Weapons

A couple of months ago Stephen from Strike Models sent me a new variant of the negative pressure cannon I reviewed after NABGO last summer. This time the cannon was in good working order so I was able to spend a good chunk of a day experimenting with it in the live fire cabinet. This review is shorter than the previous review because I don't really see a need to document a complete tear down of the cannon - it is basically the same cannon with a few small tweaks. However, I will describe what I liked, what I didn't, and include a few pictures to illustrate new points.

I also briefly introduce the new adjustable regulator that Strike Models plans to offer in 2012.

On July 16th, USS Missouri set out to engage all opponents upon the Alta Mons Sea. A Reconnaissance Report indicated a substantial minefield (moss) that would restrict Missouri's operational area. While no hostiles were encountered, the day did not proceed without incident.

Missouri was testing out her new more redundant propulsion system, which worked with mixed results: Her starboard engines ran without problem or failure the entire day - marking her first meet that she did not require some form of recovery. Unfortunately, the port motor kept blowing fuses (and still is even on the bench a week later - there is some weird ground short which even took out my multimeter fuse this evening, putting debugging on hold until morning).

So, I had a horridly busy week, and was exhausted come the weekend. However, I DID get some time to work on Mo, including replacing the old toggle-switch throttle with a new waterproof ESC (and figured out how to use it)... I still need to put a proper fuse-bank in on it, but that shouldn't take me long this week. I also got A turret re-mounted to the rotation bracket, so everything looks to be shaping up into good form for the target practice this weekend. Now, if only I can survive this week of awesomeness...

So, this week I finally got a working mount for the rotation servo for the re-worked turret mounting for Missouri.

Missouri's turrets are a very odd design (only a handful of this type of turret were ever made), and getting them to rotate reliably has been an epic campaign.

After some trial and error I finally found a way to reliably cut Lexan discs on a hole saw. So I finally have the raw disks for Nassau's magazine covers. The trick is to use a block of wood to both guide the hole saw and clamp the Lexan. This keeps the hole saw from shaking on the mandrel and very securely clamps the Lexan in place. The other thing is to not try and do this on a $40 Harbor Freight drill press... its spindle and chuck simply can't handle the torque needed. So I did all the drilling on the mill with the gear box dropped into low.