Indefatigable Class Battlecruiser Build

Discussion in 'Warship Builds' started by Bob Pottle, Oct 15, 2015.

  1. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Over the past long weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) I was able to make an Indefatigable Class battlecruiser hull from Ralph Coles' excellent mold, one of our collaborative projects.

    This is pretty much the end of the season for making hulls since I'm forbidden to make them in the basement workshop and the outside temperatures are getting down to single digits (Centigrade) overnight. The hull had to be brought into the basement despite the ban because the temperature got too low and the standard 1% catalyst mix wasn't doing much. The cure was accelerated with my significant other's hair dryer and the hull turned out fine.

    The sides and bottom of the hull have 3 layers of 1.5 oz. fiberglass matt; there are 6 layers where the rudder posts will be installed and 4 in the bow and aft where the working and dummy prop shafts will enter the hull.

    Rib calculations were done but were more complicated than usual due to needing two ribs close together on each side where the prominent armour plates are located abreast the wing turrets. The rib locations on each side were different, other than below the quarterdeck, due to the port and starboard wing turrets being in different locations.

    The penetrable areas will be cut out this weekend. Hopefully Ralph will drop off his Seydlitz hull so I can cut out both of them, the plan being for us to build Seydlitz and Indefatigable concurrently.

    Fiberglass decks will be made with molded-in hatch openings and flanges to support 1/8" thick lexan hatches. Use of fiberglass decks glassed to the hull has been my standard method of construction for all RC combat models since 1996 and results in a strong hull. Due to dropping temperatures the decks will have to be made with a higher catalyst mix on a sunny day, or inside while Kim is away visiting her mother (which happens monthly). The decks for Russian CL Profintern will be made at the same time.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2015
  2. Maxspin

    Maxspin -->> C T D <<--

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    I have often used the bathroom with the "vent fan" shshshshsh.......:whistling:
     
  3. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    I'll do some measurements this weekend to make sure props of 30-35 mm diameter will fit with Battlers Connection dual output shafts, which are 1 9/16" apart. If I can use that system with a single 545 motor I can install a 500 vs 380 size bilge pump motor. (luckily I have a spare Camurati pump mounting plate for a 500 motor).

    I used 35mm 3-blade props, two 545 motors and 2.5/1 belt drives on Courageous but Indefatigable is slower so 30mm 4-blade props might give enough thrust.

    Ralph Coles is bringing his Seydlitz hull tomorrow so we can mark the windows and is giving me the last of his gelcoat so I can make the fiberglass decks for Indefatigable and Profintern.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2015
  4. irnuke

    irnuke -->> C T D <<--

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    Ya don't cut out the IMpenetrable areas....you cut out the penetrable ones!!
    Or is this one of those "Flammable / Inflammable" things?
     
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  5. NickMyers

    NickMyers Admin RCWC Staff

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    You remove the impenetrable to create the penetrable?
     
  6. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Obviously a typo folks! (I did mention cutting out the windows in my last post.)
     
  7. irnuke

    irnuke -->> C T D <<--

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    No worries....I just have fun bustin' chops
     
  8. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Got the windows marked with 1/4" and 1/8" car stripe tape and will cut them out tomorrow: 15 x 1/4" and 2 x 5/16" ribs per side and short stringers at the bottoms of the armour plates beside the wing turrets. According to the rules the stringers can extend one rib beyond where the feature is prominent so they could be extended through the windows just fore and aft of the armour plates. (I decided not to do that - too 'cheesy'.)

    Ralph brought the Seydlitz hull from the mold he made for the Tuttles 8-9 years ago and we marked the stringers and bow and stern impenetrable areas, plus 3 ribs at the 3 breaks between deck levels. That leaves 19 more 1/4" ribs to place. We'll try to line a few up with the areas between the casemate guns. Seydlitz is the most complicated hull I've marked for stringers and windows.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2015
  9. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Still haven't finished cutting out the hull, but marked the locations on the hull where the inner prop shafts exit. Measurements last night showed I can install props up to 35mm (~1.4") diameter with the shafts 1 9/16" apart, so the BC single motor/dual output gear drive and 4 V-Struts for the drive and dummy shafts were ordered.

    Outside temps are dropping to below freezing overnight so I have to get the deck molds finished and decks made ASAP, hopefully by this weekend. If not, I'll have to wait until Kim's away for a few days in November and make them in the basement. (I also need to glass the fiberglass deck onto HMS Rodney's hull, make Profintern's decks and reinforce 10 ribs on Profintern that will have armour mounting bolts installed through them.)
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2015
  10. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    The quarterdeck mold drawing was completed last evening. The deck will have a small hatch over the rudder posts and a 3.6" square hatch on which the aft barbette and BB cannon will be mounted. This will be a side-mounted coil magazine cannon trained far enough forward so the barrels won't protrude beyond the edge of the hull (about 55 degrees from midline).
     
  11. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Last night I remeasured the hull to make sure the prop shafts I was going to order were the right length. They were but I realized the rudder posts should go just aft of the area I'd reinforced with several extra sheets of fiberglass. The thick area can be used for the central gear shaft post that'll turn the rudders, and the area further aft is still nearly 1/4" thick. The hull bottom is quite narrow in the scale rudder position so at most the rudders will be 1" apart.

    The plan is to use gears on the rudder posts with a third gear on a post just ahead of them, which is what I did with HMS Warspite's rudders due to the narrow stern. I'll have to find an RC car store and buy some aluminum gears for 1/8" shafts.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2015
  12. Lou

    Lou It's just toy boats -->> C T D <<-- Admiral (Supporter)

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  13. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    OK, OK. :>) Not many photos yet because I've had a terrible cold for several days and am doing as little as possible. First photo of the Indefatigable hull I made from Ralph Coles' mold.

    This is my 'workshop' for fiberglass work, a covered front porch, because fiberglassing is 'banned' inside. Entirely weather dependent - as of this week it's become too cold to continue making hulls. The black object at top right is the stern end of the mold for seaplane carrier/fleet repair ship HMAS/HMS Albatross with a hull curing in it - my last hull of 2015.

    Fortunately I finished my workshop at the cottage this summer and it's set up for hull plug, mold and hull production in 2016.

    IMG_1628.JPG
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2015
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  14. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Another view of Indefatigable next to Russian CL Profintern.

    IMG_1622.JPG
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2015
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  15. Panzer

    Panzer Iron Dog Shipwerks and CiderHaus

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    Love the stand you made for working on Hulls, Bet it would be a great bench when not otherwise occupied.
     
  16. WillCover

    WillCover -->> C T D <<--

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    YEA! PICTURES
    giphy.gif
     
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  17. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Photo of the first Indefatigable hull I made along with the first HMAS/HMS Albatross hull:

    IMG_5876.JPG

    Sold this Indefatigable hull due to too many projects on the go. The Albatross went to the Big Gun captain in Australia who provided the plans.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2015
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  18. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Overnight one of the UK ship model stores listed more OOP Robbe rudder kits - I bought all of them. I've used these kits in every combat model I've built since 1996 - they have a nylon rudder, flared rudder tube with o-ring and rudder arm. The rudder post is very long and the rudders fairly large so they can be modified to a variety of sizes to suit combat models.

    I used my last Robbe kit and some spare parts to make the rudders for Profintern. Two rudders I bought today will need to be reduced in area (by shortening their height) to use on the Indefatigable. The 2 larger ones will be suitable for use on HMS Rodney and Vanguard.
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2015
  19. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    The Robbe rudder kits have arrived. The rudders for Indefatigable need to be shortened 18mm/3/4" so they won't protrude below the keel and lengthened 5mm to get the max. allowed area of 1.875 square inches each. I'll use the same technique for Profintern's main rudder: wrap a couple of layers of 0.5 mm sheet styrene around the rudders and trim to correct length.

    Last evening I used a pin vice to drill the pilot holes where the rudder posts will go. Using a pin vice let's me get the angles of the holes right before they'll drilled out to correct diameter for the rudder stuffing tubes.

    The single motor dual output gear box arrived from Battlers Connection so I can start the drive train installation.
     
  20. Bob Pottle

    Bob Pottle Well-Known Member

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    Here's a simple device for marking where prop shafts should exit the hull. The rectangle cut from styrene is the same width as the planned distance between centers of the two prop shafts; in this case the distance between the shafts is the distance between the output shafts of a Battlers Connection single motor/dual shaft gear box.

    The height of the rectangle is half the diameter of the largest prop that can be fitted without protruding below keel level. Center the tool on the keel and move it forward until the inner tips of the arms
    touch the hull, then use an Exacto blade to make small holes marking the center of the shaft exit points.

    You can see a '35' marked on the hull for the location using 35mm wide blades and ahead of that a '30' for 30 mm blades. Measurements showed 35 mm diameter props will clear the hull sides and not protrude below the keel.


    IMG_1633.JPG
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2015
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