xxx

[Ty Marcucci]

 

[John Rist]

Ty,

Hobby King has any size motor you could want at a reasonable price.   This one has the power of a 50 CC engine.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__17987__Turnigy_RotoMax_50cc_Size_Brushless_Outrunner_Motor.html

I can get together with you and we can figure out a system that will work.  You may wat to look at motor cycle batteries for power beings you need weight.

[Tim Wescott]

How big of a big Pittman?  They're still around -- http://www.pittman-motors.com/, and they still make DC brushed motors.

My inclination would be to either (a) get a new outrunner motor with roughly the same current and kV rating as the Pittman, or (b) find a brushed DC motor from a surplus place like http://www.herbach.com/, again with roughly the same kV and the same or higher current rating.  The brushed DC motor route will leave you with needing to find a suitable ESC, however.  If you want to reverse direction then a model plane ESC won't help you much unless you want to mess around with a relay to swap wires.

[Tim Wescott]

With the right speed control, just two channels would do.  You can use the other stick for turning the turrets and elevating the guns.  Or to activate a pump to make a row of sailors pee off the stern, I suppose.

[Steve Helmick]

You could just display it in a diorama as anchored in Tokyo Bay with all the dignitaries aboard for signing the Japanese surrender...or a much simpler diorama, stuck on the mud flat in the Mississippi River in 1949...which I recall seeing. A ST .46 should work ok, if you want to run it on a tether.  Steve

[Dan McEntee]

   Hey Ty;
   There is a boat club in our arera called The St. Louis Admirals. Don't know if they have a web site, but google it and see what comes up. I think several of these kits have been built by club members and your issues have been addressed. If you find a web site, contact some one and since they do their newsletter by email, they may have some thing in their archives about it, or a member that can help you. If you can't dig anything up, let me know and i'll see what I can do.
    Type at you later,
     Dan McEntee

[John Rist]

You need to water cool everything.  They make water cooled speed controllers with reverse: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__67040__HobbyKing_50A_Boat_ESC_4A_UBEC.html

They make water cooled marine motors:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__8594__2848SL_3900kv_Brushless_Inrunner_WaterCooled_.html

I suspect you will need a water pump for cooling.  A slow moving boat does not have enough forward motivation to force water through the pluming. A windshield washer pump works great for this.

A 2 channel Radio will work.  For a large boat I would prefer a stick radio to a car radio:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__47080__HobbyKing_HK6S_2_4Ghz_FHSS_6Ch_Tx_Rx_White_Mode_2_.html

This will give you 6 channels.  You could turn on some lights.

Once again if you need 8 lb of ballast a motorcycle 12V battery may be the answer.  A lot less trouble than a lipo.  It may take a little research to make sure the speed controller is happy with the 8 to 12 voltage range  of motorcycle battery..

We need to get together and look at how big of a motor system you need.  The rest is easy.

Did the kit come with prop shaft and a prop?  Or do you need all this also?

[Paul Smith]

The Pittman Boatmaster used to be king of electric model motors.  When you need ballast anyway, lead acid batteries are the way to go.  This is not a flying machine.

The "boy" next door built an LST with a Pittman motor, lead acid batteries, and a vacuum tube radio of his own design.  This stuff happened before I pads and selfies.

[Bob Reeves]

I want to see pictures 

Ty, I think it's cool, always thought the big battle ships were the best looking ships in the Navy.

[Mike Scholtes]

You probably know this already, but there are lots of model boat sites on the internet and many pictures of how the motors and radio gear are installed. Google "battleship electric power" and click on the Musashi picture (Japanese super-battleship) for some excellent pictures. My own boating is limited to RC sailboats so can't be of much help on a battleship. BTW there are also lots of kits for reasonable-sized battleships, so why torment yourself with the Sterling atrocity of a kit?

[Steve Fitton]

Pictures?  I wanna see this thing taking shape!

[Tim Wescott]

It looks like a very scratch-buildable hull, if you were so inclined.

[Steve Fitton]

Cool thanks for showing those! What a neat project!