! 8)
Whee-hehehe!!! I just got the shape of the secondary turret rangefinder section done! The secondaries are going to ROCK! They look so cool, but I can't find the daggone digital camera to take pics yet, though On the less positive side, my poor lil jigsaw is cutting the massive primary turrets veeeerrryy slowly. But it's cutting them. The combo sander is exactly as I had hoped, makes the shaping much much faster. I can't wait to get these two roughed, sanded, and sealed so I can work on details.
don't forget the 6 double turrets (5" high angle guns, I'll want a complete set, and BTW drop me an e-mail on what this venture is going to $$$. My motors are still on back order and I can't seem to find what the stall current is, want to size the right controller to the motors, the motors are Integy 75turn single motors any help would be great. I want to try and get away with using only 2 controllers.
I haven't forgotten them, I just want to get the primaries and secondaries done so you can keep building while I do the tertiaries I've gotten quite a bit done on the secondaries, so tomorrow I'm going to concentrate on the primaries. On the stall current, have you tried calling or emailing the manufacturer? Not trying to be flip, sometimes it actually works Other times, it ain't, but it might be worth a shot.
Never herd back from them, oh well I was going to install fuses between the motors and the controllers for a precaution anyway. finished with sheeting the hull and I painted dope on the inside of the balsa, but with no silk span, was this a mistake? the outside hasn't been treated with silk span and dope yet, but I used a water based wood filler to fill in the cracks at the joints. will the silk span and dope still stick, or did I totally screw up?
I've never tried sheeting using dope. Hope it works out! I'd be more concerned with what the water-based wood filler will do when it's immersed... As long as the gaps are over ribs, I'd use something more waterproof to fill the gaps (how big a gap are we talking?) For small gaps, I use CA glue. For big ones, I cut a piece of balsa to fit and CA glue it in. The silkspan hides it from that point on. I got the motors for my Tirpitz in a big order of motors to stock up Artwerks with 380 and 550 size motors. The Tirp drives are Bosch 12V, a couple inches in diameter and about 6inches long, not counting driveshaft. A little overkill, but they were inexpensive so I figure I can always junk box them if they don't work out. Then again, I have weight to spare, and I can always run the motors underloaded.
How do you attach the silk span to the balsa if you don't use dope? the gaps are really small, and all of them are over ribs or stringers. how much are the big Bosch 550, just for future reference? and you decide on the type of motor controller you'll be using?
I don't think I understood what you said about your sheeting I use dope to connect the silkspan to the balsa. I put a player of spray paint primer on the hull, and after it's dry, I use Weldwood or CA to attach the blasa to the hull. The spray primer is there to make resheeting easier. I thought that you were saying that you had used dope to attach the balsa, and that you had use water-based wood putty to fill in the cracks between balsa sheets. I think the Bosch motors are bigger than 550s I'll take a pic Monday when I'm allowed to go out to the shop. They're pretty hefty. They are $3.75 each (old stock, a little oxidation on the case). I looked them up, they are 2.5: dia, 4.5" long not counting the shaft. 15A at 60 oz-in at 1600rpm. Got them on allelectronics.com part number DCM-312. I plan to run them in an "engine room" WT box, with coils around them for water cooling. I plan on building a speed controller to run them. It'll likely be spendy parts-wise, but it won't blow (think surplus SSRs for proportional control) If it works, I'll sell them.
well it looks like I might be able to float test the hull this weekend. put a layer of prime on the whole hull today and will paint it tomorrow. I've found out something troubling today when I put the hull on the scale, it only weighs in at 40lbs. I cant see the complete weapon system weighing more than 40lbs fully loaded and there's not going to much more room for more than 4 forty oz. 6-volt batteries (10lbs), the electronics and motors say 10lbs. the superstructure cant weigh too much so I've got to cram about 80lbs of ballast in the hull, crap
