The balsa mold for Ibuki's hangar deck was finished tonight and waxed twice. After a few more coats of mold release wax I can start laying up the hangar deck. Hope to finish it and glass it to the Mogami hull this weekend. I'll post some photos tomorrow before the mold is gelcoated. Bob
Here's a photo of the balsa mold for the IJN Ibuki's hangar deck. The mold is waxed and ready for gelcoat application.
A closer view of the hangar mold. In both photos note the balsa strips glued to the melamine shelf. These form 4 rectangles that will be the access hatches under the removable flight deck. Outside of the rectangles are the spaces for the 1/2" flange that will run all the way around the top of the hangar walls to support the flight deck. Between the rectangles are the 1" wide spaces in which the fiberglass subdeck cross-beams will be laid up.
Looking Great Bob, am eagerly looking forward to the final parts, Now correct me if i am wrong, but what is against the white-board, is where the flight deck will be correct? Will you make your flight deck in one piece? I am thinking of making mine in2 to save on shipping if others want one.
Bryan, The flight deck will be where the white board is and will overhang the hangars by several inches. The aft end of the hangar is closest to the camera in the first photo and to the left in the second. In the second photo the end of the white board corresponds to the extreme stern of the hull. I'll probably do the overhanging ends of the flight deck in fiberglass with 2 layers of 0.75 oz matt (the Bondo type Can. Tire sells) to reduce topweight. The central section over the hangar will be made of 1/8" cintra styrene sheet (polystyrene injected with micro air bubbles so it's lighter than normal styrene). Even that will be cut out leaving a lattice pattern and sheeted on top with 1mm styrene. Bob
The hangar mold was gelcoated last night (Dec.12, '08). This is the bow end of the upside down hangar. Note the flange and cross-beam that will support the removable flight deck. The hangar will be fiberglassed tomorrow and removed from the mold (which will be destroyed in the process) on Sunday. If all goes well the hangar will be glassed to the Mogami hull next week and molds made for the short forecastle and quarterdecks.
Bow section of Ibuki hangar mold after fiberglassing (Dec. 13, '08), with Mogami hull marked for trimming to match hangar.
Stern section of Ibuki hangar mold and the Mogami/Ibuki hull. Hull and hangar will be trimmed and test fitted tomorrow and glassed together Dec. 16 when the outside temp. will be above freezing for 24 hrs. I'll be able to fiberglass outside on Tuesday, avoiding complaints about the smell. Fortunately Kim was working today - I left the doors and windows open for a few hours and there was minimal stink when she came home. Bob
Its looking great, thanks for the photos, much easier to understand, (BTW Nice eldar in the background) []
Not Eldar but they are for 40K. There are a few black primed IG Mortars in front, then some Tyranid bioacid spore mines (unprimed) and some primed Necromunda Adeptus Arbites in back. The officer has a thin Eldar-like profile. I have about 100 of the Arbites, played as such but counting as an IG army with carapace armour. (My winter hobby.) Bob
Thanks Justin, I'll carry on until the Ibuki is finished. This morning the excess fiberglass was carefully trimmed off with a hacksaw blade mounted in a plastic one-handed holder (very useful). Then the balsa mold was peeled off the hangar - I'd applied 4 coats of wax so it came off easily. Next, the hangar was carefuly eased off the melamine shelf - no problems there either. To save weight only one coat of gelcoat had been applied. It was too thin in some areas so the resin ate through during fiberglassing, causing several small patches of crazing. Those will be filled with gelcoat and sanded smooth after the hangar has been glassed to the hull. A test fit of the hangar to the hull showed a very good match between the top edge of the hull and the lower edge of the hangar. Ralph Coles and I used the same plans but I wasn't sure the parts would match. I guess we made them accurately. [8D] I'll start glassing hull and hangar together this evening after Kim goes to bed. I'll do only one side so not much fiberglass will be used - by morning most of the fumes should be gone. The other side will be glassed tomorrow night. Next step will be to make two short fiberglass decks. The quarterdeck will have extensions overhanging the hull for boat storage and a molded hatch for access to the rudders. It won't be installed until the rudders and prop shafts are in place. The forecastle deck can be installed as soon as it's made. Bob
I don't expect serious stability problems, though she'll roll more than a Mogami. Ibuki will have 2 x 6V 7.2 Ah batteries aboard to counteract the topweight. I was careful to use as little gelcoat and resin as possible to keep the hangar weight low. I estimate it weighs under 0.75 lbs. If I had to I could cut 'windows' in the sides of the hangar to reduce the weight but don't think that'll be necessary. Bob
