Some. Work on Hull #1 has slowed down while I work on getting wood cut for the other four hulls. Hull #1 has it's balsa bottom half installed. I also fixed the subdeck to properly blend angled into the ribs using the same built up wood method I used on the Verite. Guess I didn't learn my lesson the first time. Heh. The other four hulls already have a little extra material built in so I won't have to do it again ... and again ... and again ... and again. Came close to making a mistake this weekend with the waterline and bottom of the penetrable window. It was set up to float at 3/8" below the rear step deck and the windows were cut 1" below that. Today, while reading the MWC construction rules, found out that Class 2 and below must have a minimum of 1/2" freeboard at the hull's lowest point ... the stern step deck in this case. So today after work, I went back and adjusted the waterline markings and trimmed the bottom of the windows by 1/8". The waterline will not be adjustable on this ship. It must float at 1/2" freeboard at the stern. If it is too light, then the penetrable window will be less than 1". If it is too heavy, then we break the 1/2" freeboard rule. As it is, that stern deck should go underwater when the ship starts moving. It will have a little more hull above the water than my Gloire. That won't be too bad of a thing ... although it'll have more side to get hit, it'll also have a bit more buoyancy to stay afloat when it does get hit. At the moment, I'm predicting a final weight of around 8.5 pounds. That's doable thank goodness. Dave, do you guys have any more of that lightweight internal armor?
Sure do, I think Rick still has quite alot, he purchased the whole roll, after Don showed it to him from Skycraft. The next time I'm at Rick's weekend after next most likely, I will get you some.
Awesome. Think you can send me a piece about 1' x 4'? Going to take a shot at finishing hull #1 by the Armed Forces day battle.
Mike, I have that much light weight armour in the garage, send me your address, I will ship it out to you, I can get more from Rick later. Also whats the latest update, 18 days to go. )
Nope. Still here. Heh. Work has pretty much stopped this week on the Omahas while I get ships ready for this weekend's IRC Spring Regional. I did get hull #2 mostly framed up. Hull #3 is waiting for #2 to get off the board. #4 and #5 still need ribs cut out. I'll get back on it hard and heavy next Monday and push to get them done.
We had our Saturday battle last weekend, I came home, and spent 5 hours working on the Duke Sat evening, 8 on Sunday, 5 Monday, 5 Tuesday, and 3 this evening, and just about have it all back together again, need to reattach the safety pins is all, and patch some holes. Was not happy with the gun layout at all, way too many deck shots, so I redid everything, found that I had 3 out of 4 bad pistons in my solenoids, and replaced those, what a difference those make, shoots like new again. I got Rick to buy the vertion pistons, more resistant to chemicals. So far we have not had to replace one of those yet.
A small update ... After basically taking a week off from working on the Omaha hulls to get ready for the IRC Spring Regional, I got right back on the hulls tonight. Hull #2 is finally off the building board after finishing up the sub deck doublers and bow frame. Next up for it is a bit of rib and subdeck shaping before starting on the hull bottom. Hull #3 will go on the board tomorrow night and get framed up. Hull #1 and #2 sitting side by side. As for the Spring Regional ... the Richelieu was Yamato bait on Friday, but the Verite was a little devil among the big ships on Saturday. I had a blast!
Although it might seem work has slowed on the Omaha hulls, it hasn't! All the building hours have been split between the hulls, which makes the build look slow. Without more excuses, here are some pictures ... Before and After pic? Nope. Three of the hulls next to each other in various stages of construction. The middle hull is the most finished, only lacking a layer of fiberglass before being shipped out. The top hull is hull #1, the prototype used to iron out any building errors in hulls #2 through #5. The bottom hull is in the raw, ready to be shape sanded. Hull sanded to shape and sitting next to it's sisters. The middle and left hulls will get figerglassed tomorrow (Wednesday) night, trimmed and packed Thursday, and shipped out Friday. Then its time to pick up where I left off on hulls #4 and #5. From the stern. The stern on these ships are very narrow. The plan is to move the rudder forwards about 1.5" to get enough space for the rudder comtrol system. Notice two of the hulls do not have the skeg on them ... I'll leave it up to the captains getting those hulls to put them on after planning and setting the prop shafts. Dave, I need an address to ship to.
Hi Mike Those are sweet looking, Don and I will be totally happy with those babies. I emailed you my address. They should be alot of fun at Nats.
These are beautiful. Sigh... It is a good idea to move the rudder. I have found myself in an awkward position in my build, where I don't have enough room and things are very difficult.
Welcome to the wonderful world of mass-production wooden hulls. I build my ships four-at-a-time. Imagine to plank four battleship hulls at once
As requested ... Shortly after getting fiberglassed. Love how wood hulls look at this stage ... the resin really brings out the wood grain. All trimmed up and ready for packing! The bow area got two layers of cloth for extra strength. All packed and waiting a trip to the post office/UPS store. It gets sent Saturday morning. Hopefully, Dave and Don will be able to post pictures of these two hulls during their outfitting. In the meantime, time for me to get back on the other two hulls!
Nice Mike, I can't wait to get them. I will have to see if I can get one done for the Savannah battle, will be tough, not much time.
