Well after some thinking and looking at what resources are available in my shop, I have decided to go ahead and see what interest we might have in a "Group" or "Community" build project. I will be using a smaller ship, the De Zeven Provincien. The Dutch armored cruiser was launched in 1910 and was under two flags, the Dutch and the Japanese. In 1942 she was sunk by the Japanese and refloated to serve temporarily till the British finished her off permantly in 1943. So this ship in some clubs can fight on both sides, the axis or the allies. I first saw this model back in 2000 when I was looking at a model club in the Netherlands. They had a model contest going and the build was of any scale, but it had to be one of 7 ships that carried the name "Provincien". I asked the contest director about the builds and he sent me a set of plans for the ship that where in very small scale. I tried to enlarge these prints but they distorted the lines too much. So I then decided to draft a set in 144 scale by hand using their drawings as the reference. The plans turned out great and now I am finnaly going to actually build the ship. What I plan on doing, (and this may change to meet the needs of the group), is go ahead and make the plug for a fiberglass hull. I will then make hulls for those interested and send them a hull along with a copy of the plans at cost. The intent here is to have a decent build project so I will only charge for materials and S&H. I will then start the build after we have a couple fo interested builders. As the build progresses I will post plenty of photos and will discuse each step. As we progress we can share ideas and hopefully all of us will learn some neat tricks along the way. For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! I will post some pics of the plug tonight since I have already begun work on the plug. Hope you can join the build....
The plug is very close to being completed. Here are the steps for those who are looking for a way to make a warship plug for fiberglass. This is only one of many ways. I tend to find this way very easy.. I first copy all the ribs off of the plans. Most plans have both for and aft hull lines together. I simply trace the forward half, fold the paper and trace the same half again for the opposite side. Rinse and repeat for the aft sections. For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Once I have the sections or ribs done, I then copy them on the copier. If they are bigger than the copy machine then I head to Kinkos. I run off as many copies as there are ribs plus a few for mistakes. For a larger view click here! Then I cut out each rib section from those copies and glue them to my plywood. For a larger view click here! After the glueing, I then go to my scroll saw and cut out each rib on the outside. For a larger view click here! I use a builders board to lay out my frames. This board is simply a flat piece with a couple of ribs glued under it to keep the wood from warping. I then mark the middle and measure off where each frame goes. Be sure to use a square to do this. This way the frames STAY straight and level through the entire process. We build wood plank on frame ships this way.... For a larger view click here! I fit blosk inbetween the sections to maintain the space between the ribs. For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! When done I use cardboard to minimize how much foam I need to lay down.... For a larger view click here! Here you see the first layer of foam going in... the stuff from smoothon.com is great as it can be sanded and shaped... you can get different expand ratios... For a larger view click here! For a larger view click here! Here you see the foam is completed its job! For a larger view click here! Now for a messy part.... go in and cut off all the excess foam from the plug.. you do not need to be perfect as you will need to fill in gaps anyway, so a misstake here is no big deal. For a larger view click here! All the excess foam is removed here. For a larger view click here! Now for the pain in the tail part... (helps to have child labor for this part) I use bondo and or plaster of paris to fill in all the gaps, sand down till the ribs are just starting to show... rinse and repeat many many times till you are satisfied with the hull. Run your hands down the hull... if you feel drops or raises,,,, fill and sand again because ANY INPERFECTION will show in your mold! and thus in your hull! For a larger view click here! Once you get close to having it finished, remove it from the board to help with sanding... (you can leave it attached to the board if you wish) More layers of plaster... this is my first time using plaster..... might be my last... I prefere bondo! For a larger view click here! More to come later....
