Curt used in the construction of the PE. It was strong enough to surve sinkings and combat but alas it didnt survicve a shipping company tossing the completed model (In a secure box) around like a beach ball.
that is looking good. It has been a long time since I have seen those foam parts... I do wish I had made those molds out of metal...
Thanks Greg. What kind of metal would you have used? Update. I made 3 life boats so far out of basswood so far. One is rough so actually only 2 good ones came out of it but I am going to make more. I've got 2 foamy small launches which will sit atop the hangar beneath the mast large platform. They sit there pretty good.
Well I had to trace out each boat's side and top profile direct from the plans, cut them out and glue them to a block of bass wood , then cut the basswood following the copied pattern, then take them to the belt sander and sand smooth and correct any inperfections. I say an hour or hour and a half for 3. They have to be waterproofed and then lightly sanded. I am going to add a little detail to them then paint them .
ok that doesnt seem bad at least u got a belt sander all i got is a hand and some sand paper of many different grains.
I would have made the molds of aluminum, but the parts would still be the smoothon flexit25 , as that was a good foam to work with. the molds for your superstructure were made from machinists wax.
Aluminium would have been great. I saw a 1/120 scale Bismarck that was made entirely from aluminum in a magazine waaay back. I kept the mag and I use it as a go to reference because the work was exceptional.
Other than a catupult and the main hangar door detail , and clean up the bridge itself I think I am ready to apply the first coat of paint over the entire superstructure. I may start that in a day or two , get the supestructure attached to the center deck hatch and get it ready. My relaunch date is end of April so what ever is aboard at that time will have to do as I need the space to get MO and Yamato ready for May sailing as well. Also I will be starting the North Carolina and Wife's VU model. I can Bismarck's remaining details as time and space permits. I had to put Tirpitz on the side line for now but I will do a product review of the Strike Superstructure before I start NC and PE.
Worked on the model last night to speed up the launch date. Going bare bones as is and clean it up and finish it as I go. Our seasons are very short here and our good weather few and far between. Usually one or 2 good days followed by 4 or 5 bad days. Most bad days on the weekends which is the only time I can sail. Some pics of where I am in the refit at this point. Not my usually standard but again I don't have a lot of time or resources. I had to work on the anchor wells again as they didn't look right but I bored through to far and had to reseal them again.. Doh! I'm debating whether I should just remove the old recognition band and make a new one or just clean up this one. You can see the Pate Rudders, the large center prop and my new drag discs I made . I had very crude discs hastily glued on at IRCWCC NATS 2010 which did the job temporarily so I made a new set. I am itching to try them out and see how the model works with these. I made several sizes so I can switch out quickly for adjustment. The little dimple at the bow stem is where the anchor rod will be inserted and sealed. I just need to bore it out again. It's been 19+ years since I seen this model like this all grey with a red bottom. I remember launching it with just the stock parts on top, no rails , or details. Just what came with the kit. I had to remind myself that it wasn't so detailed right away. It was something I was doing along the way. Every run I went out on I had something new added to the superstructure. So with that in mind I am going to proceed that way and enjoy the model both ways, sailing and detailing. It will be a loong time before it sees enemy action.
Thanks Paul. Yeah I kept staring at it because it is unusual to see it this way. I am looking forward to a float test tomorrow and hopefully be able to run it at least.
I put the waterline tape on and started inserting the barrels on the secondary turrets and the AA Guns. I installed the bow stem anchor and refilled the anchor wells left and right on the forcastle. I installed dummy barrels on C and D Turret. Touched up areas of the red below the waterline. I relayed out the interior co2 system and electrical battery harness which was a tangled mess and tested the radio system and servos. So far so good. Fired up the drive the motor for the first time in almost 6 months. The pump won't turn on which I think it is just seized so I will remove it and test it on a battery alone and if it is good I know then it has something to do with the pump switch or loose connection somewhere in the wiring line. Once I get the model refloated and ballasted and running around then I can test fire the cannons again and retweak them if need be. Check the co2 lines for any leaks in the system.Now I had all this done back in Nov 2011 and everything is good but being laid up in a cold basementfor several months where at times it was flooded well strange things happen to equipment that sits idle in that environment so I know the model needs a shakedown. One thing I won't do is run it without a working pump . I know I had repacked the stuffing tube so that should be good there. I may relube the motor and see how things go there. I also need to secure the expansion tanks again and install deck tabs to lock down the deck hatches. I think the superstructure may be hitting around 3 lbs weight but I will weigh it to be sure tomorrow and then weigh the model overall to see how heavy it is this time.
I couldn't get Bismarck ready for a run today but I did manage to test the pump directly from the battery and it's fine however I did one MAJOR SCREW UP!Yes folks it happens from time to time but this one .... and I know I am not going to hear the end of this one... but alas I submit defeat ...Reserve a seat for me in the peanut gallery... I sealed my pump outlet completely . So good that I didn't even realize the error of my ways and left no trace evidence on the deck that there was an outlet there. If the model was out today taking on water it would have sank with the pump running but nowhere to pump the water but back inside the hull again.. DOH ! DOH! DOH! I have no idea where my head was too when I was working on the deck space above the subdeck . I remember I had it puttied and I was sanding it but somehow I sealed . Fortunately I just have to peel back the armor inside and follow the pump hose to the location beneath the deck and take the pump hose off the outlet and poke a rod up the outlet and penetrate through to topside. Once done I will just drill it out and clean it up. 20 + years and dozens of boats built in this hobby and I did this. Walk the walk of shame.... Good news I cleaned up the anchor wells on teh forepeak and they are good now. I tested all the other systems, so I think the pump switch should be fine but if not no problem I have spares to replace it with.
haha i sealed the pump outlet? now what if you had a battle the next day haha. curt how did u test your pump? just fill it up with water and watch nothing come out? im sorry im just imagining me do it and fill it up to test pump and being like what the hell, thats almost like bailing out a lake into the boat.
I was laying down bondo over the deck area above the subdeck and I just wentove the outlet which is recessed into the deck. Well today I took a chance and grabbed Bismarck from the yard as is up to this point, put the gear in and sailed it. Results........hit a few big waves....results......very little water came in the hull despite the bow being swamped by big waves a couple of times. The hull sat on the waterline as I had hoped . The drag discs are almost 2 inches wide so they did pull the stern down a little when it was running to top speed however the model turned smartly and ran smoothly with no glitches in the drive or rudder system. I could turn the pump on but that would be useless. However after the run in with the large swells there was very little water that came in despite the lack of a breakwater on the deck. THe ballast was a little off to port but a turn of the bottle and I got the valve side facing starboard and it was righted. I had no deck latches installed so the hatches were just sitting there but wedged a little but no tightly. I got to admit it was surreal seeing it so grey and the sunlight washed out the grey . I was very pleased with the results. Even with the sparse detail on board and the lack of color topside several passerbys identified it as Bismarck. One guy with a Nordic accent I think identified Mo as Yamato and got Bismarck correct however he was insistent that it had 14 inch guns. He did guess the weight of Yamato correctly but incorrectly guessed the displacement of Missouri. I had a great chat with him and it turns out he's here developing underwater bots so he's a robotics expert. I gave him my card and explained the hobby to him. I met another guy whose dad built RC Coast guard ships and one of them he described had 3 working water cannons atop the bridge. Apparently I sailed with his dad back in 1987 at the very lake I was at today in roughly the same spot. I told the young fellow that we had a Bismarck (scratch) and a Sharnhorst(also scratch built) at the lake with his dad and his Coast Guard Model. So within a few minutes I had a lot of people came over which was neat as at the other end of the lake, near a small village with a inner harbour very small there were 3 icebergs lodged there and it has been drawing large crowds all week. I been there within 150 or so ft from the berg taking pictures. One of them about 12 stories tall broke and rolled on it's back. I got some pics of Bis out for the first time since coming back from IRCWCC NATS in July 2010. Just need to complete the outfitting and painting which I will post till it's completed fully. Bismarck coming back to dock after a successful trial run
Hey Curt maybe its me or the paint might be throwing me off but isnt the bis sitting a little low? but it looks awsome i love the work. are you going to paint it the same way as your last bismarck? oh and small world huh? seems like you got to know alot of peopke there.
