My personal feeling is laser cut hulls are better then fiberglass but thats because I do not like working with fiberglass. Has anyone ever done a true comparison? I know there are arguements for fiberglass over wood as well as the other way around but to me (relative rookie in these matters) it seems that a laser cutt wood hull might be easier to build and get on to the water quicker then both a true scratch build wood hull and a fiberglass hull. What do all of you think haveing way more experience at this then myself?
In the time it takes to put the laser cut hull together you can cut out a fiberglass hull. Once the laser cut hull is together it still needs a lot of work to seal it. A wood scratch built hull needs even more work to get it together. A wood hull on smaller ships makes them harder to fit out internaly as the ribs are taking up space inside the ship. If you are not a good wood worker you can really mess up the scale of a wood hull. Cutting the fiberglass is not that bad. Put on a mask, long sleeves and gloves. Go out in the garage with a shop vac and cut away.
One other thing is that on a fiberglass hull you can choose where you want the ribs to go.. on the wood hulls their location is fixed based on the plans. On my VDT hull I moved the ribs around so I could have more ribs in the bow. or more ribs under the haymaker .. then I have less ribs in an area that I take less damage..
I assembled my Henry IV in 10min. That is a fraction of the time it took to cut out my Capitani Romani. Now add in the time it takes to make/ fit a caprail. Also add in the effort required if the ribs are thin and require reinforcement via wood or other means. I think a laser cut wood 1/96 scale Capitani Romani would be amazing for battle stations! Scratchbuilt hulls can come out very wrong scale wise. However, I built one perfectly to scale at the tender age of 17 with little wood working knowledge, crude tools, and patience. It is so strong I can stand on it. Still haven't built the ship, lol. From my observations time required for crude hull construction including caprail, windows, and waterproofing: Most: scratchbuilt wood hull Middle: fiberglass Least: lasercut wood hull Laser hulls are literally easier than building a lego set. My quick waterproofing method. Slather on west marine epoxy while ship is hanging by a wire from the bow. Extra messy... super fast. Wear gloves use 2-3 batches of epoxy. If the drips/runs get in the way of skinning then use a file or a piece of sandpaper on a scrap piece of wood to take them off.
The thing I like about the lasercut hulls (and scratch-built wood hulls) is that the subdeck is strongly integrated with the rest of the frame. I have _many_ of each type of ship. Probably (definitely) too many of each type. I like all of them. So the question here is: What do you want to build?
I think personal preference will always determine which method works best. Some people like to work with wood and some people like fiberglass. I recently saw someone that was scratch building an Iowa hull. I personally would never go to the effort of making a wood kit when the fiberglass hull is already available. This person obviously enjoyed building with wood and chose differently, so each to his own. I actually don't think that laser cut hulls are faster to build. You can have the ribs, keels, and subdeck fitted together and glued in under an hour. Add a 1/2 - 1 hour for sanding to shape and a 1/2 to 1 hour for waterproofing and you have significant progress in just one evening. In the same amount of time you could probably mark ribs, cut windows, and install a subdeck. But on the wood hull you also have to sheet the bottom, fill the bow and stern hard areas, and fiberglass the bottom. That takes another couple evenings to get to the same state as the fiberglass hull. Building the hull is pretty easy by either method, it's the deck, superstructure and internals that take 90% of the time to build. Laser cut hulls have one clear advantage in my mind: they require less capital investment. That makes them suitable for less popular hulls where the number of hulls sold would never justify the investment in a mold. Of course I designed laser cut kits of some ships just because I was interested in building the ship, not because I thought I would get a good return for my time. I'm sure some people build fiberglass molds for the same reason. Either way, the more kits of any type available for our hobby, the more choices for both the beginner and veteran captains.
I love glass, but I've recently been working in wood. Both take skills that some might need to develop. Either way, the vast majority of the building effort, time, frustration, etc goes into filling up that hull. I probably won't ever do a scratch built hull, though that is mostly because all the ships I like have glass hulls already (and are in my garage...hmm), but I would not be against it if there was a ship I rreeeeaaaaallllly liked. I do sometimes wonder why some folks want to re-invent the wheel and scratch build a ship for which there is a hull and/or laser kit for though that is a personal view I suppose.
...because you've probably never paid brokerage fees & shipping from the US to Canada. Some people hate working with fibreglass as well. Chase
How about getting a laser cut hull of a good ship there is not already a fiberglass hull for. Like SMS Kaiser, Gangut, HMS Revenge, HMS Tiger, Filbertino, Figi
What? Balderdash! What we need now is a good stout 74, like HMS Bellerophon. Design a kit for old "Billy Ruffian" in 1:48 and lets kick-start the Napoleonic Revolution! Back on topic, don't forget about a scratch-built wooden hull. Laser-cutting wood has its advantages, but unless you buy a pre-designed kit, you have to design the parts yourself, which can add many hours to the project before you even get any physical parts in your hands. The most noticeable difference between a fiberglass hull and a wooden hull is that a poorly-built ship from fiberglass is better than a poorly-built ship from wood, but a well-built ship from wood is better than a well-built ship from fiberglass. Scratch-built has the greatest potential, but is also the easiest to royally **** up.
What he is saying is his opinion, it is not a statement of fact. Whether a ship is made from wood or fibreglass does not imply it is well made in and of itself. I think being well made is more a measure of the care, thought & planning that a builder puts into his/her ship and how it performs in action. Just my two $0.02.
A well built ship is a well built ship, wood or fiberglass, doesn't much matter which. Work with whichever suits your needs/fancy.
Not trying to start a flame war! Just wondering what particular aspects of wood vs. fibreglass Kotori has in mind -- so that I can watch them for my next fibreglass build (which will probably be HMS Bellerophon, although not in her 74 gun incarnation)
I build and battle both types. My favorite ship of all of them that I battle is Lil Scharnie, a BC fiberglass hull, currently had 2 refits and is in the middle of a total overhaul. My second favorite is my old Swampy I-boat (now sold by Strike). That said, I believe that a properly designed and executed wooden hull (full joinery, which some people [AHEM! KOTORI!]* do not do) is stronger when done than a fiberglass hull with a wooden subdeck epoxied in. I've never seen a well-built wooden hull have its subdeck separate from the ribs&keel, but I've seen a fair number of properly-built fiberglass hulls separate from their subdecks _over time_. This does not mean that I hold either to be 'better' than the other. Each has features that are better than the other during the build process (i.e. wood hull, you dont have to fit a subdeck to the fiberglass... and fiberglass hull is ready to sheet when you are, no sanding of the hard area, layers of glass to add, etc.) I love them all, and when someone starts 3D printing destroyer hulls, I'll probably love those too. Overall, my thinking is, if I want to build a ship and there's a decent fiberglass hull for it, I'll probably go that route. If I want to build something and there isn't, I'll do a nice wood hull. Given my proclivities to try ships that don't show up much on the water, I have probably a 50/50 mix or close to it in my shop. Really, if one stops and thinks about it, all of our ships are fiberglass/wood hybrids to some extent *Love ya, Carl, but we are destined to disagree on the use of butt joints in woodworking!
I started riveting the sub deck into fiberglass hulls. Even 1/32" hull sheeting hides the rivet heads. I use small 1/4" tall blocks of g10, drilled with a 1/8" hole to accept the rivet and two 4-40 tapped holes to screw the internal armor in place, and 1/16" thick g10 to make the subdeck glued on top of those blocks. Then I seal the edges underneath with goop. Decks are 1/16" g10. I think that pretty much eliminates subdeck separation as an issue for fiberglass, it has stood up for 3 years so far. Ron Hunt
