Espana and another Espana! It's finally time to get the boys into Model Warship Combat in a full time status! Most young kids can build models, but I wanted to insure that they where mature enough to handle the battles, and the emotional side of it. It's too easy for a young boy to get caught up into something that will lead to trouble... especially if they take after dad! I think it's time though.. the oldest is 14, and the other is 11. It's weird but the younger of the two is the more mature one.. go figure! Anyway, first they are going to get a couple of classes on the rules of the MWC, and then take a test on it. This should take us into the weekend. Then I am going to use the same format we used back when I was in shop at school. We had to take a test on each tool before we could be allowed to use it. With the extensive shop I have this is a must. Of course I will have to be monitoring them closely, but letting them do this on their own will have it's benefits. If I drop from the forum suddenly, then you know one of them cut off a finger, and the Secretary of Defense cut something off me... I have a couple of Identical Espana hulls in the shop. These will be perfect! They are old hulls ,I believe from Ralph Coles. They are grey and are very, very thick! One was build by Ali Zanant back in the late 1990's and early 2000(bottom ship). Very nice job, so not much is needed to it. Maybe redo the super and refit the running gear. The deck is done in that hard fireproof red fiberglass and was done very well. The other Espana(top one) needs a lot of tender loving care... good hull but the rest is crap, and will need a complete overhaul. Even some more cutting on the hull windows.. yuk! These shots where taken the day after Josh, the young one, got his first lesson on de-skinning a ship. LOL The de-skinning sucks as usual but at lease the ship was skinned with "Weldwood". Ever since I started skinning with weldwood, I will never use anything else! I so love having child labor! and now they are are even more up to work since it's their boat! I cant wait till they get their first taste of cutting fiberglass.... "Cold Shower time" inch:
Those hulls are from the mould of the Espana I made in the winter of 1997-1998. I had to wing it for the hull shape below the waterline because only a few cross-sections were available. I didn't make hulls that thick and don't remember if I ever loaned the Espana mould to Ralph Coles, who at that time made very thick hulls. Ralph made many hulls from my moulds and sold them when I didn't have time to fill orders. The Espana turrets are also from a mould I made. I sold the Espana and Courageous moulds to Richard Wands of the OAF about 10 years ago, so he might have made those two hulls. I see Strike Models has recently listed the Espana and Courageous hulls and assume Strike bought the moulds from Rich. If so Strike Models has ten hull moulds from my workshop: Vanguard, Hood, Kent/Canarias, Espana, Black Prince/Warrior, Roberts/Abercrombie, Gorgon, Sri Ayuthia, Furious, and Courageous. (Battlers Connection has my mould for the Z24 DD.) By early 2014 Strike should have the rest of my hull moulds and a plug from which a new hull mould will be made. (I'll leave the announcement of those hulls to Strike.) Kim has forbidden fiberglassing at home. However, a large workshop has been built at the cottage and a couple of new hulls for RC naval combat are planned for 2014. You and your sons should enjoy the Espanas as long as there are other 28 sec. ships to fight. The model will turn well and has lots of impenetrable area. I used my Espana for only two years because opponents avoided it and it was too slow to catch anything except monitors. We have one Espana in the revived NABS fleet (the one I built, under new ownership) and another hull.
The Spanish Naval Museum in Madrid has an amazing model of the Espana class that depicts it painted with a black hull and buff upper works.
There are several other 28-sec ships in Region 3 And we let kids learn without being too hard on them, at least till they start taking our lunch money on the water It's fun to watch the progress!
Thanks for the history of the hulls Bob... I couldn't remember "Ralph Coles" first name... butchered that up... I definalty know they where made by Ralph because I also had a QE2 from him... He makes them real thick!! Hate to cut them out, but they are sturdy if you have the weight allowance. I know the one with the nice deck was Zanants ship... He lived close to me in Virginia when I was at Ft AP Hill. He sold me all his stuff because he was leaving the hobby. Sad to see him go, but his ship will have a good hime with the boys..
"RC Model Warship Combat 101" The boys began their learning process today as we read the MWC rules package, watched a few videos of NATS, discussed terminology, learned about the guns and how they work, and then went over all the ship systems. Then we had a test at the end for the safety rules and terminology. Both passed the test... now on to building!.. For a larger view click here!
Fist thing is to strip out all the old crap in the Espana #2, then chisel out all the old resin and water channel. Worse part of any remodel or refit is the prep work... This crap was hard as a rock but with a little effort it peeled off the hull without tearing the original glass. For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Next is setting the proper beam width. I do this by temporarily gluing pieces of wood to hold the hull shape and proper beam width, -1/16". Go to the center and then every couple of inches I will take a new measurement... continue till I have the complete hull measured out correctly. With most fiberglass hulls this is a necessity as they tend to either bend inwards or outwards without a deck. For a larger view click here! Ahh... almost fogot a couple of great tips for new builders... Always keep a box for the parts as you build. I use small lock boxes from the grocery store, mark them with the boats name, and put smaller parts in them like screws, props, ect.. You can get larger ones for running gear, guns ect... If you only have one or two ships, this is not too big a deal. But If your like me... you will end up with 6 or 7 ships being built at the same time. I have boxes in my shelf for each build... Also, when you buy your Allen Keys... get several of each size when you buy them... Not only do they strip out. but it always seams like every darn prop, rudder post, or linkage needs a different size key and I am always looking for the right size. I fixed this issue by simply leaving the correct size key with the part I have removed. Each box for my ships have a key or two that go with that particular ship... If they do strip out, just use a dremel tool and cut off about a 16th of a inch... tada, new key! For a larger view click here! First Issue with the E2... the hull had a bad dip in it. It would have been ok, but every time I would have looked at that ship I would know it was there... The middle was about 3/16" lower than the stern and bow. You can see here where I had stuck a stick under the gap when the ship was laying on my workbench... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Here is how you fix that the easy way... Lay the hull upside down on a very flat surface..... Use a straight edge, square, or level to check your table if not sure... My workbench is 3" thick butcher block oak.... it's flat! Take a marker or dark pencil, lay it flat on the table next to the largest gap between the hull and the table... Use tape and wrap it around the pen about 3" from the tip till it is thick enough to line up the pencil or pen tip up with the edge of the hull. For a larger view click here! I got lucky this time and my marker tip lined right up with the edge of the hull where the gap was the largest... For a larger view click here! Now, just like marking a waterline, move the pencil or pen along the entire hull, both sides, till you have marked a line all the way around the ship.... If you lined up the pen correctly, you should see a line where the hull is not level, or has dips and rises in it... By marking the hull this way, you can then go back and re-sand the edge down to where your pen marked the line... this will level out the hull. For a larger view click here! A issue that you may have is that the hull will "wobble" while you are doing this... this means not only does the hull have a bend or dip in the length, but also has a concave or bend in ships center line... meaning the left or right side of the ship is lower than the other side... causing this wobble. To fix this, before you mark your line like I did above, take a small piece of wood or thick paper, and slide it under the bow or stern on each side. Move this stick around, maybe add a thinner or thicker piece on one side, till the wobble stops... then mark the hull as above. Here you see where I had placed a stick at a angle till I got the hull to level out... These things are not a big deal to most captains. But to me it would bug the hell out of me till I ripped out the deck and fixed it... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Here you see the line that was marked as above. I will now have to cut/sand the edge down to this line all around the hull... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Both the bow and stern needed to be sanded down.... For a larger view click here! Tada, no more bend.... the deck will be level... Now of course this only pertains to ships with a level deck.... you might ruin your brand new NC if you did this... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Now I get ready to mark the 1/4" plywood I am going to use for my subdecking. The Espana has a stringer in the casement, so this means I am allowed a 3/8" thick deck. I will use a 1/4" think subdeck, and a 1/8" top deck. The top deck "lids" will actually sit down into the deck.... I build all my decks this way. I personally dislike the decks that just "sit" on top of the hull... it's a spudsy thing... To mark the subdeck I need two sharp pencils, A long one, and one short... For a larger view click here! I lay the hull over onto the wood and then from the "INSIDE" of the hull, I trace the contour of the hull. Be sure to have your beam correct before doing this! Don't forget to subtract the thickness of your hull skin either... For a larger view click here! Here is the reason for the short pencil........ For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! You should end up with a inside outline of your hull. For a larger view click here! Hard to see what I am talking about here, but you will see when you do it... When you mark the hull on the plywood, the lines will have small curves and waves in it... DON'T remark these or cut them straight! Your hull might have have a different thickness along the length.... some areas may be thinner than others... this will make that line look wavy... unless you had too many beers, if that's the case, erase and remark the lines when sober.. For a larger view click here! Now I cut the subdeck out.. For a larger view click here! Then I mark the center line and begin to lay out the areas I want to leave permanently in the deck, such as cross frames, or Barbette areas... You want to have a couple of cross frames to help keep the beam and give your top deck a stable platform... I also mark in my Barbette locations... Dont forget to subtract the thickness of the bow or stern hull before measuring and marking the Barbette. You see below that the yellow pencil is where the actual hull would be.. The front of the Barbette sits 7" from the bow.. the hull at the bow is 3/8" think. SO I subtract 3/8" from my 7" and then mark it.... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! It always helps to have a helping hand or two.... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Now it is time to plan out the rest of the subdeck.... I have marked all the Barbette locations so I know where to place cross frames or not.. I want a 3/8" thick rim around the edge (top deck), and a 3/8" subdeck area that the deck lids will sit on.. so the "rail" around the edge of the hull will be 3/4". I start by marking the edge with a compass all the way around the deck where there will be a subdeck rail... I will later glue the topdeck rim to this rail as well... For a larger view click here! You can see the battle scars from removing that old water channeling.... For a larger view click here! Here you see where the rail will be... the Barbette are marked, so I need to incorporate them into the design... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Before I cut the subdeck I have to dry fit it. The bow and other areas will need to be sanded at a angle to fit the shape of the hull inside where the hull flairs.... I always mark the edge I DONT want to sand with a pencil or marker. That way while I am sanding I have a visual reference so I dont over sand that edge... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Here you see where I have planned out the subdeck and cut the holes where the wood will be removed with my scroll saw. For a larger view click here! and we carefully remove the cut out areas.... For a larger view click here! He did a great job..... The Secretary of Defense stopped by and I had to ensure her that all fingers were present! :ermm: For a larger view click here! Now we recheck by dry fitting, then we glue the subdeck into place... be sure the deck sits inside and flush with the top all the way around! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Another shot of child labor!!! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Now to make the top deck and removable deck lids... For a larger view click here! Lay the hull down on the 1/8" plywood and trace the hull contour along the outside edge... For a larger view click here! I also mark the areas we cut out in the subdeck. I do this as a reference later on when we mark and cut the removable deck lids... it gives us a reference as to where the areas are... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Now cut the pattern out.. be sure to leave the line and a little wood... we will sand the deck to fit later so we need a little left over the edge... For a larger view click here! It never fails, if I cut the topdeck right on the line..... when I go to sand the deck to fit, it will be too small someplace... For a larger view click here! So I always leave a little wood when cutting it, and then I tape it into place, and then sand it to shape... For a larger view click here! Here you see the overhang where I left a little wood... we will remove this later. For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Now for the deck lids.... First, if you dont want to mess around anymore, you can simply stop here, maybe cut the deck lid in two or three parts, and then just screw the deck into place... but ugh, why not go a little further and have a nice deck with a nice edge and lip to help keep that water out? What I do is trace the marks I made when I marked the lid.. These marks are the areas that where removed from the subdeck. The access areas... or simply put... the holes! Then I flip the deck over, use carbon paper, and retrace those open areas on top of the deck. Be sure to flip the paper too before you mark.... Then after I have the "open areas" marked, I then go around and draw another line about 3/8" around the opening. This line is the one we will cut on.... the first lines are the subdeck, the new lines are the edge of the deck lids... For a larger view click here! Here you see the top deck after the deck lid areas have been cut out... this is what I have been calling the "rim". This rim is glued to the subdeck and hull.... For a larger view click here! Once done, it gives you a nice inset areas to place the deck lids.... For a larger view click here! You see where I drilled holes here to remove the deck lid area... Before I glue the "rim" to the subdeck, I trace out new deck lids so they wont have those holes... For a larger view click here! Here you see the glued deck rim in place... For a larger view click here! I strengthen the deck lids by gluing the pieces I cut out of the subdeck to the bottom of the deck lids. I cut off about a 1/4" around the edge of those pieces before I glue them onto the lids so it is not too tight a fit when placing the lids into the deck. For a larger view click here! This process makes the lids very strong, less chance to warp later on, and gives you something more to glue or drill into when adding things later... For a larger view click here! These deck lids and subdeck are used in every ship I make.... For a larger view click here!
I agree, that is nifty. Do you plan on using rubber or anything else that would help seal it up further?
I does good enough without any rubber or anything. Those lids fit tightly down into the cavaties when the hold down screws are added.
Not that it matters, but, there actually was a dip in the centre on the real ship (like most ships of that era).
Thats the issue we have with a lot of plans.... My sheets show a flat hull... my plans dont show the author, but they are G.Golf plans I think, the drawings look simular to his work. The main issue was the uneven sides... one side was almost a 1/4" difference than the other. On the Espana that has the fiberglass deck already done.... even though it was built from the same hull, had to be done from a different set of plans, or no plans at all because there is about 1" to 2" difference in the barbette placements.. mainly the inboard guns.. My main goal is to get the ships looking the same... these two boys are relentless and will debate these ships till the sun goes down..
I would have thought that there where more photos of these Spanish ships out there... wrong... Not many at all..
¿Quieres que yo buscaría más fotos en los partes de la red Españoles? Want me to crawl the Spanish-language parts of t3h intarwebz and look for some?
Okay, I got bored on lunch and have found a slew of pics and diagrams which I would consider useful in building an España model. I'll find a way to post them, probably google plus. Sometimes, searching in the language of the country that the ship is from helps And I found a link to a 1:100 fine scale RC model, which may be of use. LINKY (Down below the pics of the model are more reference pics and data.)
This one is pretty big, nice view. The original pic at the link is considerably bigger than this which I cut to 600 wide for our forum. Linky: HERE
