HSwMS Äran by Nirvana

[Nirvana]

As I mentioned in the "What did you receive today?" I mentioned about a ship I wanted to have in my yard.
This ship is a Swedish first class coastal defence ship, with keel laid in 1899 and launched 14 August 1901, one year later she was commissioned. 

 

The name is HSwMS Äran ( Swedish for "Honor")

 

Here is the stats of her:

 

Length:	87.5 m (287 ft 1 in)
Beam:	15 m (49 ft 3 in)
Draught:	5.3 m (17 ft 5 in)
Propulsion:	Steam triple-expansion, 2 screws, 7,400 shp (5,500 kW)
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h)
Crew:	301
Armament:	2 × 210 mm (8.2 in) m/98 6 × 152 mm (6 in) m/98 10 × 57 mm m/89B (plus two 37 mm guns on smaller craft) 4 × 90 cm searchlights m/00 2 × 450 mm torpedo tubes
Armor:	Side belt 175 mm (7 in) Turrets 125–190 mm (5–7 in) Deck 25 mm (0.98 in) Conning tower 200 mm (8 in)

 

She saw two world wars but did not participate.

Decommissioned 16 June 1947 and sold for scrap in 1961.

Äran was one of four ships built, the other names was Wasa, Tapperheten (Bravery) and Manligheten ( Masculinity).

There are not that many pictures available. I have contacted the Swedish Marine Museum and they have very little information as well.

 

Here is a color picture of Äran steaming through the Swedish archipelago.

 

Now some picture of the build.

She has a total length of 4ft. (1:192 scale)

She will also be remote controlled - most of the parts are 3d printed.
I have some projects ahead of me, learning how to create my own PE parts and other details, not printed.

 

More picture of the parts will follow.

 

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

She looks an interesting vessel Per. I will be interested to see how she progresses.

[Tony Hunt]

Wow. Did you print the hull and deck yourself?  They look really good.

[Nirvana]

3 hours ago, Tony Hunt said:

Wow. Did you print the hull and deck yourself?  They look really good.

Tony, I wish I could take that credit but no.
Thank you for the compliment. I will forward this to my friend.

I have a friend who is very much into dreadnoughts, Autodesk Fusion 360 and 3d printing.

He did the work. I am just putting this together.
However, since there is no assembly plan to follow I have to plan this very carefully.
I am also considering getting my own 3d printer. I have knowledge with Fusion 360 so it "should" be easy to create my own parts in the future.

 

[Nirvana]

I have been moving forward with my Aran,
A lot of details and parts has been added or dry-fitted.

She now has a painted hull along with a simulated wood deck, painted superstructures.

Oh, here is a rendered picture of her stranded on dry land.

 

other pictures:

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Very nice!

[Nirvana]

Oh boy, the previous pictures are so clean......

Experimenting with electronics and with that layout it's suddenly a mess.

But again, it will all come down to me since there is no instructions or how-to.

Batteries are not that heavy but still I like to get in the center of gravity.

This type of battery with a 80t - 540 motor will provide about 12k rpm with the three wing propeller.

This will be a dual setup. The wood base is not part of the setup anymore.

 

With only a primer layer and a first coat of paint, she got a second coat today.

Only one side of upper hull got the coat.

The paint I am using for upper part is Krylon Gloss Smoke Grey. Now this is where the paint got interesting since it changed its character.

It's not Glossy, but rather semi-gloss and also slightly darker. Since there aren't any color picture Äran , I am going on pure judgement from black and white picture to get her somewhat okay.

Considering she will be an RC model, the detailing will not be the most essential part to begin with........ yet.

I want to get her maiden voyage before heavy detailing will be attached.

Below are the ten vents painted and drying, ready for the matte coating.

The paint work on an early 20th century ship was rather boring, especially when nations learned how to camouflage their ships.

Äran was repainted several times during her life span.
This is a simple paint job her first years.
I did learn she had a deep green color below waterline.

 

Learning the new technology with RC and computer radios (I am an old schooler - Sweden with 27Mhz band and .40 engines) plus combining two electrical motors for drive is a new area for me.

[Nirvana]

Got new power connectors on my ESC, now matching the battery. 

But also new motors 35T instead of the 80T.

[lmagna]

Looks as good in pictures as it does in person Per. VERY nice.

 

I do have a question though. Why the 35T vs. the 80?

[Nirvana]

To answer the 35T vs 80T change;

The 35T will provide slightly higher rpm than the 80T, with the small propeller it will give a better "kick" to get moving.

This will be direct drive no gearbox involved. 

[Nirvana]

Some small updates about Äran,

I have got more of the electronic set up.

Getting the right connections isn't easy.

However now it is coming down to switches and locations on upper deck.

Have created longer wire extensions for this purpose. 

Motors are in place, batteries charged!

[Nirvana]

[steamschooner]

Looking very good, Per

[Nirvana]

Trying to get the electronics in place. It is not easy, the cables for the switches on the ESC had to be extended.

The servo cable as well, but that was easier. I still haven't decided on the Tx/Rx brand. I ordered a system from HobbyKing but was on backorder until late February. So, I canceled the order. Any ideas of other systems are welcome.

[lmagna]

All of that hand sanding and filling is paying off Per, she is looking very nice. Do I detect a launching in the near future? 

 

When I started back up in RC a few months ago I found that I need to upgrade my radio as well. (I still had a couple of my old radios, but it seemed to be the thing to do. I chose the FlySky system. https://www.amazon.com/Flysky-FS-i6X-Transmitter-FS-iA6B-Receiver/dp/B0744DPPL8/ref=sr_1_3?crid=K1ZO4QQQN0PO&keywords=flysky+transmitter+and+receiver&qid=1639544789&sprefix=flysky%2Caps%2C245&sr=8-3 

 

Like everything else, it has gone up in price a little but I think $60 is still a pretty good buy for a six channel radio and receiver that can be expanded to 10. I sent away to China to get the parts to convert the throttle stick to self centering  and more recently bought a second receiver for a second boat, and use the same transmitter. I have so far only used up two of the dedicated model slots in the software and it is easy to switch back and forth. The radio has plenty of range and has given me zero problems. 

[Nirvana]

Thank you Lou, I have started to look into the FlySky system, but I might stay with the Spektrum brand (I have a Spektrum DX5e older version) even though it's way more expensive.

[Nirvana]

Working with ESC and not checking polarity can be hazardous, as I experienced.

Burned out one of them. And I also learned the motors has a tremendous torque.

Today I am working more on the details, painting and assembling of turrets. Outdoor temperature makes the curing time very short.

Each turret and cannon consist of 8 parts.

[mtaylor]

Not good news except for carrying on the build.  By "hazardous" I'm thinking you let the smoke out of the parts?   Hopefully you can either repair or replace. 

[Nirvana]

1 hour ago, mtaylor said:

Hopefully you can either repair or replace. 

New ESC's was ordered yesterday.

New computer TX to be ordered today.

Sadly, I have had such a great experience with the Spektrum brand (yes, it's expensive) but that's what I am going again.

 

[Nirvana]

Side turrets almost put together but all painted.

[AJohnson]

Bit late in finding this build log, but you are making a great job and just love the lines of this ship! 😁

[Nirvana]

Paint job is much of a guess work with little history of ships of the time era.

Thank you, Andrew, for the encouraging words.

 

[lmagna]

Good to see you back at it Per. These masterful models deserve everything you can give them when building. and your work is surely making the grade.

[Nirvana]

So I got the 3d printer built and tuned.

Did my first serious print of the searchlight superstructure. No support needed!

[Haze Gray]

I'm impressed that you got that support structure printed without supports!   Well done!

 

Looking forward to seeing the upper deck take shape too.