The Ship Model Forum

I'm working on the shaft lines while the model can be easily laid upside down. I took advantage of the hull's quarter-inch thick bottom to dig out troughs for the hull glands. Then a jig supports the shafts in proper alignment while glued at the forward ends. I'll leave the jig in place while making the struts to fit. Finally, wood filler will clean up the troughs around the shafts before painting.

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Mike Perry

This shows the completed propeller shafts.

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Mike Perry

Now I have to get serious about thinking through the rest of the design and laying out the details. Here are the locations for the gun mount and the 32-cell vertical launch system.

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Mike Perry

Mooring chocks, bitts, and access hatches. The chocks are made by rolling a thin strip of index card over a thin wood mold with glue. The bitts are a piece of index card for the base and short pieces of square styrene rod. The hatches are all cut from sheet styrene.
I've decided that either the autonomous ship has no anchor, or it's recessed in the keel with a windless below decks. Let a boarding crew tie it up to a tender or moor it to a buoy.

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Mike Perry

Interesting idea, the aviation tactical environment is increasingly making use of the autonomous (or a least remote) technological capabilities. Aviation has short missions and considerable maintenance availability whereas ships (in my ancient experience) need/needed a lot of TLC underway as such capabilities as damage control. As with aircraft eliminating much of the space allowed for those pesky swabbies does bring some design flexibilities.

A good imaginative project!

These three photos show assembly of the stack. Intake screens will be glued to the sides of the stack after final painting.

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Mike Perry

I completed the 32-cell vertical launch system and am working on the antenna tower. The enclosure for the electronically scanned radar array is partially built.

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Mike Perry

More work on the antenna tower. I made a simple jig from scrap wood to help align the slanted faces of the main radar while the glue set.

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Mike Perry

More progress on the antenna tower and a good coat of haze gray. I try not to linger while spray painting outside the basement door since the temperature is about freezing.

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Mike Perry

More progress on SATCOM domes, radar antennas, and EOIR turrets.

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Mike Perry

I have added the intake screens on the stack, Naval Strike Missile cannisters, and painted the vertical replenishment spot on the stern.

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Mike Perry

Working on the 57mm gun mount.

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Mike Perry

I made the propellers from cuticle sticks and old business cards. They look rough close-up but are only a half inch in diameter.

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Mike Perry

Wood is a fun medium to work with and various paper products very useful for ship modeling. For instance the gun tubs and bulwarks on my APA are all Strathmore, archival heavy weight artists papers. Song, a talented worker in wood, has used a similar method, though all in wood, for the propellers on his many projects. Having participated in the marine environment, it has always seemed as shipboard life always has required a lot of ongoing crew involvement to keep everything running.

Cheers: Tom

Photos of the completed model.

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Mike Perry