Sorry Justin, no offense intended. When I think of fiberglass hulls, I think of hulls from Battler' Connection, Swampworks, or Bowning Shipyards or other makers who sell hulls to get ships built quickly. Also in general, several fiberglass hulls are made from a single mold, making for several nearly identical hulls. Thus, the quality of the hull does little to reflect the individual skill of the person who buys the hull and completes it as a combat ship. On the other hand, if two people build wooden hulls from the same set of plans, even the same ribs, there is much more variation between the individual hulls, thus a more skillful builder will more likely have a better hull. Maybe I'm biased, but my club takes pride in having lots of good looking wooden models. I'd even go so far as to say that the WWCC has an unofficial competition among builders to see who can build the nicest all-wooden hull. Remember that Montana hull I showed you guys a while ago? It now has a rival, a South Dakota on the ways that incorporates many of the design elements of the Montana as well as several nifty new ideas. Because of all this woodworking around me, I don't know very much about fiberglass, although I will soon find out as I work on the Willie Mackett.
My HMS Rodney is a veteran warship, battled for many years in the Ausbg, getting pounded and delivering the same. Her hull is fibreglass, but has wooden braces epoxied behind the ribs to support them, and mount the caprails and blast sheilds. She's one of about five from the same mould, and all of her sister nelson-class ships have their own distinct identities and performance quirks. When hulls are fitted out by five different individuals, there can be quite a wide variation in how the finished ship performs and looks. Just becauser the starting point (the 'glass hull) was the same won't mean the ships will be clones. Fibreglass for me, for ease of repair and construction. Wooden hulled ships are not to be sniffed at however, they are each a work of art, and I respect the builders of these and their dedication. I'd love to have one, but don't have the woodworking skills or tools, I'm a metalworker by trade and wood won't behave for me. BTW, Bowning is not the only hullbuilder here in Oz, Mick Raue from Armidale makes very nice hulls too, and has begun to export them all over the world.
Well we got on that subject any one know where I can get a Baltimore class hull incase barnstormers doesn’t make his?
