Ditto what Nick said. Plans really don't cost a whole lot compared to the amount it will cost you to build the model, so I'd definatly say you should order plans for an actual great lakes freighter. One of these days I plan to build a model of the Edmund Fitzgerald which I got the plans for from http://www.taubmansonline.com/. --Chase
Same here, they had a pretty low profile which would make them hard to hit. Too bad I don't know of, or have an plans for, any that would be legal in IRCWCC. --Chase
Theres a guy on ebay with a load of plans, here's one that purports to be for a 1912 great lakes freighter: Ebay link He's got a few others too. I don't know how good the plans are, For what its worth I ordered a set of Bayern plans from him and wasn't overly thrilled with what I got, but others have gotten good plans from him, it seems to be vary widely from ship to ship.
I got some great plans for the Cleveland Cliffs ore carrier, E.B.Greene. My father-in-law was chief engineer on the Greene and my wife used to go on trips on the Greene. I got the plans from: David Benedet 418 University Dr. Thunder Bay, ON P7C 2CB If you google Davids full name you will see that he is a great lakes freighter historian and author. The plans I got were highly detailed.
JKN, the photo that Gascan posted shows the original Mehoshi Maru doing what she does best. That reminds me: Nick, do you have a recovery float on your Mehoshi? You know you're gonna need it...
Nice looking Maru Nick, hopefully it'll have better luck than the one sitting on the bottom in Gascon's pic. I'll be sure to post some shots of mine when its done. --Chase
The bow decking isnt actually held down, it just has loose guide rails and about 8-10 feet of line bound to the first rib. In theory when she goes down, it'll float free and the line will pay out. In theory. I think I need an underwater camera.
To close this out, she's been out to two combat events and has handled quite well. She's a frustrating target and while she's gone down once she looked good doing it.
Thanks guys @Gascan, I'd update it if I could @Kotori, Uhm, Well, it was a really windy day, and early on a ridiculous gust of wind actually managed to knock it out and the prop fouled on it, so I added a 1/2oz of weight held on by a magnet, and of course, being in a hurry, forgot to see if the float could actually bear that weight and still float - the answer is no as we discovered, which made its recovery more difficult than it should have, completely my own fault too. Some experimentation will have to occur here to find out how to both make it more bouyant and keep it held down a little better against rogue winds.
Other than the deck/float issues she has proven a great ship to play with. She is low in the water and turns well enough that with a an experienced captain she is a very hard target to hit. I would just screw down the deck and add a float inside the funnel. Of course that would require replacing the funnel I knocked off while trying to recover her. As long as you add flood holes at the bottom of the funnel they work pretty well that way. EDIT: Nick you need to post a video of her "ramming" my NC. Pretty awesome watching her just bounce off.
