Hey guys!

mAJOR progress today!!! i got up and didn't really feel like working, so i slummed around for the morning then finally started to itch to get back to work. so i went to my dad with a question and he redirected me in a new direction that, well, led to the first complete prototype.

so, i went out and got a little kiddy inner-tube and pool to test how the gun works on water. I picked up daniel and we went to radio shack to get some parts and then we set off to get something working.

we started by redoing the supersoaker wiring so that a switch operated it instead of the push bottom that it came with. that way the servo could turn it on and off (very important step). daniel helped big time on this part. next we put the stuff on the temporary boat "deck". you can see that here


after playing with the working water gun for a good 10 minutes because it was that fun and satisfying to have it work, we started mounting to the tube and then we put it in the kiddie-pool.



a lot of things went wrong: leaks, the controller needs reprogramming, the battery and other electronics need to be more accessable and a bunch of others, but it worked!! so we sat around and discussed what worked and what didn't and then daniel came up with a good idea for the turret. we could attach the fake barrels to the side and make it centered around the (tobe) azimoth axis of rotation. you see that here:


great idea again from the shaffer! So, now what? well, i'm gonna prolly spend the night reworking the rc controller and servos so that they don't flip out again (RIGHT) when we need them to behave. then I move onto assembling the azimuth servo (parts come in sometime next week) and making that balenced and operational. then, either build the turret to cover the whole thing or move on to the actual battleship hull! thats exciting, cause it'll start being a battleship once I have a hull! scary!

as much as it would be a great gift to be working on the project with my dad tomorrow (and if you know my dad at ALL you'll know exactly what i'm talking about), my grandpa (though he would enjoy it too i have a sneaky feeling, thats where my dad and i got the engineer bug afterall) lives in walnut creek. SO, fathers day is off day. at least in the morning ;)!

cya guys!