Mike, I know! But my mom did get a lot of good ideas for how to get the motors down! As well as a few other Ideas!! I was hoping to be able to get her speed Tested, But That isn't gut to happen til Treaty Nats! But mom and I got a lot of great help as far as Finish!!! Nikki
Nikki, this is just a suggestion. If it was me, I would do my absolute best to get the LST ready a long time before NATS. That way you can make sure everything works, the gun fires, the speed is correct etc. BEFORE NATS. It would really suck to get all the way to NATS and then find out the boat doesn't work right and then instead of battling, you have to spend all your time repairing the boat. And since it is NATS, there are likely going to be fewer people available to help work on your boat because they will be battling, filming or working on their own boat. That is what I would do. It is your boat so you can do whatever you want to J
Hey Jay, thanks for that, I've never sheeted a ship, so that would be the thing i would need help with!! I know there are a few ways to speed tested her be for hand! But it the sheeting that i would need help with!!! Nikki
Sheeting isn't rocket science, I'm sure if you did your research, you'd find its been described several times on this site, a couple times on the OAF site, and probably a couple more times elsewhere. Its something you and your mom could very easily do without any outside help.
Nikki, I know that you are a Site User on the MABG web-site. Brian posted a series of "How To" blogs following his Nassau build. You may find this one useful: How to Skin a Ship - Part 1 If you want pictures, this one maybe helpful: One Step Closer ! ! !
Well, the contact cement will be almost dry at the time you actually stick the sheeting to the hull, if you do it right, you need no clamps. I don't know of any particular reason you couldn't paint 15 min after sheeting if you dont mind the lingering contact cement smell. And yes, as a convoy you have a 1/8" waterline
Hey Nick, Thanks for the help, I'm hoping to have her up so I can take out to the pond that we have up by me!!! Nikki
Hope you remembered to silkspan the inner side of the balsa before you glued it to the hull, I think MABG is the only club that doesn't allow that (for some odd reason).
Ok, Dumb question, Can you put the silkspan on both sides of the Balsa wood???? or just one side? Nikki
I always silkspan the outside, as the contact cement has the nasty habit of causing silkspan on the inside of the sheet to come away during the gluing process. Plus it makes for a smoother finish.
You can get away with using upto 3 layers of silkspan total (2 on inside, one on outside) and still easily pass the drop test. The inside layers are actually critical to help prevent the balsa from splintering versus just holing. The silkspan can be attached with dope, clear lacquer, or even 50/50 thinned contact cement. I tend to put the outside layer on the ship after it has been sheeted. By overlapping the silkspan beyond the edge of the sheeting by about 1/2" , the hull gets sealed and helps prevent the sheeting from pulling away from the hull.
Yes you can and should put silkspan on both sides. As stated above it prevents splintering, which is bad.
thanks guys!!! I wasn't sure! Also, Because it was so nice out, I made a carrier for my LST out of Wood, Its not waterproffed but It just for in the cars so she would move around!!! I'm still play with the Idea of a PVC pond side Stand, or i can patch easyer!!! But That would be til i get my SSI check!!!! Nikki
In the ruleset we have here we are only allowed one layer of silkspan, so I have tried putting it on the inside. The problems it created were so bad I ripped the sheeting off and redid it with the silkspan on the outside. Inside or out, it made no difference to getting blasted to the bottom of the pond. I'd be very interested in the exact method used for the drop test, as I have encountered some VERY tough hulls. Tough to the point where a full nine-barrel salvo at point-blank range did no appreciable damage to the target, but some balls rebounded and penetrated my own hull. I was most unimpressed.
I'm not sure why putting silkspan on the inside would cause you problems. I've sheeted three different ships so far; an Atlanta class AA cruiser, a VDT, and a wooden hulled Kirishima. None of which, had any problems with silkspan on the inside. I've even gotten quite liberal with the dope, and still not had any problems with it being shot through. So no idea why you'd have issues...
