This is a quick build thread for the USS Langley I built at NATS this year. I designed the hull body for her earlier this year and Will fleshed her out for South Jersey Shipyards. I took delivery of the hull Saturday of nats. Within an hour I had the hull glued together. Work on her continued Mon-Tues with the majority of the build completed Wednesday in prep for Thursday campaign. Overall, she went together very easily. I had to borrow some tools that I neglected to bring with me, mainly drill, bits, and dremel, but with those and some determination she could be a weekend build. Looking at internal placement. Battery in the bow to balance out the heavy stern. The one thing I would change about the boat is going from a geared drive to direct. I've spoken to Will about it but I don't know if it will change. The geared drive works well but it's a bit fiddly to put together with the gearbox being under the crossmember. It's also a lot of extra complexity and parts for a simple convoy. Anywho.. The old covered wagon is coming together. Working on the bench status here. Flight deck is foam board (not recommended) held on with magnets. And on the water Thursday morning for speed check. She ran well, turned ok, and looked great! She did ok during campaign. She sank almost every run but I think that had more to do with the drivers (need to avoid stern guns lol) than the ship itself. I got to take her out for the last convoy run of nats and made a successful run. Was very pleased. I will be pimping her out for next year. Hopefully have a few biplanes on the deck. Overall, great boat. Will did a good job designing her and she went together (relatively) painless. There were a few suggestions I passed onto Will to make V2 even better but it was all minor. I look forward to running her next year.
It was extraordinarily fun to watch this boat go from a pile of parts on Sunday to shooting at it on the water on Thursday. Well done @Beaver and @bsgkid117