Rolling Broadsides...

[StrategicCommand]

Hello everyone,

I am a model builder and painter. I am currently building a cross section model of a 74 gun Napoleonic Ship of the Line. It will have model soldiers on it which I am building and painting. I will also be building and painting the ship and display area as well.

HERE IS WHERE I NEED YOU!!!!

I am looking for find a way to have ten cannons fire a rolling broadside of "smoke" as well as light up with an LED, sound effect, and once that happens I would like the cannon to also move backwards, and then slowly move back into starting position.

This video is my inspiration for this model. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2WdU3Zkeig&feature=share

I figure I will need some sort of pressurized smoke, and led, speaker and sound effects and some sort of actuator arm to move the cannon, but engineering is so beyond my scope that I am reaching out for help.

Should this be possible it would be great to have all the effects work, but I will settle for just the smoke and led effect.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

I will buy all the parts needed if you can help me figure out the assembly and whatever else it takes...

The scale will be: 28-30mm. Or roughly 1/40 - 1/44th scale.

The cannons I am using are hollow plastic and easily can be converted to hold a tube for the smoke to be pumped through. The LED wiring can either be in the tubing or taped to the tubing on the outside to run it through the model to get to the cannon. My main area of uncertainty is the controlling equipment and programing that will tell the smoke to pump, the led to go off make a cannon sound and then cycle a waiting period and than start again.

I don't know how to create or build the electrical components or if there is something out there to buy. I guess I am looking for help in making a shopping list of what I need to buy and build and than help making the sequence.

Do you guys offer a design and build for a fee type thing?

Also the display board is only a 2x2 area, and is going to be indoors.

Below is a picture of someone else's cross section that I will be referencing. a bit but on a different scale.

[JackMan]

Welcome to the forums.  Everything you want to do is certainly possible. As far as the controller needed to accomplish this, you need to provide more details on exactly what you want to happen when the sequence is executed. Do you want all 10 cannons to fire at once? Are they firing one at a time? Are they all moving back into starting position at the same time or individually? You get the idea, the more info you can provide helps to determine what is needed. You are probably gonna want to use a fog machine instead of smoke, using real smoke would most likely much more involved. As far as the cannons moving, a servo would do the job but if you want each cannon to fire at different times you will need a servo for each one. If you want them to fire all at once and move at the same time you might get away with 1 servo depending on how you engineer the mechanics. Either way you'll likely be pretty much on your own with that design unless someone has done it already and can offer you some guidelines. On the controller and programming part, you'll get all the help you need here, just be sure to provide as many details as you can.

[StrategicCommand]

Jack thanks for the info...

Ok so here it goes...


The cannons will fire staggered by 1-1.5 seconds.

This video is my inspiration for this model. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2WdU3Zkeig&feature=share

So each cannon will
1) Light LED
2) Make Sound "BOOM"
3) Puff Smoke
4) Turn LED off
5) Cannon moves backwards
6) Slowly return Cannon to start position.
7) Wait 1:00 min and start again.

I am not sure if the rolling the cannons back will be doable from a hobby standpoint is everyone will be able to see into the ship from behind.. so everything will need to be hidden.  But if we can get everything BUT movement I will be so excited!

As far as smoke or fog... I do not know if I will have room for a fog machine unless they make miniature ones... My display board is only allowed to be 2 feet by 2 feet and 5 feet high. So the ship will be almost 2x2x2 when built I am thinking so that leaves me space underneath to hide the components in an encasement.  I am wondering if I can get a canister of Co2 like they use for paintballs and model rail road smoke?  not sure.. what do you guys think?

[bsnut]

From this description 

So each cannon will
1) Light LED
2) Make Sound "BOOM"
3) Puff Smoke
4) Turn LED off
5) Cannon moves backwards
6) Slowly return Cannon to start position.
7) Wait 1:00 min and start again.

I can give some idea for how many I/O (inputs/outputs) one cannon will need (is mostly outputs that would be used) and you would need 3 I/O pins set has outputs and they are. 
1) Lighting the LED needs one output(I/O pin)
2) Controlling the model rail road smoke solenoid on the cannon needs one output(I/O pin)
3) Moving the cannon backwards and forwards one output(I/O pin), which can use a servo or puncher type solenoid that can be connected to fishing line via pulley to the servo or solenoid.

Now the big question from you is. If you are still planning to use 10 cannons then you will need 30 outputs max and 15 outputs min if you connect the LED and smoke together on the same output and one input for the trigger (starting the show) and one pin for the sound. This means you will need any of the following combinations below (max combination listed).

1) 5 Prop-1s (connected in parallel) and AP-16; the less expensive 
2) 2 Prop-2s (connected in parallel) and AP-16; the other less expensive
3) Prop-1 with 4 HC-8+s connected serially and AP-16; the more expensive
4) Prop-2 with 2 HC-8+s connected serially and AP-16; the other more expensive
5) 1 HC-8 hacked, 4 HC-8s not hacked and connected serially and AP-16; the other more expensive

Knowing that the Prop-1 has 8 I/O pins, and Prop-2 16 I/O pins, and the HC-8+ has 8 inputs and 8 outputs and also the HC-8s can be control serially using one of the I/O pin from the Prop-1 or the Prop-2 and also the AP-16 can be controlled serially as well.

Remember its all up to you on how much money you willing pay to put on the show you want to give :)   

 

[bsnut]

So, if you look at my last post you can see that the more flexible options are listed from the bottom to the top. Just to add one other point, if you want a great show the HC-8+ hacked and using the SD card to store your show routines is the better way to go and provides more flexible option for you and can be programmed in Vixen which can be like the show that was shown in the YouTube video link in your first post.

[JonnyMac]

I was speaking with John Barrowman about this and he had a very clever idea -- but one that will require considerable mechanical skills: The output of the controller is attached to a pneumatic cylinder at the back of the cannon and an LED that is inside at the very back (where the charge would be). Here's the tricky bit... the cannon mount would form a sliding valve that is mated with a pressure vessel of smoke (he suggested the stuff used in model trains). When the output is activated the LED will come on and the cylinder will pull the cannon back, allowing smoke to come up into and out of the barrel. Turn the output off and everything resets. Flow controls would be required on both sides of the cylinder to adjust movement.

[StrategicCommand]

WOW... Thanks for all the information!  I guess the first thing to do would be to by a prop1 one kit and train on it and make sure I am doing things right...

The hard part of this model is to HIDE all the mechanical and electrical stuff so still wondering if there is a way to have the cannons move and be hidden.

So much to think about and do... I am now working on scaling up the blueprints I have for the Bellona class 74 gun ship to the right scale.  Once I have those I can biuild a fram and see just what I am working with for room to run wires and tubing etc...

Keep the suggestions comming and if you want to help me actually build the electronic and mechanical components let me know and I can buy parts and toss a 30pack your way :)

[JackMan]

 

I guess the first thing to do would be to by a prop1 one kit and train on it and make sure I am doing things right...

Well, getting a Prop-1 Starter Kit to begin learning would be fine, but you really need to work out the details of your mechanics and exactly what will need to take place from the controller end of things. Until you know how you're gonna go about this it's very difficult to say what electronics you're gonna need.