Hey all, A few months ago I bought a Tennessee battling kit from StrikeModels, with the intent of building the USS California. The kit came with most of the major components needed for a combat ship, minus radio system, batteries, and firing boards. Since would be my very first ship, I had some thoughts about downgrading to a cruiser. However, after battling with Mark's Scharnhorst at a recent GLAS battle, I found I really liked using side mounts. Thus, I've decided to proceed with my build. Mark is a 30 minute drive from me, and has graciously offered assistance, which I will definitely need. I will also post questions here (and updates) as I go along. So far I've managed to find the center of gravity and waterline after floating the hull in my bathtub. I aim to mark the ribs hopefully later this week, with cutting to follow after. Hoping to have a combat ready battleship by next June or July... or maybe August. Picture of the hull and deck:
I've started on the strike tennessee model last week also. noticed the tennessee kit comes with California plans .while I realize they are sister ships, are their superstructure identical to each other? if you haven't seen them yet their are a couple Tenn class builds on here with lots of great info.
Awesome. It's nice to have someone else working on the same ship class as well. To my knowledge, the California and Tennessee were very much identical, especially after their post- Pearl Harbor modernization, so the plans could be used for both. I've seen KevinP's California build on this forum too, it's been very helpful for me to get a visual of the building process. EDIT: I just noticed something. Even though the title on the plans say USS California, the hull number on the sideview drawing is 43,which is the Tennessee's hull number. The two ships really were twins.
theirs also a california build under curt that I think bb26 did , not sure on the ppl involved , but a lot of good info in it too.thanks on the ss info.
glad to see another member and a build thread. Let me know if you have any questions, I will post some pictures of my refitted aft configuration soon, moved a few things around
Well spent part of today marking the ribs. I took a look at your build Kevin, and I decided to follow your patterning, since it looks like you placed ribs at strategic places (i.e. the edges of the casemates). I'm going to see if Mark can verify the ribs in person before I attempt to cut. I'd also like to hear your thoughts on my marked hull below. I used .25 inch rib thickness, for 19 ribs total according to the IRCWCC rib calculator. In the meantime, I've had more than one person tell me to attach the subdeck first before cutting, so that's going to be next on my agenda.
If this little pencil mark is your waterline, then move the bottom of your windows up. They only need to be 1" below the waterline.
Hi Steve, Yes that is the waterline mark. I was going off on KevinP's California build when I marked the window bottoms. It seems if I go off the 1 inch rule, my bottoms are too high, compared to other California builds I've seen. I've marked what the window bottom would look like with the 1" rule with a red arrow. Does it look high to you? Thanks This is KevinP's hull which I'm using for reference:
The windows on my hull are cut deep, i recommend setting the bottom of the windows at 3 1/4" down from the top of the hull at the forward end of the casements, 3" from the top of the hull at the step (high side), and 2 1/4" from the top of the hull from the step moving aft until you get to the 45 degree portion
KevinP's measurements were exactly spot on for my ship. I lowered the window bottom by 1/16th of an inch just to err on the conservative side.
Listen carefully to Kevin P. And Steve T. They are some of our local Rocket scientists and Have great stuff... and you have access to another rocket Scientist in Mark Roe as well! Hope you are coming by on the 16th 0r 30/1st battles. Finally another American battleship for me to shoot at..... I was running out of new targets! Ahhh, Yes another set of Trips to,
Definitely trying to utilize the experience of veterans here! I will be at both upcoming battles. Look forward to meeting you and the rest of GLAS. And I'm happy to provide another target.
I managed to get the subdecks in after lots of sanding to match the contour of the hull (epoxy is drying as I type this). I also got my dremel today and it works perfectly; cuts through the fiberglass like butter. Unfortunately, I stopped after a few seconds because it kicked up a LOT of fiberglass dust. I thought about splashing water on the area being cut every few seconds but that's tedious and the water would pool quickly on my table. I was wondering what you guys do to control the dust that gets in the air. EDIT: I should clarify that I haven't forgotten to drill the corners of the windows; the dremel cutting was just a test run to see if it worked.
I use a shop vac in one hand, dremel in the other, it collects all the dust, just use double hearing protection (ear plugs and muffs), and dust mask/safety glasses. I recommend verifying the beam measurement to make sure it will be within the 1/8" tolerance with balsa on the sides (will add 1/16")
Thanks Kevin. That seems like a good plan. I didn't think of using earplugs, since it wasn't too loud, but I'll use them to be safe. I checked the beam before and after I put the subdecks on. Strikemodel's deck measurements were spot on
Cut it in front of a Box fan with a cheap furnace filter on it sucking the air away from you, and if you have another Blow it toward the first one and I had no dust above my wrists and hardly any there even. Eye, breathing and hearing protection hopefully go without further mention. It was cheap and easy to set up, next time I will tape cardboard to the fan sides, top and bottom to increase the suction as well(Creating a suction box) ps. Everyone loves progress picks, it helps us live vicariously thru your building of your ship.
Pictures as requested! I couldn't help but dryfit the main deck and superstructure as well. I love the post Pearl Harbor California. It looks like a mini SoDak with 4 turrets. Pardon the sawdust. I gotta clean my table this weekend. My kit seems to be missing a superstructure block in (I think) the exact same spot as KevinP's kit. I put a slice of PVC pipe as seen below to show the part that is missing. I plan to replace that with a scratch built foam block. Should be easy. For the most part, the epoxy I used held really well. There is absolutely no wiggling and looseness felt. The epoxy is an ugly grey color, but of course it'll all be painted over in the end. Nevertheless, there is some gaps in the stern and bow areas that I plan to fill with epoxy. After cleaning up the subdeck gaps, next step is to drill the window covers and cut the hull.
I would do it OUTSIDE, like Mom was behind you shouting. The dust that FG makes is very TOXIC to your lungs and furniture and carpet. Use a box fan outside blowing AWAY from you and the boat. Hearing and eye protection is a good idea too. If the EPA comes by just stop cutting and make like you are cleaning it?
