Haven't really had much time the last two weeks to work on it much, but got the propeller shafts and rudder post in and mounded up some JB weld to seal and reenforce them. Also added a bunch of the grey goop around the subdeck to fill in gaps and make a smooth transition from hull to subdeck. I really love this stuff... it's insanely strong, easy to work with, sands nice, paints nice. Hopefully by the end of the week I can have motors and a rudder mounted.
Woo hoo! Arizona met the water for the first time today. With some barrowed parts, and ramdom stuff for ballast she sailed around the pond nicely. Still needs a lot of work, but still a huge milestone today.
Oh, man. Sorry, I haven't checked in here in a while. I work split shifts and I am either getting ready for work, driving to work, working, or driving home from work. I really haven't made much progress on the AZ sadly lately. I started cutting out the windows in the hull this week and hope to have it sheeted and painted up by the weekend, I will then take some photos of it and hopefully have it sailing around unarmed but looking good in a couple of weeks. I will post some photos soon...
Not a whole lot done lately like I said. Just too tired and busy. I have finished sheeting it since these photos, I just need to get it cleaned up a little more and then I'll paint it and reinstall the internals and will be needing to get some guns before I can really keep going.
Whoa, getting close to being ready for some real sea trials... All 4 shafts and motors are in, leaks have been located and plugged. Rudder is now moving both directions an equal amount. I am hoping to take it over to my parent's pond this weekend for some testing. See how it handles fully wieghted down to the waterline, with all 4 motors instead of just the two in the old pictures of it on the water. Going to finish up painting it today and tomorrow and I should have some more photos. Then, I need guns. I sorta figured this was going to be a two year project, being my first large battleship. I figure I still have a year to get it armed so I'm doing alright. It's been a little slower getting it onto the water then I had planned, buying a house kinda distracted me for most of the summer. Pictures tomorrow of it all painted and the rigging and whatnot all hopfully finished up, or at least mostly so. I am searching for a small CLOTH flag to use... anyone know of any 48 star cloth flags small enough to work for our scale?
Great to hear it is still on going. Buying a house is very important and a good reason for a break. I don't know of a 48 star flag but I found a roll of fourth of July cloth ribbon flag and use it on all my American ships. Here's a shot of it. Can't wait to see more photos!
