The greatest journey starts with the first step... Mine started today with the unboxing of an uncut Striker NC hull that I bought off a member on this site. I’m excited to proceed but recognize the need for face to face interaction with experienced builders before I make a mess of things... Much more to come.
Learned much today; armor belts, stringers and skegs are new additions to my vocabulary. Shout out to @Gettysburg114th for not blocking me... yet. Is this stuff good to do the fiberglass work?
not in the house. you'll stink yourself out with poly resin in the house. why do you need to do glass work, hull looks new?
It's a striker hull so the skegs are not installed. I have a workshop in my shed I'll be makin the stink in...
Kevin P. did skegs on his Missouri: https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/uss-missouri-build-ircwcc.445059/page-2 You might find some info you can use in that thread. Kevin is a Building Machine!
I'm getting ready to mark the rib locations on her. Went out to ircwcc shiplist website and found the max scale weight of the NC is 38.62 lbs minus the hull weight of 3.8 lbs ... so I need add about 35 lbs to the hull to mark her water line. does this sound reasonable?
So I filled the hull with 38lbs of water, which was just under 5 gallons. I marked the outside of the hull based on the waterline (it’s the small marks on the hull in between the two red lines) and then measured 1” down to mark the low point in the windows. That’s represented by the TOP of the bottom red line. Then I measured 3/8” down from the top of the hull and now I need to do the 1/8” stringer for the armor belt. Can you guys/gals take a look to ensure I’m on the right track? It looks like my window bottoms are too high.
Hey Don, Good to see you moving along. A few recommendations You probably don't want to plan for max weight right off the bat, might want to remark with about 35 lbs and build to that weight. Lighter weights are more limiting since the bottom of windows will have to be lower. Once you get that mark (probably will be about 1/4" lower than at 38 lbs), remember to account for the thickness of the waterline (1/8" from center), and then go at least 1 inch from there. If I'm uncertain about exactly how the trim will work out, I will cut hulls at 1 1/4" down from the water surface to leave a 1/8" buffer so I don't have to worry being legal. On the NC I believe the bottom should be just above the bulge on the sides, probably 1/4" to 3/8" up from the edge. Steve will have an NC at Nate's battle next month, can't really beat seeing one in person
Great info, thanks Kevin. Barring death, divorce or jail time I'm going that weekend (well... even if one of the three happen, I'll probably still make it up - I'll let you guess which one). I did change a few things up since the picture above. I reduced the hard area at the top of the hull to a 1/4" and then put two 1/8" stringers above and below the armor belt. Seeing that I'm still within the 1/2" window, is that an ok change? If I do go with the 35ish lb water line can I keep the windows 21 - 24 at the same height as I believe I saw something about exceeding 45 degrees is no longer part of the window? The stringer pictures are a bit misleading as the image is angled down - they are lined up to be 1/4" in total, 1/8 at the bottom of the armor belt and then 1/8 at the top of where the hull bumps out again
you only get one 1/8" stringer there, so you should go back to 3/8" deck rim, and then you'll have to 'straddle' the horizontal portion. Generally leave more material under the horizontal part (3/32") and just a lip above. And yes with 45 degree turn you shouldnt have to change the aft few windows, the rest of the hull are definitely too high (people might mistake you for Kas)
Ok great, I'll redo the whole side: - changing back to 3/8 deck rim - having only a single stringer - basing my water line on a more modest 35ish lb range thanks again - I still won't start cutting anything until I can get an experienced builder to eyeball it in person...
I'm looking to order batteries to run, based on a recent post from Kevin P. in a different topic, I think I want: https://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo...h-10c-rate-64-wh-6-0---un38-3-passed-dgr.aspx I'd run 2 in series, running 6 volt. Is that the recommended option for a NC sized ship? In general, how much runtime would I get out a ship of my size?
OK, I dropped it to 34lbs then remeasured the bottom of the window, put the 3/8 deck rim back and switched to a single 1/8th stringer. think I'm good to finish up the other side?
Looks good, only comment is to adjust bottom on 20 to make a smooth transition between the 1” below water line and 45 degree
Still have a bit of clean up and sanding but no broken ribs nor stringer!!! Weeeee! It’s about the small victories!
I got all the ribs sanded nicely (defined by a rookies eye). The windows and ribs look pretty good. I’ve hit a wall with the skegs though. I’ve read through Kevin’s skegs build process referenced above but I really don’t want to make a mistake on this part. I think I’ll hold off until the 15th for the Bradford battle/ build session to get advice. On pause for now...
Modified the radio tonight. Buttons on back, two additional channels have the switches on the right gimbal location. Button below the switches is for my 5:00 timer. I have to print a small button guard for the back yet and some simple plugs for the switches I unplugged. I could have it back to factory pretty quick if needed.
