This is my build for my 1/96 scale Jean Bart (bulged) I had thought about submitting for a new screan name "Darth-Frog", but figured somone would out me so here it goes, hopefully I wont crash the site, this is my first time uploading photos on my own
When first planning on getting into Battlestations, the Jean Bart was the ship I wanted to do. After cleaning up and resizing the French Defense plans for the ship, I got it printed out. Unrolling the plans for the first time and seeing just how big the ship was in 1/96 was a shock. It is huge! I did the math fo weight, and realized that transportation of the thing was going to be a challenge even with a split hull. And I could not imagine trying to get the thing off the bottom of the pond if it sank. lol. Still, it is a pretty ship in that size. The hull lines are gorgeous. Will be cool to see such a large clean ship on the water.
Wow, glaizilla, she is beautiful! She looks really sleek! At a 125 pounds, how do you plan on getting it off the bottom? Beaver
Welp, obvious answer is not to sink. Though if a big ship retrieval was necessary, perhaps a people sized boat and a rope/cable to hoist the ship up to the surface?
I spent this morning filling the bottom of the hulls impenetrable area with hardwood blocks, the sides and the contours of the bulge will be filled and sanded. I plan on wraping the bottom of the hull once the blocks are sanded to the proper contours. I ruff cut the deck for the bow, more sanding!
I would like to fill most of the voids with expansive foam after the key components are in place, in the hopes of keeping it from completely sinking. but with such a large ship, I am not sure that it will work out that way. We are currently looking at a recovery raft with a small winch to lift large ships from the bottom of the pond,
When I was drawing up my Big Bismarck ideas, I put in ballast tanks that could be blown dry with CO2 to lighten the ship when sunk.
One of the ships in our club, the Saint George has a working ballast tank system, alas that is beyond my current level of construction techniques, and with a very busy fall semester a month away, I must build as quick as I can in order to have enough progress on this project to ensure its deployment in the upcoming Task Force II in September on the Axis side of things.
What are these different task forces? I've read about them here and there and have no idea what they are. Beaver
The Task Force is our main national event each year, the numeral following is to signify how many years the event has been held. This year is our Task Force II, next year will be III and so on.
