Andy,
I've just gone through your website, your build thread on Mayhem, and empathize with your sense of embarrassment and frustration with your project. The thing is, it's only been 7 years since you started. A project as complex as yours could easily take 20 years or more - especially with the over-the-top gunnery system you've spent so much time theorizing about.
I started my 1:144 Bismarck project in 2003, and I'm only around 80% finished. Like you, "real life" often gets in the way. The thing is, with inexpensive components and smart technology, it's just about possible to build or simulate in miniature just about any function of a battleship. Unfortunately, it is that very possibility that could lead to neither of our ships ever being completed. The question is: Would that be so bad? Is there any particular reason either model needs to be commissioned? In reading through your discussions in 2009, it seems to me that you and Cap and a couple of others were having more fun brainstorming and experimenting than I have ever seen anyone actually have in operating a model ship. Just sayin.
All of that said, I happen to have a command and control system in my Bismarck. It doesn't have all of the functions you have envisioned, because it doesn't need to. My Bismarck is a combat model. It has four twin turrets that fire .250" steel balls, using CO2 for propellent. The purpose of this command and control system is to train all four twins at a target when it's possible to do so. Otherwise, it will ignore commands to bear on targets until the director is rotated to a position that will give it a firing solution. Another thing it does is to calculate convergence, based on range input from the operator (me).
The purpose of this system is to aim all four twins at a particular spot on the target ship, in order to maximize the damage it can inflict in battle. It doesn't allow elevation, because our combat safety rules don't allow any elevation higher than horizontal. It does allow depression, though, because hits on or below the waterline will do the most damage to the opposing ship.
I don't mean to give you advice, since - after all - I've been saying my ship will be ready for combat every year for the past 8 years, but can I suggest that you go back to doing what you described as being one of the more enjoyable aspects of the hobby, and pick detail assembly to work on? Something like a crane or superstructure building? It will get you back into it, without the huge weight of designing and engineering the complex weapons system hanging over your head. Get back into the fun part of it. You can always work on the complex - but actually nonessential - parts after launch, just as was typical of 1:1 battleship construction.
One last thing: It's impossible to scale water, or to mathematically program a model ship to "look right" in the water. That is only possible with the Mark I computer in our heads. But you need to get past the theory, and sail the thing around, to truly know what works.
Best regards,
Rob
it's the possibility of simulating just about