- Inside of the DKM Bismarck (Tim) -

DKM Bismarck – Tim Beckett

6.5 units, 24 seconds, German Battleship

Pictures from Nats 2021

Tim’s Bismarck is set up with 2 pumps, 2 stern sidemounts, 1 bow sidemount, and 1 bow “funny” gun. He still uses water proof box for electronics protection which seems to be less and less common at the time these pictures were taken, as captains have moved more in favor of waterproofing individual solid state components. His wood decks are dove-tailed at the intersections for strength, which I’ve only really seen this particular style in his ships though an interlocking mesh point can be done in various ways. The superstructure is 3D printed. The hull is fiberglass with a large amount of wood supported ribs and balsa for water channeling, he prefers the strength that this affords. The Bismark is a very large boat with a heavy amount of fire power. It is important to be very aware of freeboard during the build process though as seen on this picture, the armor belt allows for a stringer to give some side protection. The main disadvantage to the Bismarck traditionally is that the 3 shafts make acceleration and backing up less ideal but turning better. For a period of time in the hobby this was compensated for by running the outboard 2 shafts in reverse only but this was later outlawed. In this iteration, only the center drive is active and the outer 2 motors were not even plugged in.

The bow section holds the CO2 tank and regulator. He uses a 12 oz bottle. The extreme bow is all water channeling. Solenoids are right under the guns. In the mid/central part of the ship is the sealed radio box. Tim runs 1/8 inch hose to the guns in, and two 1/8 inch hoses from the bottom of the gun to both the back of the magazine and the breech. This is a lot of air flow and gives a very low pitched whoosh sound when they are fired. Some times it is difficult to tell if he still is shooting bbs or just air.

The mid part of the ship holds the LiFe batteries. 6.6 volt 60 amps. He has 2 pumps in line, outlets are one to each side. The smaller yellow battery pack fires the solenoids, 9.9 volt. He has a large central brushed ESC driven motor that would burn out easily in the past, but he hasn’t had those issues since he started water cooling it. There are also motors for the outboard props but in this configuration are not plugged in.

The stern of the ship houses the solenoids for the rear guns. Again seen are large expansion tanks to feed his air hungery guns. I didn’t get a great picture of the rudder setup from the insidse but it is a water proof servo with a large gear on the servo horn which connects to the geared rudder posts.

Close up of how he runs the CO2 through the gun. Bottom is air in, the left hose goes to the back of the magazine, the right hose goes vertical to the back of the breech.

Close up of the CO2 running to the breech. He mounts the guns in a wood form and also has a clear plastic mount for the barrel that attaches to the top side of the deck.

2 rudders and 1 prop makes for good turning but worse acceleration in both directions and worse control while in reverse as compared to 2 shaft ships.

Getting the prop very close to the rudders increases wash on the control surface. There is a fish tail curvature to the rudders with a fin along the bottom surface.

Rudder posts are right at 5in from the stern (the picture is deceptive due to the angle of the lens).

Tim says the prop is 2.2 inches, it looks closer to 2 inches here but that may be an angle thing as well, the rudders are 2.25 inches tall.

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