Well, I am back, hopefully much to the distain of others, hee,hee!! Just kidding! 
Are you all up for a new build?? Well, here we go, the USS Indiana, BB-58, in 1/96 scale, a South Dakota Class Battleship circa 1944. Replica is being built for the Indiana World War Museum in Indianapolis, Ind. Same place where my CA-35 Project now resides. Some specs: length - 85"
beam - 14"
Height to top of Foremast - 24"
A big ship, by all accounts. I am in the process of laying out all the hull parts for the initial construction. Doing a lot of ongoing research too, but I have enough to get started. As some of you know, I have moved from Michigan to Jacksonville, Fla. Setting up the house and a new shop after a 1200 mile move was a daunting task. But all is well and I am ready to rock and roll!! I'd like to start off by showing you all some pics of the new shop. Without further adew, here goes..............
Heres a look from the door into the shop. It is above the garage now, where in Michigan it was in the basement. Note the profile drawing of the new ship in the backround. Table in the center will rotate 360 degrees.I have pretty much the same room area as I had before. About 230 sq. ft.
Here's another view, a little closer in. The room is 12 feet wide and 17 feet long. The plan that is hanging is actual size of the model. Note the table and books beneath. The main keel is cut out and is underneath all these books to keep it flat till I am ready to start assembly.
Here's another view of the rotating work table. It's on wheels and is very handy around the shop, as you can see. Note the scroll saw and the disc/belt sander which I am using to cut out and true up the hull sections.The big halogen light also rotates 360 degrees. nice to have light to see what one is doing
!
If you turn 180 and look to the right, here is the view. Note some of my personal ship collection above on the shelf. From left to right, USS Enterprise CVN-68 in 1/350 by Tamiya, IJN Yamato in 1/200 by Nichimo, and the IJN Shinano in 1/250 by Doyusha, all are modified from kit versions. I have givin the shop a lot of counter space which is very useful.
Here's the other side of the shop. I've got things pretty well organized now. Note some of Indiana's hull sections cut out and ready to be installed on the keel. The drill press comes in handy, too. My wife bought me all these tools thru the years. She's a great lady!!
This is a small room adjacent to the main one. I will put a vented paint booth in here soon for smaller parts. Large things like the hull will be painted outside. Florida is great cause it don't get COLD!!!!!
On to the model! Here's some of the hull sections cut out and ready. They are fabricated from .125 ocume marine plywood. there will be 84 of these in total, 42 per side. I am about 1/4 of the way there. Plywood is much stiffer than balsa, so I decided to use it in this new build. Since it will be a static display model, weight is not an issue. The large number of sections should give me a nice, strong, straight hull. We will see.
Here's the foreward part of the main keel, portside. Made from .250 chinese birch plywood. Note I have laid out all the lines where the hull sections will attach. Numbers here correspond with the numbers on the sections. That way we don't get lost
Another view of the keel, portside here. Since this procedure has been illustrated many times on this forum, I won't go into details. You all know the drill. I'll continue to cut out all 84 sections and then begin the hulls framework. I'll be back!! Hope you'll stay tuned, this will be an interesting build!!
I continue on...................
I will miss you Werner. Fair winds and following seas.
