Hey all, Attached are some construction pictures from the Battlers Connection Scharnhorst Kit I started on last January. Disclaimers - This was my first boat. I live 4 hours from the nearest battler and had never seen another boat before. She has made one battle, lasted one half of a sortie, and took over 115 hits and a ram. Pretty much everything broke except the pump. That being said, here is the kit!
Here are some shots of me preparing and installing the subdeck. As I had no idea what I was doing I decided to install the subdeck and install all the components first, rather than cutting windows right away. This left me with a floatable boat that I could tinker with and balance before I started cutting huge holes in the side. P.S. I wouldn't recomend the type of clamps I used. The may work better for flat sided battleships, but they kept slipping off the bow and stern for me. Test fitting the sub-deck Beveling the underside to fit the inward slope of the bow Epoxying the subdeck - 2 coats! Mental note: Do not try and apply epoxy when it is 40 degrees outside! Bad Bad Idea! Installing the subdeck - one side at a time...
Here is some shots of some of the internal components. The Battlers Connection kits come with great instructions. Rick and the BC crew were super responsive to my email questions and were great encouragement. I cannot say enough good things about them. The engine mount w/ instructions The mostly assembled engine
Here are some shots of me building my superstructure. I built it in parallel with the rest of the boat, as it gave me something to do as my epoxy dried. I redrew each piece of the superstructure in powerpoint so I could print it out easily and redo pieces I messed up. The superstructure is made entirely from balsa wood. I printed out each component, cut it out, placed it directly on the balsa wood with some spray adhesive, and the cut it out with a scroll saw. When it was all assembled I gave it two quick coats of epoxy to seal it. The 1/8 on the stencil is the thickness of the wood it belongs to so I don't accidentaly make it the wrong thickness. P.S. - Balsa is not recomended for a long lasting superstructure as it will get shot to pieces. I went this route to get started knowing full well I would have to replace it soon. You can add a ring of plastic around the base to make it a bit more BB proof. Cutting out the pieces Stacking them together All done Hull with Super Structure
Here is some shots of the internal layout and my first sea trial. As long as this ship is, I still had some trouble getting everything to fit. My forward gun hung too low to clear my CO2 bottle, so I had to squeeze the bottle back towards the center of the ship. I also had trouble fitting in the rudder posts. I had to set asside the two rudder arms that came with the kit and buy gears. You can see how the rudder gears still sit under the subdeck making maintenance tough. I am planning to do something about the rudder when I get around to my first refit. I am running with a stock BC motor mount, a BC pump, a lock-tite tupper-ware plastic box for the reciever and throttle, two 6V 12 amp SLA batteries, and then the big BC CO2 bottle. Internal layout The throttle - note I have the black and red wires backward. Also, $5.00 microswitches are a bad component to learn how to sodre on. I toasted 4 of them through over-heating or shorts - ouch! I will probably get a delta board to eventualy replace this. The pump mount. Most people I have talked to use bungy cables to secure down the pump. I went this route because it was somewhat intuitive to me and would allow me to easily revove the pump for cleaning and servicing. The bolts screw into threaded brass sinks that are drilled into the base. Servo Racks - These both failed me on the water - bad bad bad - I am rebuilding them using oak to make the more solid. First sea trial - Scharny Sails!
Here are some shots of me marking out the windows and cutting the hull. This was easier than I thought, but not for the faint of heart. I used a tungstun grinding bit to hollow out the corners, and a diamond coated cutting wheel to cut the sides. Each go for about $15.00 at home depot. Marking the windows - lots of angst here. Once you start cutting there is no turning back. I kept my ribs mostly uniform, with some very wide windows in the stern, and a couple of extra ribs at the bow. I used pinstripe tape from autozone to make the lines. I drilled out the corner of each window with a 1/8 inch drill bit, and then ground it out with the tungsten grinder. This was tedious! All done - not bad for a half days work...
Here are some shots of sheeting and painting. The sheeting took for-ever! The hull had a lot of compound curves I had trouble getting the balsa to stick to, and I ended up having to cut a bunch of smaller pieces. Fist half finished Fully sheeted with painted superstructure The finished product.
I will post some more shots of the internal plumping and my first battle in a couple of weeks - they are on another computer that is traveling with my wife at the moment. Cheers!
How did the superstructure hold up. Looks like you made it out of balsa wood. Did you fiberglass it so bbs bounce off or are you letting it get shot up?
Using the contact cement should make it alot easier to sheet it. My Roma which is longer, and about the same hull shape, I'm able to do one side with just 2 peices of Balsa, but it had better be lined up right when you press it on. I did not take a picture before I painted her, but the balsa goes from the bow, to right before the stepdown by the rear turret, right at the secondary gun mount, and the second peice continues to the stern.
David, When I got started I tried to use larger pieces but ran into trouble in the stern (where the hull curves into the skeg). I kept getting gaps in the balsa. I also had patience problems waiting for the weldwood to get tacky which contributed to my frustration. I opted for the slow and steady approach, primarily using 8" pieces of balsa in the bow and extreme stern, and individual balsa panels for each window around the skeg and props. Took forever, but it didn't leak! When I re-sheet I will probably use larger panels, simply because I will know what I am doing.
I was at a loss for what to do about the superstructure so I punted and used plain old balsa covered with epoxy. The BB hits penetrated about 1/8" but no big chunks came flying out. You can see some BBs still lodged in the side. The bad-guys even shot off three of my secondaries. Plan is to patch holes with wood puty, sand, and touch up with my airbrush. Before I see battle again I will install a plastic band (from a "for sale" sign) along the bottom rim to prevent some of the dammage. I will be re-building the super structure in something BB proof over the next couple of months. Note: running 4 pounds underweight and being dead in the water is a good way to shield your superstructure from dammage. The bad guys were very considerate and used most of their BBs on my hull.
I had the foam SS on my Minneapolis from Swampy for 7 years. It saw a lot of battling time. I had taken some of the bbs out of it twice. When I finaly tossed it this winter the bbs just poured out as I cut up the foam. There were 100s of them in there. Added a lot of top side weight... I now have ABS plastic for SS.
Thats what Don made his new SS out of for his Miami, ABS plastic. He gave me a large peice so I can make the SS for my PE out of it also. To back it up were going to try and fill the insides with the concrete patching material that I used to make my water channeling out of, it should only add 3 or 4 ounces to the SS, but will give the ABS a shock absorbing inside. We think it will be almost impervious to BB damage, notice I said almost, lol. Only time will tell.
Here are some shots from Scharny's maiden battle! Mental note: Buy a bigger car next time A good shot of the internals. Notice the side armor made out of plastic yard signs. You can still make out "Danger High Voltage" at the bow. Here is a shot of the bow. You can see the firing servo's to the left and right. I was tight on space so I put the servo racks to either side of the CO2 bottle. Worked out pretty well. Here is a shot of the stern. The wire harness is a bit of a mess, and everything is hard soldered together. When I get around to it I will replace everything with plugs so it will be easier to service.
Here are the action shots! Below is the Scharny ready to hit the water. The first disaster (of many) was having all three of my turrets break off. I had epoxied them to little hinges so they would stay on the barbettes. Needless to say they had other plans in mind. Baby's first ram! Somebody owes the Axis some points! Dead in the water, with no working guns, the Scharny defiantly showers the North Carolina's with her pump stream Now here is a pump stream that I can tell my grand-kids about! (Note: No stingers here - just a plain jane 550!)
