Montana Project

Pictures, Curt, we need pictures!!!

 

I was just thinking the same thing, I love to see Curt's pics, his ships are spectacular...

 

Thanks guys. I have a bunch that is currently being uploaded to my photobucket. I ususally take them from there and bring them over to the media section or here. I been updating through my FB page Titans Of The Sea: RC Warships with pics and video updates of the Fleet. Will be posting the updated pics here of Montana and other stuff with fleet soon.

 

The latest update with Montana is I started sanding the cloth resin around the skegs and started to trim up the cloth on the skegs. Bubbles or large air pockets developed on top of the skeg but I removed the sections and will redo them. Sanding is coming along well. Not as much as usual unlike the Mo and NC that I did. I am getting more efficient with the skeg building . I hate building them. Maybe that is why I like the Axis ships. No skegs . Anway the temps here on the Island of Newfoundland have been unseasonal and cooler than usual. I already burned out one of my space heaters in the shed. Once I get the skegs puttied up and sanded smooth like I did with NC I can finally float test the beast. The 3 hatch sections have 2 coats of varnish and I intend to brush a thin clear coat of epoxy resin to seal the deal for waterproofing. They are currently hanging suspended from the ceiling in the shed. The receiver is nearly completely waterproofed. The servos are waterproofed and just need reinstalling. The hull itself shouldn't take long to clean up then paint it. The deck will be interesting to do as I will sheet styrene scribed planking on the weather deck and the upper levels. Should give it a Bob Pottle finish without me actually having to scribe them myself.

Picture are still loading to Photobucket. I will post them here then put them in the Montana section in my media album under Montana.

 

Bondo work nearly completed on the hull.
Just touch ups and sanding and then I can give the hull a coat of primer paint. Then to the float test.

 

Bondo sanded.I reputtied with the auto putty. Just a little more sanding thn a final coat of resin. Then primer paint then float test.

 

First coat of primer paint on the hull. Now to putty the small imperfections resand and apply another coat of primer paint.

 

2nd coat of Primer on the hull. The stern guntubs are in place . Deck hatches fit nice and tight. Most of the seam gaps are filled in . Some sections need more work. The hull itself has 98% of the putty sanded smooth. At this stage time to put some components back into the hull and get the model prepped for a float test. The weather here has been terrible. Mostly cold with cloudy skies. No summer temps to speak of. So bad that the weather bureau is saying that we are experiencing the coldest July in 20 years. So this has affected my building of the ship in the shed and prevented my outings with the rest of the fleet.
Good news I have ordered a Smoke generator for the Montana to get the 2 funnels proportionaly smoking with the increase in speed of the motors. Will be very cool when installed and running on the pond.

 

Love this pic...


Curt, looking at them cross-eyed won't make 'em look straighter

 

Well the extremely damp and cold weather has kept me from the shed to get Montana moving forward. I hope to get a float test this weekend. Been looking at paint schemes for Montana. Think I will go with the MS-32 Camoflauge scheme. Never seen it on a ship this size before. I Googled it and sure enough there it was. It will make seeing the model at distance that much easier. Can't wait to get it on the model.

 

Bottom of guntubs at the stern are filled in and need sanding . Applied second coat of primer port side. Waterline was traced around the hull using a sharpie marker. Weather is beginning to turn around.Hopefully on my dayoff Tues and Wed I can float test Montana.

 

Can't wait to see this behemoth on the water. Not sure if you've seen this, Curt, but her is a photo of a completed Montana from the Western Warship Combat Club.
Western Warship Combat Club

 

Tks Beaver. I couldn't see the pictures on the website for some reason. But I am sure she looks great.

 

Float test was successful first try. Ship ballast at the exact waterline and trim was perfect. I did have water come in through the base of the rudder posts. Ooops I forgot to seal that area. However I did fix that today so there should be no leaks into the hull . Model was ballasted at 51 lbs exact. I posted vid and pics on my FB page Titans Of The Sea: RC Warships
I will post them here as well.

 

Looking at all that lateral area in those skegs, all I can think of is this thing will start to turn sometime in the next century!

Very nice work Curt...

 

Sealed up the leaks around the rudder posts
Next is to attach the deck styrene sheets to the hatches. Clean up the stern gun tubs.

 

Going to forget about the deck sheets and just paint the main deck instead. Hull above waterline is painted. Need to get the wood sections for the stabilizers attached before I paint below the waterline.

 

Hull on the port side below the waterline painted. Need to do the starboard side.

 

Update pics of the USS MONTANA.