USS Texas BB35 1/96 scale scratchbuilt

[oldsalt43]

I have never done a scratchbuilt before. Thought since I live in Texas I would make BB35 my first. I purchased a set of 1/720 scale plans via ebay ( cheap ) I then wore out my scanner/copier/printer along with 2 sets of ink cartridges and 3 refill kits but I finally got the plans to 1/96 scale. I also purchased every book I could get my hands on that had pictures of BB35. I have currently got the keel cut out using 1/2 plywood. I just glued the hull sections to the rest of the plywood and will be cutting them out in a couple of days. I am allowing about an 1/8 of an inch or more outside of the lines when I cut. My Question is this. I plan on making this a RC. I would like to put fiberglass over the hull. I know that I will need to reduce the size of the hull sections. Width wise. What I don't know is how much do I subtract from the width? How thick is the fiberglass overlay?. is it an overlay? is it spray? help !!! thanks...will post some of the pictures. turned my spare bedroom into my woodworking room. If I wasn't divorced already, I probably would be now

[oldsalt43]

Ok...new at this too....how do I post pictures here?

[Francisco P. de Nanclares]

http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33

Those are the instructions for posting pictures here. Hope this helps.

Cheers.
Pachi

[oldsalt43]

I'm almost finished with the hull. The ship is about 6 feet long and 13 1/4 inches wide. I'm not sure what its going to weigh. I plan on using dual electric motors but I am not sure what kind to get. Any ideas? I am also wondering about servo's and what other things I may need. I don't have anything for it yet, not even a radio. Any and all suggestions would be appriciated. thanks all.

[PetrOs]

Hey,

What kind of budget do you have for RC?

I would take some 600-class slow-RPM motors (4000-5000 rpm). One motor for each screw. If you have more money - take brushless motors.
For servos, I would take standard, or maybe even jumbo servos for steering. Make sure you take a well-suited ESC.

For RC, difficult to say, prices and equipment vary much. I would not take a cheap 2 or 3 channel one, I have 4 proportional, one switch channels, and it is quite short.

[kennylibben]

Sorry i didn't see this earlier...

as for the hull it sounds like you've already gone ahead and figured something out?

with the radio a 2-way will work for you ... unless you plan on making it fancy. Are you only steering and throttle, or are you going to have rotating turrets, simulated firing, etc? if so you'll need 3 or 4 channels.

I wouldn't go out a buy servos yet. If you buy a new radio they will come with servos. Depending on your budget and ability to find a good price on a radio, i recommend Airtronics ... its escaping me at the moment but they make a 2-channel that i plan on buying soon. I always use their VG-400 and VG-600 radios for my combat ships... from what i've witnessed, seen, and heard they are the most reliable radios on the market. They also have GREAT customer service. Make sure you get a ground freq.... it should say surface or air on the box. Ground tends to be a bit more expensive .... if you get an Airtronics you can actually buy an air freq. and send it in to Airtronics with your receipt and they will replace it for free with a surface freq. - if you decide to go this route you may want to email them first to make sure it hasn't changed.... they are very friendly and should reply within a day or two.

[oldsalt43]

I plan on having 2 motors that run seperately from one another. I also plan for all 5 of the turrets to turn at the same time. I also plan for the barrels to move up and down. I also plan to have smoke come out of the barrels as they are fired. Also plan on having smoke coming out of the stack. I plan on having sounds with it as well. 14 inch guns, battle stations, general quarters, anchors away, fire all guns. I thought about revelle but I hated that one when I was in. Couldn't find my favorite one which was for liberty. I have never built one of this size before nor have I built one from scratch before. I have an idea as to how I want things done and possibly how it may work. Any and all suggestions are appriciated. I am also interested in starting my own website if anyone has any ideas about where to go for that I would appriciate it. The slower motors sound like a really good idea to me. I have currently gotten it to the point of having the hull nearly completely planked. I did realize some bad news tho. The plans I got showed the torpedo blister on the sides but the hull section drawings did not include them completly enough. I am going to be adding the blister in once I have the planking done before I add the fiberglass cloth. I have been working on this for about 6 weeks now. thats from the time I got the plans in the mail till now. thanks all

[kennylibben]

sounds like your going to need a 4 channel radio at least.... i recommend the VG 400 or VG 600.

As for website what exactly are you looking for, what do you want? Cadman does hosting at a decent price but what you want your website for determines what kind of site you want... for instance if you just want a site to follow your build a geocities or something, even a blog works fine for that.

[PetrOs]

Well, I would recommend taking at least 6, better even more channel thing. Preferrably 5 or more of them being proportional.
You'll need 2 prop channels for power/steering, and then:
1 prop channel could be used to aim the guns over a servo delay. Preferrably one more for elevating, or doing it over a switch.. (up-down slowly)
2 - for a 7-way switch decoder.
switch channels - add as you wish ;o)

I have a Jamara Compa X4+1 RC (4 prop, one switching, german manufacturer, quite sure you cant find it in usa...), and critically short on channels now... having servo for gun aiming, only 2-way switch for horn and alarm sounds, and switching channel digitally scrolling through 10 lighting modes over a selfmade electronics...

If you can afford more money, take a microprocessor 2.3 GHz one, its so much less pain then a classical (27/35/40/etc MHz) one. Also make sure the frequency you select is allowed for land-based remote controlled stuff, at least in Germany you can run into big problems if using "wrong" frequency.