No, it took Carl Camuratti in a north Carolina and Mike Butts in my Iboat and a construction flaw I just got through warning Joshzilla about a month or so ago to do it in. Next time I think it will take a Bismarck and two Tirpitz to do it. Haha
No, it took Carl Camuratti in a north Carolina and Mike Butts in my Iboat and a construction flaw I just got through warning Joshzilla about a month or so ago to do it in. Next time I think it will take a Bismarck and two Tirpitz to do it. Haha
That thing is still sick! If you get the chance to see it in person, do it! Ron did an amazing job of engineering it. Mike Butts
I saw pics on the forum and I am totally blown away. I think Tony Stark..aka IRON MAN... would appreciate the technology and engineering that went into to it. Hey maybe Ron can install Repulsor Rays instead of bb cannons.
I think the pump stream may be strong enough to act as a repulsor ray. That is part of the reason I put 1/4 inch elbows after the outlet to act as a diverter. The first time I tested the pump on Tuesday it stripped about 1.5 threads off the plastic hose barb and blew the diverter about 5 feet away from the boat, and shoved it sideways pretty hard. I really need to test the gallons per minute to see how much the output is. I expect it may be slightly higher than 3 gallons a minute based on past testing and the power consumption, but it probably needs to be toned down a little with a slower motor for thermal management reasons. Or I need a pump with a slightly smaller impeller to unload the motor a bit. I am using 2 30 amp relays in parallel to run it, installed in the water resistant box. Moisture is deadly to relay contacts, even though they may appear to function correctly. Ron Hunt
Nice build to date.... I am also building a Nagato Class, the INJ Mutsu. Shes fast gun so not as many cannon..
Thanks for the compliments, I hope to complete my Nagato this winter. I was a bit off with the balasting, so I have some major rework to do on it, like moving the electronics box to the bow and redoing the superstructure. The cannon internals broke on Friday at nats due to a shortcut I took to get them done in time, so I also plan on replacing them with a newer design. Ron Hunt
ron, a while back youre were talking about LiFePO4 3.2 volt 20 Amp-hour cells in a 4 cell pack. does this mean you bought four of them for about $35 each for the boat. you connected the batterys in series right, for 3.2 volts X 4 batteries = 12.8 volts...with same capacity of 20 ah. you guys run 12 volts in your boats, we run 6 volts. not sure what the volage difference mean thought. if your using 12 volts for the engines and pump, are you using a 6V volt battery for the reciever? looking at the these new LiFePO43.2 volt 20 Amp-hour cells. from what I can tell, if you bought 4, and hooked two up in series to get 6,4 volts and then hooked up the 2 pairs of 6.4 volts in parrell, you could keep the voltage the same at 6.4 volts, but would double the amp hours to 40. this sound right? thx joe
That is correct. And for the 6 volt guys, don't hook the two pairs together. Just run two 20 ah packs in the ship, one for the pump, the other for everything else in the ship.
Yep, bought 4 cells for the boat. I recharge them in the boat with a batteryspace 4 cell series 13.2 V 10A charger without a balancer in between battles, then at night I charge each cell individually with a batteryspace single cell 6A charger. The nightly individual charge keeps them balanced. The chargers run ~ $50 for the 4 cell charger and ~ $25 for the single cell chargers. I only bought 2 single cell chargers, so I have to swap the cells once, about 2 hours after putting the first batch on charge. Running higher voltage 12v vs 6v gives a little higher efficiency, more available power output, and generates more torque depending on the motor. Also less power lost to resistance in the wires. A 12v system running brushed motors seems to be reasonably comparable to a 6v brushless system, at least that was my feeling from comparing my Iboat to Mike's Erin. The Iboat's performance (acceleration and turning) was much worse the one time I had to switch it to 6 volts at a regional. I swapped motors, and didn't need to change the gear ratio to make speed, so the top end thrust was approximately the same. I use a castle creations 20A battery eliminator circuit to power the receiver, servos and other electronics at 5.4 volts from the same battery as the pump and drive. The 20A rating is overkill, a 10A bec costs less (about $25 vs $39) and will handle anything you throw at it. (plus it reduces your risk of burning out your speed controller - I have blown 3 speed controlers by frying the internal bec) I agree with Mike, it isn't a good idea to hook up LiFePO4 cells in parallel without some expensive electronics to monitor the cells. The best thing to do is buy cells of the appropriate type to begin with. If you are running 6 volts (2 Cells) the 40AH cells are easy to find since most vendors carry them. Ron Hunt
I have neglected to post the rest of my construction pictures I took back in July. I got in a hurry and didn't take enough pictures to properly document everything. This shows the casemate cutouts prior to some cleanup with a hand file The riveted blocks that hold the subdeck on were cut back farther into the hull to allow enough room for any bbs to pass cleanly through the balsa. Note the slot cut in the top of the bulge, right where the gunwale would be. The balsa covering the casemate area fits down into this slot, eliminating the failure prone butt joint commonly used in this area. One side mostly done. More views of the casemate area The other side cut out. Water channeling is just plain grey flooring foam. This didn't work out so well, the cheapo harbor freight brand of flooring foam I tried absorbed some water over time. It lost about 1/4" of freeboard during the week of Nats due to absorbed water. Finishing up the bottom of the hull. Servo wheel drag disks. Float test. Turns and accelerates nice. Needs a little more superstructure. Ron Hunt
Sigh, I love your ship Ron. I hope my build will be as clean. Arming all the guns for flexibility, love the idea. 12v, love it. Lack of wood, love it. I look forward to our next meeting. Das Butts
I was interested in reading about your build. I have a few questions about your layout, though: Compared to the "traditional" layout (bottle in bow, drive motors facing aft, etc), you seem to have moved a great deal of the boats weight aft. Do you have any trim problems? I'd imagine you would have to ballast the bow down to get the ship to float correctly. The guns you show... are those Kip's (or some other solenoid) built directly into the gun/magazine? Could you show some diagrams or detailed pics of how they are built / assembled? Thanx! Jeff L (no, not the crazy one, the OTHER Jeff L)
