Even though I've been away for a few years, I have still been thinking about building, battling, engineering warships. Sorry if some of this has been repeated, but I'm a few years worth of posts behind [] A few things I have come up with: 1. We have had a devil of a time getting the 1/96 scale off the ground. I honestly think that the reason for this is that there is not a supplier of 1/96 hulls. Want to battle 1/144? order a hull from anyone of several people and you are close to being on the water. Want to battle 1/96? here are set of plans, good luck. I think if we can start producing molds and have a stock of hulls that can be produced rapidly, we could see the scale expand dramatically. 2. My Graf Spee was a wooden hull ship and was beautiful (If I do say so myself). However, given everything that has happened, I wish I had made it out of fiberglass. A wooden hull is a one of a kind, unique ship. If it somehow meets with a tragic end - bye bye warship. If I had used that as a plug and cast a mold, I could have made a new hull in a matter of days - as oppossed to the several weeks it took to make that wooden hull. So for me, from here on out, fiberglass is the way to go. Time permitting (see what I put in the other post) I am going to rebuild the Graf Spee hull and make a mold from it. I'm also going to produce a Fletcher class destroyer hull mold as well as a Tirpitz mold (all 1/96) Why not? Building the hulls is the most enjoyable part for me anyway. [] I have plans for the german Z-class destroyers (1936 Mod a series) that have a beautiful set of hull lines - but the d*** plans left off the location of the frames from the profile view. If anyone has a set of plans for this class, let me know, I would love to make a mold for that hull as well. Hopefully this can get us kick started in a few months. If any of you have 1/96 plans that you are not working with, come the end of october, if I am not otherwise engaged, I would be more than willing to produce a plug/mold for the ship. I will post pics as the work progresses (as always!) Battle on my brothers.
Hey Jumper, I'm not familiar with 1/96 scale rules. Do you guys use "fast gun" equivalent .177 BB cannon or the larger, nastier 1/4" ball-bearing guns? Oops, just noticed and read your sticky on rules. Nasty 1/4" guns it is.
Tugboat is working on coming out with some 1/96 fiberglass hulls. Be patient grasshopper. Besides, wood hulls really aren't that hard to make. IMO, it only took me an extra week to build a wood hull ship over a glass hulled ship.
Lets see if this image thingy works... Here is all I have left after cleaning out my model box... I just have to keep telling myself "I've done more with less" [8D]
I'm building 1/144 hulls to raise money for the bigger stuff. Some of my 1/96 will be 'glass, some in wood. For the really big'uns, I'm thinking that a wood kit that fits together and needs only your epoxy would be far cheaper to ship than an 8.5' long Bismarck hull in 'glass... My Evstafis fit together and hold their shape with only the joinery, even with handling. I'd do something along those lines with the bigger ships. For the smaller ones, I've got a Surcouf plug sitting on the workbench (just frames right now, I need to cut a keel!), and Mark is making an I-400 plug. The subs are legal as surface runners, or as full submersibles. I think anything up to a light cruiser would be shippable as a glass hull. Of course, I could always transport hulls to battles...
The other option is to build up a supply of partially built or completed wooden hulls that ca be sold to new members. When I was done fighting my cruiser, I sold it to Jake "The Danger," our youngest member. I also usually build more hulls than I expect to use, since you've already done most of the work by planing the first hull. All it takes is a drop of glue to hold a two pieces of wood together, and you can cut two pieces at once. I can then sell the extra hull and recoup the cost of materials while giving someone a good start.
Tug, the plug had to be re-made, but I have all the frames cut and the keel laid out (needs to be cut). only problem is I'm back in NY for work for the next 2 weeks so its just going to be a matter of getting to it. BTW, I will be including the super-structure in the plug. As for the wooden I-400 I've got some new ideas but will post in the build tread.
You need to get yourself a small scrollsaw like I have for taking with you on trips The hull for Surcouf will not have the keel molded in, as it's a very very deep and skinny keel to try and fill with fiberglass and resin... Most likely I'll make the plug keelless, and then include a wooden keel cut to mate up with the 'glass hull. The top deck is flat, with the superstructure added on, so that'll be pretty straightforward, as we were saying for the I-400 in that threads' discussion. Gascan, that's why I like to do wooden hulls 2 at a time... The Evstafis got separated in my mad rush to get one done for the battle I had to bail on, but future hull pairs won't suffer separation anxiety I thought about some cruisers in 'glass, but even the relatively short Lutzow is over 6 feet long! HUGE shipping cost...
Steve, I've got plans of the german Z-class. I think they're the 1936 Mod A, but I'll need to double check. When I get back from India I'll see if I can remember to check them for rib locations... Carl
Steve, I just got home today. It was a horrible trip back to the US from India, but am back safely at least. My plans for the Z-39 (Type 36 Mod A) are from the Associazione Navimodellesti Bolognesi (ANB), whose plans are top-notch. Their plans show the rib locations on the profile, and there's 23 ribs on the hull stations. They are available from Taubman's Plans Service, but it might take a while. They're also available from the ebay store PLANS N THINGS, run by ebay user 'davesdrydock'. Price is about the same, but PLANS N THINGS usually has stuff in stock. BTW, send me an email offline when you get a chance. Thanks, Carl
Tug... one of my buddies is finally getting around to getting his cnc router set up. He would probably be open to making parts for folks... -Greg
