Construction of this and other models has been delayed during the past week. Last weekend we made a bid on a much bigger house with high-ceilinged basement (versus the 98 year-old one in which I walk around bent over and can only stand up straight between joists), and a large room upstairs that could be devoted entirely to wargaming and railway modelling. Unfortunately last night's inspection did not go well: tree roots in the sewer line, serious chimney faults, aluminum wiring that our insurance company did not like at all, even though pigtailed to copper, and a dangerously high radon gas level in the basement. Withdrew our offer today and decided to stop house-hunting until the spring. So, back to work this weekend to install Profintern's working and dummy prop shafts and strengthen the ribs that will have armour mounting bolts. (During the week I found time to drill and file holes in HMS Rodney's hull for the propshafts and test fitted them. That'll be another build thread.)
The slots for the working prop shafts have been drilled and filed to the correct angle and diameter. I run prop shaft stuffing tubes through relatively short lengths of the next largest size of brass tubing that are glassed into the hull. The shaft stuffing tubes are siliconed into the larger diameter tubes so they can removed if damaged or need new bushings. I'm making a jig to hold the prop shafts 1.5" apart at each end, with the tips of the prop blades at keel level outside and the inner ends of the shafts high enough that the motor casings will be clear of the hull bottom. When everything's alligned properly the short tubes that the prop shaft stuffing tubes go through will be glassed into the hull. The next step after that is to install the Battlers Connection single-strut prop shaft brackets. (I'm taking photos of the installation process and will post them when finished.)
Looks like you had a great time in Florida (Facebook photos). I'll be posting more build photos tonight.
Rather dark view of prop shafts test fitted in Profintern. You can see the brass sleeves the prop shafts will be mounted in; the sleeves will be glassed into the hull allowing the shafts to be removed if necessary.
An inside view of the prop shafts test-fitted in the hull. When finished the shafts will be much shorter, with the Raboesch U-joints attached just ahead of the shaft collars. (The screwdriver is holding the shafts roughly parallel.) The hull is narrow so the dummy shafts and props will be quite far outboard. Using 30mm 4-bladed props the shafts are as close together as possible, with the blades just clearing the hull skeg. At 60 degrees throw the small rudder almost touches the prop tubes.
Slots drilled then filed for prop shaft installation. Pilot hole locations were marked with a tool like the one shown in the Indefatigable build thread. Small rat-tail files are great for this work. The slots are just wide enough for the brass sleeves the prop shafts will be mounted in.
I always modify Battlers Connection prop shaft struts to a more aerodynamic shape. I use an Exacto blade and scrape the struts lengthwise to the desired cross-section, then sand them with fine wet and dry paper (haven't sanded the left one in the photo yet). I file off the lump seen on the right strut where the arm meets the rounded section (the lump is on all of the struts). Maximum thickness is retained in the middle of the strut- the front edge comes slightly rounded and was further smoothed, and the front of the strut slightly tapered toward the middle. The process takes about 10 minutes per single strut, quite a bit longer for V-struts.
I ordered custom made prop shafts and stuffing tubes 3/4" shorter than the commercially produced ones in the photos, so I can reduce the length of the drive train and have more space amidships for other equipment. They arrived last night and I hope to install the drive train this weekend. I'll incline the shafts upward slightly to keep the motors about 3/8" off the hull bottom and "out of the soup" when there's (hopefully) minor flooding from BB damage. By inclining the shafts I can get the u-joints much closer to the point where the shafts exit the hull. The propshafts in the photos are 6mm diameter so slightly under 1/4" and don't fit tightly enough in the brass tubes they'll pass through to exit the hull or in the Battler's 1/4" prop shaft struts. The new shafts are 1/4" diameter; I'll probably use the metric ones in HMS Albatross or Effingham.
This morning I had the 1/144 plans for Profintern copied and will make molds for the deck this weekend, as described for Indefatigable. The decks will be done by Monday. The forecastle deck can be installed as soon as it's made but the quarterdeck aft of the rear casemates can't go on until the working and dummy propshafts have been installed.
Christmas shopping took far longer than expected on the weekend but I finished building and waxing the deck molds for Profintern. Gelcoat will be applied to the molds this evening and they'll be glassed tomorrow. Kim left early for Christmas vacation in New Brunswick so I can do the fiberglass work indoors - unfortunately she took our camera so there won't be any photos of the deck making process.
I do but it's an old phone and I can't download to my Mac. When Kim and I get back next week I'll take photos of the deck molds with deck sections laid up in all but the largest one. I didn't have enough balsa to complete the mold for Indefatigable's main deck section so how the molds are made is clearly visible. All of Profintern's deck sections were laid up last night; they'll stay in the one-use molds until the photos are taken. When the dummy shafts have been installed the quarterdeck section aft of the rear pair of superstructure casemates, and the bow section ahead of the first pair of bow casemates will be glassed to the hull. the rest of the forecastle deck and biggest section of the quarterdeck will have to wait until the water channelling is finished and the brass mounting bolts for equipment are glassed to the hull bottom.
The deck sections for Profintern were molded in late Dec. 2015 but not installed until last weekend (Oct. 21, 2017). They were trimmed for a tight fit and taped in place before the hull was turned over and a bead of resin poured along the deck and hull seams. The masking tape prevented the resin from running out. After the resin had cured another bead was run and narrow strips of light fiberglass mat were packed into the seams. The main amidships deck section will go on this week. Then the motors and prop shafts will be installed, followed by brass sleeves through the casemates for the BB cannon barrels. I have to decide whether to put the cannons in the bow or stern casemates.
Frank had his in the forward case-mates, but they were spurt guns. Only saw him score a hit one time with them. Pretty worthless. But the boat ran well.
I commissioned this hull from Ralph Coles 4 years after 2003 NATS, planning to use the model in Campaign as a base defense ship. It was to be armed with two 1 unit spurt guns in bow casemates and approach stationary battleships shooting at shore targets to fire at them point blank. I designed and built spurt guns that fire 5 BBs at a time so would have a few shots with 1 unit guns. Now I'm thinking I'll use normal BB cannons but due to very tight space in the forward casemate area they'll have to go in the stern casemates. Not enough room for 50 BB mags forward. I plan to angle the stern guns out 15 degrees to port and starboard and depress them for close range shooting. The casemates are not very far above the waterline. I don't see any images of the Profintern hull on the Strike website and don't know how many were sold. A few years ago I put many hours of work into the plug Ralph made to correct some significant errors before donating it to Strike .
I got Franks from either you, or Ralph, been quite a few years, so don't remember who. But I think it was you, the same time I got the 2 I-400 hulls.
