On the Ways: Bearn CV

Construction - Mounting the Pump

While we are talking about the pump, I'll go ahead and post the pictures on how it went for the Bearn.

After deciding where the pump will be placed, I traced around the pump housing to mark it on top of the water channel sides.






Using the Dremal with a drum sander attachment, I routed out the inside of the marked area to about 1/4" depth. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures ... was trying to hold the camera and show how this was done at the same time.






Now the pump sits nicely in a cutout with a 1/4" space between the bottom of the pump and the bottom of the water channel.




Add a couple of screw hooks from the hardware section of most department stores and a rubber band to hold the pump in place ...




What we end up with is a tidy pump installation that keeps the pump firmly in place yet allows the pump to be removed for cleaning or repairs within a minute.

 

Hey Mike, one of the things we do in the garage where I build boats is pour a mixture of lead and epoxy in the bottom of each boat for stability. Once the ship is basically done, with all the components in and I know how much lead ballast I need to add (and where it needs to go), I weigh out that much lead bird shot, and pour it into the bottom of the boat along with a batch of epoxy. The lead/epoxy mixture both forms the water channel and acts as super-dense ballast. For my next boat, I am considering putting a mold release compound in the boat before I pour the lead/epoxy mixture, so I can remove the ballast for easy transport.

I like the lead/epoxy mixture because not only does it help with ballast and stability, it also lets you show off your fine woodwork better than a flat grey cement sealant does.

 

Very nice install on the pump, I will have to remember that for my next ship. I see that you are reversing the motor on the dual gearbox also, that alone saves you alot of internal room.

 

Thats a good idea Carl. I may have to try it on the next wood ship I build.

 

Lead and epoxy can also be used in a fiberglass hull, just like the self-leveling cement. I agree about the pump mount. It's very cool and makes access and maintenance easier. Are you at all worried about the rubber band wearing out?

 

I used lead and epoxy once and liked the results. However, in the fast gun club I was running in at the time I found that because of the motors we used it was better to use batteries as the weight. I use the 6 volt 12 amp "bricks and in larger boats they sit right at or just above the water line. The format I run in now allows us to change batteries every sortie so I may have to rethink wat I am doing.

 

I tend to change rubber bands if the band starts showing cracks or tears when I stretch the band. It's a habit from flying model planes with rubber banded wings. Heh.

I haven't changed a pump band yet because the band was bad. Most of the time, it gets changed because I loose the original one.

 

Mike, thanks for the update, the Bearn is quite the ship. Do you have plans for that you might share? Im looking forward to the rest of this build, im sure it will be the only french aircraft carrier ever. Good luck.

 

You can find a link to the plans in the first post of this thread. Just save them to a CD or memory stick and take them to any printer like Copymax.

There has been Bearns battled before. Mikey Deskin took one to a fast gun Nats a while back. He did convoy runs during the campain portion of the Nats. He also got sneaky and armed the ship for the last 5 or 10 minutes of that campain and shot at some other ships, giving him the distinction of having actually battled a carrier in fast gun.

My Bearn will only be convoy for the upcoming MWC Nats, but it will get armed for some Treaty combat and possibly some Big Gun combat later on.

More pictures are coming!

 

I cabt wait for those pictures. the bearn is a really nice ship. And yea, ill have to remember that and maybe do it myself later on.

 

Construction - Rudders

There are a few ways to make rudders. Many times they are made of a simple piece of flat brass soldered to a shaft. They work pretty good, but to get the best turning from a ship, the rudder should be shaped into an airfoil profile, kinda like how an airplane wing is shaped. An airfoil shape lets the water flow smoothly over the rudder and can actually "lift" or pull more than a flat plate rudder can. My Richelieu has an airfoiled rudder and has been called one of the best turning single rudder battleships on the water.

Since I dislike soldering brass (I suck at it!), the Bearn's rudders are made from wood sealed with epoxy resin. First off, I made sure the rudder was the correct sized allowed by MWC/IRC rules. A pattern is cut out, glued to wood, and four rudder shaped blanks were made.




Next, the rudder shaft is positioned and glued onto a blank. Notice the bend at the end of the rudder shaft. That keeps the rudder from spinning on the shaft.




Using scrap pieces of 1/8" plywood, I built up a layer of wood around the rudder shaft.




Finish the wood sandwich by adding another rudder blank over the shaft and middle layer of wood. Clamp until the glue has set. By the way, I used superglue to make these rudders.






Now sand the leading and trailing edges/sides of the rudder into a smooth airfoiled shape. Sorry I don't have pictures of the sanding part, but the result is below.




All that is left on the rudder itself is to waterproof it with either an expoxy resin or a few coats of varnish.

 

Nice addition to the construction thread.

 

Construction - Rudder Servo and Linkages

Some readers might have wondered why the rudder shaft tubes haven't been put yet. Welp, I wanted to get the rudders made first to see where the the best place to put the rudder shaft tubes. Still trying to get the best turning that the ship can have, the rudders must be placed right behind the props to get the most propwash possible over the rudder. Now that the rudders are made and the props are in place, it's easy to trial fit the rudder shaft tubes into place.








On the inside of the hull, the rudder shaft tubes are braced with built up pieces of 1/4" basswood. They aren't going anywhere! Once the tubes are braced, they are cut down to size for a trial fitting of the rudders and control arms.






Next, a servo mount was made from plywood and fitted into the hull.






The control rods are added between the servo and control arms. They are crossed for two reasons; to prevent a rudder from turning to much and locking sideways, and to add steering differential.




Steering differential is when the rudder on the inside of the turn moved further than the other rudder. Dave Rainier is the first person I saw use this method to help his PE turn a little tighter and not loose speed while turning. Even though another PE may turn as tight, Dave's ship maintains speed through the turn instead of slowing down. So even if another ship turns as tight as his, he will finish the turn before the other ship ... a huge advantage!







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Construction - Deck

With most of the running gear installed into the ship, it's time to start working on the sides and top. I'm not going to go over how to sheet a ship in this thread because there are many other sources that tell it better. But I would like to show you the my method for making decks.

Remember earlier, the ship got a 1/4" wide by 1/8" thick basswood caprail glued around the outer edge of the subdeck. This left a recessed area for the deck. Now it would be really tedious to try to freehand or draw that recessed area onto a piece of wood for the deck. A much simpler way is to use tracing paper to make a deck pattern!

Using a glue stick, stick a piece of tracing paper onto the caprail. Then use a pen or pencil to trace the inside edge of the caprail on the tracing paper. What we get is a nice pattern that can be glued onto a piece of wood for cutting. The deck will fit nearly perfect right after cutting and will only need some sanding for a perfect tight fit. A tight fit means less water inside the hull from a poor deck seal.

 

Construction - Flight Deck

Ok, here is where things get diffrent from a normal ship. The construction method for the flight deck is very diffrent than making a superstructure for a warship. On the next build I do, I'll post a how-to for making a warship's superstructure out of wood. There are many other good methods for superstructures scattered around the web. Research and find one that you can do!

The first thing was to build a "box" for the hanger area. The top and bottom side pieces were cut into the same hull curve as the subdeck.






Next, the front and rear portions of the flight deck that overhang the hull were cut out to shape and glued on. 1/4" basswood was used for the overhanging flight deck supports. The flight deck itself is made from 3mm Depron foam for less weight than plywood. I don't know how well the Depron will hold up...guess we'll find out during the MWC Nats. heh. If it doesn't work, then the Depron will get replaced with 1/16" plywood.








Thats all the pictures I have ready right now. There is a bunch more on the camera that I have to pull off and process before posting them here. It'll get done.

This is also my last day online for a short while unless we stumble across a free ISP network while traveling over the holiday weekend. But not to fear, because most of the major construction for this build is done and posted here in this thread. There is nothing major left other than finishing the superstructure, detailing, painting, and sea trials. So keep tuned for more pictures, but don't let the delay in posting more pictures of this build stop you from starting your own wood ship!

 

Outstanding job Mike.
I can't wait to see her in action.
Vive La France
Mikey

 

Bravo Mike, i am absolutely astounded at the amount of work put into this boat. she will be amazing when she is finnished, and i am looking forward to not only seeing it in action, but also building my very first warship.

 

Mike
I was able to find the plans for the French aircraft-carrier Joffre on the French web-site. I am going to try to get them scaled-up. I have wanted to build her for big gun for years, but just couldn't find the plans for her.
She will be a great ship in Treaty as well, due to her high speed.
Vive La France.
Mikey

 

bearn looks good