I am in the process of starting my first build, the USS Wisconsin in Big Gun format. I understand from reading the various threads on this forum that the big battleships are not recommended for a first ship, but as this build will most likely be spread out over several years due to having a 5 month old son, I am willing to make mistakes and learn from them on a such a large ship, plus I have always liked the Wisconsin, it was the first model I ever built and was named after my home state. The other advantage is that I have assured my wife any other ships I build will be smaller. I purchased the Wiswesser plans from Strike Models, but upon inspecting them, I found that the plans only include 17 of the hull sections, most of which are logically at the bow and stern of the ship to show curves. What is the best way to get accurate section diagrams for the center of the ship? I am split between 2" and 3" spacing for the ribs, 3" would offer more interior room and fewer ribs to cut but 2" spacing could reduce the risk of a long, tearing hole and offer more support for the hull. I am planning on making the keel similar to the way Tanaaris built his on his Bismarck, though I would be using leftover 3/4" Red Oak plywood from building my workbench rather than 1/2" ply. Thank you guys for your help and any additional input.
Wooden hulls from plans are notoriously difficult unless you have prior experience. A good chunk of that prior experience is turning the existing plans and sections into actual patterns to cut and assemble. Fortunately, the Wisconsin (Iowa class) has a fairly simple hull shape in the middle. You should be able to duplicate a single pattern multiple times to fill in most of the gaps.
If you free hand a new line 1/2 way between the two ribs on the template that are more than double the minimum rib spacing you have a new rib. Do this to a copy of the master rib template and then print the number you need + 3 extra. As for spacing I put a stringer at the minimum below the water line between the ribs and then you can use 1/8" or 1/4" x 1/2" Bass wood from the sub deck to the stringer reducing the number of ribs to cut and not exceeding the minimum spacing. Much faster and a strong clean hull after sanding.
Thanks for the suggestions, I think I will try interpolating the rib sections in order to get the correct rib count and spacing and see how that works out.
Yes I did, thank you. I saw them as I was getting ready to go to bed last night. The various plans there should assist with the issue I am having as well.
Caution: When working with multiple plan-sets, make sure the plans agree with each other. I have seen two different sets of plans for a cruiser that couldn't agree on the hull shape, length, or number of rudders. Just do your basic dummy checks, ie make sure they're printed in the same scale, the rib sections fit, etc.
I realize that, I have seen some of the posts here that have found that out the hard way. I have already found an area on the plans I have that was not drawn symmetrical from port to starboard. The hull sections match one half of the ship drawing looking from bow to stern. I also have an electronic copy of the General Booklet of Plans so that will be another piece of reference material for me to use.
Slowly working on lofting the rib locations onto the building board. A teething six month old doesn't leave much free time but I am still working on it. Now that I have a set of large dividers and the rib locations are marked, I can start on the process of lofting the ribs themselves.
