Steve Hill turned over his heavy cruiser HMCS Ontario (Class 3) for conversion to Treaty specs tonight. The interior will be completely gutted and and rebuilt over the next 2-3 weeks. This model has 4 shafts and a fairly high speed for Treaty (30 sec/100'). It only needs to drop its IRCWCC speed by 6 sec/100', so with less powerful motors and drag discs on the outer shafts it'll be easy to slow down. Bob
Hey Bob, the numbers I've seen for them indicate they are 31 knots (29 sec). Just want to make sure that she doesn't get short changed!
Thanks Mike, Steve wasn't sure whether the speed was above 30 knots or not. He was happy teh Ontario'll be able to out-run most Axis battleships at 30. Bob
Here's a site with most of the basic information you can get for just about any WW2 cruiser. There's lots of great pictures too. As it's an internet source, I wouldnt treat it's numbers as gospel, but so far they have been pretty accurate, and are a good starting point. It primarily focuses on the RN, but has the cruiser information for most of the world's WW2 cruisers and even some BBs and BCs. http://www.world-war.co.uk/index.php3
Conway's lists the class at 31.5 knots design speed. No mention of trial speeds. So 31 knots/29 seconds. Mikey
31 knots is a nice speed for cruisers. The cruisers seemed to be very fun ships to run at the "Conference". Just enough speed to get away. That is until they get a couple of belows.
I had a blast with the Salem and Newport News. Cruiser warfare was pretty fun. When I get the Belleau Wood on the water, I'll find out how big of a difference dropping to 31 knots from 33 makes. I have pretty high expectations for the carrier to be honest.
I finally got to work on the HMCS Ontario tonight. The model is in worse shape than I thought. Nothing was secured inside except the motors and there was no water channeling. Tonight I installed the forward half of the water channelling, the mount for the Palmer reg and 36 mg capsules, junked the cintra armour (though 1/8" thick it had shattered), and revised the wiring harness which was too long and in a tangle. It had experienced a short that had fused the motor leads together and blackened several connectors. The harness is now repaired and neatly wrapped. The guns don't work and will probably have to be replaced by a pair of mine. There are no barbettes under the turrets and the outer prop shafts weren't installed, making the model 'illegal' in most formats. The Ontario needs a great deal of work and will probably not be finished until late November. However, it has good potential as a combat model being fast and quite short for a Class 3 cruiser. Bob
Steve and I made some decisions about HMCS Ontario's construction today. We're going to use 2 x 6V 2.8Ah batteries in parallel versus the single 7.2 Ah battery originally planned, which was too wide. Work was done on the BB cannons and they'll work with a different set of upfeed tubes and breeches to fit within the missing barbettes. Guns and barbettes should be installed within 2-3 days. Steve had most of a small motor Camurati pump. I'll make a new base plate to replace the missing one and with pump and batteries on hand can complete the water channeling. I hadn't noticed Steve's outer prop shafts, which are short stubs protruding about 1/2" from the bottom and hidden from view within the hull by thick fiberglass. They need to be lengthened a few inches to give enough clearance for drag discs. There's a slim possibility the internal systems will be finished by the battle on the 19th. Then it's back to my shop for completion of a detailed superstructure. I'm tempted to accept one of Steve's Fiji hulls instead of the longer and slower turning London/Dorsetshire Class hull in exchange for the work. If so it'll be built as the HMCS Uganda (later renamed Quebec). Bob
Progress continues with the HMCS Ontario. Armour installation is almost finished (ran out of 2mm styrene sheet last night). Servos and pneumatics are in place. I have to revise the wiring harness due to the change from one to two batteries, test float the model to position the batteries, then finish the water channelling (done except for about 14" amidships"). Next week I'll install longer dummy propshafts and drag discs, the 3 barbettes, 3 new turrets with scale size dummy barrels, and complete the BB cannon mods. Final step before the model is battle ready is to add latches to secure the decks, which are fiberglass and include the basic superstructure. The model might be ready for battle on the 19th. After that the Ontario goes back to my shop to have the basic superstructure enlarged and detailed over a period of 1-2 months. Bob
Mike, I've just enlarged a nice set of plans for HMS London in 1941 (post-reconstruction) to 1/144 scale, and have a superb set of HMS Dorsetshire plans (1931) bought from Abe Taubman 20 years ago. I'm receiving a London/Dorsetshire Class hull from Steve Hill for the work on the Ontario and will build the model as either of those ships. (By making the superstructure components modular it could represent either one.) One of my favorite combat models was the Spanish heavy cruiser SNS Canarias, which was a modified Kent Class design. The Spanish and British models will have almost identical R/C combat chaacterisitics. Bob
London was a pretty interesting ship, and with the rebuild she was given looks very unique and powerful.
Post-reconstruction London's superstructure looked like a Town or Colony Class cruiser's (tower bridge plus two hangars at its aft end on either side of the fore funnel). I was a bit worried it might give too high a profile affecting the model's stability in cross winds. Seeing the plans in 1/144 scale, the area of the profile is similar to that of the Canarias Class Spanish heavy cruisers with their large tower bridge and wide trunked funnels. There were no wind problems with Canarias so I don't expect anything significant with HMS London. London had a much more imposing appearance than its unrebuilt sisterships. Bob
I agree with you Bob. I always though the Towns had an elegant and greaceful appearance with their 3 raked funnels, much like ocean liners. London with the rebuild has that large, kind of brutish look that just reeks of strength and toughness.
More work has been done on the HMCS Ontario. Its rudder protrudes about 1/4" below the keel and at some time the rudder post had been driven upward, loosening it, taking a small chunk of fiberglass hull with it and causing a significant leak. The damage was repaired and the area strengthened with 4 extra layers of fiberglass matt this morning. Last night new outer prop shafts were installed with bolts at the aft ends for drag discs. The next task is to replace the missing base plate for the Camurati pump, making it wider to accomodate holes for the mounting bolts that will be glassed to the 'floor' of the hull. New upfeed tubes and breeches for the BB cannons will be made Tuesday and installed along with barbettes and three new turrets with scale dummy barrels. A twin 4" DPAA gun is needed for the spot where the Fijis had a 4th main turret (X turret is missing on the Swiftsure Class). I have a mold for the 4" gun shield and will make the gun mount when the model comes back for superstructure improvements. Bob The final steps to make the model operational will be a test float to determine battery location and then complete the water channelling.
HMCS Ontario has had a nmae change! Yesterday I started installing the new barbettes and turrets. When I got to Y turret I found the aft superstructure was too long and needed to be shortened by about an inch to get Y barbette in the right spot. The superstructure and decks on Steve's model are molded as two units: forecastle and quarterdecks and their attached basic superstructures. When I looked at my plan for the Swiftsure Class (which includes Ontario) I realized the model's superstructures did not match the plan, but did match the Fiji and Uganda Classes . After talking to Steve last night it turned out he'd used the superstructure plans for HMCS Quebec (formerly HMS then HMCS Uganda) instead of Swiftsure/Ontario, thinking they were the same. Converting the fiberglass superstructures into Uganda/Quebec would require many hours of cutting sections off, making balsa molds and laying up new deck levels and superstructure components. Steve opted for a name change to speed up reconstruction. The model is now 'HMCS Uganda', a strange but true name for a Canadian warship! I have no idea why the navy retained the name Uganda when she was transferred from the Royal Navy in WWII and didn't change it to a Canadian province's name. (It wasn't changed to HMCS Quebec until a few years after WWII ended.) Steve has decided to build a mold for Ontario's superstructure and will build a new HMCS Ontario in 2009, following the layout of this model. Bob
