The trick with ordering hulls from Australia is to order more than one type, and pack the smaller ones inside the larger hulls. More ship in the same size box.
If J is going to do a wooden hull H39, I may look at ships I can actually use for the fiberglass tutorial. Or do a wood hull Vanguard to replace the one I sold.
Wow Tugs, I guess the big questions are 1. Is the fibreglass hull as strong as a wooden hull, big ship, lots of weight, and is one much more difficult than the other to do. I have no experience doing either hull, just cutting fibreglass hulls. If the answer is yes to #1 and no to #2, build away. Pictures go a long way to helping guys like me understand the process, Jay likes to see stuff instead of just read how it goes. That being said, a cool Japanese cruiser, say Takao, would be fun to see scratch built. J
Fiberglass is just as strong as a wooden hull built to the same level of quality. If you build either in a slipshod manner, either will be bad I don't think either is particularly hard, but other people may have other opinions and that's fine Keep in mind that hulls that look like Ralph Coles' hulls are the work of a master. The one-off scratchbuilt hull CAN reach that level, but it is not typical. Which is why people pay good money for nice Ralph hulls But a plain-old garden-variety homebrew hull WILL be perfectly serviceable if one builds diligently.
Thanks for the info. Which ever I decide to do, I will build it to the best of my ability. I hope I can pick your brains if I get stuck. And I get wanting Ralph Cole hulls as most of my hulls are from Ralph. J
I am hoping to get mine fairly soon, but I am going to have to wait until Strike gets set up in Seattle. On the bright side of the move, I can just drive down and pick stuff up. J
Good news, I think I will have my stuff soon, I just heard from Stephen. My order is together and paid for. Just waiting to hear that it was shipped. Looking forward to doing the hull!! J
Me too, I am looking foward to it. I have wanted to try a wooden hull since I first saw Tugboat's Edgar Quinet thread. J
I'd like to see other peoples progress on the H-39. Just bought the plans from Strike Models, and I had some older paper drawings that I ordered a few years ago as well that seem to be drawn with pencil. About half the ribs are cut out.
I want to do one, but I have a Gangut commission to finish, and 3 Pommerns (Deutschland class PDN) that I'm cutting ribs on.
I have the ribs all cut, and sanding them smoothe - we're talking almost a plastic like feel to them thats how smoothe they are. Very nice. Have the Bow and Stern Keels started, and the baseboard roughed out of 3/8" marine ply. The ribs are also 3/8" marine ply. Need to notch the baseboard next, and make modifications to the ribs, since the plans from Strike did not account for the Armor Bulge. Come to find out, the Armor Bulge extends all the way to the bow as well...looks cool as hell. That detail comes from the 1/700 scale H-39 thats out of Resin. I'm planning on painting the inside for this ship that nice Ivory Color the Kriegsmarine used for their Engine Rooms and Machinery.
Hi, would you post some pics of that 1/700 scale model please? I would like to see the difference in the armour belt, maybe add that feature to mine as well. Thanks, J
The plans from Strike and the plans from Goff do not really account for the armor belt, at least not in the sense that I've been educated by tallented builders on how it is to be built. Keep that in mind, if you want the armor belt to show. So I'm having to use the 10% or 1/4" rule that allows the ship to be wider, at least for the extra spacing I need to add to the ribs to accomodate the armor belt. Alot of extra work, but I figure that once I add the armor belt stringer (3/8" wide by 1/8" deep) and set that into the ribs about 1/4", and then below that, beef up the rib with 1/8" x 3/8" wide aircraft plywood to where the first stringer for the Non-Penetrable region starts, and then go with balsa for that area and down to the baseplate, to make it easier to bend. Then insert my 1/4" x 1/8" stringers sideways to beef up that non-penetrable area, and everything should go fine from there. Then I can add the upper armor over the cap rail and the bit below it and cover the armor belt stringer, and then overlay the main armor belt on top of it (the stringer and the 1/8" armor above the belt - Big Gun Armor thickness for the 12" belt) and the beefed up ribs. Thank goodness that I used a 3/8" piece (accidentally) for the baseplate...that extra spacing in the ribs will now work for the thicker baseplate. Overall, it should make for a stonger and more permanent build...which is a good thing, and more accurate too. The deck will remain normal size. That should look nice and sharp. Notched ribs as they are now...actually, I added the notch for the Armor Belt after this picture. Thomas
Ended up cutting down a whole packet of large posicle sticks to 3/8" width. Happens that they are 1/16" thick, and when wet, bend pretty easily. Perfecty for Gorilla Glue. Almost finished gluing the first layer on the side edges of the ribs where the Armor Belt is suposed to be, all the way down to the baseplate. I have somewhere around a dozen clamps on each rib to hold these down tight. A bit of rough and fine sanding, and you can hardly tell that its not part of the rib. As a matter of speaking, it finishes off the end-grain really nicely. Once I have the second layer on there I'll re-notch the covered "notches" in the ribs, where I will then add 1/4" x 1/8" stringers along the bottom of the non-prenetrable area for extra support, structure and glue area for the planking. The hardwood stringer for the armor belt (wallnut) will now work out nicely. Then onto the Cap Rail...getting closer and closer, every day a bit more completed. Need to start thinking of the waterchanneling and all that as well soon. The Stern and the Bow Keel are another topic...but I have some new great advice for Rob Wood on how best to proceed with the detailing of the bow. Can't wait to work more on that - might have to wait till I get the hull together though, so I get a good overall view of the entire hull. Thomas
