So, I determined it was time to replace the U-Joints on Missouri. The U-joints that came with Seydlitz were pefect for the job, so I went out in search of a matching pair this morning. Unfortunately, I got met with blank stares at my local RC Hobby shop (repleat with boats, planes, helicopters and cars - but a U-joint for a scratch-built boat.... unthinkable!), so I scoured the racks in search of suitable parts to make my own.
For many years I have discouraged people from trying to use watertight boxes or assembles. Most people in this club have taken that advise and I think would report it was good advise. Byron was one of the few people who did not. I thought I found, and dismantled, all of his watertight compartments in BC Lion but I missed one. Under the center turret there was a darlington-transistor/power-relay water-sensing circuit. Apparently the power relay got wet at some point before I bought the boat and was never died out. Even before I disassembled it you could clearly see that there is a lot of corrosion inside the water-tight box.
This afternoon Kyle and I made some rudders for Nassau. I decided to make nice looking airfoil shaped rudders out of brass. It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. Its actually a fair bit easier to make the airfoil rudders than soldering up flat brass rudders. Here are the steps we took when making the rudders.
This weekend I spent a lot of time determining what motors would fit where in Nassau. If possible I really want to only run the center propeller. The fast gunners have some experience with this hull shape and tell me that will result in the best maneuverability. Unfortunately only a little 280 motor will fit inline behind the aft turrret - and then only if I move the turret 0.5" out of scale. I doubt that the 280 by itself would be powerful enough so I made a motor mount that places the motor above the propeller shaft instead of inline with it.
This weekend I took some time and installed Nassau's stuffing tubes and rudder posts. The trick is to get everything installed with everything lined up. This is the second time I have used this technique and it works well. This post gives an overview of the techique I used and shows pictures of my progress.