Over the last 10+ years I've sold most of my hull molds due to lack of time and suitable facilites for hull production. Strike will soon have nearly all of them, having recently acquired the Espana and Courageous molds, and Battlers has the Z23 mold. I've built a workshop at the cottage and plan to resume hull making when I retire in 2016. I need to make more hull molds and have some proposals to make. Hypotheticals: British G3 Battlecruisers, WWII Lion Class (for clubs that allow hypotheticals/uncompleted ships). The G3s were to be Hood sized with all 16" guns forward, two triple turrets ahead of and one aft of the bridge tower, and the Lions were to be larger versions of the KGV with triple 16" turrets. WWI: Agincourt, Canada, Tiger WWII: Frobisher Class heavy cruisers, Town Class light cruisers, Argus (old carrier/WWII aircraft transport - convoy model), Krasni Kavkaz (Russian 'heavy' cruiser - 2.5 units), Tyne (Kent Class sized destroyer tender - convoy ship) Any interest in the above or other suggestions?
As a MWC/IRCWCC member, please don't make Hypos, none of us can use them (except at local events maybe), so the available market for them will be even smaller. There is a mold for Agincourt in Australia already (I know yours would be better, but why duplicate?). I'd be certainly interested in HMS Canada, or a the Town class cruiser the most.
I know some Biggun clubs, and treaty allow Hypos, I think I remember reading a while back about you wanting to build a G3. Some cool ships not available allready could include any of the South American dreadnoughts, I think the rividavia is probubly the "best" stats wise, but it can be produced from a Baden hull. A Renown would be neat, WWI Andrea dorias, Neptune/Hercules/Colosses, maybe bretegne? single rudder but it is a little oversized, and it did get blown up real nice by the Brits. : )
I so wish MWC would re-visit the issue off adding some more ships. Especially some of the bigger ships. Having a few more larger ships to choose from beside just a Iowa or Yammy might increase the number of larger ships on the ponds...
I know, but thats no reason to build a ship that cuts out a large chunk of the market for such an item when there are so many ships that are legal across the board in all formats that never get built because there is no fibreglass hull available. Same here, but we have to convince all those other people in the club, submit a rule change proposal, get it through a vote at nats, and get it approved by the membership at large in another vote. I would love to see atleast, all the ships that were in service during 1905-1946 allowable. I don't think having more large ships to choose from would necessarily encourage more people to build large ships.
I liked to see: HMS Tiger 4.5 unit BC SMS Kaiser4.5 unit dreadnought Italian Filbertino 2.5 unit cruiser
There are probably several local clubs that allow hypothetical ships, or ships built before the rule set's time-frame, to be used. At the recent NABS meeting we decided to allow hypothetical ships (i.e. Montana and G3). I think Big Gun allows hypotheticals - I've seen photos of a WWII Lion with Big Gun cannons. I've long thought about building a G3 battlecruiser but will see how Hood does after being rearmed with dual sidemounts and a larger rudder. They are almost identical in LOA and beam though G3 should turn a little bit better with the transom stern. The fact that an Agincourt is available from Australia won't be a consideration; shipping costs to and from Aus. are very high. I've just heard from Ralph Coles that he's seriously considering Agincourt as his next hull project. With 14 main guns it might be popular with the Big Gun guys. The hull shape is quite simple so if Ralph doesn't build it I will. There is still no British R Class hull available though they are as powerful as the QEs. They don't have two rudders unless built in original condition, and the rudders are tandem, not parallel. In later condition there are two significantly different bulge shapes between the five ships. I prefer the much higher bulge on Royal Oak and Ramillies. Another missing hull is Renown or Repulse in WWI or WWII. Again, the WWII versions have different bulges and armour belts. I have plans for both but prefer the Renown. Now that it has a 50% larger rudder and can have twin sidemounts it's more interesting to me. As a 4.5 unit ship it could have a dual sidemount and a 1.5 unit bow sidemount. I like the Rividavia Class but have never been able to find decent plans. If people want a particular 'legal' ship that's not available in fiberglass let me know.
I would buy an R class, or a Renown, or a G3. I like the Ramilies, I believe it was finished with bulges, and two rudders originally. If you were going to build an R I would buy one in advance, if you built a Renown, I would want one, and atleast one other member of the midwest battle group would want one as well. Back in 98 I first wanted to get into this hobby, my first plan set ever was for the old "R" class battleship. They just look the part.
Ramillies was the first 'R' to get bulges but they were smaller than those fitted to the other four ships. Later on Royal Oak and Ramillies got much larger bulges almost up to the 6" gun deck. The other three sisters had bulges that stopped a deck lower. I much prefer the look of the higher bulges. I have plans for the ships with the lower ones but should be able to modify them based on photos. Renown has long been one of my favorite capital ships and eventually a mold will be made. As far as British battlecruisers go I've done the molds for Hood, Courageous, and Furious and helped Ralph Coles make his excellent Indefatigible mold. I'd like to make the Renown and Tiger hull molds to finish the series.
Spuds & I did a survey of most desired hulls about 18 months ago. Requested were: SMS Schleswig-Holstein 5 requests HMS Revenge (Bulged) 4 requests Gangut 4 requests Duca d'Aosta 2 requests HMS Leander 2 requests IJN Sendai 2 requests USS Connecticut 2 requests
For some reason, I was thinking the shipping from Oz to Canada wasn't that bad, but I checked the shipping costs for my Agincourt, and well, it actually was pretty expensive. If I had to pick one particular legal ship that I wanted most, it would be the "Bretagne" class. A beautiful ship with a plus sized scale rudder (as mentioned earlier). Its hull is nearly identical to the preceding Courbet class as well.
I have plans for the Leander Class and have just found a source of 1/144 plans for the 1939 version of Royal Oak (Profile Morskie). I think that will be my next battleship hull project.
I would love to see the Dutch Java class. 2.5units, 3 shafts, 1 rudder... should turn very well for a cruiser. Much like a shorter and lighter Leipzig.
Strange, I posted a reply yesterday, editted it and it vanished. I'm putting Royal Oak on the back burner while I make some cruiser hull plugs. I've looked at the Java Class again and they're not as small as I thought, 510' LOA and a 5.5 lb model, before the extra displacement allowed by IRCWCC rules. I was surprised to see they're 2.5 unit models, same as the larger De Ruyter. Any preferences for Java vs De Ruyter? Plans for both are available in 1/144 from Profile Morskie. The Java is only 10' shorter than the Profintern Class, but lighter and doesn't have the many armament installation options Profintern has (6 main armament casemate guns - 4 forward, 2 aft, 4 guns on side sponsons and 5 deck guns). I'm improving the Profintern plug (and mold) I commissioned several years ago. There were too many errors for me to put the hull into production - the original mold will be scrapped after the plug is redone. So far the bow has been re-shaped to match the plans and the erroneously shaped side sponsons have been cut off and replaced. Tomorrow I'll start correcting a slight asymmetry between the width of the port and starboard bow embrasures. I expect to finish the plug in 3-4 weeks and it should be available in 2014 (not from me). I envisioned the Profintern as a specialist model for IRCWCC Convoy battles. It can carry 4 x 1/2 unit spurt guns (40 BBs total) in the 4 bow casemates close to the waterline. In that configuration it would be a threat to battleships stopped while shooting at magnetic shore targets. Profintern could be armed with a mix of 1/2 unit spurt and normal BB cannons, or 4 standard 1/2 unit BB cannons (all in casemates). Potentially a versatile model with high speed, short length and two rudders. I've decided my next hull will be the Frobisher Class CAs. They were 605' long so get a 50% larger rudder under IRCWCC rules. I like the two in-line single quarterdeck guns, which I would depress as far as possible and train 15 degrees to port and starboard. That should allow some close range hits low on an opponents hull, versus the usual cruiser twin stern guns. This class had amidships main armament sponson guns too, like the Profintern. The aft guns are at about the same height above waterline as the Profintern's casemate guns. 1/144 scale plans are en route from Profile Morskie. I think the Frobisher hull plug will be done by April, then I want to make another CL plug. Options so far are: Java, De Ruyter, LIbertad (Spanish), Ajax, and Almirante Brown (Argentina).
Under IRCWCC and MWC rules, a ship can only mount a single 1/2 unit gun. I think the casements are a great place for guns though, that's where I've got the guns going on Edgar Quinet.
Tugboat, You're right about MWC limiting models to one spurt gun, but check out the IRCWCC rules. E.5. states only one spurt gun is allowed per model but then refers you to E.11.e. for exceptions to that rule. E.11.e. allows Class 2 ships to have more than one 1/2 unit cannon.
I stand corrected! I think the way the indentation shows up in the html was confusing me. But wow, that certainly changes the dynamic! A 2.5 unit CL becomes a potent convoy hunter with 4 1/2 unit spurts forward! Well, really, I can't think of anyone that WANTS that shooting into their warship, either, so it's good for more than hunting convoys, too. Interesting...
Hi Bob, how about a Takao class CA. Still 3.5 units under IRCWCC, nice looking ship, all your friends will want one. J
Hi Jay, Ralph did a Takao hull - one of his earliest hull molds, which he probably still has. The only Takao model in the NABS fleet was Rob Clarke's. It wasn't very maneuverable due to the long hull. I don't know what became of it, or the Japanese DD he built. I spent some time feeling around in a couple of feet of swan and goose poo in near zero visibility on the bottom of Sullivan's pond when the DD sank after crossing it's own wake . I couldn't find it but Rob eventually recovered it with a grapple, which did quite a bit of damage. I've received the hull plans for the Frobisher Class heavy cruisers and will be starting the hull plug in January. The Profintern CL hull plug is coming along, with another sanding of the thick Zinser primer/sealer last night. There are still a few low spots detectable by touch more than by sight, so 1-2 more applications of Zinser will be needed before the surface is smooth enough for moulding.
