Tried to send pictures, my server is down for the moment. Got the deck magnets installed and glued. The bow received its 1/4 fiberglass blast barrier in the very front of the ship as there is no good way to attach the fabric at that point. Middle section got the rails installed to hold the fabric. Stern section got primed and painted (first coat). Working on the electrical connectors next. Pictures later when the server is restored.
Primed the stern, then sprayed the first layer of color. Bow painted with the blast shield in place (black color). New radio, a futaba 10 channel. Would like to convert to push button, but probably not enough time before the battle.
Looks good. As far as buttons, do you have them? I have a little bit of work to do on my radio but we can do it Friday night it only takes 30 or so minutes. If you make the button harness in advance and remove the gimbal... even less. I have been making my button harness outside the radio and then I just solder 6 wires to the locations and glue a circle with the button holes cut out, to the front of the radio. Last time I did it from the back and it was a hassle. email me if you need help with that, we can get you going. Even if you are a sissy boy allied captain...
sissy boy allied captain... Ahh, Johhny. The British might wear kilts, the American navy looks like it stepped out from a YMCA video, the Russians and French are drunk and hugging in a corner, wait..., I see your point. Let's see what I can get together, any free time is spent getting the boat ready (8:30-11:00 p.m.). What buttons do you prefer? Is there an option to have single fire sidemount buttons, and then a "mother of all buttons" that will fire both the sidemounts at the same time? This way I could range with one gun, then fire both.
Bob likes the 'tactile' click-type buttons we all use for test-fire buttons. I found some C&K at salvage that are not 'clicky' but are much much faster than anything I have tried in the past (I have extra). So what do you like? Due to radio restrictions there isnt really a button that can shoot to do two things at once, I tried. However the plungers on the buttons I used are thicker than the 'test-fire' buttons and can handle more pressure. As such if if you drill the cover right you can press two at a time with your thumb. So instead of the typical diamond pattern you leave the top button where it is but slide the right button towards the top button along the line of the diamond so that it fits your thumb (if you are a thumb shooter like me). For me that would be my bow and haymaker for if I get sandwiched. I could reconfigure so that I can hit hay/bow and hay/stern with one press if I wanted.. but I doubt I will do two at a time.. I still forget which button to push as it is. I wonder if I wired a button to BOTH channels at once if it would fire two guns at once.. I just thought of that? Anybody know about doing something like that?
Not sure if it'll work with the newest Futaba radios, but Futaba has a large circular servo wheel that is the perfect size to click into the gimble bezel. Saves a lot of time trying to cut and shape a piece of wood to fit, and it is waerproof to boot. The type of button seems to be a preference thing. Some like large buttons, others small buttons, some like "clicky" buttons, etc. Personally, I like buttons that have lightweight springs that require minimal pressure to push. Radio Shack normally has lot of different buttons a person can play with to find the one that works best.
Got the armor installed and started the sheeting process. The material is tent fabric that is hung from the suppurt using superglue in every third opening. In this photo you can see the gas caps are tapped with 10/32 fittings installed. The bow section is sanded, the pink stuff is lightweight filler. Esc's are wired and the pump outlet is in place. Armor is in, now just have to sheet it.
Putting on the drag disks, the copper tubing is secured through the hull. Skegs are done. Cast all the 5 inch turrets, still need to make the bases and attach to the deck. In this shot you can see the balsa has been applied and sanded, just need to silkspan and paint. Trying a rudder mount I saw on one of David R's builds, two pieces of angle make for a quick removal if necessary. What I didn't count on was a solid base (there is foam underneath the thin fiberglass plate), so I have too much flex. The plan is to remove this section and put in a plate underneath, then this angle can be secured to it. I am really fighting the urge to tear out the rudder posts and rebuild using a cross brace to tie the two rudder posts and the servo together for a perfect mesh. To those that are running these motors, when I was test fitting my motor last night with the standard large BC gear (that comes with the gear box) and the meshing seemed a little "harsh". Am I using the right gear? Castle Creations BEC, had issues last year with my receiver battery so I am going to power my receiver off the main battery. Heard nothing but good reviews on this product. Got this from David R, it a sealed relay for the pump. Anyone comment on how to hook this up to a pump (I am electrically challenged). I wanted to use this to keep the size of the electronic box small. I assume using a team delta board is need to trigger the relay. Got the new boards from Johnny (AKA Lurch) These should save space in the box. Now I just need to hook them up. As this is my weakest point of the build, I am trying to get everything else done before Sunday so I can concentrate on electronics.
I didn't have any problems with gear mesh. The 48 pitch pinions from the r/c crawler web sites mesh withthe 48 pitch spurs provided in the BC gearboxes.
She now has some teeth. Took a lot longer than what I originally planned, was trying for a solid platform but able to quickly disassemble the guns if needed. The final version is number 5, settled with a bracket holder that fits behind the gun clamp. Drilled and tapped to the aluminum base using flush mounting stainless steel socket screws. Little distortion from the camera, but the gun bracket is straight and true. Thanks to Brian for the material of choice, 1/2 X 1/4 aluminum bar stock. Tapped around the center gun, then set on its side and drilled the three holes. Will put a small piece of electrical tape around the barrels to act as a gasket and firmly hold the barrels, no slipping. Will rebuild the front of the turret now that the guns are mounted. The top will have a removable panel so I can tweak on the water and not have to worry about the turret. The rest of the guns are built thanks to a great build session with Mike Mangus last weekend.
Lou Run positive battery power to one side of the pump motor, other side of motor to 87 on the relay. 30 is the negative battery return. Add a 18 or 20 gauge wire jumper from 86 to 30, This way you will only need one battery return. You will also need to solder a 1N4001 type of diode across the relay from 87 to 30, with the band on the 87 side. The Team Delta firing board has power going to the positive input from the battery, closest to the edge of the board, with the negativewire attached to 85 on the relay. If the motor runs backwards, you will have to swap the leads on the motor itself, not the power leads going to the assembly, since the diode only works one way, same as the TD board. We found Dons gears were a little harsh also, I think the gear material itself is very hard. We ran his for a bit, and it was getting quieter the longer we ran them.
I picked up some of the HK electroinc switch units, around the same size as the TD firing boards. They are only $7. What I like about them, is that they are have switchable control jumpers. So if you only have a 4 channel radio, instead of using a servo to turn off and on the pump, you can use one of these boards, and just bump the stick once and the pump comes on, bump again and the pump goes off as one of the options.
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor...oduct=8833 I use one in my maru to control its pump. Works well. I just stripped off the packaging and coated it with skotchkote.
