Rebuilding the Invincible... From the experienced battlers out there, I've been running 1.5" props on my I-boat forever... been contemplating 1.25" props. Do you guys think that it would 1) help turning any vice the bigger props, and 2) Hurt my acceleration too much to be worth it?
If anything, it will hurt your turning. In this scale / at these speeds, rudders don't turn the boat by carving through the water so much as by deflecting prop wash off the centerline of the hull. Thus, more thrust being deflected = better turning. Since the size of the rudders is controlled, the best way to improve maneuverability is to use the max thrust possible. So drag props as big as you can get away with. Props should be the same height as the rudder, so as to generate flow against the maximum surface area of it. If you do go to smaller props, Reduce the rudder height to match the props and make your rudders longer in length to meet the area rule. As for acceleration, yes, smaller props will reduce your accel.
Yeah, I knew they'd hurt it, but you know, I've heard 'smaller props for better turning' and for some reason it was getting into my brain. Probably operating on insufficient sleep. I think I'll keep 1.5" dia props, just print some for I-boat with 5 blades for testing See if more blade area reducing cavitation helps accel. On the plus side, I found a new easier way to draw props for printing, and I think I fixed my side thrust problem that I had with the otherwise good prop I used on Lil Scharnie a while back.
I'd like to eventually print myself some props, and if I can do basic math, 1.5 inches is just right for the Jean Bart. When you perfect your design, do you think you could upload it?
1.5" props are what I use on Goben and VDT. Both real close to I-boat. Hudson has 1.5" on Kongo. She turns the same as mine with 1.75" props but does not start/stop as well. Once you get to a ship that is 23-25+lbs you should move up in size to 1.75". Most ships at 1.75" props are fine. The bigger ones like Vangaurd, Iowa, Yamato, Richie should go to 2" props. They have too much weight for a 1.75" to start and stop the ship.
Thanks I'm going with 1.5" on I-boat, Malaya got 1.75" and if I had put in motors of the appropriate speed, she'd have been good. My 550s from All Electronics were waaay to slow (like 34sec/100'). David Ranier letting me try using Titans for drive, and even geared way down they were good only for entertainment purposes as we estimated her speed at 6-8 sec/100' and she got on plane before she started moving forward in the water! Totally uncontrollable, obviously, but funny to see. Only did it for about 10 seconds, didn't want to stress the driveline too much.
Does that just go for fast gun, or big gun as well? Because I'm pretty sure my Jean Bart is limited by the rules to 1.5 inch props.
Remember, in 1:144 1.5"=18 foot diameter IRL. Either oversize or close to scale for most bigger ships. Now if you look at my Baden w/ a 2.25" (27 FEET!)...heh
