Thanks for those pics Rmay very interesting to see. I'll be sticking to wheeled doors all over
Hi Charles
Sounds like very bad luck with your model my club pond is only 18 inches deep I will be doing float tests to ensure no leaks.
The smoke generators are a pair of graupner small ones according to the instructions they can be connected in parallel to the models drive motors i have not tested this yet but i imagine they would give you smoke proportional to speed i might test this at mo mine are connected to a r/c switch for simple on and off controlled by channel 5 on my planet t5
funny you should ask about the turrets I have been working on them this weekend.
Its been a bust couple of days in the workshop A lot of head scratching working out the best way to make the turrets rotate while still being able to remove the super structures.
While i was thinking i was fiddling with model operating the rudders and watching them move and thinking i don't like the way the tillers staying hard over with servo central every so often. I have now changed to a vertical mounted servo with and adjustable control rod to a bell crank. worked much smooth and more precise control too.
Now back to the guns. According to the intructions each gun, torpedo mounts and gun director are connected to a long rod assembly by short pivot arms and the guns turn via a cam driven from the gearbox. Simple! Best keep it simple. Hardest part is being able to separate the some of the guns and the reconnect them. I decided to use guide tubes to make sure each shaft will be aligned every time a section is removed and refitted. I cut plastic tube to length and the glue them in place with revell precision poly which gave me time to fit the structure and ensure the tubes aligned perfectly and left over night to set well
Once set I cut the connecting shafts in half trying my best to cut at right angles. I first tried a lug and grove I use 1mm brass rod bent to 90 degrees and cut to size and fitted to the gun half, the ship half i cut a grove. This works bit is a bit sloppy. On the next one I tried a prong and hole method, I drilled 2 1mm holes in the gun half and fitted 1mm brass rods and cut back to the same Length a dab of paint and carefully offered up the ship half and using the paint spots drill 2 1.25mm holes the slight oversizing to prevent to tighter fit. this method worked very well.
Next i fitted the pivot arms dryly and the control rod the guns and operated the linkage and the guns all moved well accept the the rear 2 turrets pointed the opposite way to rest so I reversed the pivot arms cut the control rod and temporally linked with a bit of wire move the run again this time all guns point to the same side much happier i glued the pivot arms and control rods and ensure still all free to move.
I next fitted a servo mounting it using E bracing strut and spruce brace i added and fitted the deck on held in place with tape. Using 1mm steel piano wire and brass rod made linkages to each control rod and tested it. worked a treat i get 45 degree arc on all 5 guns and the director
I'm chuffed to bits with it. my first attempt at working parts worked
My Mrs thinks I've turned back into a kid