I have some silicon setting in the drive shafts and the rudder tube just to seal them up. It'll push out real easy when I reinstall shafts and the rudder, but I wanted to get her water tight for a float test either tomorrow or Monday. At the least for some glamour shots. We are getting two horses delivered from Maine, and another we are adopting from the local area so I need to get that stall I talked about in the pond thread finished up to take them in. But Monday at the latest I will have something of her on the water up. I am waiting for one of those radios everyone recommended to pop so I can start getting the guts lined up.
Excellent. I hope to do likewise with my fast gun Malaya today while Carl's up for the build session so he can take pics Only two pieces of SS, but I'm finally working on printing the forward SS, and it looks good. Radio-wise, (given the long-ish line for the Taranis), have you thought about ordering one of the excellent fully programmable 9-channel radios from China? I got mine from Hobby King for like $54. It would do most of what you need for a battleship, and after your Lexington gets switched to the Taranis, you could use the 9-channel for something else. If nothing else, it'd get you able to do on-the-water testing... And the Taranis wait is kind of long unless you get lucky. Good soul Wreno spotted a few at an obscure hobby place and let me know in time, otherwise I'd probably still be waiting.
USS Lexington entered the water at 1545 today. She was towed to the fitting out pier for further work.
This is going to be a FAT girl. I had to add a trailer drop hitch to weigh her down. (12-15lbs) and she was still riding high at the bow. One minor leak in the stern which I will deal with. But the water did flow nicely into the midships channel. Overall I am happy. Work will slow down for a little while. We now have 5 horses on campus and getting work done with the property to get it in shape but I think I may get myself one of those stopgap radios Tugboat talked about. Someone gota line on a good one of those?
Sent you an email about 0500 today letting you know that HobbyKing had 12 Taranis radios in stock. Hope you were awake!
After being shutdown for the better part of 100 years, the Pensacola Naval Shipyard is open again. Still getting everything put together, but one of the main features, the tool rack that holds the paint, tools, and consumables. The most important feature though is the scroll saw with optional beer fridge attachment. Still shopping for a stopgap radio to start running the guts with.
Sooooo..... I get to Florida, and what does Uncle Sam hand me? A frickan SNOWDAY. I'll be getting some low level stuff taken care of over the course of this unexpected build time. If I can keep the Hunny Do list at bay and the lights on I should get some more deck detail knocked out. Finished making the Mk 44 30mm mounts and a pair of Mk 141 Harpoon launchers. Also added a dozen or so hatches to the O1 and above, more to follow.
Slowly working along until I have the coin to drop on the whole radio/battery setup. SS details are coming along nicely. I jacked the idea from the NC on the web album as far as how to make the bridge windows. She is sitting on a quickie PVC pipe stand with some of that foam pipe wrap to spread the load. Port side profile. Aft Mk141 launcher are in place. Forward SS Portside of the SS. I went with a cream color on the SPY array. The plastic covers tend to discolor in the sun over time. Mk44 Bushmasters for small boat threats. I will be adding additional railings, and ladders once I get those painted up. Hatches are in place on all levels.
The windows are ( at least I think) done the same way the very nicely detailed NC in the photo album. Black Sharpie Marker drawn on the bottom. And then a 1/2" plastic ladder painted grey on top to give the look of individual windows. Beav, crew may come further down the line. I've got a bunch of railings that still need to be added, and I need to finalize how I want the 6" secondaries to present.
So, the local Hobby place has this "EZ Line" stuff. Its a thin thread that has some elastic to it. Seems to work 4.0 for rigging and rails and the likes. Comes in a bunch of diffrent colors and styles to replicate power lines or hemp rope for a rigged ship. So after application of some spare bits and bobs and some of that line this is what I am working woth fore and aft. Looking for feedback on what sort of arrangment I should go with for my secondaries (non firing). The blocks are the blanks I will shape into the 6" turrets (singles) Which of the three setups looks best in everyones view?
When I get the chance I will have to send you pics of the Arleigh Burke and Trump class destroyer HMCS Athabaskan that we built.
Boy, she sure is looking nice. Are those little white domes Phalanx CIWS guns? @Stoko, could you put those photos on the forum so everybody can see them?
The CIWS mounts are fore and aft amidships with the red/white safety arcs around them. The multiple white domes are just misc radar and dishs.
So I just HADTA throw some dummy gun tubes into the turrets considering it will be a little while before I get to building my own. Gives her that low and lean look the battlecruiser was known for. I used the Strike Arizona turrets and blanked off the centerline tube to give me a 16" twin. Main battery action to port
