About time to start winter builds. With the uncertainty in the sides for Nats next year I decided that I needed another primary axis ship. I chose Fuso since I haven’t seen many battled, and it’s not a nagato or other ‘super ship.’ I’ll build a Nagato at some point, but I can learn from the Fuso build first. Plans from profile morskie, pdf is definitely the way to go if you don’t want to wait several months I did my standard float test over the weekend at Marty’s. It looks like I might go light, I think 27.5 lbs here It is long About 1.5” freeboard forward, 3/4” aft Will be marking windows soon
When I ordered paper plans it took 7-8 weeks I think. PDF version was a few days, then printed at staples with no issues
oh that's not as bad as I feared. I just ordered a set of Idaho plans a week ago from them. The nearest print shop is 90 miles away, so I figured I'd wait instead of burning three hours of fuel etc.
I've ordered plans from them twice and each time it took 7-8 weeks to receive them. PM told me it usually takes 2 weeks after an order before a paper plan is printed.
so it looks like there are no frame position annotations on those plans. would you just determine that by cross referencing measurements?
Frame positions are on another sheet. If they were missing then yes you could position them by beam measurement. I did that on the Courbet plug since the plans beam was slightly too big, and I had to trim a good deal off the sides on the top layers of the hull to get it within tolerance. I marked the correct frame locations, but moved some slightly forward or aft to line up with the dimensions of the plug. It worked out fine.
Looking forward, does anyone have suggestions for water channeling for these Japanese ships? I’m thinking of trying to fill the bulges in about an inch or so inboard, maybe 3/4 to 1” high, then 1/4 for bulk of length. Raised areas in bow too, and maybe a ledge in the stern, I’ll have to see where the turrets line up. I’m also undecided on gun layout. I will build it with two pumps, and run either 1, 1.5, or 2. I’m split between duel sterns at 15 degrees (same as Seydlitz and Agincourt) or the death Y with bow gun (Nagato lite). I might end up with guns in 5 of 6 turrets. From forward to aft, bow sidemount, bow gun, empty, stern/mid sidemount, haymaker, and duel sterns or stern sidemount (maybe two aft turret decks)
possibly ramp the water channeling all the way to the bottom of the penetrable window, such that there is a slope to the channel? the bulges on the Texas made me ask a similar question, and I came close to putting a foam layer over the cement lining I put in there. given how water pooled in those bulges on my boat when she was even slightly off-trim, I'd suggest filling them in either way you go.
Instead of ramping the bulges, maybe a few steps to help the water from not rushing up the other side while in a turn? I did mine with 1/4 inch increments (2 levels)
Oh. guess I know what I'll be doing this winter to my Texas. thanks Lou. that looks like it'd do the trick
Thanks Lou, that’s what I’m planning I think Got a small amount of work done today Casements first Holes, plan is to remove sides where casements go Cut out Marking side contour on wood That was wrong side to set up cut, had to mark other side. Had to find right diameter, ended up being a dime Marked First layer cut out, will cut 3 more and laminate them together. This will serve as a mold to make casements. I’ve used this method twice, generally effective. Once the first side is done I can flip the wood over and do the other side
Made some progress. Glued the casement mold together Up close, sanded down Added bondo, Sealed with acrylic clear coat Clear coat, and mold release Coated with mold release and attached, taped here Ready to go Close up Ready to go Glass down Had some epoxy with filler spill out, can add more Other side tomorrow, hopefully cut hull Sunday
Popped the mold off, came with some resistance, but overall is good Will need to clean them up slightly Now second side. Used more tape as lesson learned And set up Plan is to pop the mold off, clean them up, and then work on marking and maybe cutting the hull
Mold came off easier this time Trimmed excess off Next marked the hull. Black tape on black gel coat hard to see Port side Way too many holes to drill
Also cut out port side Definitely a lot more work than the allied ships I’ve been building Still plenty of cleaning up to do, did what I could with cut off wheel, will need some grinding to finish this side Stringer will need some massaging Stern
Cut side 2 Burned through a bit between Courbet and side 1 And cut Just casements left, and need to get stringer to 1/8
