The Ship Model Forum

I thought some may care to follow our large scale RC scratch-build project for the Boston and Canberra. At this point I almost have the buck ready for Bondo filler & fiberglass. Yeah, it looks quite awful at this point, but filler and careful sanding will fix that.

BTW: I made the buck a little undersized to compensate for the filler. I will add some photos when I get them down the max KB allowed here. And yes, I could have made it from foam, but that would not have been as much fun.

If build projects like this are frowned upon here, please advise.

I have 3 photos inserted om an MS Word that is under 200 KB and I have tried saving it in various formats but none will load here?

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Build em big

Should be posted in the scratchbuilding and RC section mate... I think pics need to be under 150kb for this forum (it save on bandwidth costs) or you can link em from a photo storage site like photobaucket or Picasa.

Cheers Bruce

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building:
1/72 RC USS LONG BEACH CGN9
1/72 RC USS CALIFORNIA CGN36
1/72 RC USS SAIPAN LHA2
1/72 RC USS JOHN PAUL JONES DDG53
1/72 RC USS SHARK SSN591
1/72 RC USS SEAWOLF SSN21
1/72 RC USS ALBANY CG10

You can open pictures in Microsoft Paint and change the size. For the Forum images must be 1200x1200 pixels or less and 150 Kbytes or less.

In Photoshop you can reduce resolution (increase compression) to reduce file size.

In any case it is best to post directly to the Forum. There are many threads with missing images because people no longer keep their accounts at photo hosting sites. In addition, some of these sites place ads all over the page and interfere with returns to the Forum. In my opinion most of these places suck. If you post directly to the forum the pictures will still be available after the fad image hosting sited have disappeared.

Phil

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

I'm still kind of new here -and quite old everywhere else- and thus did not notice the RC room/section.
Now I just need to get this post moved, hint, hint.
I can reduce the photo size but cannot seem to find a file type that will work?
I don't have that MS app. I do have Turbo-CAD program, but I'm still not up to speed with it yet. I'll give that one a look-see?

Thanks guys.

Ah... success! Well sort of, I just need to edit it some. I inserted it into my cad pro then saved it as a .PNG.

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Build em big

The forum will display .jpg and .png files.

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De quoi s'agit-il?

Paint comes with all Windows versions, usually hidden away as C:/Windows/System32/mspaint.exe. It is a pretty basic program, but is better than nothing.

I normally make a shortcut and place it on the desktop for the occasions I do use it.

Phil

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Dang! Yup it was there! Thanks for the info.

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Build em big

HERE ARE A FEW MORE PICTURES. Adding some bulkheads and deck -less planking- and checking fit here. Still have much to add to the superstructure. I plan on attaching on the related gear such as: motors for turrets, radars, terrier firing systems mounted to the underside of the superstructure and left out as one unit. I may also add a pump and float switch to motor compartment if I can't get the ends of the screw shafts above the waterline. Stuffing box suggestions welcomed. More photos to come.

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Build em big

I lost the list of where to buy screws/props for model warships, and haven't had much luck searching the web. I made my own brass 4 blade screws, and thus far, my first 4 are not looking very effective.

Thanks

Ops, found it............

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Build em big

Well it's almost ready for a hull/screws/motors test. I just need to put some 8/32 threads on the propeller shafts and an receiver in it. It still needs much detailing, and the terrier missiles firing system workout, which should be fun. More photos to come soon.

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Build em big

Be careful that you don't put too much weight topside or the ship won't float upright. Your solid wood gun mounts will be much heavier than hollow assemblies made of plastic.

There was one beautiful build a few years ago that was made with solid wood components like your gun mounts. When it was finally put in the water it wanted to turn turtle and that couldn't be corrected. Very disappointing!

Phil

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Thanks for the concern.
LOL, my first scratch build -in 1/120 scale- was the IJN Yukikaze. It was so top heavy, I had to hang a 5 lb steel bar off the bottom! It almost sank once with my father-in-law at the controls when he crossed the bow of my USS Alaska -no contest here- and almost rolled over! Her decks were awash when it reached the beach.
Thus, I plan to do so floatation test real soon. Whereas the model now has 2 6 volt 7AH gel cells and may get another and much heavier 12 volt gel cell:all 3 are/will be mounted at the bottom of the hull. If our displacement calculations are right, it should be quite stable. Else will I'll be building new 5"DPs, 8" mains and whatnot! I'll try to remember to take some photos of it afloat, perhaps this weekend,

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Build em big

The flotation test went quite well. When tilted until her deck was almost awash, it quickly righted itself.
BTW that test was conducted with a temp heavy and high CG battery, plus 2 6v 7AH batteries. I have since removed the high CG battery and replaced it with 2 6v 12Ah batteries. We were also amazed at how well our DIY props/screws worked. I now have a few servos installed and will, weather permitting, put in the lake again Tuesday and see how it does at full power -12vdc- whereas, the test was at only 6vdc. Photos to come.

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Build em big

I'm still at it; haven't posted any photo lately, whereas , I've been trying to work the bugs out of my electronics. If my problems persist, I may post my schematic for help.

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Build em big

Here's were I'm at with the build:
I just put the last deck plank down. Yeah, it's not very correct and needs more stain work and whatnot, but it looks good.
http://s16.photobucket.com/user/francis ... n.jpg.html
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b50/f ... bjskc9.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b50/f ... 7yakyx.jpg
I had to make the wacky looking superstructure platform to hold it -it can do so upside down also- so I can work on the motors for the 8" main guns, missiles and radars. The upper bridge is almost done; it's just not in place. As you can see, I still have much to do! Although it's what I call a working model, IE, RC with working missiles, I intend to add a lots more detail.

BTW: in addition to her lifeboats, I want add a motor launch or whatever it's called - the one with the small cabin, but I cannot seem to find any specs or good close-up photos. Any help here would be much appreciated.

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Build em big

For the small boats see the "Boats of the United States Navy"

boatscat-250452-1955.pdf

on the Historic Naval Ships Association documents page at:

http://www.hnsa.org/resources/manuals-d ... gle-topic/

You need to know the length of the specific boat(s) you want to model. There are many similar boats of different lengths.

If you want blueprints of the boat(s) see this link:

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=155093

For images of the different common boat types see:

http://www.okieboat.com/CAD%20boats.html

Phil

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Looks like I screwed up! I built and installed two SPG-49 units on my Boston-yup the ones used on the Canbera CAG2 and not CAG1! Thing is I like them better and may redo my ship as the Canberra instead. Whereas doing so will also let me operate a helo from it. I read somewhere that majore difs between the two ships was the deletion of either one 5"DP or one 3"AA. From the photos
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Boston_(CA-\69)#mediaviewer/File:USS_Boston_Cruiser.jpg) and (http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/070/04070.htm)
I've seen they both had the same number of 5" & 3" mounts? Also how accrate is the 1:700 model of the CAG-2 -as seen in a recent What's New here?
Thanks and will post some photod tonight.

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Build em big

Neither the Boston nor Canberra had AN/SPG-49 directors. These were Terrier ships and the SPG-49s were a Talos system radar.

Some of the Terrier radars had a base assembly very similar to the 49s but the antenna was drastically different.

This photo shows the Boston and Canberra side by side:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/070/04010235.jpg

The Boston carried Mk 25 Mod 7 radars initially and the Canberra had the SPQ-5.

Phil

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A collision at sea will ruin your entire day. Aristotle

Here's where I'm at with the build and conversion to CAG-2. btw the helo pad came in very handy whereas I was to recess and hide a 3" speaker [ship's fog + other sounds] under it along with 4 mini toggle switches for the radars, search lights, RC radio, cooling fan. I will add a video later.

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Build em big

Maybe this video will work? nope had to delete

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Build em big