It went well, and two twin battleships were begun. HMS Queen Elizabeth, and HMS Malaya. Mine is Malaya, and it'll actually get done because Brian Koehler is a harsh taskmaster. I love my Axis boats, but the SE US is becoming an Axis lake and hence, the need for more Allies to restore order to the force. Brian bribed me and I now have my first boat back in the shop, my old HMS Lion, that I may rebuild her over the winter and do wonderful things. She'll make a fine loaner boat alongside Lil Scharnie (which is still my main boat until Malaya is done). The newly-refurbished test basin (aka my 20k gallon pool with a new liner in it) was put to work as we ballasted our ships to see how much they needed to weigh to hit the desired waterline. The hull looks awesome in the water, Ralph Coles is a master shipbuilder
I assume you have the "new" QE hull with the big fancy bulges on it? How much weight did you put in it? Can you post a photo of the waterline mark and the 1" below mark. I want to know if you'd have to cut into the lower bulger or not. This hull is not an easy one to sheet. One thing to note when you get around to battling it. The sides take ram damage very easily. You have to be very careful calling and checking for rams. On mine (without the fancy bulges) I'll get 1-3 ram cracks each sortie. I was always more suprised I did not have one than when I did have one.
If Clark floated it to were we was talking about during the last GA battle, the bottom of the penatrable window should be 1/16 above the lower corner between the armor belt and bulge. Sheeting difficulty is realtive. After all, ever tried to sheet a Nagato?
I'll take a pic tonight. It is ram PROOF. The stringer on the outside of the upper bulge and the solid area on the projecting lower bulge would take any hit apart from at the very bow or stern. With 29# 1 ounce of weight in it, it floats such that you get 1/8" of solid above where the lower bulge starts to angle out, so you've got something to glue the balsa to. But all the sticky-out parts are legally solid You'll like it, Bob. I'll turn my hull around to get a pic of the side with the tape on it so you can see the 2 stringers on the upper bulge, and the ribs and whatnot
I love battling my Warspite, my favortie ship. I don't like were the stringer is. It's too high to protect the outside of the bulge. One the old hull with the rounded off sides you could put the stringer pretty much anyplace. It should have gone down another 1/2". Oh well I have another hull just like it I'll cut up some day. Now you need to get Don & Joel to bring their Sodaks back out. Nothing better than a QE/Sodak team. I've watched Tyler sheet a Nagato and I've sheeted Kongo. Warspite's right there in the pain factor. If only all ships sheeted like The Bike.
If you want an easy ship to sheet, the Iron Duke is it. Smooth sides, although lighter weigh and 25 less bb's.
Yes I have sheeted a Nagato. First time took 2 days to do right. Now it is somewhat quicker, can get it done in 6 to 8 hours. Speaking of which I better get started, IRCWCC Nats is next week. A sheeting trick I tried this time is when contact cementing the paper to the inside of the balsa (prepping balsa for sheeting) lay the balsa out on aluminum foil, contact cement the balsa with a thin coat, apply silkspan while wet, put another sheet of aluminum foil on top, then apply pressure. A flat board and those old sla batteries you have lying around work nice. Push the edges of the aluminum foil down after a couple of hours to make an air seal. The contact cement stays wet and pliable under the foil for many days, and permeates the paper, so you don't have to sheet right away, and the balsa does not stiffen up. When you are ready to sheet peel off the aluminum foil, slap some contact cement on the boat, wait a couple of minutes for it to dry, then start sticking balsa. Speeds things up considerably. Ron Hunt
I am uploading pics from my phone now... We have the two QE's being built, and new member Dave Winnette is building a SoDak hull that he got from Lou, with subdecks and caprails already in it So come spring, we'll have a nice 26-sec squadron here. Lil Scharnie will remain in running order as a loaner boat.
This is the uncut hull floating in the newly-relined test basin at Tugboat's shop... The pool pump was on, so some waves are present. We had 29 pounds, 1 oz of weight in the hull and it floated right about where we wanted. That's close to scale weight, so if more is needed, we've got room to play. That hull looked SO right in the water It was amazing. It wouldn't let me upload any others. Sowwy. I'll try again from home with google plus.
Starting the build log at lunchtime, now that the JCAHO inspectors have left the building Brian and I talked about it last weekend, and we will be taking lots of pics like we did with the twin Vanguard build so long ago. Only better
Hey, Tugboat, did you get to talk too Pete Dimitri and Brian Koehler about the tutorial on the guns? Beaver