I have a question regarding penetrable areas around casemates under IRC and MWC. In the example below, the yellow hued area represents the 3/8" max thickness of the weather deck. The blue area represents a 1/8" thick casemate deck. Between the two is approximately 1/8”. The approximate 144th scale was extrapolated from the 55 gallon drums in the lower right of the photo which have a standard height of 35”. My question is regarding the angled hull areas inside the inset casement “cutout” (for lack of a better term). To accommodate a gluing surface for hull sheeting in these areas, one would need an 1/8” backing stringer attached to the upper side of the casemate deck. Doing so effectively fills in any remaining penetrable area in the casemate cutouts in this example. Since this is the case, would building the casement inset areas solid violate any of the fastgun rulesets? Thanks Steve
Yes. One can take 1/8" max vertical area per stringer, so if you want something to glue the bottom edge of that balsa to, you can use 1/16" of the stringer there, and 1/16" on the edge of the casement deck proper. Or you can just superglue the bottom edge to the top of the casement deck and have a 1/8" high stringer on the edge. It is not permissible to take 1/8" on top and on bottom.
I just noted section c of rule seven in the MWC rules. To meet this I'll have to rob an 1/8" off the weather deck in the casemate areas to build the casemates properly. Will IRC be adopting this rule eventually? 7. A stringer shall be defined as any solid material that hull skin is attached to that forms the shape of the hull and is not classed as a rib. a) No stringers shall be used unless the shape of the hull dictates. Hull features that dictate the use of a stringer are: bulges, casement guns, knuckles, or armor belts. The stringer may not extend more than one rib beyond where that hull feature is prominent. b) The surface of the stringer which is against the penetrable area of the hull skin shall be no thicker than 1/8" material but may be any width. c) The total vertical hard area cannot exceed 1/2" between any two ribs in the penetrable area of the hull. i.e. A ship with both a casemate deck and a defined armor bulge or belt may use two stringers provided that the weather deck is no more than 1/4" so that the combined vertical hard area between the ribs is no more than 1/2". d) Appendix A shall contain examples of classes and their maximum deck and stringer hard area. In cases where there are questions, the drawing shall be final.
Steve, what is the area between the yellow and blue that is not shaded. It seems it should be shaded yellow. There are many places in my casements where there is no backing at the bottom of the window (is that what you mean?). A method I learned is that once you have the piece glued/tacked in on each side of the inset you can go back and run a bead of sig-ment (which I use) and when it drys it will hold the bottom in with no problem. I was worried that one bb would take out the whole piece and it can and does happen but only with the smaller pieces and then only once in a while. My casements rarely take more than 300pts damage per battle.. hardly worth worrying about .. so I don't worry as much. If the casement in question has a bottom section then that can be modeled as they are on the Grey Wolf Baden casement (which I use) which is about 1/16 thick at the bottom. In the end it depends on how the casements were made. I have 1/4 inch above the casement even though its supposed to be thinner for scale, above the casement, 1/8 where you have your blue line and a stringer on the armor belt.
Seriously, like Johnny says, if you're taking that much casement damage that you're going to sink from it, you were already sunk a long time ago My SMS Scharnhorst has 1/8" casement decks, and I just superglue the bottom edge of the balsa to the top of that surface, and I've never had any blowouts or really anything out of the ordinary happen in those areas. Don't over-think/over-engineer where not necessary
Most people don't glue the bottom of the balsa at those areas. It workd just fine, I've done it on several ships many, many times. Or as stated above use a little CA or sigment at the bottom. If you only have the casement stringer you could take 1/8" out of the 3/8" main deck and put it on the bottom. Stays within the 1/2" total. Moves hard area within the same scoring area. Seams to me to be a lot of extra work for no gain.
