A shot along the length of flight deck. The over-hanging stern section hasn't been made yet and the forward elevator hasn't been installed. I'm undecided whether to model it partly lowered with a plane on it.
you know if you hear any dripping and slurping its just me drooling over your work , it is looking awesome Bob, you are a true craftsman. []
Thanks guys, I've looked at 2 more Ibuki drawings, especially an approximate layout from the Japanese cruisers of WII book and concluded the island on the plan I've been using is inaccurate. (Bryan, that's the large plan I sent you. DId it arrive?) The island in the book's drawing isn't detailed but the basic structure is quite different and a good match to the one photo I've found. It's at least 20% smaller. I plan to modify the plan and build the island structure when I get home next week. Bob
The Miyukikai 1/100 plans for IJN Amagi arrived this week. Amagi was under construction at the same time as Ibuki and shared many construction features, though a much larger ship. The plans are exceptionally detailed, including even the 100+ support beams under the fore and aft flight deck extensions. I can now see how the galleries for AA and larger weapons were attached and supported along the hull sides and have full details for the same types of gun directors and weapons used on Ibuki. Details of the funnels and the large ventilator intakes on the hull side can be used for Ibuki too. Amagi's island is very similar to the conceptual drawings of what Ibuki's might have looked like so I may use it with minor mods. Ibuki's would have had fewer platforms outboard of the main island superstructure. What is surprising is the distance the island overhangs the water - like Ibuki's it way out there! I plan to complete the flight deck this week, then tackle the forecastle and quarterdeck with their complex supports for the flight deck overhangs. When that's done I'll start on the island and gun platforms. I'll post more photos when the photo section of the new forum and File Manager reappear. Bob
The Ibuki's flight deck is done except for additional detailing at bow and stern. The next step is to lighten it because 2 1/4 square feet of 1/8" styrene is a fair amount of top-weight. I'll use a 5/16" barrel bit from my dremel kit (the one I use to make BB cannon breeches) and set it to cut to 2mm depth, the thickness of the styrene subdeck on whcih the 1mm Sweet Japanese carrier deck kit panels are glued. Each of the 4 sections of the flight deck will be placed upside down on the drill press and dozens of holes will be drilled in the subdeck, reducing the weight by 20-25%. Bob
A bout of the flu has delayed construction by a week. Since the last post I've cut out the forward 3 hull windows to get at the underside of the forecastle deck, which has been gelcoated and glassed from beneath, against balsa glued to the deck edges. Also completed filling and sanding gelcoat defects in the hangar and hangar/hull joint. On enlarging the Mogami plans to 1/144 I found the hull's bow is too narrow, making things quite cramped for installing the four 1/4" x 1/4" flight deck support beams and the anchor handling gear details. I need to glass a sheet of impenetrable material into the bow to stop BBs going in one side and out the other. I'll probably use 1/16" aluminum sheet or 1/8" Lexan. Two Robbe #1481 rudder kits and two custom built prop shafts and stuffing tubes were ordered from Lowell Briggs Hobbies on Tuesday. They're in the mail and should arrive next Monday. When they're installed I can build the detailed quarterdeck and the aft supports for the flight deck. I've started thinning the styrene flight deck sections from the underside using a drill press and 5/16" dremel barrel bit. This will take hours to complete and is generating a huge mess but will reduce the weight of the flight deck by about 20%. The drill is set to half the flight deck thickness and rectangluar areas are being thinned leaving full thickness areas between them and along the edges. (I'd forgotten my original plan which was to cut out similar areas before gluing on the detailed deck panels from the 1/144 Sweet Japaneses flight deck kits. Huge mistake!!) Attaching the styrene gun galleries and supporting beams and sponsons to the sides of the fiberglass hangar is a potential problem. I'm considering cutting out ribs and stringers in the hangar and sheeting it with 1mm styrene, doubled up to 2 mm in the 'windows'. Styrene is lighter than fiberglass and the hangar is 2-3 mm thick so I'll save more weight at the expense of taking more damage. At least the styrene hangar side sections will be easy to repair or replace. Bob
The rudder kits and prop shafts arrived yesterday and will be installed ASAP. I've made a detailed styrene overlay of the forecastle deck with brass anchor winches and bollards. That will be glued to the fiberglass forecastle deck with contact cement. It's the correct width and overhangs the too narrow bow for the first 4-5" of the hull. I'm going to add bondo to the deck stringer and solid bow area, then sand it to the correct bow width, fairing it into the forecastle deck. I decided to go with a styrene overlay for the entire hangar so I can glue all the gun sponsons directly onto the hangar sides. I'm going to drill hundreds of 3/16" and 1/8" holes in the fiberglass hangar and sheath it with 1mm styrene. Styrene is lighter than fiberglass so this'll reduce topweight. The styrene will be well supported by the underlying fiberglass and it damaged can be pealed off and replaced. It'll be attached with contact cement. Bob
A correct width, detailed styrene forecastle deck was securely glued to the fiberglass deck with contact cement and the bow was widened as much as 1/2" to match with Bondo putty. Final shaping/sanding will be done today. The deck is now wide enough to install the 4 support colums for the fight deck overhang in their scale locations. The front end of the fiberglass hangar had sixty 3/16" and 1/8" holes drilled through it in a close grid pattern to reduce weight. As thought it was nearly 1/8" (3mm) thick. A new hangar front was made from 1mm thick styrene and detailed with portholes and resin W/T doors. That'll be cemented on today. Next steps at the bow are to install the 4 flight deck support pillars, their connecting girders and reinforcing plating (all from styrene), then the forward secion of the flight deck. A 0.032" thick aluminum plate will be installed below the forecastle deck to prevent through and through BB shots. A bit of self leveling concrete sealer for water channelling and the bow can be sheeted. I hope to install the 2 rudder stuffing tubes tomorrow, followed by the prop shafts. With rudders and shafts in place the quarterdeck can be made and the rear section of the flight deck installed on its support beams. The back wall of the hangar will be drilled out like the front (with 1/4" holes just above q-deck level for the BB cannon barrels), sheathed with styrene and detailed. With bow and stern areas done I'll start working toward the middle of the ship, drilling hundreds of lightening holes in the hangar walls and sheathing them with styrene. The largest holes are of BB diameter so there will be plenty of support for the relatively thin (1mm) styrene. My usual practice in building styrene superstructures is to make them 2mm thick, which is quite resistant to BBs. I should mention that the first 1/2" of the hangar above deck level remains solid fiberglass because that's where the hangar and hull were glassed together. In Washington Treaty Combat there is more emphasis on getting hits on or below the waterline because only sinks count for points. I think our club members will be setting their cannons lower so less superstructure damage is expected than in the IRCWCC combat we're more familiar with. Bob
Ibuki's twin rudders are installed. To get them parallel I made a jig from 3/8" thick Cintra plastic and brass tubing. The Cintra block was carved to fit between the deck stringers over the area of the hull bottom specially thickened for the rudders' stuffing tubes. In this area the fiberglass was laid over 1/4" thick to give good support for the tubes. Before gluing the Cintra in place I measured the scale distance the rudder shafts should be from the stern (67mm) and marked that on the centerline of the Cintra. Another line was drawn at right angles through that point and the rudder shaft locations were marked, each 14mm out from the centerline (28mm apart). The Cintra block was removed and holes were drilled through it at the rudder post positions with a drill press. The rudder shafts are 1/8" diameter and their stuffing tubes are the next size up of brass tubing. The holes were drilled to take the next largest brass tube size and 1 1/2" lengths of that tubing were glued in each hole through the Cintra block. This completed the jig. The jig was super-glued between the deck stringers in the previously marked position. Slow setting CA was used so the top of the jig could be alligned to be completely horizontal. After the CA had set the brass tubes served as guides for a drill bit of the same diameter as the rudder shafts' stuffing tubes. Holes were drilled through the hull bottom and came out within a couple of degrees of being parallel. A litle fine filing and the stuffing tubes were test fitted with their tillers and cut to the correct length: tillers clear the underside of the planned quarterdeck thickness, and the rudders just clear the hull bottom at full throw. The rudder stuffing tubes were carefully CA glued in place, adjusting for allignment and height. Tiller arms were then cut to length to fit within the stern and the installation was complete (see photos now posted on page 13-14). Now I'm working on the prop shatf installation. 1/4" slots were cut in the hull bottom after careful measurement and shaped with a round rat-tail file until the shafts were parallel in all planes and 30mm diameter prop blades just cleared the hull. I'm reshaping a pair of Battler's Connection 'A' brackets to make them more streamlined. That should be done in an hour or two. The prop shafts and 'A" brackets will be tacked in position with CA and then glassed into the hull (photos now posted on pages 13-14). Bob
Rudders and prop shafts are installed. Now I can make the detailed quarterdeck and work upward to install the aft part of the flight deck. At the bow I'm finishing the forecastle deck details so the bow can be primed and painted before the forward section of flight deck is installed over it. (The two large sections of flight deck amidships will be removable.) Next, hundreds of holes will be drilled to lighten the fiberglass substructure of the hangar before it's sheathed in styrene. Bob
Wow, my right wrist and elbow are sore this morning after drilling more than 600 3/16" holes in the fiberglass hangar substructure last night. About 500 more to go out of more than 1400. The drilling will reduce the weight of the hangar by about 1/3. I'll be working on the I-400 hull plug at Steve Hill's workshop tonight so won't finish the drilling until tomorrow night. On the starboard side there's an undrilled area about 6" long where I have to cut away part of the hangar side and mold on the sloping sponson that supports the island. Before I do that I'll sheet the port side and stern wall of the hangar with 1.0mm styrene. With the styrene in place I can start adding details like the galleris and sponsons for AA guns and th large air intakes on the port side of the hangar. Bob
Wow, very intersting build Bob. I am very interested in building a few carriers, and this build will be helpful in doing so. Keep up the good work.
That photo shows the jig for the rudder shafts glued in position at the Ibuki's quarterdeck, with a drill bit sticking out of the starboard guide tube. See previous post (page 12) about how the jig was made and why. Bob
Another view of the jig showing the 2 brass guide tubes for the drill bits. They almost touch the inner hull bottom.You can see the debris from drilling the holes in the hull bottom for the rudder shafts' stuffing tubes, which are the same diameter as the drill bit. Bob
View of Ibuki's stern showing rudders installed and several slots cut in the hull. The 2 to the left are for the prop shafts and their stuffing tubes, the grooves in the hull bottom being made with a rat-tail file. The other 4 are for the arms of the 2 rudder shaft 'A' brackets made by Battlers Connection. There are 3 rudder arms: 2 lower ones that will be connected by a brass rod linkage, and an upper one that will be connected to the servo. Bob
Here's a bottom view of the hull with the same 6 slots and more grooves filed to get the prop shafts at the correct angle. Bob
