The Florida Class Dreadnaught Molds arrived today. They have very nice detailed casements and the mold surface is in decent shape. They are the bulged version with a target beam of 8.83 Inches. Sadly they suffer from thin construction and have warped keels from 10 years of shrinking. Will begin the process of blueprinting them this evening after I get a protective layer of sacrificial gel installed.
The Starboard side was able to slip into the Doc thanks to the need for a 1/12 copy of the 1955 Gold Cup Winner Gale V... a boat 2 family members worked on and drove.
Got to see a contemporary of that boat recently at the Reno Air Races. On a trailer... but I did get to hear it start. Glorious!
So tonight... Lines came out very straight in the keel But sides shrank. Beam at casements should be 7 5/8”. They measured in at 7 1/4”. Tricky part to that is the measurement for max beam is way low on the boat, so I first built a thwart at 8.83” and installed it low in the bulges. That made the deck beam at the casements way too big. So I had to call in Dr. Clamps to fix what Ails it. Overall I think the lines look good now, but this whole structure is under Buku stress, so Ima Let this sit overnight and think about who she is, what shes done, and how she can get back to the way things used to be.... plus I have 6 boats to ship so I gotta go. If Dori asks...I wasn’t here.
Sitting 3 days in clamps while I caught up on powerboats the sides gave back 1/4” toward normal. So back in the clamps and a really thick lip of low catalyzed glass (to stretch out the exotherm time) with the equivalent of a 1/2” rod of solid glass laid in flat to set the lip.... but I seriously just sold 3 more powerboats in the time it took me to set this up... so it’s back to the go fasts.
The first glass template is cut to super tight tolerance. Lol. Turrets will be rock solid double layers with 4x at the seams.
Update: With the thwart and clamps removed the hull is just 3/16” narrow of the design at the deck casements. Was really hoping I wouldn’t have to go the distance and feed this thing a rib dinner. I have to strip this gel out (it gave its life protecting the molds) and spray in new before I can reinstall the thwart and clamps to set ribs properly. The lines all look good and I’m tempted to call it good for the moment. What do you guys think?
If the extreme beam is within tolerance of the rule set and everything appears nice aesthetically, I would just leave it be. A hull is easy to tweak a touch at the deck if someone is really that worried about it. Don’t forget there is going to be a skin on it as well that adds an 3/32” to 1/8” of beam generally.
I just can’t do it. Here’s a funny thing about me. I drive a 20 year old truck that is hot wired to start since the ignition switch went bad. That doesn’t bother me one bit... I tell the kids that’s my security system. Lol. But when it comes to making scale ships, I like them done right. So I spent a couple hours setting this thing right and bracing it out to spec. Tomorrow I will laminate them thar ribs and be ready to make nice hulls Sunday.
... ...GREAT TIM!!the FIRST step is always admitting you have a problem....see you at the next meeting....
While Buttsakauf is enjoying his New Baby... I’m here getting closer to making him a couple more Dreadnaught Babies. Congratulations Mike!
Beam 8.8”, 7.625” at the casements. Lines all look GREAT! Surgery Successful... Nurse, Roll this patient to recovery for a haircut.
We use strand roving for strength and filling hard corners. Makes for really solid built in stringers and ribs. Hull skin and first layer of armor installed... tomorrow night, we jam the Beatles and Come Together.
Finally! 3# 14.5oz uncut. Sides are a solid glass packed 3/16” thick all around. Strangely Alien looking Stern.... the Norse God Utah.
