So I'm building my warship and my girlfriend decides she wants to join in to, except she just wants to putter around the water and not worry about shooting anyone else. So where can I get plans for merchant class boats?
Same as for armed warships: Goff, Taubman, Floating Drydock, etc. There's a "Plans" forum, & a list of suppliers, too (I think). Browse around the site for awhile & you should find them! JM
you can get a Convoy Ship at http://www.battlersconnection.com .that would get her on the water faster
Building an unarmed transport can help you learn a lot before building an armed warship. You may want to put your Des Moines on hold for a bit to work on the transport and learn a bit first. Make some mistakes and fix them in the warship.
Eric Broderick (member Canuck100a) can supply a variety of merchant hulls at very reasonable prices. He has hulls for: 1) MV Pundua, a late war British freighter of about 10,000 tons similar to a Liberty or Victory ship 2) Algol attack transports, dozens of which served in the Pacific 3) HMCS Prince Robert/David/Henry - originally small coastal liners in British Columbia, converted first to AMCs and then to a CLAA (see my photos of HMCS Prince Robert), and Assault Landing Ships. 4) T2 Class tanker; this hull can and has been converted to a Sangamon Class CVE 5) Small German merchant raider - I forget which one it is. Contact Eric via this forum's member list. Bob
Forgot to mention I have a very suitable 'merchant'/convoy hull that even has anti-torpedo bulges. This is the HMAS/HMS Albatross. She was originally an Australian seaplane carrier, transferred to the RN and served as a carrier in the South Atlantic when German raiders were at large in early WWII. She was converted to a fleet repair ship, serving until nearly the end of the war. In that role she'd make a fine unarmed model and has a very interesting appearance. See photos of my Albatross hull and a link to photos of a scale model in the 'Photos' section. the price is only $85 and the hull's about the same size as the BC liberty ship. It can be shipped cheaply by air mail. Bob
Lots of choices, i think a fiberglass hull would be best for a beginner, unless you are very sure of your wood working skills. Ive always liked Algols and Altmarks (I'd like one for my graf spee for sure). But, if you want a really cool convoy, the T2 tanker can be made into a escort carrier, which i really like. Again, up to you, plans are available in many places.
