SMS Panzerkreuzer Wahnsinnig (Armoured Cruiser Insanity)

Haven't done any physical work to my AC since bringing it home from the epic build thrash at Tuggy's House of Sawdust (TM)
What I have been doing is research into historical ships of the era to decide what I wanted to do for upper hull & superstructure.
The boat, to be named SMS Panzerkreuzer Wahnsinnig (Armoured Cruiser Insanity) will be loosely based on the following two actual ships:
SMS Odin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Odin
and
SMS Furst Bismarck en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_F%C3%BCrs...%281897%29
Take time to click on the picture links. Both ships are very interesting.

 

RE: Not quite a build thread, but.... I've always liked the Odin class.

 

RE: Not quite a build thread, but....

Thing that amazes me about Odin is how "modern" the turrets look. They look like they came off a modern Russian warship. Now the rest of the ship....not so modern

 

RE: Not quite a build thread, but....
Ok, need some advice... This is my first wood ship build (all previous were fiberglass bought hulls). Here's my plan:
Build up / close the propellor shaft area to locate motor mount & propshaft.
Glue the ribs, stringer, bottom & subdeck together using West Systems
"fill in" the below-one-inch hard area, bow & stern with basswood.
Put the whole thing on the belt sander to round the bottom edge transition to vertical side
Coat the whole thing w/ Urethane wood sealer (or should I use the West Systems for this?)
then start building the >1 inch above hard area of hull (to include tumblehomed sides), super & gun turrets.

Will this work? Thoughts?

 

Titebond III will do the job nicely. I used balsa to fill in the front and already have the stern filled with balsa, the motor/shaft/propeller installed, and even the superstructure built. The only place I did not use Titebond III was on the prop shaft. I used (very carefully) JB Weld for that. MMJR

 

Update: Not much physically done, but have fleshed out my plans for the above-the-penetrable hull, deck & super.
Ship will have a 1/2" (each side) tumblehome above the penetrable area, step deck stern, two forecastle turrets & one aft (all like SMS Odin)
The SS & Funnels will be modeled more on the Furst Biz, as will the overall proportions.

All the non-penetrable area (including the guns) will be 1/4-turn locked to the "subdeck" that allows access to the bottle, batteries, etc. So the whole top of the boat will be one big "hatch".

On the guns: Did we ever nail down if we were going w/ 75 round mags for all guns, or should I mount 50's?

 

A. This is what I did on the USS Texas, BB-000. I use 2 wing nuts and screws to hold the superstructure, guns and all, in place. It is quite efficient
B. I armed the ship with 50 mags. The 75 mags might be a tight fit.
MMJR

 

Tuggy, did the discussion about upping the ammo count (75rnd mags vs 50's) ever get resolved? Getting ready to order guns & need to know which ones....

 

Progress at last!

Ordered the 3x75-round guns for the Panzerkreuzer (I just love saying that... "panzerkreuzer") about a month ago. Yesterday I managed to make enough clear space in my garage to actually do a bit of work. So today the waterchannel got glued to the bottom hull, bow solid area was filled in up to the stringer, and the stern hard area was filled in up to stringer & prop shaft mounted. Next step will be to start gluing in the ribs! Unfortunately, I got called in to work to sub for someone, so no more build this weekend....

A few pics will be up tomorrow.....

 

A few pics....
The hard area in bow


And the stern w/ prop shaft mounted

 

Update:
All the ribs are glued into place with the stringer now mounted. Remaining to glue on is the subdeck. I stopped at that point so that the motormount can be worked on easier, and the existing structure can all be sealed up w/ West Systems.
Once sealed & subdeck installed, all that will need to be done for an operational hull will be skin & mount running gear! Topsides & guns can be added once we get some performance (and weight / displacement) figures.

 

Rudder servo mount set up & bow & stern above-waterline area starting to take shape...

 

Got a few more things done....


Started trying to round the bottom edges... bought a 1/4" router bit. Unfortunately my plan to chuck it up in my drill press and use it that way created too much chatter. So it looks like I'm just going to sand a curve in. Also started bondo-filling the gaps around the ribs at the water channel. No pics of my ugly bondo skillz until it hardens & I can clean it up some

 

Ah, but you need room to use it. Right now I'm so limited on space, I'm trying to "multitask" the only powertools I have set up: Drill press, belt sander, and scroll saw

 

Clark, there is not a thing wrong with any armored cruiser.