Sporting some wood for the Mighty Hood

Hey, what was Hoods speed in 1940?

 

I said it before. I will say it again.
HMS Hood will be running in her Denmark Straits configuration, and her top speed will be 28 knots. So she will be running the same speed as the Prince of Wales.
I think that having the old Hood run at this lower speed, will give the Bismark drivers enough incentive to leave the protection of their fjords.
If the Germans don't show up in the Denmark Straits, then there can be no battle.
Of course, we British could then just cruise around showing the flag, which would be way cool.
But not as cool as re-writing the outcome of the battle of the Denmark Straits.
Mikey

 

After reading all of the discussions about how to set up the Hood for the Denmark Straits battle, I have decided to go with the following.

Full-unit pump, (battlecruiser), 1 gpm.

(2) one-unit (50 round) cannons in "B" turret, aimed 45 degrees off the port bow.

(1) 1.5 unit (75 round) cannon in "A" turret, aimed 45 degrees off the starboard bow.

(1) 1.5 unit (75 round) cannon in "X" turret that can pivot from 45 degrees off the starboard bow, to 45 degrees from the stern (but still to starboard).

I will leave "Y" turret empty, so that it does not interfere with the drive set-up.

Mikey

 

Hood was 29 knots at Denmark Straight.

 

Mike,
Was that her estimated speed from the surface to the sea floor?

 

I'm pretty sure Hood and Bismarck were equal in that regard.

 

OK. 29 knots is better than 28.
My point is that the Hood will NOT be set up to run in her as-built configuration (32 knots). She will be running in her 1941 config, and will in any case be a little slower than the Bismarck, and P.E.
Mikey

 

My HMS Hood hull arrived from Ralph. It looks great.
Bob Pottle has supplied a set of main turret covers. Thanks again Bob.
I have been doing a little work on my drawings lately, and the construction will begin in the very near future.
She will be ready for our Denmark Straits event in May.
Mikey

 

The Hood mold is still for sale if anyone's interested. I'm waiting for Tugboat to return the turret mold, but if necessary can make another mold from my one remaining turret. The Hood mold was professionally made from my plug by a local fiberglass company.

Bob Pottle

 

Bob
I might be interested in buying the Hood mold down the road if it is still available. First, I want to try to make some hulls from the Richelieu mold.
If I am able to make hulls, then I will see what molds are still available.
But until I have tried making hulls, it might be counter-productive for me to buy more molds, and have them sit collecting dust.
Mikey

 

What is the best method for putting a sub-deck in a fiberglass hull?
I generally shape the 1/4" x 1/4" spruce, and then mark the center, and ends, so that I can apply some hobby-poxy to most of the area, and then tack it in place with super-glue at the ends, and in the center. Then apply small clamps to the area that has epoxy on it.
It seems to work well, but to be honest. I don't really like working with epoxy.
Any idea?
Mikey

 

All
The Hood is 71.666" long.
Using the rib calculator (1/4" ribs), with 2" of solid in the bow, and 1" of solid in the stern, the end result is that I can have 30 ribs. They will be spaced fairly evenly (just over 2" apart.
This is the first time I have ever used the rib calculator to figure my ribs, and spacing.
I generally take the model length. 71.666"
Multiply by .15 = 10.749" (allowed solid area).
Minus 3" (2" solid in the bow, and 1" solid in the stern).
Which leaves 7.749" left for ribs.
I like using 1/4" ribs, so I multiply 7.749" times 4 = 30.99 ribs.

So if the Hood is 71.666" long, and has 3" of solid area already, then that leaves 68.666" of hull left.
So I take 68.666" and devide by 30 (number of ribs)and that tells me that my ribs will be about 2.28" apart (center-to-center).

Does anyone see anything wrong with my figures?
And if not. Does anyone have any questions about the rib calculator?
Mikey

 

When building a hull, I always look for two things that will dictate where I start placing my ribs.
First is a step-deck. I always try to place a rib at a step-deck, in order to make sheeting the hull easier.
The Hood has a step-deck aft, so I will place a rib there first, and start spacing the rest of the ribs according to that.


The second thing is a transome stern.
If a ship has a transome stern, then I always have less than the allowed 1" of solid there, so that I can place more ribs along the rest of the length of the hull.
The Hood does not have a transome stern, so it does not change anything in this case.
But, lets take the Vanguard for instance, which does have a transome stern.
I would basically make the stern of the ship (which is flat)just like a 1/4" rib. Then I would take the other 3/4" and add 3 more (1/4") ribs along the length of the hull.

I like my ribs evenly spaced along the length of the hull in order to make sure that if I have any splitting (of the balsa sheeting)from damage from multiple barreled turrets (triple sterns and such), it will only be about 2" long, because the ribs will stop the splitting.

Some others may space their ribs according to their battling style, or how they have their ship set up with cannons.
For instance. A ship with dual-firing side-mounts on both sides (in the forward turrets), like a Rodney, might have ribs spaced closer together in the forward half of the ship, but have the ribs spaced further apart in the aft half of the ship, as they might anticipate taking most of their damage forward.
Mikey

 

In the case of a fiberglass hull, with a rib or two that need to be moved, it is no problem. Just mark off the ribs with the appropriate thickness pin-stipe tape. Or whatever tape you like. I use the pin-stripe stuff. It is easy to get at automotive places.
If you have to adjust a rib or two for any reason, just remember that it is best to have the larger width windows where it is least likely to take damage.
Mikey

 

When it comes to the sub-deck/deck area of a fiberglass hull, the first step is to figure out what set of rules you will be playing. Most clubs allow 3/8" (total)of sub-deck and deck. There are a couple clubs that allow up to 1/2" for larger ships.
In this case, I am allowed 3/8". So I will be using 1/4" sub-deck, and 1/8" deck.
So following the extreme upper edge of the hull, I will mark off 3/8" with tape. The tape for the ribs will then connect with the sub-deck tape to form the upper edge of the penetrable windows.
Mikey

 

Now comes the tricky part.
How deep do you need to cut the lower edge of the penetrable windows?

In the case of the Hood, it will be fairly easy, as I know how deep I want her to sit in the water. I know where I will be placing he water-line. So it is a simple thing to mark off the water-line on the hull, and then simply measure down 1", and mark that.
When you have the sub-deck/deck, ribs, and the 1" below the water-line marked off you will have windows surrounded by tape.
I drill a small hole (1/16") in the very corners of each window, and then cut between the holes with a dremel tool with a cut-off disc.

But what if you don't know where your water-line will be.
Mikey

 

Mikey,
Your rib calculations are right. I had 30 1/4" ribs on my Hood model. Making hulls isn't hard. I'll be happy to provide advice if needed.

Bob

 

All
After putting quite a bit of thought into just how I wanted to
construct the superstructure for the Hood, I came to a couple
conclusions.
1. I prefer to work with wood, but some of my previous
superstructures were arguably too heavy.
2. I find the closed-cell foam from BDE easy to work with, but don't
always like the texture of it when it is coated with epoxy, and it
also only stands up to BB damage to a lesser extent.

So I decide that I would try something new for the Hood.
I am going to construct the s/s out of both wood, and the closed-
cell foam.
All of my levels will be aircraft-ply. And the buildings will be a
mixture of foam and balsa wood, with the lower levels being wrapped
in 1/64", or 1/32" ply.
Also. The buildings that do not get sheeted with ply, will probably
get silk-span over them, just to improve the texture.
More to follow.
Mikey

 

There are probably several ways to figure out where the water-line
should be located.
But it is also possible that if you were to obtain three different
sets of plans for the boat that you are building they may each show
the water-line in a different location.
So I would think that the first step would be to determine which
format you will be battling to, and check out the ship-list. There
will be a maximum weight allowed for your particular ship.
So one could take the hull, and weight it down to the max allowed
weight. If you don't own a scale yourself, you can always go to the
post office, UPS store, that sort of thing, and ask them if they
would be kind enough to weigh it for you.
When you have it loaded down to the max weight, then put the hull in
a pool, tub, etc., and mark where the water-line is.
That is not to say that you have to keep the water-line in the same
location. But at least you now know where it will be at max weight.
Mikey