Liberty Ship by NavyShooter - FINISHED - 3D printed - RADIO

[NavyShooter]

Good morning all,

 

This is my first post in here - my account has just been approved, so I'm going to try and start off with something I've just finished...and we'll see how this works.  

 

Long story long - (as this always is with me) I was asked by a friend if I could help make him a 3D printed ship to go with his railway layout.  So, we bantered back and forth about that, and he settled upon wanting a Liberty Ship.  There being a set of free plans for it available on thingiverse, I downloaded, scaled, and started printing.  Liberty Ship (RC) - Revision 5 by JohnButtery - Thingiverse

 

Thing is, I had just bought a second 3D printer (a Prusa) that let me scale it to 1/88 because it had a slightly larger build plate than my older printer...so I built my friend's on the prusa, and while it was spitting out parts, I set my older printer to knocking together a 1/96 scale version (that would fit on its build plate) and so, for basically about 3 weeks, my printers were running continuously popping out parts.

 

Here's a 'partially done' picture:

 

And here are the two hulls complete:

 

 

As you can see in the lower photo, I also assembled and collected some hardware/running gear.  

 

The original 3D model was fairly basic, and was scaled to about 1/160, so some of the 'detail' bits were lacking when scaled up a bit.  My buddy is a former RCN Weapons Tech (he fixed the 76mm OTO Meleras on our destroyers) so I spent some time modifying, then creating entirely new detailed guns and other bits to improve the models.  I uploaded most of those extra bits to Thingiverse, and here is the list of all the models that are available associated to this in case anyone wants to print one of these 'kits' as well:

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4411101
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5259865
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5259056
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5274078
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5258022
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5259571
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5274077
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5259970
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5334214

 

[NavyShooter]

Here are the printers working together:  

 

 

And here is the stern segment of one of the ships complete and on the printer.  It prints the hull in about 13 sections:

 

 

[NavyShooter]

Once I had the printing complete, I delivered the 1/88 model to my friend, and he has started (slowly) to progress it, and sent me this picture of the ship in place on his railway setup (HO scale):

 

 

As you can see, it's a work in progress for my buddy!  

[NavyShooter]

I decided I wanted to get mine going, and so, I started assembly. The hull modules come with alignment pegs, and are supposed to be simply glued together.  I decided that due to the size of mine - it's almost 4.5 feet long - I wanted to add some additional strength, so I looked at the slots in the bottom of the hull frames, cut some wood on the table saw, and inserted them into the holes, giving some additional strength along the keel of the ship.  No idea if it's necessary or not, but it made me feel better to have it added.

 

 

[NavyShooter]

With the hull structure assembled, I moved on to the outside of the hull.  

 

I know that PLA is not likely to be water proof, so I added a layer of gelcoat, and on the strut for the rudder, I added a couple of layers of cloth as well to give some reinforcement and strength.

 

[NavyShooter]

Once the gelcoat had been sanded, re-applied, and then painted, I moved on to the rudder system and prop shaft.  Getting the running gear running so to speak.  

 

The design has a 3d printed rudder - and maybe that'd work for someone else, but when I looked at it, I said 'nope' and simply used it as a template to build a solid brass rudder.  I recognized that if I'd used the 3d printed rudder, it would have had to have been glued to the rudder post, which would have limited the ability to swap out props and access to the shaft as well.  So, here's the rudder design and implementation, including the brass support tubes that I installed.

 

[NavyShooter]

With the running gear in place, I shifted focus to the paint, finish, and details.  In the pictures above, you can see the red hull and gray uppers with the black boot topping having been sanded away - well, it turned out that some of the gelcoat didn't harden properly, so I ended up having to sand all that back down, re-apply, re-seal, repaint because the paint was bubbling on me.  Grrr.  

 

To the good, once that was done, I was able to get the superstructure assembled and painted, and add details for the guns/lockers/ladders that I added:

 

 

[NavyShooter]

In the end, the ship was ready for her sea trials.  Here she is:

 

 

[NavyShooter]

Here is a short video of her taken a few minutes after the above pictures:

 

 

[NavyShooter]

The good news - she handled about as I was expecting - slow to turn, slow in speed, and underpowered.  

 

I'd gone with a 380 size motor with the specific aim of having the ship appear to be slow...I succeeded in that, but unfortunately, with a 4.5 foot long model that needed over 20 pounds of ballast steel to bring her down in the water, that little 380 motor was not having a good time of it.  

 

I did a little 3 minute spin about the cove and checked the hull for water, and the motor for heating...and while there was no water, there was heat.  

 

I then sent her out for the video above, and the heat...almost became flame.  I ended up melting the 3d printed motor mount, and the motor bearings...and let the magic smoke out of it.  Another 2-3 minutes of running and I'd have been printing new modules and taking the hull to the table-saw to cut off the aft end.  

 

So, not quite back to the drawing board, but obviously some work to be done still.

 

I bought a 540 size motor and fabbed up a sheet metal mount for it which has been epoxied into the hull, and while I was at it, I installed the new prop I got from the Prop Shop in the UK - a more scale/period 4 blade prop instead of the 3 blade I had hanging around.

 

You cannot tell the difference externally in a photo, but the performance difference between the 380 and the 540 motor is like night and day.

[NavyShooter]

The performance curve on the boat is such that it is now able to practically go on plane...so I went into the settings on my controller (Radiomaster TX16S) and changed the throttle set points to +50% and -40%.  This still has lots of power, but keeping her under 50% means that she's not going to look too crazy when sailing about the lake!  

 

Something that isn't clear from these pictures is how easy it is to get access to the inside of the hull - all of the cargo hatches come off, and so does the entire superstructure.  I'll have to snap a photo with them open to show the access - really a great design by Mr. Buttery (the guy who uploaded the project to Thingiverse) and that put me into thinking about what else I can do with the ship....

 

Living on a lake, my wife has friends over during the summer, and they go 'floating' on their inflatables...this usually results in them calling ashore to me, or one of our 'minions' (kids) to get some additional 'recreational beverages' delivered to them as they float around the lake.  So...I decided that there might be a practical use for this ship in the real world, and so I spent a few minutes with the 3D model software I use, and fabbed up a design for a replacement hatch cover.

 

I printed one, and trialed it yesterday.  Success!

 

Based on the interior layout of the ship, I can transport 3 'recreational beverages' at a time safely.  Two forward, and one just behind the superstructure.  (There are 4 large cargo hatches, alas, the stern one is right over top of the rudder servo, and so it prevents putting the can in 'deep' so I'm only going to make 3 of these replacement hatch covers.)

 

I'm going to save this as a surprise for my lovely wife and her friends...I'm sure there will be a giggle or two.  The other husbands will enjoy this as well - we're all current of or former RCN sailors as well.

 

Hope you've enjoyed this build thread....now it's a matter of enjoying the ship!

Note - from start to finish, I began printing this boat in about February, and I consider the ship essentially complete now.

 

The only thing remaining is to choose a name, and add some decals with waterline and balance markings.

 

My problem is choosing a name among about 2500 Liberty Ship names....if anyone has a suggestion for one that has relevance to Canada, or the the Canadian Navy, I'd welcome your input!

 

Thanks for reading!

NavyShooter

 

[thibaultron]

Wow! Nice model, and a great adaptation for cargo delivery! Well done!

[thibaultron]

If I might suggest some spray in foam at the ends, in case of rough seas, to keep it a float. In case weather, or an accidental hit while removing cargo, floods it.

[Ian_Grant]

3D printing is amazing, the way of the future for sure.  I can't get over how quiet she is! I last launched an electric RC boat in the 70's using brushed Decaperm motors of the times; you could easily hear the motor whine from shore. I was thinking of maybe refurbishing my old WW I battlecruiser (which last sailed in 1980) with ESC's to replace the rheostat speed controllers but maybe I should change the motors too, having seen this.

 

The Decaperms were geared motors; do you need to add a reduction box for these new brushless motors?

[NavyShooter]

2 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

3D printing is amazing, the way of the future for sure.  I can't get over how quiet she is! I last launched an electric RC boat in the 70's using brushed Decaperm motors of the times; you could easily hear the motor whine from shore. I was thinking of maybe refurbishing my old WW I battlecruiser (which last sailed in 1980) with ESC's to replace the rheostat speed controllers but maybe I should change the motors too, having seen this.

 

The Decaperms were geared motors; do you need to add a reduction box for these new brushless motors?

Ian,

 

Something I discovered recently was that there have been considerable advances in both motors, and ESC's.

 

I was show a Hobbywing 1080 Crawler ESC by a friend of mine who does trucks, and when I got one, I discovered that you can program the ESC...there are about 15 different options you can do, from battery set points to limiting outputs.  But.  The most important thing I discovered was that you can set the FREQUENCY of the ESC.... this is the 13th item on the setup checklist:

 

Factory default frequency is 8kHz...setting it to 16 kHz puts it outside the normal audio range for most people, and makes it effectively silent.  THIS IS WONDERFUL.  ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!

 

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Welcome to MSW, NavyShooter.  Outstanding work on her and I like the idea of the adult beverage delivery system as it adds some novelty.

 

I'd like to suggest you open and intro topic in the New Members area.  

[lmagna]

Very nice build review Brad. It will be interesting to see your footage of her under way with the new motor when you get it.

[NavyShooter]

I've been asked about final details and such on the ship - to be honest, I think I'm just about complete with this model. 

 

It is not, and will not be museum grade...it's a ship that's to be sailed.  

 

I plan to add a flag pole, and a Canadian flag at her stern. 

I may add a smoke machine to add 'steam' to the ship.

 

Other than that, she's got enough detail that you can appreciate it, but not so much that everything will break if you touch it (though, if you look closely, you'll see one of the 20mm barrels missing already...) adding more fragile detail is not in my plans. 

 

This is a model that I'm not afraid to take out on the lake and run.  I'm not afraid to let one of my kids run it either.  I won't cry if it runs up on a rock, that's expected/normal wear and tear for this ship.

[lmagna]

There are times where I wish I had taken the same approach with some of my smaller scale RC boats years ago.

 

Did you get/install your new motor yet? 

Edited May 29, 2022 by lmagna

[NavyShooter]

Actually, I have!
 

Here's the video:

 

 

[lmagna]

Looks like she is a very stable running boat with plenty of ability to be ballasted even more. Looks like you may have also taken some footage from the forecastle. I am not normally a sound kind of guy for my ships but your sound is just right and does add to the running of the ship.

 

And of course I will always be envious of the fantastic lake you live on!

[NavyShooter]

Thanks Lou!

The foc'sle footage didn't turn out like I hoped - the camera shut itself off on me while out to 'sea.'

 

The lake is beautiful...but remember...a nice waterfront property normally comes with a much less nice mortgage...

[lmagna]

2 hours ago, NavyShooter said:

The lake is beautiful...but remember...a nice waterfront property normally comes with a much less nice mortgage...

True, plus I would have to assume that just like here in the US taxes get to you no matter what your mortgage is! I have no mortgage on my house but taxes and insurance still add up each year.

 

If you try the camera thing again you might want to place it at the front of the mid superstructure so it looks like you are standing in the pilothouse. FPV has been on my bucket list for some time.

Edited May 31, 2022 by lmagna

[NavyShooter]

I had her out for a sail again last evening - ended up going for about a half hour around the lake and decided that it's pretty relaxing to stand at the dock and sail a ship around the lake.

 

I also decided that I'm going to make a slightly larger rudder for her - this one works, but gives very poor handling when going astern.  I'm thinking that a longer rudder might give me better control.  

 

That said, the ship is about 25 pounds, so there's a lot of inertia to deal with.

 

I'm still pondering FPV - not in a rush but it would be neat to have a camera on the ship to see what it sees.  At this point though, I'm looking for a 'plug and play' system rather than a kit or anything that I have to figure out.  

[lmagna]

FPV has been on my bucket list for years.

[NavyShooter]

So, the overall performance of the ship 'at sea' is fairly poor in terms of turning radius, so I cut and formed a new rudder this evening.  Took about an hour or so to cut, drill, drill and tap, then form the shape.  I'm going to wait for a nice calm evening and see if the turning radius drops from about 50 feet to maybe 30...the low speed turning performance is fairly poor and I realize that a scale rudder is usually limited.

 

The scale rudder has been added inside the hull for ballast.

[NavyShooter]

Had her out on the lake last evening and determined that there is a maximum range...she left visible controlled navigation at about 500 meters (1600 feet or so) and ran aground across the lake from me.  Had to dig out the canoe to affect a rescue.

 

No damage to the ship, but I did lose the rear hatch cover.  I'll go reprint one and we'll be all fixed up.

 

[reklein]

I believe an inquiry at least will be awarde the skipper and medals all around for the rescue crew.

[KeithAug]

3 hours ago, NavyShooter said:

Had to dig out the canoe to affect a rescue.

 

 

I have realised the great advantage of the 3D approach to model making is that if the worst happens you can just print another one. I may become a convert. Nice model.

Edited June 26, 2022 by KeithAug

[NavyShooter]

Here was the location of 'loss' at the top right (showing as '0' on the measuring line)

 

My house is in the bottom left corner, with the dock at 520m.

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by NavyShooter