Montana Project

Sorry for the bad typing. Using the smart phone keyboard.

 

Bob the fleet status is as follows

Bismarck- Fully cbt ready
Yamato - Combat ready.
Roma - Armed and cbt ready. However may be disarmed and converted as a runner.
Missouri- Operational but unarmed. Slated to be armed this year.
North Carolina - Runner
Konig - Under construction and will be used for cbt.
Von Der Tan- Construction and will be armed
VU- Under construction and will be armed.
PE ( VU) Construction as runner.
Mutsu. Construction as runner
Tirpitz- Construction as runner.
Graf Spee - Will be built as a combat ship.
KGV- Built as a runner.
Dunkerque- Be built as a runner.
Montana -Constructed as a runner.
Rodney- Constructed as a runner.
That is 16 .Tom Has 4 ships here. I am also building a working 1/72 scale Gato with subdriver for static diving.

 

I tried to post some pics from my computer which the photos came from my smartphone. For some reason I cannot get them to upload here.

 

Right. I am not sure the size as they are coming from a file folder where I sent my pics from camera from my phone. The pics are there but there is no URL and the file upload is asking for a URL.

 

Ok will try again. Want to keep the build pics of Montana updated.

 

The first pic shows the temp gauge later on as I managed to get the temp up in the shed to a reasonable temp to keep the hands from freezing.

Pic 2 Shows the Forward hatch.
Pic 3 Shows the Hull with deck and hatches .
Pic 4 Shows the Stern Hatch.
Pic 5 shows the hull in upright position.
Pic 6 Shows The Main or Center hatch.
Pic 7 Shows the Foredeck or Forcastle. Also known as a Fo'scle .

 

Going back down again . It's balmy here today so with the 2 heaters I plan to get the shed up to room temperature. Need to putty and fix areas of the hull and begin to mark out Skeg placement and rudder postplacement plus outer wing shaft placement.

 

Cleaned up the hull more today. Installed the barbettes and I did a rough assembly and layout of the model to get an idea on how it may look. Pics to follow...

 

Is that one of the Erebus class monitors with the rudders on both ends? Very cool at any rate!

 

Yes it is.

 

That's the HMS Erebus I started about 8 years ago and sold to Tom Cromwell. It has the bridge, turret, barbette, props and shafts from my 1995 HMS Terror, sold to Tom in the late 90's then bought back several years later. The Terror's hull was my first FG hull ever and was beyond repair, so was scrapped and Erebus got a new hull from my Erebus/Terror mold.

The HMS Terror model was of that ship in 1918 after it lost its bow rudder due to torpedo damage, but Erebus retained its bow rudder much longer. The bow rudder operates via a series of 3 gears in line on brass rods in vertical tubes, to get far enough back from the bow for a rudder arm to be installed.

 

Wow Curt, that's quite a collection. I'm slowly thinning mine out due to no local battles in years, and Kim's not unreasonable requests to get rid of unused hobby stuff in the basement.

I've got the heavy cruiser Canarias back after 11 years in the US. HMS Minotaur (armoured cruiser) will be going to Canarias' last owner in the near future. Larry bought Hood a few months ago, which freed up quite a bit of shelf space. I still have the small monitor HMS Gorgon, built in 1998, sold to and bought back from Tom several years later and refitted with a new stern cannon.

I have a buyer for the I-400 kit made in 2009, the last in stock, and will be selling the mold for that kit soon. I still have two of the beautiful HMS/HMAS Albatross hulls and a buyer for one. Mold is for sale. I'm down to 4 other ship hulls: HMS Furious, HMS Rodney, Krasni Krim (Russian CL) and HMS Vanguard.

I have a buyer for the Vanguard hull but it's from the best mold I've made and very strongly built with a fiberglass deck and Grey Wolf Squadron turrets. I'm ambivalent about selling it now - especially given the hours I spent cutting out its extra thick hull and molding the deck. I'm still keen to try four 1/2 unit spurt guns in the KK's bow casemates for use in the IRCWCC NATS 'Campaign Lite' as a base defence ship. Neither the Furious or Rodney hulls have been cut out - not quite sure what to do with them.

I've got the plans for Frobisher Class heavy cruisers and Imperator Pavel Class predreadnoughts. I'll be starting work on molds for those hulls this year and will build HMS Effingham for combat.

 

Sounds good Bob . I will continue to operate the models. Dunkerque and VDT are at my bottom of interests. I still like to build a Liberty ship. Montana will be my most ambitious project yet.

 

Got your email. The Erebus/Terror mold was my first FG mold and was not well made compared to my later products. The mold has deteriorated over the last 20 years, the bulges are extemely difficult to lay up, and the mold will probably be thrown out during a pending purge of basement 'junk'. I would not recommend a Terror Class monitor. The Abercrombie and Roberts from WWII are much better for RC combat and their hulls are much easier to make.

Their bulges slope up at 35 degrees, almost to main deck level. They are twin ruddered so turn far better than Erebus or Terror, with a 4' turning circle (about half that of a Terror Class with one rudder aft). They also have more displacement than the Erebus and Terror. I sold the Abercrombie/Roberts hull mold to Strike Models.

 

More progress Made on the Montana. Locations for skegs and rudder placement were marked out and cut out of the hull. Made the skegs and the fit was near perfect.

Photos to follow tonight when I get home.

 

More