Lots of nice comments there
The thing about the Gry is that it is totally asymmetric. Though it is a bit slab sided - striking (read ugly) rather than elegant. Progress continues to be slow, mainly because I have been spending time on the two black boxes on the sides of the equipment platform. SWMBO has been moaning I have spent too much time on them. Basically they are a pair of ACTion style ESCs. OK I admit it, more prototypes for FLJ - this time the P93 Multicontroller - they just need a few more tweaks to get them spot on. Also a quick sneaky-peak at what goes on inside.
The blank black box is placeholder - for the Bow/Stern thruster controller that I need to cook up. Basically two ESCs in a box controlled off a single channel. Toggling the stick to one end or another sets the thrusters to run either in the same direction or opposite directions - which give either traverse or rotate. Need to get this done before the decks go in, though I may take a break from electronics and get some of the building done.
The reciver is mounted up on its side on velcro because of cable length limitations on the servo cables - the velcro means I can lift it off the support to change the crystal, because when the decks are in accesss is limited - as it is, I will have to make a false base for the main hatch area so it can be lifted out to give access to the battery.
Building the model ahas thrown acouple of problems, I don't think the documentation is as good as the Aziz - for instance I have built my own deck reinforcements before finding the parts required on parge two of the plans - if they were mentioned in the manual I missed it. Never mind eh!
Also got to start thinking about how to do the crane and hatch controls - for the winching operations, I am thinking of doctored servos - so they become more like ESC/motor sets. Similar to the article in the mags this month, but without removing them from the case. Shouldn't be too hardto butcher the S3003s to do this. Couple of PICs and things to provide the limit switching and control. But that is yet to come.
Voyager - I spend too much of my life on electronics - though now I am more hands-off at work these days. Part of the reason for doing this design is that I want to keep my hand in.
Kenny - I think that the room inside is deceptive - there is a reasonable amount, but it is getting eaten up. Also the front superstructure is not removable (as far as I can tell, so it will be difficult to use that space.
Boris - I will be painting it in the darker blue colour - witohut the large lables on the side as that look more attactive to me - I would like to see the real ship, but Penzance is a bit of a trek for me. I will have ot do with photos - though I would like ot get my hands on a decent copy of the owners logo for the side. I do like tidy electrics - it does make fault finding so much easier. I think also that it helps the reliability - though I get through ty-raps and cable tie bases like they are going out of fashion. I am using Crimp pins and bootlace ferrules on this model because of the large number of screw terminals - they really do make life easier and avoids thep roblem of leads pulling out. (Note to self - piut the ferrules onot the p92 connections)
Wom