If you're determined to build a DD I recommend a fiberglass hull. Space will be at a premium so you can't afford to 'waste' it with wooden ribs, keel and, if you can avoid them, subdecks. There are DD hulls available for several of the largest WWII classes. My Z-Boat hull is now sold by Battler's Connection and was made with the deeper hull allowed by IRCWCC rules for more displacement, which is essential to maximize in such a small model. Ralph Coles sells the largest Japanese DD - Akizuki (sp?). Strike has the ex- Swampworks Le Fantastique and Battlers the Mogador. I don't think those 3 hulls added the extra draft. Strangely, though I sold many Z-boats before selling the mold I didn't build one. I briefly had a Mogador hull but traded it for something else. If I did build a DD I'd use my usual construction technique of making a fiberglass deck with molded in access hatch recesses for 1/8" lexan hatches (less brittle than plexiglas). That eliminates the extra weight of a subdeck and is relatively easy to do. While the NABS club was active (1995-2009) only one DD, an Akizuki, was built. Unfortunately there were gaps between the edges of the q-deck hatch and the hatch edges, and an opening where the BB cannon emerged through the deck. When the model made a sharp turn it was sunk by its own wake wave, which washed over the q-deck. Even though the amount of water taken below decks was probably small it caused a list large enough to put the q-deck awash and the DD sank. (I volunteered to snorkel and recover it from a duck pond with a few feet of duck poo on the bottom and near zero visibility but was unsuccessful. It was recovered by grappelling but never sailed again.) Having a good seal between hatch and deck is essential in low freeboard models like DDs. This applies to larger models too: a NABS Houston Class CA sank in rough water after crossing its wake and taking on water through the aft hatch and turret. A DD should be equipped with micro-servos, which are powerful enough to operate rudder, throttle switches (if used), and CO2 valves. I used Futaba microservos in an I-400 sub and HMCS Prince Robert (a CLAA not much heavier than a large DD) and they operated Clippard MAV-2 CO2 valves without difficulty. For the CO2 system in small models I use Palmer 'Rock the Boat' regulators and CO2 capsules - very light and takes up relatively little space.
I've had a Z boat for 12+ years. It's a fun little boat with a large amount of giggle factor. It's also not suitable for large ponds on windy days. Not a lot of fear factor for it's single cannon. I can put 50 BBs wherever I want them, but there's still the fact that any mistake will get it sunk. (like trying to sneak past a Scharnhorst at Nats this past year in campaign....Spent quite a long time on the bottom after the Scharnie ran over me. I didn't even slow her down.)
Speaking of getting run over, at 2003 IRCWCC Nats I saw a Japanese CL not much bigger than a DD get run over and submerged by a battleship, then pop up virtually unscathed. It must have had a very watertight deck!
Heh, unfortunately for my Z, the Scharnie's Clipper bow nailed the bridge first and completely removed the bow deck... Sank /very/ fast once rolled over and pushed under. But also no damage at all to the rather lightly built topside.
My first destroyer was a USS Benson Class in the Big Gun class system. She was armed with one of two forward firing turrets (BB's), one rear firing turrets and four right side single shot torpedo tubes. That was a lot of stuff crammed in a very small space but she had some serious hitting power in a ridiculously small platform. My smallest ship was the WWI SM B-110 Torpedo Boat armed with two single forward firing torpedo tubes which are located just behind the turtle-back bow on what was known as a "wet-deck" main deck. Below are two examples of this type of ship. Even with the allowable increase in hull depth allowed in the Big Gun Rules this little sucker was a tough build. This was a FAAAAST little ship running 36 to 37 knots. It was low in the water, very hard to hit and much feared as it could swoop in nail a larger ship with two torpedoes and dash away. It only had the two single torpedo shots and then had to return to harbor to be reloaded, pump up the single small reservoir tank and then back out into the fray. The down side was that there was no room for any sort of bilge pump system so a single bb would take her to the bottom...if someone were to get in a lucky shot. All servos were stripped down to the bare essential and a battery system that barely supported more than a couple of attack runs before they had to be switched out. The only way to build something like this and get it to work is to totally seal the deck and hull to absolutely ensure that no water could enter from the deck and superstructure. This is a very WET DECK torpedo boat!! In fact one of the complaints from defending skippers was that were wasn't anything to shoot at because it was so small and fast, but remember what I mentioned before....ONE BB and she was gonner! It never happened under my command, but it was a very limited operational ship. A lot of fun as well as a huge challenge to build and run. That....and several folks told me that it couldn't be done. As a result of the success of my B-110 my next build was going to be a Gato Class Submarine but I never was able to complete it.....hmmmm now where were those plans.
