Hey, folks! Tomorrow I will begin construction on several wooden-hulled PUMA class transports for Big Gun combat. If you want one, speak now or forever hold your peace. I will check for replies once tomorrow, then I will begin cutting wood. After that, no more requests. The PUMA is a three-island tramp that measures 24 inches long. Single prop, single rudder. It will have 3/8" ribs from baltic birch plywood, and 3/8" keels. Asking price is US$100 plus shipping. Here is a photo of Stan Lopes' Puma. The bow of an LST is to the left, for comparison.
Oops, forgot to include the photo! Also note, this hull will be built in Neal's Garage, so top-quality work is guaranteed. http://www.westernwarshipcombat.com/chartroom/album64/P6100009.sized.jpg
looks allied.... therefore i cannot accept it! but looks like a great ship! (other than the fact it smells of allied swine)
Please correct me if im wrong, But is allied american or british? I always thought allied was ''good guys'' and axis was 'bad guys'
Yes, Allied is generally the Americans and British, while the Axis is Germany, Japan, and Italy. Mike D
Good guys and bad guys are relative terms. For the noble sailors of the Axis fleets, the vile Allied vermin are the bad guys. Of course, we joke (strictly tongue-in-cheek) about ex-vermin renouncing their namby-pamby sissypants allied ways and "coming over to the dark side" As my sig used to say: "Expanding the Greater Southeast-Georgian Co-porsperity sphere!"
Well, all I can tell for sure is that it was on the "no-flag" team for the battle when that photo was taken. When the WWCC has its annual campaign battle, the "no-flag" team is Axis. That's the only specific info I can provide, because in all our other battles, we shift boats around until we have approximately balanced teams, and I'll bet that the Puma fought on both teams often. Based on the color scheme and the naming convention, I would guess that the historical ship was Allied, either American or British. The plans say the historical name was "S.S. Hobo" but I have not found any other info about it, from either club members or the internet. One thing's for sure, the model shown in the photo was a top performer in the transport category. I can only hope that my production run will match it, and that I as a skipper and shipbuilder am up to the task. Since I started working at Raging Waters theme park in San Jose, I now have access to a wave pool. If I get permission, that may be the site of their Sea Trials. Does anybody know how pool water affects electronics?
For those on the fence about buying one or not... When I said that small convoy ships are the most fun on the water, my best fun ever was an hour with one of these at Nationals last year. They are great to run around, fast gun or big gun. If I wasn't getting my business going (and having a lot of hulls in my shop already) I'd buy one myself
well if she historically sailed for both, i'd say it was an allied cargo ship that was captured by the japanese.
it depends on how strong the Cl- concentration is... I maintain mine at a lower level than the wave pool probably does (I don't have 50 zillion people bringing in bacteria), so it's not too bad. But, since they probably aren't running Cu++ in it, you can probably try it without too muh drama. If you're worried, seal the deck with RTV Or come over to my house and use my pool I mean, test basin.
OK folks, I am no longer accepting orders for the PUMA class transport. I have begun construction on four ships, which I will continue to document in this thread. Justin, could you please move this to the GENERAL forum, or some other place appropriate for documenting ship construction? thanks!
THE FIRST IMAGES! Here's me, sanding the subdecks for the first two ships into the correct shape on a giant (9" or 12") disc sander. Here's the shop master, Neal, testing fresh sandpaper on the sanding block, with me watching carefully. This also gives a good view of the tools I get to use when constructing the ships, from a monstrous mill and lathe to basic stuff like the bandsaw, drill press, and sander. Here are the four sub-decks, cut out and ready to go. The brace in the bow will hold a power switch and receiver antenna, possibly a Dean's mini-whip antenna. Here's a shot for scale. In the back is my Spahkreuzer. Inside subdeck 2 is a 7.2v sub-C NiMH pack, which will power them. Inside subdeck 3 is a 12" metal ruler, for precise scale. The lines across each subdeck are exactly 1" apart, drawn on before cutting anything, and help keep stuff square to the length of the boats later on in construction.
Well, a little problem today. I started cutting ribs, then found out that my rib patterns didn't quite match the subdecks. They were either too wide or too narrow. So I corrected rib 1, but had to stop there for dinner. I am currently checking and correcting the other 5 ribs (I am SO glad its a little boat). I will finish the cutting on friday, so expect more photos then.
Hehe.. glad you found it! I had a similar problem building Vanguard, the Goff plans had the overhead view too narrow by a half-inch. After cutting all those ribs... We wound up laying the rib/keel assembly on a sheet of 1/4" ply and marking the edges of all the ribs, and drawing a fair line for the subdeck. Ug. That's why I won't do a ship unless I have known good plans now That 10 minutes of "what-the-heck" scarred me for life. Well, scarred me for 10 minutes, anyway.
OK the ribs are corrected. None of them were more than 1/8" off, but since I pride myself in accuracy to a few 1,000ths of an inch it was rather embarrassing. I will retrace and re-cut the ribs tomorrow afternoon, pictures to follow.
