I like what Iron Beard said but I think It would be better for the hobby to attempt at east one ship from the major classes (Destroyer, Battleship, Cruiser, and transport, maybe carrier?) that are used in the hobby. They do not have to be the big names that you see everywhere but not so unique that you run into what you mentioned. I personally Am a HUGE fan of the laser cut ships over fiberglass hulls. Simply easier and better looking. A proper laser cut ship hull can be assembled in a day or two depending on your free time. My to cents haha But like many have said before your ship looks amazing.
I am with you on that. The mackensen intrigues me greatly (although only big gun legal) but there are also good cruisers out there as well. I don't know that I will ever go down to destroyer sizes, as the weight of the hull becomes more critical then. (my old karlsruhe which is now in seattle is about the smallest I would consider)
Oh you haven't lived until you've attempted an 'SMS - wet deck - turtle bow - torpedo destoryer from WWI" OMG...that was a dinky little boat!! Practically a surface running high speed submarine Very deadly....but one BB anywhere practically guarenteed a sink. I like the suggestion of one from each class. Nothing toooooo unique (as in rare or overly difficult), but perhaps the best "boat" of the class for that era. I would love to see an HMS Dreadnaught. A ship that ushered in the concept of the modern battleship. A good example of the IJN pagoda style superstructure. A British Cruiser, or as I mentioned earlier, a Queen Elizibeth Battleship, in which the basic concept could be built to WWI or WWII specifications and several different actual ships. Bottom line Greg........design more kits!!!!
For battleship I think a Yamato designed to its original 1941 layout would be an awesome yet ginormous next build. There o not seem to be a lot of them around unlinke my Bismarck class or Iowa class were a ton of ppl have them.
The issue with QE or Yammer is that people already make fiberglass molds for them; there are already a significant number on the water, or at least available. Hmmm....
The Italians and French are both under represented on the water. I think the WWI ships from either fleet would make a good choice for an interesting project. But which side would WWI Italians be on? Ron Hunt
I badly want to see Courbet (French dreadnought). But I'm wierd Alternatively, IJN Ise class BB. Mis-listed as the Hyuga class on the MWCI shiplist. Lots of turrets, reasonably roomy, would be slow but good in Big Gun and Fast Gun
Personally, the Bretagne would be an interesting ship to model and would probably do well in fast and big gun. Would also love to see a German predread like the Deutchsland class. Also second the Dreadnaught idea or any of the many yet rarely modeled British dreadnaughts such as the Orion.
You could always go for the Francesco Carracciolo class BB. Same 4x2x1/4" guns as a Bismarck, same speed, 28knots, much shorter, 4 shafts, twin inline rudders, minimal superstructure. Interesting hullform with a cutter-style bow. I know of only one on the water, and it's here in Australia. I found and posted links to a site with adequate plans, some time ago.
Yay, some slightly dated pictures. the hull bottom is fully sheeted but in need of seondary sanding and filling. After that some waterproofing and glassing needs to be done... The rudder assembly shown in the picture will actually be removable. the posts will press into silicone pots in the bottom of the hull. this will let me work on the rudder at my leasure as well as providing easy access for replacement of tubes if they ever wear to the point they need to be replaced.
1/8" stainless rod. the tubes they go thru that are bonded into the servo mount sit right against the inside of the hull. I will be forming a silicone boot around them to keep water out but still let me remove the assembly whenever desired.
The stuffing tubes have bearings? They look like 1/4" or bigger. I haven't measured the holes in mine.
those are 3/8"OD 5/16ID stainless tubes with bushings. it was far cheaper to take a 1/8ID 1/4 OD bushing and shim it up to 5/16OD with a brass tube than it was to buy the bigger bushing. the bushings are crimp fit effectively
I guess now is time to buy some filler and reinforcement. I plan to glass teh inside to rigidify it, do another finish sand on the outside, then glass the outside. Bow and stern will recieve a layer or two of 5oz kevlar. I may put that on the ribs behind the sheeting as well, we will see. I had thought about the slick look of kevlar/carbon on the inside but the complete and total overkill (in terms of cost primarily) put the kebosh on that. I may, however, get some of this rather interesting almost isotropic plastic honecomb material to make the deck/superstructure material... at about 1.8$/sq foot it is not horribly expensive. I still need to cut the stuffing tube holes prior to internal glassing, and get some release agent so that I can get the tubes in and out
progress! I am debating whether or not to add another 5oz aramid fiber layer or just go to the finish coat of glass and resin. the first layer took about 100mL of resin (and the apropriate amount of hardener) to wet out, now it is out in the sun. Temperature today was perfect, at about 60F in the shade (resin applied in shade) and feels like about 85 in the sun.
It will be getting a second layer of aramid fiber sometime this week, followed by the removal of non-core balsa from the inside prior to some aramid fiber on the inside. last layer will be a finish coat of glass after some sanding and smoothing.
