I'd build one too. I enjoyed operating the Spanish CA Canarias for several years because it could battle in either fleet, as the neutral TK can. I'll order the Belfast book, which has detailed hull plans, and rework them for the shorter TK, if people don't mind having a 'speculative' hull below the waterline. The TK has only 2 shafts so will probably need a speed controller. Note that the image posted is of Tre Kronor after a new bridge was installed during a refit in the late 40's. The original bridge had multiple platforms and resembled a French's heavy cruiser's.
Modelshipsahoy bought Ralph's Iowa mold in mid-September and has started producing the hulls (see Vendor News). Iowa hulls became quite expensive to ship to the US due to ongoing price increases by Fed Ex and UPS so Ralph was happy to find an American buyer for the mold. He told me he's negotiating with potential buyers for his Tirpitz mold (it's a beauty), and for the Florida and Indefatigable molds. He's holding on to the QE mold for now.
If it's the length, breadth, and weight of the ship list specs, doesn't matter how speculative it is IMO. These aren't museum pieces after all.
That's what I thought. The Belfast was a lengthened version of the Southampton and the latter was very close in loa and beam to the Tre Kronor so I can 'reverse engineer' the TK's lines. I suspect their underwater hull forms were very similar. I much prefer the later bridge but the refit was so long after WWII I doubt it would be 'legal'.
Ralph started an Erin plug in 1998 but there was no interest in the hulls then so he scrapped it. I'll suggest it to him but he doesn't like making molds with lots of casemates - it makes the hulls difficult to lay up. I know he's more interested in doing a pre-dreadnought for his next mold.
I like the idea of having neutral warship's hulls available for the hobby; I enjoyed battling on both sides for several years with Spanish heavy cruiser Canarias. There's been no interest in hulls for Spanish CLs but there is enough for me to make a hull for the Swedish Tre Konor Class of large light cruisers (2.5 units, 10.3 lbs., capacity for quad 0.5 unit stern guns). I've contacted Stephen Mogret about buying back my mold for both the Canarias and Kent Class ships, now OOP, which would make another neutral cruiser available. My mold building schedule is Java Class Dutch CLs, followed by the Tre Kronor Class. The plugs will be built over the next 2-3 months and the molds will be made when the weather warms up again (probably mid-March to early April). Ralph wants to do another hull mold over the winter and is considering a pre-dreadnought so I'll offer him a good set of lines for the Imperator Pavel Class, small but interesting ships with surprisingly large displacement (15.7 lbs).
Somebody on the site had a good saying about PDNs, like "never going back to other kinds of boats after fighting a PDN"...... It'd be interesting to see a lot more of those little junkyard dogs on the water.
I have ANB plans for the Italian Regina Elena class battleship Napoli. Could be an interesting project.
That's another PDN I've thought of making for years. I remember when South Carolinas were popular. They often operated in groups and were countered by Nassau's. I'm hoping to persuade Ralph to build a couple of PDN molds - they're small and relatively quick to build but neither of us wants to make hulls with a lot of casemates.
Too bad the Sverige isn't wide enough to allow for the sidemount. No casemates, neutral power, 26 second speed..... She'd be a dynamite PDN.
When I wrote the PDN rule, at the time in the MWC, Foster was running a Sverige, and it rolled a bit. So Brian K and I added the 73 ft part of the rule. It was the only way it would pass in the MWC. The following year the IRC adopted the rule as it was written in the MWC. It did what it was suppose to, before the rule passed, we never saw a PDN on the water. Now they are quite common. The Sverige is still a really good boat with dual sterns.
yeah, I figured you guys had a REALLY good reason to make the cutoff 73 feet. I just wish the Swedes had put on some torpedo bulges or something. She meets the objective in every other regard.
I have the hull lines for Sverige but didn't think anyone would want one. It's smaller in every way than my old 2.0 unit monitor HMS Terror. I didn't see how anyone could squeeze another cannon into Sverige unless the hull was deepened and a CO2 capsule system used. (I used capsules in the Terror and have a capsule system in the even smaller 1.5 unit HMS Gorgon). Is there any interest in a Sverige hull? It would be easy to make a plug and mold.
Uh.... my primary interest was in it as a PDN for sidemount-related purposes as a possible hull to consider. I didn't mean to get your hopes up there
I don't want a Sverige so probably woudn't make a mold for it. Ralph wouldn't unless he was likely to sell at least 6 hulls. He is going to have a look at the Imperator Pavel lines next week; we've both been interested in that one for years and it's got a lot of displacement. I don't recall if it's wide enough for a sidemount.
Imperator Pavel has an 80' beam so she gets the sidemount. Simple lines with no casemates. Should be popular.
That's the same set of lines I have Steve. About 1 frame per inch of model length - the most I've seen in a plan. I hope Ralph will make it.
Ralph has plans in 1/144 for the Tre Kronor showing top and side views and several deck levels but no cross-sections. I've ordered the 'Anatomy of the Ship: HMS Belfast' book and plan to have a set of cross-sections worked out for the TK by mid-November.
