well boat ADD strikes again. The NE group brought up the idea for making Courbet’s to throttle the small axis in the area, and I jumped on the bandwagon and am going to attempt to make a mold. Will sent over some sick builders plans. After a few tries I got the size right at staples Plug supplies. This hull has a much more complex shape than my previous plugs. With two layers of casements and a stringer along most of the length, I decided to try making the top two deck levels with sheets of 1/4 ply, and then use traditional frames/foam for the rest of the hull. I think it will work out OK. Plug will be interesting with the inset casements on the bow Upper deck for the forward section Traced over Cut out Top piece and 3 layers for the forward deck Using a 1x6 for a straight reference, it will be backbone of assembly Next was the stringer level. I cut this first so I could then trim the sheet down to the size for the level above Smooth cut with no casements Cut out the mid section. upside down here, will build from weather deck down General shape of the boat. Need two more layers of the aft deck level I will fasten all of the layers together, then smooth out sides, probably will need some filler/bondo for the casements but shouldn’t be too bad
Mid weekend update (waiting for plans to copy at Staples) I made a lot of copies of the hull sections to cut out. Scaled down by 1% to get the beam right Cut out the last two layers of ply Casement area Aft casements Glued and fastened the layers together, first deck Aft deck Both, not fastened together yet Cut out hull sections this morning The first two hull sections are full height, the others were cut to account for the layers of ply for the first two deck levels Traced out onto ply, simple process Marked a line on the side profile for the layers of ply, 7/32 below the top of the stringer Next started to bondo the casements. The goal is to get the casements decent before attaching the deck levels to make sanding easier When I get back I will sand the casements then attach the first two decks, then smooth those sides out. I will also hopefully cut out hull sections, and maybe get to keel and mounting the frames. Getting to foam might be ambitious
Thanks Dave, hopefully it will come out good. I continued along for a bit. Attached the two layers. I was loose and free with screw pattern Next I put some blocks down to prepare to add the base 1x4 Beam ended up a little big. Had some sanding to do. The 1x4 is in place now to hold the shape straight Whole thing with 1x4 Sanded for a while but ran out of patience so I cut out hull sections View of the depth of the hull Next step will be more sanding to get the beam in spec, need to lose about 1/16 to 3/32, but getting through the plywood takes a bit. Then I’ll draw out and cut the keel, adjusting the length a bit to match the parts I already made. Might have some progress Tuesday, otherwise it will be next Sunday
After you finish this one, make a Settsu next, that would be a good boat, that can fight either side.
French should be able to swing both ways, one of them was captured I think which should be close enough to fight axis. I have too many projects on the build list already, I really wasn’t planning this one until someone else brought up the idea. I have Agincourt to finish, Bellerophon to build, then Fusō, this boat, a convoy, and maybe pre-dread or Des Moines all on my ‘short term’ list for the upcoming build season. Missouri will have a minor refit as well
For you about 3 weeks work, the Settsu you can do the 4th week. I was thinking about making it this winter myself, but cannot find plans with a rib drawing. I have the "Plans of Ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy" book. Written by the society of naval architects of Japan. Had my daughter get it from Japan for me. Great plans for all the ships, some have rib drawings, some don't. Of course Settsu does not. Does have 7 cutaway rib views so I'm sure I can extrapolate it. Has supply, support, cable layer, and tender plans also.
Did about an hour or so of sanding today. Not too much for pictures. I marked the 2nd frame forward on the plywood, needed to cut some away for curvature of the hull Marked Working this plug is not super fun haha. Should be able to get through the wood sanding part and onto foam by Sunday, from there it will be normal plug-making annoying which will seem like a break! If I could do it again I would have pulled the beam in more before cutting so I could build up if necessary with Spackle/joint compound which is easier to adjust. I think getting the stringer just right will be a challenge. I trimmed the deck levels a good amount today to get them within spec, I will probably recut the stringer layer to better match the current profile of the hull, and check how the hull sections line up on it. I will trace what I have and then add about 3/32" scale stringer width which should give me a better baseline than the original piece. I think I usually kid myself a bit working on these plugs because in the end most of the defects I work on smoothing out either get cut from the hull or are indistinguishable with balsa. Maintaining a good balance of effort/end product is key for me (not producing Bob Pottle level plugs haha), my ships are usually pretty ugly!
I've been thinking about gun layout. She will get 4.5 units. I'm planning for the 'porcupine' layout, probably with 5 guns because the weight should support. I typically put extra guns on my boats, I like to have options. Normal config would probably be with 3 full unit guns, 1 half, with the option for dual gnat gun. I use pictures like this to plan layout, using a legit 15 degrees to figure out expected down angle. The bow shape should be good for not causing ram damage. The wing turret placement isn't as good as Bellerophon, the duals might be an issue getting legit down angle, casement area should help a tiny bit. Guns should be easily adjustable if I find I need to tweak the layout to deal with little axis boats
Did somebody say resin? Shipment arrived today. Kind of awkward getting the package from the front desk in a building that doesn’t allow flammable liquids (technically)
Kevin, I am loving your progress so far. Can't wait to see how we all fit out the Courbet's, it will be interesting to see and compare them. I have a lot to learn from you more skilled builders, but hopefully will come up with my own unique contributions. Honhonhonhon
I think I made it up. I'm referring to the two guns in the starboard wing turret on the drawing above. I call them gnat guns based on their use on the northeast axis boats, they ram your side from a steep angle and (through good construction and captain skills) can give a lot of damage while receiving none. Kinda like a pretty annoying gnat. You can see it at various points by the Nassau's in this video. First one is at 0:46 or so View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnKhW2_X5Bg I'm not sure how it will work out for the wing turret here, but I'll start with guns set up at that way and tweak if necessary
oh okay cool. I was thinking they were a pair of something I had never encountered before with regard to engineering
Thanks Will, I’m hoping to have the hulls done by Nate’s battle. I made some progress this afternoon. I caved and decided to use technology, palm sander worked wonders. Here is the stern sanded to shape Sanded the sides down Had to recut the casements since I sanded the sides down a good bit Stern ones Stern cut Midships was more difficult with the hull below, dremeled out. Also cleaned up the turret hump thing Looked down the sides to spot anything way out of line Decided to recut the stringer using the final profile for the deck above Marked, then measured out 1/8 for the stinger width above every inch Connected the dots Bow area, might need to tweak the front deck layers to get the shape right Next I checked the hull sections against the width of the stringer deck vs where the sections should go. The were standing, then domino effect I did a little shifting around to get things to line up. I will dry fit to make sure the hull curves are still good. I then marked the location so I know where to cut slots in the keel piece Here are all of the lines. Next step will be tracing out the keel in th AM before I can make noise Should get the frames in tomorrow, maybe some foam cut and glued in
