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[essex2visuvesi]

Hi Guys
Thought I'd post a log of what I've been building on and off this year


Found the kit in a charity shop that had been started (the hull painted... somewhat badly)
So first port of call was to get the old paint off as it looked like enamel and I prefer to use acrylics.  A blast of fairy powerspray and a bit of elbow grease and the paint was mostly gone.  zipped over with some fine wet n dry then washed thoroughly and left to dry.
Next day I gave the hull a good going over with panel wipe to ensure the hull was clean and again left to dry.
The next stage was possibly unnecessary but better to be safe than sorry.  I gave the hull a coat of isolator spray, followed by some Tamiya fine surface primer in grey.
Airbrush time
A coat of Tamiya number XF-54 Dark sea Grey

As you can see my spray booth isn't quite big enough :(


Propshafts
Rather than use the kit ones I had Steve at Stevesmodelboatbits build some custom shafts to my Spec, props are from propshop
Quite a bit of fettling was required to get the fit I wanted.  The plastic shaft supports are replaced with some beefier (if somewhat overscale) brass jobs (thanks to PettyOfficerNick for machining the prop tubes)



Rudder
I tried to fit a twin rudder assembly but there just was not the room so had to go for something a little more functional and less scale.
The kit comes with 2 options (this is the earlier Motorised version) for the rudder, twin scale and a larger single for the motorised version.
The plastic rudder was cut down so that it fit around a brass shaft, which runs through a brass tube.



Motor
The motor and gearbox are the suggested motor and supplied gearbox.  A little noisy but do the job.  Once the wet testing gets underway I can re-evaluate if needs be


Rudder servo
This bit I'm quite pleased with as I designed the mount on tinkercad and printed it on my 3D printer... The first really useful thing I have printed so far 



Turrets
I wanted to have the 4 large gun turrets operational so 4 Hobbyking servos were employed to do the job
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=29315
Great little servos with virtually no weight to them at all
Out came the 3D Printer again to make some little servo mounts

A bit of brass rod, Servo arms and a servomorph or 2 later we have this:-
Click the pic for video



Now to figure out how to make this lot look neat lol



More to follow :)

[Geoff]

Looking good. As a thought if you put a 2 to 1 gear under each turret then added a "servo slow" you could get 180 degrees rotation! More wiring though you seem to be into that sort of thing!
 
Cheers
 
Geoff

[essex2visuvesi]

If you look in the rats nest of wiring there are indeed 2 action servomorphs fitted.


I would have preferred more throw on the turrets but So far as a first attempt I'm happy with the result. Also weight is a big factor and at present As the model was designed for 4 D Cells and I'm using a lifepo pack with the extra servos etc I'm matching the design weight

[ballastanksian]

Are the servomorphs the tag shaped boards with the blue gizmos on them? Interesting project indeed thought the magic might have trouble getting through that web of wiring!

[essex2visuvesi]

Are the servomorphs the tag shaped boards with the blue gizmos on them? Interesting project indeed thought the magic might have trouble getting through that web of wiring!

Thats the chaps! As for the wiring.... I plan on making it much much neater, everything was just thrown in while I was testing 
Have to say the the servomorphs are a fantastic bit of kit. Easy to install and a doddle to setup how you want.

[derekwarner]

e2v.................yes I see both ACTion servo P96 servomorphs [the polycarbonate case probably weighed as much as the electronics ]

I real life, the primary armament of many battleships had an arc of fire to say 220 degrees [included angle] .....however in an attacking action...the FWD mounts trained FWD would look    offensive

Just a balance of the additional weight involved in generating the larger firing arc?......

Or build the model as below with the armament [& 4 x P96's] but the AFT guns capable of a PORT side broadside only........[these two mountings would have trained on either side of AFT only]....just don't tell the enemy ... Derek

[essex2visuvesi]

What an excellent idea!
Never thought to give a bias to one direction.... food for thought there.


Did a little more tonight.
Primed and painted the forward deck section and laid down some decking.
The decking is by a company called Wood Hunter and is a vey very thin layer of wood, laser cut with decking planks and has a self adhesive backing.

Very easy to fit and the end result is certainly something I'm happy with


I am considering giving the decks a thin coat of varnish to give a little extra protection, any thoughts on this

On to the deck guns
I bought the academy brass Gun Barrels as I thought they looked quite a bit better than the Kit plastic.  They took a bit of fettling to fit in the turret as they are a touch wider than the kit items.  I simply opened out he turret openings with a small file.

When making these up you do need to cut down the length of the fixing pin as its about 1.5mm too long and makes it difficult to fit.
I'll post up pics of this when I do the next one tomorrow.


On the whole I'm pleased with the outcome so far
Tomorrow will be some bath testing 

[ballastanksian]

The decking is excellent. Is the adhesive very sticky, or does it allow you a little wiggle room just incase you get two left thumbs, or the caffeine has just kicked in? Personally, I would varnish with a finbe layer of gloss for resiliense and then a layer of two of Matt for effect. As the model is smal scale, you needn't add a wash as the scale effect will be lighter than on a larger model.

Looking good all round! Taa for the confirmation on the servomorphs. I hope to incorporate some into a future project.

TTFN Ian:O)

[essex2visuvesi]

Very please with the decking and yes you do get a bit of wiggle room.... tho once you rub down firmly its not going anywhere.  I tested a piece of scrap and youll wreck the wood before it comes off.
A 10mins in a glass of water and the adhesive help up fine, so I don't think the damp will lift the decks :)


More Gun barrels made up today.
This is the issue

[ballastanksian]

Hm, fiddly even in the larger scale. I don't envy you doing that. Good to hear that the planks are behaving after the exhaustive tests you have put them through.

[essex2visuvesi]

Those are the big guns
I have the rest to do yet
only 9 more of these to do

[ballastanksian]

Eek! Still, they add interest to a model and it would look odd without them.

[Harquebus]

Just stumbled upon your build, essex2. This is looking like it's going to be a technological tour de force--minute scale detail, authentic wooden decks, full RC and all the goodies. I wonder if you're going to use photoetch...?


Never seen anyone go this far before in this scale. I have the classic Tamiya Bismarck which is essentially the same kit so this is giving me ideas. Those props look very good and accurate--which particular Prop Shop props are those?


Rotating turret action looks superb. Will the turrets stay where they're pointed or do they return to zero when the stick is released?