Guys: just ordered the internals, bottle and reg as well as the gun kit and bits and peices needed to have the miss on the water and battle ready for the spring. The stucture was built yesterday and at one level didn't take alot of time. These small boats are sooooo much easier to build than the biz and take up alot less space on the bench. Just wondering WHO and WHAT i will be shooting at in the spring, I know Bob is ready and maybe Paul but is that it?
Hi John, Looks like you, Paul and me for sure. I haven't heard from Ralph in 3 weeks so don't know if he's cut out the penetrable area on the Seydlitz hull yet. I've been trying to persuade him to do some joint build sessions with me as I build the Indefatigable. He got me to order him a large bilge pump from Battlers, which arrived last week. You, Paul and I all have slow WWI ships that'll be ready by the spring. Ralph's Seydlitz will be the fastest WWI ship at 24 sec but I don't know when it'll be finished. I've got several projects on the go: Refits: SNS Canarias - revision of the interior to what it was when I sold it in 2001; partial re-sheeting; should be finished several weeks before Cumberland. HMS Cumberland - complete gutting except drive train, interior will match Canarias; needs re-sheeting and a new superstructure. Both will be done by the summer. New Construction: HMS Indefatigable - starting to install rudders and prop shafts; I plan to finish this before the heavy cruiser refits. Profintern - 2.5 unit Russian cruiser; drive train being installed now; test model for multiple 1/2 unit guns: 2 spurt guns in bow casemates, 2 standard cannons in stern casemates; should be done by April. Old Projects: IJN Ibuki - Japanese CL built for Washington Treaty combat; sheeting will be finished when silk span and modelling dope orders arrive but the model won't be done until until 2017. Needs a tremendous amount of hull detail. HMS Rodney - did some work on it last week and will be installing rudder, prop shafts and drive train during the winter; don't plan to finish it until 2017.
Just have to wait for the order to get here from strike and then fit the internals and sheet the boat, paint and test. seems simple enough. Still can't get use to a boat i can carry in one hand.
I like the Atago Japenese Heavy Cruiser. Not sure how well it would do in combat but the ship is gorgeous. I don't know if there is a 1/144 hull around somewhere.
Just got the order from strike to put the internals into the MISS. so the ship will be done soon (making it a near miss ) and ready for pool trials in a few weeks.. This will be the first combat ready model in almost 3 years and the first ship since Scharnie to have all systems working. Still cant beleave i got this ready instead of the Biz thats still on the shelf
Ralph did have a Takao mould - don't know if he still has it. Rob Clarke built a Takao when he was a NABS member. Nice looking ship.
That's good to hear John. Indefatigable and Profintern are on hold until Kim leaves for a 5 week gig out of province on March 1. Then I can finish making and installing their fiberglass decks. I'm going to complete Profintern first so I can try out multiple 1/2 unit spurt guns. Gorgon is battle ready and Minotaur need only a few hours work to get the guns firing reliably. I haven't finished refitting Canarias or Suffolk/Cumberland - I'm waiting on a silkspan order so I can resheet them.
installing internals this weekend if all goes well. the guns were tested and they fired right out of the box.. (thanks strike) and the motors and pump will be added as well. just have to find the silkspan that is in the basement in a box somewhere i think and the little thingy will be ready to paint and test.
Hi Jason. We've had a serious staff shortage at work since mid-January, a huge increase in patient caseload, and have been on-call every 4th day. I'm pretty much burnt out and haven't had enough energy for hobby work. I'm counting the days until I stop full-time work on June 30, will no longer be on call and will have the summers off. I'll be in NB for most of the summer. The workshop at the cottage is finished and Canarias will be the first model to get a complete refit there. Indefatigable should be finished this fall. I plan to attend 2017 NATS though I'm woefully out of practice! Do you have any ships battle ready? Gorgon and Minotaur just need new batteries.
Some good news is that Ralph dropped by yesterday and to my great surpise has 2 new 1/144 hull projects nearing the molding stage. I can't identify them yet but one is a Class 3 and the other a Class 5. After much discussion Ralph and I decided to resume building our battlecruisers Seyditz and Indefatigable, both of which use his hulls (he kept the first hull from the Seydlitz mold he made for the Tuttles). There are 4 former NABS members in the area who have battle ready models (me included).. If Ralph and I start battling 1:1 maybe that will encourage some of the others to join in. From a recent discussion with a friend in the US it seems the key to keeping local clubs going without major friction is to keep them small, and emphasize having fun over winning. That's pretty much the small "gentlemen's club" format Steve Hill (a former NABS member with battle ready heavy cruiser) recommended the last time we spoke. The old NABS club functioned well when there were only half a dozen members who got along with each other and enjoyed the hobby, versus winning battles per se. Hopefully we can achieve that again.
Following the positive discussion with Ralph 2 weeks ago I decided not to sell the Rodney hull and the incomplete Suffolk. In June a simultaneous complete rebuild of Suffolk and Canarias will resume; both will have identical internals. Rodney's build won't happen until next year because I have to complete Indefatigable and Profintern first. One of my 2 battle-ready models, armoured cruiser HMS Minotaur, has a buyer and will be sold after some maintenance work. Furious, Albatross and Vanguard hulls are all spoken for. Ralph's still tweaking the details on his two new hull plugs. Should be an announcement about them soon!
