New Battleship Hull from Ralph!

Ralph has almost finished the hull plug for his 'secret project', HMS Queen Elizabeth and Valiant after their early WWII reconstruction.
This is a detailed hull on the level of his USS FLorida, with accurately shaped stepped bulges and the 4 propellor shaft outlets. This hull lacks casemates and has the flared bow unique to QE and Valiant. The other QEs retained their WWI style bows and bow casemates, Warspite losing the forward pair during her rebuild just before WWII.
I've been waiting for this hull since 2008 when it was first considered by Ralph. Warspite was my best R/C combat model and I'm keen to get another QE on the water. The plug will be ready for molding next week and the mold should be finished in early July.
Bob

 

I wish we would have known this in sept when we started our QE plug and mold. We would have waited and got one of Ralph's. Oh well it happens.

 

Any pictures of the hull or mold?
Thanks,

 

No photos yet - the mold is being taken from the hull plug this week. Ralph will have to take and post them - my PC is 'near death' and the Kodac Easyshare program has failed.
I'll be getting the first hull so if Ralph hasn't posted photos by late July I'll use my wife's laptop to post some when she gets back from the US. Will post I-400 photos too.
Bob

 

Bob, We can get together to look at hulls and CO2 cartridges, I can take and post some pics.
J

 

Hi Jay,
I'm working extra hours this week so I can leave Thursday for a short vacation, but should be able to meet early Wednesday evening for an hour or so.
Your I-400 was laid up last night . This one's upperworks are much lighter than the first due to using a lighter grade of matt. The lower hull is about 25% lighter, with more space in the box keel, and is made with a combination of light and medium matt. I'll trim the pieces Tuesday night so you can buy them Wednesday.
Ralph was by on Saturday and after seeing how much work is involved in the sub component lay-up was not keen on taking over I-400 production. The subs are more time consuming to make than expected and there are things I'd rather be doing (i.e, finishing my other ships!). This production run will be limited to the six I-400s already ordered, with more to be made at a later date.
Re Ralph's 'secret project'', he'd expected to have the QE mold done this past weekend but saw an area of the bulge that wasn't perfectly symmetrical to the other side and is doing a little more tweaking before molding.
Bob

 

Sounds good, what time? I can go as early as 3:30 pm.
J

 

ahoy,I found my way here but need help posting pics.

 

Here are pics of the new QE plug,















The other plug is a Soviet AGI in 1/72.
It could be used as a convoy ship.



There you go, enjoy.
J

 

The pics are not displaying properly. Or at least for me they are not displaying properly

 

Nice plug for the QE.

 

Thanks Nick, that was the third attempt at posting those pics,
I think there was a glitch in the computer or the site.
J
But you are right Paul, it is a nice looking plug.

 

Ralph expects to finish the HMS QE/Valiant mold this week. It's a 3 piece mold due to the complex shapes beneath the quarterdeck (4 prop shaft exits and the undersides of the bulges) that could have made removing hulls from a 2 piece mold impossible.
I'm getting the first hull, which will become a replacement for my best combat model (HMS Warspite). Ralph is now taking orders for the QE/Valiant hull.
Bob

 

Has anyone posted in on MWC for him?

 

Not that I know of David. Neither of us is an MWC member. I'll ask Ralph to post the photos on this site's General forum too.
I hope I'll have a QE/Valiant hull within a week or two. My nearly worn out 15" British turret mold was good for 4 more usable turrets and most of the required equipment is on hand. This will be my first combat model with circuit boards for throttle and pump, but due to cost I won't be using solenoids for the guns. The QE Class are too slow for Treaty combat so Valiant will be an IRCWCC model.
Bob

 

I kinda disagree about it being too slow for Treaty. There is a Captain running a Markgraf in Treaty. Although he doesn't have the speed to catch many of the other ships, no one wants to get close to the ship because it turns so much better than the others.

 

Bob,

Is there a contact number or a way to contact Ralph? Thre is some interested folks down in NC that would like to purchase a few hulls.

 

Hi Mike,
Ralph's email is: ralphster30@hotmail.com
Bob

 

The mold is off the plug! Ralph reports it turned out very well with no gelcoat blemishes or other problems. He's doing some fine sanding and expects to start making QE/Valiant hulls in a few days. I hope to have a hull by next weekend and will need to borrow Rob Clarke's Profile Morskie book on the QE for the superstructure plans.
Ralph will post photos when the first hull is made.
Bob