Time to start the first winter build. I picked up an Agincourt hull from Dreadnought Hulls down in Australia a few months ago (before I knew Ralph Coles was working on a mold). This is my second project from Australia, first was Rivadavia modification from a Baden hull back in school. Hull comes in two pieces and must be put back together. Here are some initial photos Hull out of the box Plans up on the wall for primary build Hull halves lined up with rods molded into the hull The boat is about Seydlitz size, an inch longer I decided to use 1/4" ply to hold the pieces together instead of the polycarbonate pieces supplied. I used the poly in the Riv but they are located where the batteries go, so you have to cut them down or have higher center of gravity, the 1/4 ply should be strong and fair in with water channeling. Comparison of heights Hull prep for epoxy After epoxy job Next was to clean up top edge Cut tips off screws Next phase is adding casements that weren't molded into the hull. Starting in the bow Plan was to use a wood form for the fwd inset Shown on the plans Wood in place, test fit Covered in electrical tape, my go to epoxy shield Cloth test fit Drying Cleaned up the top Happy with how it came out Now need to build up the sides for the casements. Multi phase process First step drying
Thickness of the hull is OK, some areas better than others. I might end up adding strips of mat to the insides at the rib locations before cutting, since I'm doing a fair amount of fiberglass work to the hull already, two more sets won't be bad. Turns out the starboard hull extension didn't come out too great, ended up with a lot of ripples. Not exactly sure why, I think that I did not get enough drops of the hardener stuff in for the volume of resin I used since the batch was slow to kick, but I will just fill in the voids when I set up the other side. Here are a couple pictures, I trimmed the extension down to the proper height/length, I will probably do the port side on Thursday. Once the port side is done, I will cut out the area for the casements, then make another mold to make semi-realistic casement insets...THEN the hull will be ready to move forward Here it is raw once removing the retaining support The forward casement pour came out nice, not the second set haha I cut the excess off, also flattened the outer face with dremel (in prep for more resin to fill voids)
I've been tempted to build the Agincourt for years. Ralph Coles offered to loan me his new hull mold (casemates are part of the mold) so I may lay up a hull in a couple of weeks.
Thanks, I'm pumped for the 3 aft turrets, hopefully it turns out alright. I got the other side built up and the casements molded in. Picture dump from my phone
Thanks Caleb, I used the same method back when I made the rivadavia from a Baden hull, it has worked out well. I trimmed the excess material off today, finally the hull is ready to move forward! Next step is to float test the hull to figure out the waterline. This boat is too long for the bathtub so I'll have to make it down to a pond soon. The goal will be to get the freeboard down to 3/4" in the stern, hopefully the allowed weight I'll accommodate that.
Just got back from the pond. Float test complete, looks like she will be built to max weight with low water channeling to keep the freeboard minimal. If I trim the boat slightly by the stern I can get aft freeboard to around 3/4. Plan is to mark windows, then add so glass in the stern along the ribs
Windows have been marked, work will resume this week. It has 21 ribs, I’ve decided to stick with 1/4 ribs more or less evenly spaced. Here is a look at the casement area To prep for adding more glass on the inside I ‘express sanded’ the rib profiles with a dremel. Plan is to add two layers of mat on each rib, should be done tomorrow afternoon
Looking quite nice, I'll be looking forward to seeing what all you do with her, especially engineering wise.
Thanks gents, I’ve been looking forward to this build for several months now. Since the last update I reinforced the ribs with two layers of mat, the lack of gel coat made lining up on the ribs easy Next was to cut the windows, the end rib thickness was good Here is the hull as a whole, typically I put more ribs in the bow, probably should have shifted one more up there, oh well Close up of casements Not pretty, had to grind the small holes out Moving aft Now starboard Stbd aft I like my stringers thick haha Tape removed Drew the turret locations, three aft turrets Three aft, one forward for options Started working on layout options, checked weight with four guns I had lying around Always seems to be a tight fit, not exactly sure what layout to go with Bow will probably be like this Slightly different, solenoids aft to minimize fees hose length Bow Overhead I think that I’ve decided on the motor mount position, so the next step will be drive shafts, then rudder post and servo mount. Hopefully I will have a productive weekend!
I'm considering using a pump and a half, and then two stern guns at 15 degrees, two stern sidemounts, and maybe a bow sidemount to swap out for the forward stern sidemount. I think that weight might be an issue for the batteries to support two pumps, but I will probably start building it with two pumps in mind, and if it doesn't work then I'll just stick with one
So what do you attack with? 28 sec. Right? You will need the enemy to work hard at getting under your guns?
Allies don’t attack, they mill about until pumps fail and secure the bottom. It’s 26 sec, it will be a ship fought in reverse, used in battles against ships that prefer a stern to stern set up. I will also have a spare bow side mount to swap to if I’m having a hard time getting guns on target. At least that’s what I hope, probably won’t end up working as well as I think it will haha. I’m planning to use the other ship I’m building for the ‘gnat’ battles, it will be heavily armed in the forward sectors
Started on the shafts this afternoon. Used 9/32" brass tube, oil-lite bushings, and 3/16" shafts, Traxxas gearboxes. I plan on using 1.7" kort props installed backwards. I made a template from an index card and then out of wood There ended up being some space between the motor mount and the bottom of the hull, so I decided to use filler vice cutting the bottom of the mount. I made an electrical tape 'wall' to hold the filler, then I dropped the mounts down into place. Once these dry I will tape the shafts and fiberglass around them
I’ve been jumping between projects, I finish epoxying the shafts last week, added struts today. Here is when I finished the shafts Mainly mat, small amount of filler Also trimmed motor mount filler I’m trying out a different type of strut, just a piece of brass bent around the shaft. Electrical tape per usual Kind of sloppy on the inside, rudder servo will probably go over this area so it will probably end up filled with filler And done I’ll probably make the drag shafts next, plan will be to build up the area around the shafts to make a platform/water channel to mount the solenoids
Other builds have slowed this one down, but I got the drag shafts in the other day Tacked them in place with CA Inside Filler Dry, tape removed I got the props brazed on this weekend as well Underhull Aft Put the shaft collars and gears on, 32 pitch Next is rudder post and servo mount, school will be over on Tuesday so build time should get a boost
