Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I was looking for some help in restoring this old scratch built destroyer model, specifically how to repaint hard to reach and fragile areas of a model ship, best places to buy ~1/91 scale fittings, (ladders, rail stanchions, etc), and repair wood that had gotten wet. I believe it may be a model of a Mitchner Class destroyer called the USS Wilkinson from the cold war. http://www.destroyers.org/photos-images/p-dl-5-1.jpg
Trying to figure out what these different types of cleat fittings are called and where to get them...
The left one is an Open Chock. The right one is a pair of Mooring Bitts. Some people call them Bollards but, those are on land : P If you measured them, they could be 3d printed pretty easily. PS. That is a nice model. I can't wait to see it all fixed up : )
Thank you. Today went through it fixing small stuff, broken fixtures, etc. I scraped out the water damaged balsa in one of the compartments, exposing the outer glass, and replaced the soft stringer. Should I replace this thin balsa sheeting with fiberglass? Also, do you guys paint the internal hull wood with anything, like epoxy, sanding sealer, dope, etc? Because the interior of this ship is untreated.
Not sure why the water seeped in this compartment, it has a fiberglass outer shell. Maybe it was this interior void in the layup and the outer coat is just porous enough.
Moved on to sanding and filling gaps in the superstructure. Added some additional windows per the online resources I found about these ships. Played around with potential interior lighting, which would be cool. To that end, where do battleships typically mount nav lights? I haven't found that answer anywhere.
While us combat builders don't do this for penetrability reasons, I would recommend you seal the interior of your boat with West Systems Epoxy or similar. It will soak into the wood and seal it quite effectively, along with filling in and reinforcing rotten sections of wood. While I have seen people paint the interiors of their boats with regular grey paint or other colors, I've never seen it look good like that. As for where the water came, if you can't find any possible sources below the waterline, it probably came from the deck. A poorly sealed deck can let a lot of water in, even on a high-freeboard boat like that. If it isn't dried out immediately afterwards, that's when you get wood damage and rot.
Xanther you mentioned 3d printing the bollards and open chocks, is there any particular place you'd recommend to accomplish that? I do not have 3d printing equipment.
If not for combat, you would get more results from this forum: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewforum.php?f=13&sid=e52d4b5ee506e24be1d0a24ac29e5f03
I was enjoying the build. I think that Lou was trying to help you with some of the detail questions. Most of us "fast gun" don't put that much detail into our builds, seeing as they will be taking a lot of damage.
Okay, cool. I just don't want to clog up the forum if this isn't very relevant to your area of the hobby. In the rc airplane world (where I came from) that's a big no-no.
Nope, not trying to derail. You are posting and looking for help with a group that doesn't put on much detail (where you are asking to purchase bits for topside). Ask away, just didn't want any ill will when you won't get a lot of help in that regard. Now if you want a ballast pump or electrical that will get some response
That would be fantastic, thank you. Meanwhile, I took your advise and West epoxy coated the interior last night. Pulled the motor, and cut some fiberglass cloth out to replace the balsa voids. Was a more painstaking process than I expected, as it all runs to the bottom and you have to constantly keep mopping up the excess from the keel, but you guys were right, what a difference, seems stiffer. Great insurance for any future water leaks too. I was careful not to go overboard and add too muchweight, though the ship requires lead ballast to sit at the waterline anyway so it works out. Doesn't seem much heavier. Does the underside of the deck get any treatment?
Yes, you'll want to properly waterproof both sides of the deck with epoxy. If not properly waterproofed, the wood will swell and shrink as it gets moist, causing larger cracks that accelerate the process. Your early photos show a fair number of places where that has already happened. If you're up for a more extensive re-work and preservation, you should also probably sand and epoxy the superstructure, then repaint it all.
Well, the deck is getting completely replaced. The original builder made the deck of balsa- I will be completely replacing it with 3/32 hobby quality plywood, which I've already ordered. It just cracks and warps way to easy. It will be a process to swap this out for sure.
Pulled all the motive equipment out in prep for all the sanding and paint, repaired the solder joints on these brass rudders. I saw another post here talking about rudder thickness, that had me thinking maybe I should beef them up with layers of balsa or something. Is that normally how its done?
I used brass plate rudders for years, they turn the boats just fine. Rudder shape is only significant in models if you're trying to squeeze every last radian of turning performance out of your boat, such as in competitive combat models.
