Hi everyone. So here is the state of the fleet. The Prinz Eugen (a VU class battleship) has had the change over to new batteries and an esc installed. Everything seems ready to go. The Tennesse is getting the shafts redone as well as getting an esc put in. I am removing the gears and going direct drive. I am putting a wood deck on the Espana. I just removed the sintra deck. I eill need to sand off some resin bits.
Hey, Paul. I hadn't checked this page in many months. Good to see you'll have some battle ready ships for 2020. I've done no work on HMS Australia or Russian CL Profintern since installing the fiberglass deck a year ago. Still haven't cut out the new fiberglass hull for CA HMS Effingham or done anything with the plug construction for the Dutch Java Class CLs. I've been too busy with a girlfriend, motorcycling, being back to work almost full time and doing major house renovations to do any work on models. The renos should be done in January, at which point I can install the prop shafts and motors in Australia and Profintern, then sheet the hulls. I still have monitor HMS Gorgon, which is battle ready. Sold armoured cruiser HMS Minotaur and Spanish CA Canarias after refitting them in 2018, both to Larry Dingle in South Carolina. Refit of HMS Cumberland has been on hold since the summer but will be done before either Profintern or Australia are finished. Hopefully by May.
I brought home a feral Tirpitz today. Purchased new batteries already and starting to see what's all there. Not much, it's wild. Fiberglass and maybe local though? Beautiful hatches.
There were two local Bismarck Class hulls made by Swampworks: Curt's which is with him in Nfld. and Ralph's Tirpitz which I think was sold to someone in the US. Ralph made a very nice Tirpitz hull mold about 10 years ago and sold a couple of hulls to NABS members. I think all the local ones had Cintra expanded polystyrene decks. The mold was sold to Modelshipsahoy! 2-3 years ago.
Some people screwed the hull to the cintra deck as well as using adhesive material. The problem with using ca glue is that it does not withstand shearing force impacts well. Those can occur during transport or with oblique close range BB hits. I've seen that ca glue does not bond as well to cintra (1/4" expanded polystryene sheet) as it does to fiberglass. The wooden decks used by most people in the hobby are superior to cintra, or you can make fiberglass decks so you are bonding the same material together. Some people cut 1/8" fiberglass sheet to make decks; I mold them using gelcoat, resin and matt and have never had one separate from a hull.