RE: My Bismark build can you resize your images before you upload them? also, looking good, always exciting to see a ship take shape.
RE: My Bismark build Ok so almost all my ribs are glued into to place so my next question is for the bottom what is the best way to make it solid Because its not penetable. I have read and heard that people do just a wood bottom as well as planking it as well as fiberglassing the bottom. For a warship like this one which is the method?
RE: My Bismark build I like to sheet with 1/32" plywood and then seal and reinforce with a layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy. The plywood is tough but still easy enough to bend around the hull curve. Some builders sheet with 1/64" plywood, but I like the extra thickness so that I can sand it a little more without worrying about sanding through.
RE: My Bismark build I also use 1/32" ply with fiberglass cloth for reinforcement . If the curves are really nasty, I'll use some 1/64" plywood and double up on the fiberglass.
RE: My Bismark build Mark/Dustin -- do you plank fore/aft or with strips accross the beam? What glue and clamping setup do you use to keep the ply on the frame?
RE: My Bismark build I obtain the 1/32 ply at my local hobby shop. Some craft stores like Hobby Lobby or Michaels may also carry it, but it has been a while since I have looked at their wood selection. I sheet across the beam. If there is a lot of fore/aft curvature then I may only sheet one bay at a time. Usually I can cover 2-3 bays a time. I cut the piece to size and then glue the center to the keel with CA. When that is stuck good, I'll bend the sides down, one at a time, and and glue them with thin CA to the ribs. I use accelerator to speed the cure so that I can just hold the piece in place with my hand. Below is a picture of my seaplane tender, a 1:96 scale C3 hull. I had to use two pieces crossways in the center because the ply was not wide enough to do it in one piece.
RE: My Bismark build Ditto what Mark said. I have found that it is easier to divy up in halfs on a section of a ship with a single keel. If using a double keel for the water channel, the ply makes the bottom of the water channel leaving a bit more space inside. With more severe curves, attach at the keel first so the ply won't bunch up on the bend. Below is my Alsace--I tried to do too much with a single piece and sanded through at the corners necessitating some reinforcing ply on the inside. You can tell where I switched to 1/64" by the darker color on one section. Keep in mind that you will have to adjust for the thickness the ply will add to the rib profiles. One method is to cut or sand the sections in the impenetrable area to account for the ply, like this: The other is to take more ply and cut into strips and add it to the ribs and subdelk like this:
RE: My Bismark build I have to wait to sheet the bottom until my prop shafts arrive so i ordered it from the place i got my birch ply wood for my ribs. a bit more expensive but the quality is great. it should arrive just as my stuffing tubes are installed so there shouldnt be a lot of down time. (not that i am rushing but staring at a hull waiting for pieces to arrive isnt fun lol)
ok I appologise for not resizing but the ship is looking a lot like a ship and the editing program isnt working correctly :/ But here the Tirpitz is: I am sorry for the weird angle but I am no photographer haha as of now here is what is done: Middle ribs all glued in place on the double keel bow keel and ribs glued in place bow keel now attached to mid secetion . For the Wood hull protion what I have left (please chime in if It seems I have forgotten an important part): install stuffing tubes to the aft section gle aft ribs into place glue aft keel to rest of hull make deck and sub deck fiberglass the bottom Once I have installed subdecking and fiberglassed the bottom (which i am not looking forward to bc i hate fiberglass) I plan on removing the middle portions of each of the ribs attached to the double keel portion of the ship and use it as water channeling. Good or bad idea? once again all input welcome Thanks!!
Ok Question about best way to make the deck. I have had 2 idea (both inspired from seeing other ships on here). The first idea was to cut trace the hull shape of Tirpitz on 2 pieces of 1/8" birchply then cutting the center of one out 1/2" in from the edge and then the other1/4" from the edge so they may be glued together and have a lip to hold and screw into for the deck. The second idea was to once again trace the ship on a1/4" piece of ply and then cut at an angle instead of strait down so that the deck can rest nicely on/in with out to much matching work. I would also use tabs in certain locations to add more support and use them ontop to hold the deck down similar to Admiral Sparrows Graf Spree (as seen in pictures on his build thread) Once again any and all wisdom and suggestions are welcome
What I like to do with the deck and subdeck is to trace the hull shape on 1/4" for the subdeck (cut out the inside), and glue it to the ribs. Then, I trace the subdeck outline on 1/8" ply, and cut that out. I cut out the centers, making the subdeck like 1/2" wide (on big ships), and the edge of the deck itself 1/4". The deck edge gets epoxied to the subdeck, and the center is removable in sections for access. The angled thing sounds bad for two reasons: 1) It won't seal well. 2) It'll be a lot heavier than a 1/8" deck.
Ok all the ribs and keels are glued together. Now to start the sub deck. I am going to have to sand down some of the ribs so that the deck will sit evenly instead of having large spaces between sub-deck and rib.
It happens; at 10 feet no one will notice, and odds are, at 2 feet, no one will notice unless you point it out. The builder always sees the little imperfections
