A Big hello from Paris Tennessee

Ive been lurking ya'lls forums for some time now,thought it was time to jump up and say hello.Ive never built a ship before in my 40 something years of life,what do ya'll think the success rate would be for someone like myself to build a scratch build ship.At this point in time that is the only option I see for me to get a ship on the water.bulk sums of cash is out of the question and Id really rather build my own rather then buy,basically so I know whats inside her and how to make her sail again after a confrontation,not that there is a club anywhere near here.That is where im at at this point,searching build logs trying to get a feel for the complexity of what is involved in building one.So far in my search ive only found one thread detailing how to read a build plan Visit this site Can someone point out a few more that i can read,that one left me with several misunderstandings,with drawing that I wasnt able to coincide the information against to grasp a reality of the concept.

 

Welcome aboard. Transit to battles seems to be the one major drawback of the hobby. Tugboat left out one important factor. LEBENSRAUM!!! Boat working seems to expand to fill the space available.
[8D]

 

Hi Blacksheep, welcome aboard! I looked at the forum thread you dug up, and it looks like the author did a pretty good job of explaining how to read the cross-sections. Deck view, side view, and ribs. He even explained how to use other cross-sections to extrapolate your own ribs, if you want. What he DIDN'T talk about was how to use that information to make a ship from it. For that information, take a look at this thread:
http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/rcnavalcombat/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=585&whichpage=1
While it's not a tutorial per se, it is a well-documented wood hull construction that shows all of the major parts. In basic terms, you trace the ribs, deck, and keel onto a piece of wood, and cut it out and glue it all together. Take a look at the photos on page 2+ and if you have any specific questions, ask them and you will get answers.

Building a wooden hull is not too difficult. If you put your mind to it and plan ahead, you will do fine. Do you have any idea as to what ship you want to build?

 

Tugboat
I do have some woodworking tools including the two you mentioned,Im sure there will be several more added to the collection before this bout is over.Bits for the dremel I''ll still need to aquire.However till i figure out this scale thing and able to interpt line drawings im dead in the water so to speak.Ive not even decided on the ship yet,was looking at ya'lls rooky ship the emily bertin,mainly because it there and free for the grabbin,but i didnt see any line drawings for me to work with on my quest to understand them.[basically just cut templets]I realize tho that that was the purpose of that ship,just something to help the newbie out to get on the pond.By the way,If one was to print them templets,are they drawn to scale?or would some resizing be in order??

Anachronus

Thank god for dictionary.com,i was dumbfounded by the "LEBENSRAUM".You are correct tho.at first i had thought that maybe i should build a static first to grasp the ship building concept,but after researching some of them sites,my God man,them boys dont mess around.they are into works of art,not really something you would want to send to Davy jones locker but prolly a blast to build.

 

kotori87
Thanks for the link i will be reading it,but now the whole house is awake and concentrations is minimal while they are up..

 

You can check out these three sites for info on how to get the wood hull put together.
http://workspace.wamnet.com/~pellison/MWC/USSEllison.html
http://workspace.wamnet.com/~pellison/MWC/LibertyShip.html
http://workspace.wamnet.com/~pellison/MWC/DMKEllison.html

 

I built my first ship with a hacksaw blade.
Welcome

 

Welcome Blacksheep,

The templates for the Emile Bertin are drawn to scale. If you print them, make sure that there are no boxes checked in the software to allow it to attempt to shrink or stretch the image to fit on the page. Just print it full size and it should be good to go. Webwookie desinged a couple of the sheets to print properly on 8-1/2 x 11" paper. I believe the decks may need to be a few sheets pasted together after printing, they are too long to fit on one standard sheet. Several guys (myself included) are planning to kick off some test builds of this ship very soon, using the design work that Webwookie has done. Although I'm a rookie myself, and probably can't be much help, there are a few experiencd builders that are planning to build this ship, so help should be easy to come by, as well as excellent recomendations on which components (motors, pumps, prop shafts, ect.) will work well. I think that all of the components are 1/4" thick, except all of the components that are on the sheets with the decks on them, which are 1/8"[^]

 

Thanks for the links bob,
The first one ive read before,seems to be a good article.however seems like alot of double work to plank the jig then glass.planking the hull is an area that concerns me,but from the threads here most are not planking they are useing sheets of what looks like thin ply.

the latter two i will check out further thanks man..

 

Thanks for the boost of confidence brother,Id like to see that ship if ya got pic??

 

The Emily would be a fine first ship,with much that could be learned from building her.With the hardest part being done for you[lofting to scale]Its just a matter of cutting out the peices and putting them together.When do you guys plan to start your test builds?Do you think I should wait until some with experience has a working prototype,with all the bugs and kinks worked out?What I dont want is to have a 4 foot peice of crap laying around the shop till i make kinlin out of it..Lookng at the building materials,it would make fine kinlin.

 

The test builds on the hulls should start happening hopefully within the next week. I'm just waiting on some material I ordered, It's overdue, I better follow up on it's whereabouts.

I would probably wait until at least some of the more experienced guys get a hull together before jumping in, just incase there are a few bugs, but I don't think it's really necessary to wait until one is totally completed before starting on your own.

What are your thoughts on this Kotori?? Do you forsee any major hurdles as far as the mechanicals go??

It is my understanding that it will still be a little while before the design work on the superstructure is done, but I think Webwookie was planning on doing this also.[8D]

And yes, a fine fire starter it would make, should that become necessary[V]

 

Hey Blacksheep!

I think a fresh approach to starting a wood hull will reveal areas that we as a hobby have to explain better so that more people can get on the water. I'd say go for it... I think you said you're fair with woodwork, take lots of pics and ask lots of questions as you go. Should be okay.


Mike

 

I agree. The Emile Bertin project was intended for new members to build. The one my brother and I are getting will likely be given to a new member to test build. I have every confidence that WebWookie made good drawings and that Cannonman will make good cuts with those drawings. The location and mountings of the various guts are my only remaining concerns. How will the cannons be mounted? How will the firing and rudder servos be mounted so they can easily be accessed after a sink? I don't foresee any major problems, it's just a matter of working out the specifics. After building a ship or two, the drawings can be updated to include built-in mountings for many of the components. However, it already has necessary basics to become a fully functional and operation combat ship, fighting and sinking with the best of them.

 

Right now im forced to wait,my job burnt to the ground in march so im stuck on this unemployment till prolly july when they get it back up and running.However i can do little things like get plans printed and start collection of goodies for the build.I already plan for this ship to be a work in progress for sometime.when the job comes back then it will be 6 days a week 12 hr a day for a while,with most of the seventh day being designated for honey do's.

I agree,people with experience tend to assume that everyone knows basic funtions and simply tasks.But most,like myself,thats never built a ship are clueless of the simple things.I had to look up what several words used was,such as buttock lines.when i think of buttocks,i think of the area that you sit on and wipe when your done sitting on it.these types of things truley makes this a bit more challenging.an index of terms page would make a fine addition to the site.

I finally got to sit and read kotori's quad transports thread as suggested earlier,Think im on the last page now.You guys are fortunate to have a well equipt shop to work out of,I on the other hand am just alittle better equipt then the ole boy that built his first with hacksaw blades,lol.I build mobil homes for a living and most of my woodworking tools are steered in that direction.

you guys did a fantastic job on them.but ill save the complements and questions for that thread.Its a shame that i didnt sign up a month ago so wouldnt have missed the action of the build.

 

When I think of buttock I think of forest Gump but any ways I’m glade to see you traded in the flint axe for a hacksaw blade bobo .one other small thing I found extremely helpful was to purchase a small plastic scale model and build it leaving the superstructure in sections makes it easier to build the wooden model as you can look at a 3D figure to compare to the drawings []

 

keeps the Enemy guessing where I'm headed []