Welp, hit the brick wall last night. Doesn't look like the Emile Bertin will get to participate in the upcoming battle at Mings as the hull has several issues. So last night I started to tear off the (who knows how old and how many coats of paint) sheeting. One thing that became readily apparent with the sheeting gone was that the subdeck was too thick. The fiberglass part of the subdeck had been cut 3/8" thick, but the builder had glued the cap-rail on top of the hull creating a 1/2" thick subdeck which violates the rules. In the photo you can see an extra piece of FG was glued in for one reason or another - that spot is 3/4" thick. Another issue I discovered is the hull seems pulled in on one side. You can see in the photo how the starboard side curves in while the port side is straight up and down. I'm guessing this is from a poor subdeck job. Also have a broken rib that will need addressed. At this point, I think I just need to rip out the old subdeck and start fresh. I doubt I could get it done in time for Carl's, so I'm not going to rush to get it done. I'll get the King Edward more than ready to go and get this stuff fixed after the battle.
Lesson for all! Always keep one ship in good fighting shape, in condition. It doesn't have to be stellar but in good shape.
The current subdeck/caprail has issues as well. Doesn't follow the curves of the hull but rather curves the hull to match the wood. Not something I want to use as a guide when I redo it.
And the (re)work continues... So for some reason the original builder removed the fiberglass deck rim between the deck step and the rib in front of it. No clue why. When the subdeck was installed a piece of plastic was used to compensate for the thickness of the fiberglass. That all came out with the subdeck leaving the deck rim incomplete. I went about fixing this yesterday. Started off by hot gluing some old 1/32 balsa across the missing section to give it form and then laid on 5-6 layers of fiberglass cloth. Trimmed it to shape today. Came out pretty good. Also drew up the template for the front subdeck. Currently waiting on plywood to arrive to work on that.
Looking for some advice here. I have the forward subdeck all cut out and ready to install. (photos to come sometime) I'm wondering what the best way to attach it to the hull is. I was thinking of gluing it in with E6000 then putting epoxy around the underside and then fiberglassing it to the top of the hull. This sound ok to you all? Thanks!
That's an unusually thin hull. It would be a good idea to clean and sand the inside lightly and add a couple of layers of light weight mat before you reinstall the decks. The ribs and stringers will break fairly easily at their current thickness. I've had to beef up hulls made by someone else a few times - messy and time consuming but not difficult.
I've got all the ribs reinforced with mat. All the ribs in front of the deck step have been trimmed, but the after ribs still need trimmed flush. I'll get that done soon. Here is the forward subdeck I made. I routered an inset for the deck instead of laminated two pieces of wood. Thickness of the ribs after reinforcing. Subdeck laid on the hull. The aft subdeck is almost ready. I don't have all the photos of it, but I'll post what I have. Here it is cut out and sanded to shape. Deck outline is marked for routering along as the location of the crossmember. Routering is almost done, need the hatch opening cut out before going any further.
In the meantime when I can't work on other stuff I've been making the guns that will go in this cruiser. Finished them last night. I'm super happy with the results, they're fast and shoot hard too. Took a video of one firing and thought I would share. Vivi La France!
Looks good Caleb. I attach the deck to the hull with epoxy, sometimes I use a layer of mat in between the two that helps fill gaps/maintain complete contact, or use an epoxy filler like micro fibers to make a paste, and use tape on the underside that wraps around to the deck rim to 'catch' any epoxy/filler that would drip down. I think I have several pictures in my various build threads. On Seydlitz I taped over the top edge and epoxied from the underside since I had some larger gaps to fill. Typically just epoxy with a layer of mat, then put the deck in and clamp it to the deck rim of the hull. Guns look good as well. I would be interested in the number of soda cans they could shoot through, I would estimate 1.5. Rate of fire seems really good, might allow you to finally kill those Nassaus
But can it shoot through three Saporo cans, fifty times in five seconds? I tried the neighbors kids but they were inconsistent in thickness and density.
Thanks for the info, Kevin. I epoxied in the forward subdeck yesterday. I was having trouble keeping the subdeck clamped where I wanted it so I glued it in a few spots with E6000 just to keep it in place. I then taped around the top edge and flipped it over and applied epoxy from the underside. This morning it looks good and secure. I'm going to put a layer of cloth over the top just to tie everything together and make it more durable. I don't have any soda cans on hand at the moment, but when I do I'll post the results. Is there any specific procedure to follow with the soda can test? Do you put water in the bottom to keep them in place or should they move freely? I'm happy with the ROF too. If you can believe it, I even had it firing faster off camera. Unfortunately, I can never seem to perform as well when the cameras rolling than I can when it's not, oh well.
Well, looks like winter has caught up with me. With temps staying below 40F during the day (below freezing at night) it kind of puts the damper on any epoxy work. But I got the forward subdeck fiberglassed in (before the cold came) and it's rock solid. Test fitted the aft subdeck today and took a look at gun placement.
