Aloha all! It’s nice to meet you all! I’ve been building model warships since childhood and have finally decided to build a warship from scratch. I’ve somewhat a sentimental attachment with the IJN Fubuki as she was the first model I ever built, so a buddy and I have decided to build her at a large scale. We’ve already done some research, and were unable to find dedicated plans for Fubuki, however we MIGHT able to get our hands on the actual plans for her. I’ve managed to find a couple blueprints of her sistership, Uranami (which I’ve included) I digress, I’ve been scouring the internet for supplies and materials, and couldn’t find anything conclusive when it came to purchasing armament and what not. In regards to hull construction, I’ve read that y’all use balsa wood planking over wooden ribs. Is this true? Do you have any advice for a fledging terror of the local lake?
Welcome!!! Haven't seen anybody from Hawaii. Very Cool! Wood is still a very reasonable way to build a ship. You may find and see that a lot of new ships are made of fiberglass hulls and even 3D printed kits from South Jersey Shipyard. @bsgkid117 has done a wonderful job bringing new ships and products to the hobby for us. Are you looking to build a combat model or noncombat model?
ideally a combat model would be nice. I was looking into fiberglass and 3D printing. I have a 3D printer available to me, but I wasn’t sure if 3D printing would be reliable. South Jersey Shipyard? Can I find that online? Edit: yes, I found it online. lol. Unfortunately they don’t have what I need
Hey buddy, not to rain on any parades, but that boat is a teeny tiny boi. judging from the stats, you'll need to add an extra inch of draft to the hull to make it viable as a combat model. If you're going with wood or fiberglass, I would highly advise building a bigger, more forgiving boat first. but you do you. these tiny bois can be done, and done well. Vac-U-Boat came up with a great way to do destroyer kits out of vacuum-formed plastic sheeting, and tbh, that's really your best option for something of this size. Unfortunately they don't have any japanese destroyers. I bet if you twist an arm on a guy who has an obsession with little ships, he might be able to crank out a hull model for ya.
No rain on this parade. The advice was enlightening. Part of the reason I came here was to see how feasible it would be to arm a model Fubuki. There really isn’t a huge combat RC base here in the islands, so my boat is less “competition standard” and more “let’s just build a huge boat.” So she’ll likely be larger than 1:144. With that in mind, would it still be possible to build a larger scale Fubuki without too much problem? Or would you still recommend I pick a larger boat?
yeah a 1:96 (48.5 inches long w/ 4.25" beam) would be good, a 1:72 (64" long w/ 5.6" beam)would be way better. the issue at 1:144 the beam is tiny. like, as small as the smallest I'd be willing to build I mean legit there's no way you're gonna do IRCWCC unless you build a local club yourself. you'd obviously be welcome at any battle as a fly-in. we have plenty of loaner boats you could borrow for the battle so long as people got sufficient heads-up. so building a 1:72 of your favs boat would be a blast. it'd basically be the size of a heavy cruiser in 1:144, and that's usually where a lot of folks start. It'd at least get you building something, and you'd learn a lot of the lessons without all the horror/pain/agony of building a super tiny first boat. your boat just wouldn't be "Legal" in IRCWCC because it's not scale (but lol you're out on an island so nobody's gonna care)
So 1:72? Sounds good, thanks for the advice! I’ll probably look into adding torpedoes too. I know they have systems out there for U-boat torps, it’s mostly a question of I could fit everything inside in a balanced matter… I’ve seen a lot of people do things differently. One person started with a cutout of the deck as a template to fit the ribs, while another seemed to start with the keel (I think). How do you start your builds?
If you are not fighting, 1/72 is a great scale for a DD the 3D printing of small items and detailing is easier.
well doing the subdeck followed by matching the ribs to it is a good technique for wood. I'm doing printing now, and the process is *somewhat* similar when doing surfase lofting in CAD.
You might find some inspiration in here post your model working battleships - RC Groups too... Look for posts by Umi Ryuzuki he built some 1/72 IJN Minekaze DD's...for combat, excellent workmanship as well. -He also built 1/72 IJN T103 LST's which could beach and unload 1/72 RC Tanks!
Thanks! They do look really well made! I’m just worried about how I’m going to trace the shape of the sub deck and cut the entire thing out, she’ll be just over 5’
Well, if you've never built a wood hulled model ship before you might want to build something small and easy (and not necessarily RC combat) just to get a feel for the construction techniques and how things go together. It's honestly not very hard, even building balsa free-flight model aircraft have similarities (though they're much more fragile, LOL). And/or find/watch build vids on YT, I'm sure there are at least a few wood model building vids on it somewhere. But if you can already do 3D modeling on PC (and therefore printing) that is the way. There are build threads on this site too, of course, just dive in!
