Since ive been involved in combat in 07' ive always wanted to battle at a moments notice after work or during the weekend with family or friends if we wanted to. Already having a bis, graf spee and a zboat i decided out of the 3 that cruisers would probley be the way to go as far as ease of transport, weight and being able to make reliable with less effort. I had really wanted to try a BC or pre-dreads but i already have a cruiser thats fun and works so blah.. cruisers it is. Since deciding this, I traded my zboat for a Lutzow which was mostly complete which i just started on working on finally the other night. This is where im at. Im not sure if its been done by anyone but id like to try and run the ships on 6v 12amh SLA's that i still have from when i used them in Bismarck before changing to 12v. I have 6 batteries so i would like to use them if possible. Im not sure if i have the weight or not, if i dont i can buy nimhs if i must since i already have a few of those laying around in good shape as well. Just figured i could about run a cruiser all day on one or two. Having nothing installed in the hull when it arrived at my house, i mounted the motors where they needed to be since the shafts where already installed and looked good. After marking where i wanted my pump i layed out the channel with 1/4" square balsa and glued it down filling the cracks with goop and laying down some 3/16" single sided sticky foam to fill in the spaces where i was going to add concrete sealer so i just sealed the foam with a thin layer of it to save weight. Heres the German pocket battleships in drydock. Both need new superstructures and are looking a bit rough. Deffinately need a set of plans to fix that. There might also be another cruiser added to the fleet as well. I've decided to do 3 since my younger brother and a cousin of mine have both expressed some intrest in battling but dont have the cash flow to pursue it anytime soon between college, work, and women of course like myself which is why im having trouble getting things done as quickly as id like, haha. Thank god its cooling down now so outside activities are slowing down a bit and i can spend some time inside the garage attempting to build ships. Also if anyone has any pictures of there pocket battleships or someone elses please feel free to post them, I havent seen very many pictures with as many as we have in the hobby.
If the SLAs are from '07, you may have to replace them anyway. Even when not used, the SLAs sulfate and loose capacity. You can tell the difference between new SLAs and 3 year SLAs ... the new ones have more "punch", i.e. voltage under load than the older ones. Even NiMH cells loose capacity over time even if not used. If weight does become an issue, perhaps looks towards the LiFE cells. The cylindrical Headway 10ah cells only weight 1.5 pounds for a two cell, 6.6 volt pack. The 16ah Headway cells are around 2 pounds total for a pack. The LiFE cells have a long cycle life (upto 3K cycles vs 500'ish for NiMH), can carry large amp draws without voltage sag under load, and weight half as much as a comparable SLA.
Alright seems as though I'm going to have to give in and go to the life cells then. Where is the best place to order the headway cells from? I need 6 total for 3 cruisers. What esc are you using in your ships Mike I have had great luck with the mtroniks 15 from strike but seeing as I need 2 more 40bucks a pop is a bit pricey I seem to remeber you were using something different that was cheaper. I'm running 380 size motors direct drive so that's all they need to handle. Any suggestions? Thanks =)
I am getting ready to put 15's in my Lutzow and IJN Mogami. http://www.ebay.com/itm/LiFePO4-Battery-Cells-38120S-3-2V-10Ah-big-capacity-/230686164817?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b5f78751 http://www.ebay.com/itm/230667812309?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Theses are the one I have bought and will try using. If you find something can you let us know. Thanks, Skippy
