Ship Hulls

I'm about to order some plans from Profile Morskie and am wondering if there would be any interest in Trento Class heavy cruiser hulls, now that they have a 50% rudder bonus.

Also considering IJN Tsugaru and Akashi as convoy ship hulls.

 

The Trento would be an interesting cruiser in Treaty due to it's higher speed.
I am not familiar with the others.
Mikey

 

Hi Mikey,
IJN Tsugaru was a minelayer more than 500' long and Akashi a fleet repair ship over 600' long, with a hull that looks similar to a County Class cruiser's. High freeboard; it would have more hull volume than most convoy ships.

 

I would be interested in a Trento class. There aren't enough Italian ships.

 

I think I'll do the Trento Class; it's flush decked so an easier hull plug to make than the Zara Class. I plan to make the Java Class CL hull first, then the Frobisher Class heavy cruisers.

I gave up trying to buy Steve Hill's London/Dorsetshire mold, so will be making a second plug for those ships. (I gave him the first plug when it was nearly finished in 1999 and he made the mold from it.) Were you able to buy the Fiji mold from him?

 

I tried calling but never got through. I may just try and make my own mold over the winter once I have enough for the NMM plans.

 

I got through 3 times after multiple attempts, but despite saying he'd sell the Fiji/Swiftsure and London/Dorsetshire hull molds if he still had them, he never got around to looking for them. After nearly 2 months I've given up and will make another London/Dorsetshire plug.

Last weekend Ralph Coles said he's interested in doing a Fiji/Swiftsure mold , but only if he's likely to sell 6+ hulls. If you want to do it the plans from Porfile Morskie for the Swiftsure Class are probably cheaper than the NMM's plans. The PM booklet is half the price of their 1/144 plans (19.99 Euros) and you could easily scale the book's plans up to 1/144.

 

I've got very good plans for the London/Dorsetshire and Frobisher Class heavy cruiser hulls and have ordered Profile Morskie plans for the Java Class CLs and Trento Class heavy cruisers. The Imperator Pavel I Class predreadnoughts have been dropped from the 'to do' list because I doubt there would be much interest in them.

Despite probable lack of interest I think I'll build a mold for the hypothetical N3 Class British battleships (from which the Nelson Class was derived) because I'd like to build one and they're allowed in Treaty competitions (and locally). I decided against the hypothetical WWII Lion Class because the longer N3 could have dual sidemounts and a stern gun in a secondary turret but the Lion would only have single sidemounts and the aft turret is too far from the stern to be effective, even with multple guns (its trajectory would have to be nearly horizontal).

 

Can anybody recommend a relatively flat bottomed cruiser? I have an idea on a quick and dirty construction method loosely based of my Steampunk designs.

 

The French Algerie is flat on the bottom. And you already like the looks of the top if I remember correctly.
Mikey

 

Well there you go! The most beautiful cruiser ever built by man meets my requirements!!!!!!

Thanks Mikey!

 

If here was enough interest I'd make a Duca too. She was ~613' long so would get the extra 50% rudder area, making her superior to the Montecuccoli Class which was ~16' shorter. An added bonus for me is that I could modify the plans to make a Swedish Tre Kronor Class hull. The Tre Kronor was designed by the same shipyard as the Monetcuccoli and Duca D'Aosta Classes and has nearly identical dimensions to the Montecuccoli. If interested in a D'Aosta let me know ASAP - I'll hold off ordering a batch of Profile Morskie plans until the weekend.

 

Duca D'Aosta or Duca degli Abruzzi would be nice.

 

I have no access to cad technology to make hulls but if someone else does please proceed with the Duca hull. I have to do the Java and Trento before I get to the Duca.

 

I need to dust off my Cad skills but I'm going to model the Algerie. She gets the rudder bonus also and is a bit beamier that the Duca.

 

I've got Rhino 3D that I somewhat learned taking a home study Naval Architecture course several years ago. Just have to load it up on the new PC.

Some past work. That's the Henri PD I was modeling but RCEngr beat me to market with his most excellent kit. The second is a tank motor (even modeled the screws on that one).