I decided to jump on building an Age of Sail warship. I had hoped to build one of the American 74s but wasnt able to find suitable plans. I did however find plans suitable to build the USS Pennsylvania. I am hoping to have this ship on the water sometime this fall prior to the battling season ending.
RE: USS Pennsylvania That looks gorgeous, especially the tumblehome. Methinks ye will have the second AoS ship on the water soon.
RE: USS Pennsylvania Thanks Mike, Today I made a sub deck/deck that I placed on top of the ribs with the goal to have the entire Spar(?)(Weather?) deck removable in one piece, with smaller access hatches within the deck itself. I picked the Pennsylvania for its relatively simple hull shape. I am also trying to fashion a type of socket or reciprocal for the masts to rest inside, being secured with screws to allow them to be removed. I had some questions for the AOS community. 1) I noticed on alot of the AOS ships the use of a drop keel? I am not sure what the final model weight will be for the Pennsylvania, but I am trying to figure out if I would need a keel like the one used on Marks new kit, or if I could weigh the hull down with epoxied lead shot in the bilge low in the hull to improve stability. Any thoughts? 2) I found a couple manufacturers of 1/48 scale brass 32pdr cannons, has anyone considered manufacturing resin cannons or AOS ships?
RE: USS Pennsylvania Oh wow beautiful! I had wanted to build the Pennsylvania but could not find plans. Were on earth did you get the plans from?
RE: USS Pennsylvania I'm planning on printing cannons to put on deck. There's even a wood-looking filament that I mean to try out. Already got black and gold filament
RE: USS Pennsylvania I found the plans scanned from a book "The history of the American sailing Navy". Unfortunately someone allready had cut out the plans for the 74s. I thought it was interesting the Pennsylvania had all 32pdrs, other than some 8" shell guns. I think I will make some carriages and barrels and try my hand at casting some. I'd like to arm the upper two decks with dummy cannons, but if Tugboat makes me an offer I can't refuse on cannons I wouldn't be opposed to outsourcing. Has anyone fitted the tamiya submarine motor? I was contemplating where it needed to go before progressing much further on the hull
RE: USS Pennsylvania It goes on the rudder Gives a little steerage that way, although Captains Kotori and Gascan do quite well without it. I'm wondering what to do with Minerva, as I don't know that she fits the rules as they stand. Might leave her on the shelf and build HMS Athena, a notional ship based on HMS Bellona. I'll look this weekend to see If I could remove the fiberglass from Minerva without too much drama.
RE: USS Pennsylvania It's exciting to think of the possibility of seeing a lot of these age of sails ship so the water I know my father loves the AOS format, as well as three of the locals which should materialize in a battle this year
RE: USS Pennsylvania I've been thinking on it and I may just plank over the open area on Minerva and glass the whole thing, and use it as a sail training ship without having to worry about water leaks. Then, build a combat ship.
RE: USS Pennsylvania I foresee a handful of midwest skippers at the mercy of the wind, luckily one local member has some model sail experience. Having a designated trainer boat for learning how to sail isn't a bad idea. I will talk with the local skippers and perhaps try getting some experience with something a little more foregiving before launching our combat models. Are their more than one version of the tamiya motor?
RE: USS Pennsylvania a sail-training ship is a very good idea. Especially a multi-masted one with square sails, because it is so different from the simple racing yachts that most RC sailors use. I would recommend that any ship intended purely for training purposes be given enough flotation that it doesn't sink if flooded. Part of learning to sail is gauging the weather and estimating how much sail to carry aloft, and a foam-filled ship will be more forgiving in that regard. There are two different types of Tamiya motors that I have seen. A basic one, with a yellow case and blue prop, and a "high-speed" one with red case and white prop. Both use a single AA battery, I think the big difference is prop pitch and/or motor windings.
RE: USS Pennsylvania Thank you for the feedback Kotori, Sadly through a mistake saving some plans to the laptop I managed to over write L'Ocean class ribs over the Pennsylvania Ribs, Found out when I tried fitting my deck to the hull. Is there a way for somone to change the name of this posting to French 118 gun?
RE: USS Pennsylvania I have worked on the gun walls around the Forecastle, and the railing over the top edge of the upper most levels of the gunwalls. I had to move my stringers up 1/2" to fullfill the proper amount of penetrable area. I drilled out the holes for the three masts with deck breaks at each mast. The stern Galleys? has been started that attaches to the stern of the ship. The bow hard area is being reworked to resemble the Ocean class 1st rates as built.
RE: USS Pennsylvania Once the wood I ordered from Balsa usa comes in I will cover the upper impenetrable area, I am going to drill out all the gun ports and use a file to shape them square. I am wrapping the upper hull with 1/32" Aircraft ply, and reinforcing the inner and outer surfaces with fiberglass cloth and resin. The lower impenetrable area I am planning on filling with block and sanding to shape still. Is utilizing a "drop keel" or fin better than filling the lower portion of the hull with lead?
RE: USS Pennsylvania Congratulations, Glaizilla! You may accidentally be the first person to launch a first-rate ship of the line! I am sure it will be a terror out there. An extended keel, such as the one on Mark's laser-cut USS Constitution, is a vital feature in a model sailing vessel. It is the modeler's non-scale response to the non-scale effects of wind and water, to make the model ship act more like its full-scale counterpart. First, the keel significantly improves the ship's self-righting forces, allowing it to carry a reasonable-looking amount of sail in normal weather conditions. Second, it increases the ship's sideways resistance in the water, reducing its leeway (tendency to slip downwind). The overall effect is that the model looks and feels much more like a real ship.
RE: USS Pennsylvania Congratulations, Glaizilla! You may accidentally be the first person to launch a first-rate ship of the line! I am sure it will be a terror out there. An extended keel, such as the one on Mark's laser-cut USS Constitution, is a vital feature in a model sailing vessel. It is the modeler's non-scale response to the non-scale effects of wind and water, to make the model ship act more like its full-scale counterpart. First, the keel significantly improves the ship's self-righting forces, allowing it to carry a reasonable-looking amount of sail in normal weather conditions. Second, it increases the ship's sideways resistance in the water, reducing its leeway (tendency to slip downwind). The overall effect is that the model looks and feels much more like a real ship.
