I picked up the ISE from Renodemona and am working on getting it ready for battle asap. I am not as fast as Lou at doing this stuff but hopefully documenting the thread will encourage me to work on it more often. This will be my first Japanese boat and I was urged to build it because it was available and there hasnt been one on the water in a long time (or at all?). I have a model of the Hyuga so most likely will build it as the Hyuga, not sure what version I have to go back and check. I will post pictures of my progress soon. Thanks Johnny
So after giving the hull a good look over I decided to fix a lot of issues with the ribs, lack of joinery between the ribs and the casement deck, lack of joinery between the casement deck and the casements. I learned a great deal about casements from working on the baden and will be applying as much of that as I can to the Hyuga. My first order of business was to drill holes for dowels that will go down through the casements into the casement deck to lock them together. I did this successfully with the Baden and I use 3/16 dowel from Home Depot and for tighter spaces I use bamboo skewers I bought at the grocery store for $1 for 50 or so. My favorite joinery adhesive is Loctite Epoxy Marine from Loctite Adhesives and found out about it from Bob. I love this stuff for filling holes, fixing most any mistake in woodworking. One thing about it is when it drys it is like a plastic and seems to have great resistance to impact from Bb's. My casement decks on the Baden have not broken loose since I put them on in 2013 and believe me .. they have seen plenty of action. To fix the rib issue I got a suggestion from Bob (isn't he great?) to 'drill' a wire brad nail down into the rib and then cut it off at the deck level. This will be small enough not to split the rib (it did anyway) and will be a strong joint. I did a couple and it worked well. I decided to glue them up first and then come back with the wire brads later. I got all the ribs re-glued (marine epoxy - see above link) and clamped. I am really glad I stocked up on $2 clamps at Harbor Freight a long time ago. FYI the orange ones are garbage but the grey ones are great.. go figure. I forgot to glue the casements when I added the dowels so I will have to re-drill or knock them loose later to fix it. Pictures below.
Here is a picture of where the ribs are separated from the casement deck. In order to glue the ribs I had to sand the space between the ribs and deck. I had to make little thin sanders out of coffee stirring sticks and CA glue on some sandpaper. It worked great. Here I am using the sanding stick to prep the ribs for gluing. Here are some pictures of the ribs glued and clamped. Ha and like I said... glad Harbor Freight had a sale on clamps.. I must have bought 50.. and frequently use every one of them.
Here are some pictures where I am working to 'lock' down the casement deck. As I said before I forgot to glue the casements down when I used the dowels so I will have to drill out the dowels and re-glue the starboard side... typical for me... Holes drilled... Dowels going in... You can see the dowel sticking out below. I will grind it off and then seal the wood from underneath when it drys. The dowel can be seen just to the right of the metal clamp that was holding a split rib (doh!!) together.
Here it is after I removed all the clamps and drilled in the wire brads. I just need to cut them off and then do the other side.
Cool, is this dearthJap? Thanks for posting the build, will be fun to watch. How are you planning to layout the guns? Will you be able to handle all that increased speed? Will your friends understand once you go Imperial, you never go back? Questions... we need answers
Hmmmm... perhaps you should try decaffeinated... it tastes just as good.... Gun layout.. similar to Baden.. I know how to use it. Increased speed? I may have to install airbags.. I have been wanting more speed for a while.. I will be more of a target but after 5 years of Allies fleeing before me.. I am ready for more action. They told me it was a 1-boat stand... will they call me in the morning?
Johnny why you think Emperor call you? You not special. You learn soon. You build faster. You make more sneakers in factory!
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo it has been a little while and I have made some progress. I got hung up because I had no idea what to do with the profile of the ship. It was off and tried to figure out the best way to fix it. The ribs needed a little clean up at the top as they were all a bit different, the stringer stuck out past the ribs and some of the features of the bulges were built in but too low or too high. It turns out that in order to rebuild it to even come close to the original it would mean the casement deck would have to narrow down the length of the ship. It was built slightly wide at the top based on the measurements of the hull at its widest point. So I drove out to see a Master Builder, Gerald Roberts, in Corpus Christi whom I knew would help me figure this out. In the end we decided we had no choice but to build out the ribs for sheeting purposes.... so out came the fiberglass. The first order of business was to rebuild the 'shoulder' of the armor bulge to fill out the width at the top of the ship and then build out the ribs as you go down. The picture above is the second buildup of the armor belt 'shoulder'. Here it is further along... In addition to this I decided to thicken the casement deck to 1/4 and cut out the stringer. I am fairly sure that the stringer would be too low, based on the waterline I will be using. Here is a shot after all the work was done and I started to finish shaping the hull. Gerald had already started the shaping process. As you can see I have already cut out a couple of stringers. I will probably have to build up the bottom of the windows once I get a waterline as well. My new fave tool... the jigsaw.. I haven't used it much in the past but its awesome for making quick work of thick fiberglass, resin, and wood. This picture below shows you the shaped shoulder that runs down the casement deck, the now damaged casements I need to repair.. (side note - when using orbital sander trim off EXCESS PAPER beyond the sanding pad .. that is what was hitting the casements). This photo also shows where I made vertical cuts along the ribs to a point that I had measured at 1/4 inch. I had to clear the casement deck of all resin residue and blobs so I would have a flat surface to measure from. Then I formed the shoulder simply by holding the orbital sander at an angle and working it down the length of the casement deck. In the end I am very pleased with the look. I do have to fill in a few places and re-shape but it wont be a big deal. Notice how thick the fiberglass is on the ribs now to equal the outside of the hull (at the bottom of the window. Here is a picture of the finished shoulder, and two windows that have a finished casement deck. The angle makes the deck look thick but I went over it several times with a ruler. Once that was done I took the bandfile sander, hold it very steady and reshape the ribs on each side. I also used it to make the final profile of the deck thickness. I drew a line and did a rough cut just outside the lines with the jigsaw then used the bandfile to more precisely sand it into the right thickness. FYI - I cant live without this thing... 1/2" Bandfile Belt Sander When it comes to the band-file a little bit goes a long way so take off small amounts .. very small and measure. On the ribs I was using the wooden ribs as a guide of how much material to take off. Next up... CONCRETE SEALANT WAR!!!!!!!!!!!! Have you or a loved one every used concrete sealant in your ship? Then act now there is not a moment to lose! CALL the NO-SEALANT hotline today, don't wait another moment, and schedule an intervention today. Together... we can end concrete sealant in ships... Yeah.. you know where this is going. JIGSAW to the rescue!!!
I forgot to include my reference picture for the torpedo bulge. The rounded shoulder wont be exactly as it is in this picture but will be close and will allow the ship to sheet better. The bottom line is that this is a DN and most likely only 1 to 1.25 inches of hull area will be visible above the waterline, so the shape of the hull only really matters sitting in the pits. This particular build will not be a window queen I am sorry to say.
Super Foam 320. Alumilite - Super Foam 320 # I don't remember all the info but was told when you use concrete sealant that you 1) lose reserve buoyancy 2)Reduce your turning due to the higher weight in the bow and stern 3) makes it harder to trim the ship... because the hull is already so heavy. I would rather use this foam and ballast the ship with weight in several places that I can move around. In a fiberglass hull, I would tolerate a little as it can be removed..... just difficult. But on a wooden hull..never.
When using this stuff make sure you have a place for the expanding foam to go (or vent), I form up the area with lite ply or G10 and then pour this stuff into the three sided form. It is also temperature sensitive so if it is cold it won't expand as much, just keep it warm. After it is fully cured I cut off the "muffin top" with a razor saw and coat it with west system to seal.
I use the concrete because heavy down low = stability. Ever see one of my ships roll over? And you never will... Looking good Johnny!
