Greetings! Another Ship under construction? Of course there is! This handsome ship was the lead ship in an improved pair of the Gulio Ceasare class ships laid down before WW1. Dulio saw little service in WW1 as the Austrian fleet remained bottled up in port. Just before WW2, Dulio underwent an extreme rebuild which completely altered her appearance, removed the center turret, changed her guns from 305mm to 320mm, and increased her speed dramatically. While now a modern looking ship, Dulio and her sisters were still rather small and under-armed for WW2, still they presented a huge threat to Royal Navy in theater. Dulio was hit by one torpedo during the Taranto raid and was not back in service for 6 months. Most of the rest of the Italian war was spent escorting convoys. It begins! Getting the subdeck in.
Again, I want to thank you for the delivery of the Baltimore. Can't wait to work on it. That laser cut kit is very well done and you did a nice job assembling it. Gary
Still on the hunt for Italian seaplanes. I got a couple F1M 'Pete' spotters, might be able to modify them and be close enough. Of course then I'll need more Petes. I have more E13 'Jake's than I know what to do with... Also looking for 20mm mounts. The Jap mounts I have are just too different looking.
More work this morning after work. Decks trimmed to fit and guns mounted. Up next is some superstructure (which I'm not looking forward to) and driveline.
More progress on the Italian slugger. Got the rudder post, shafts, and gearboxes in. Started the water channel. Yes, yes, I know everyone hates the concrete sealant. I love the stuff (when used in moderation) to get a nice level base going. I'm sure using a lightweight something would be technically better, but I like having a chunk of weight right at the bottom of the ship. I've got the weight to spare so why not. Ordered a set of paper plans from Profile Morskie so I can start in on the super.
It had two rudders in tandem just like the others (Doria, JC, Cavour, and the one that explodes Leonardo), you also get a area bonus of 50% with two.
I know, building my own rudder set off a spare I had around that I liked. Just needed to get the shafts aligned for now. I'll put the stub rudder in once the sealant dries up.
You have to make both shafts turn, but you don't have to have a real rudder on the small stub shaft. I still turns real slow but with some rudder tricks it could be almost competitive. Make the rudder really thick on the forward part to provide some added brake to forwards, with a really nice fishtale on the backend. Doria was my first, and you always love your first, really nice looking boat. The camo on these Italian boats are works of art.
If it works like my Goben or Tyler's Derf you should be able to turn slightly "drift" in reverse. Handy when trying to back down on someone or chasing them in reverse.
Superstructure time! Oh how I like and dislike it at the same time... Thanks to the Italians' love of circles and random ovals for superstructure I've used a pretty large variety of stuff in the build so far. Rubber hose, aluminum tube, plastic tube, balsa wood, pvc in several sizes, soda caps, gatoraide caps, and Duct Tape. Should look a lot nicer once paint goes on.
Forward tower completed minus detailing like railings, windows, small mast parts, rangefinder end plates, etc. In the tower I used numerous sizes of Balsa, PVC pipe in several sizes, soda caps, WD40 cap, rubber grommet from the Jeep's old spring bushings, Duct tape, and some plastic tube. Good times!
And some more updates, paint and deck fitting mostly. Duilio had a very unusual combination of wood decks with camo and barber stripes.
