with so much to do on the house, work, family and just life, hadn't done much with rc boats for some time. and now that the wife gave the go-ahead I got an old glastron boat (full size speed boat) off my uncle that I'm in the process of restoring. would love to go out to any battles in the areaif I get a heads up a couple weeks in advance
Things haven't worked out for me on getting a 1/96 boat on the water this year. The plan was to have a hull framed up and floated by mid-summer ... I haven't even had the chance to cut the templates yet. I still have to finish up the two remaining Omaha hulls before even starting a new project. Unfortunately, a new project will have to wait until after I retire from the Air Force in November and hopefully get settled into a new job and house. Heh. So realistically, I won't have a 1/96 scale ship ready to battle until late spring or early summer 2011.
While I was prepping for the 1/144 Edgar Quinet build class, I made Edgar Quinet frames drawings in 1/96, Mike Mark, I have started repairs on the I-400 hull plug, it's not half bad to work with I also got a bunch of the nice West Systems epoxy which is nice for coating plugs with; very thing, soaks into the outer layer nicely. Also, bought a gallon of gel-coat to make the mold with.
Haven't done anything this year on the Shimakaze. Am considering putting it on an upper shelf and starting something a little bigger from scratch. I still have plenty of ship plans at home to choose from. ;-) All my time this year has been spent either recovering from health problems or lost to excessive overtime at work (and no, I don't get paid for overtime). I did finally start my garage make-over a couple of weeks ago that I've been trying to get to for 3 years now. Dang job... Doubtful I'll have anything running by spring, but I haven't given up yet. Carl
I have to finish the Moose in 1/144, then we'll see what we'll see. I'll have molds for the I-400 and the Surcouf in 1/96. Might make sense to do one of those. I really need to figure out a good way to keep the inside of the 8" cannons on Surcouf dry when diving. Thinking about doing a fast-gun style cannon, with the magazines above the barrels, so that trapped air and CO2 will keep the water out when diving.
I do have a ship picked out. Something quirky of course. @Tug...that sounds like a workable solution.
I haven't really been too busy to make any progress on my 96th scale stuff. The Strasbourg is perhaps a month away from being finished, and battle-ready. Main cannons only for the time being. I could always add more cannons later (if needed). My son Vance wants to build a submarine. We are both currently running Treaty ships, and I would like to try my hand at building a sub in 1/144th scale for Treaty. But I have been thinking about giving it a go in 96th scale first, and putting together a battlestations sub. That really makes a lot of sense, as we could then just scale everything down, and build one in 1/144th. I also want to build a Bearn for battlestations. But not until we get some battles under our belts in this scale. I will be here. And I will be ready. Mikey
I'm thinking about giving the turret guns on Surcouf a flex mount so they move maybe 10-15 degrees off-axis to the same direction that the rudder is turning. She's big enough to do two guns easily, but I'm worried about the gas req's for two 3/16" guns and a battery of torpedoes.
Perhaps you should coinsider one or the other for the time being. Cannons, or torps. Could always add more stuff later. Mikey
Mikey, I'm going to be moving up back up to NE Indiana this summer. Maybe you and I can get started again on this crazy hobby! Carl
That's very cool. The old Strasbourg is just sitting on a shelf collecting dust. But she will clean up real easy, and it wouldn't take much to get her main cannons firing. I look forward to it. Mikey
I know I have said it before about building a 1/96 scale ship. The last time I promised was in 2010. Unfortunatly, some unexpected builds took priority in what was already a very hectic building schedule. This year on the other hand is shaping up to be a mild building year. Only two ships are on the planned building schedule: a new fast gun battleship and a 1/96th Verite. So with that said, I can pretty much say there is at least 85% chance of building and completing a 1/96 Battlestations ship this year. I want to have the second Battlestations ship launched in the hobby, and if Mikey doesn't get guns into his Strasbourg, perhaps I'll have the first completed Battlestations ship.
Depends on which one of course. The conversion is easy though. 1/96 is 1" = 8'. So take the length of the ship in question and divide by 8. Or to be more exact, take the number of feet long the ship is. Multiply that by 12 then add the number of inches. Divide that number by 96. Example: HMS Fiji has an overall length of 555' 6" Method one: 555.5 divided by 8 = 69.43 inches Method two: 555 times 12 = 6660. 6660 + 6 = 6666. 6666 divided by 96 = 69.43 Method one is easier for ships with an even length or one where the number of inches works out to be an easy decimal. 3", 6", or 9" Other wise method two. Of course it just occurred to me that you may have meant what ships as in time periods. We follow Treaty Rules there. In service 1900-1945. Hypotheticals if laid down.
