new ship builder U.S.S. Idaho (BB-42)

[fooman2008]

new guy Hey all
I go by the handle of Fooman and I am 45 years old I have been modeling since I was 10 years old. I am a Navy vet and have plenty of experience with large size craft (A spruance class tin can), and even a helm watch on an aircraft carrier (90,000+ tons).
I have been thinking of building a sit down model ship and am looking for a little input.
My current thought is to use a canoe for flotation and basic hull structure which means that its maximum length couldn't be much over 25 feet. The current thought about propulsion is to use a pair of trolling motors utilizing foot controls and leaving my hands free for operating other details of the craft. I am also thinking of using PVC pipe for flotation/trim on the model.
I live in an intensely patriotic area of the United States and I would probably be inclined to make this a USN craft since it would be displayed on local parades. Also I would like to float this craft in the local Fork (branch) of the Snake River in Idaho Falls, Idaho and it would require the craft to be able to achieve a speed of at least ten knots without looking like the Iowa doing 75 knots.
I am looking for input/information about all these things and in addition I am looking for plans/three view drawings without having to be so detail. oriented about the ship it almost impossible to have any fun with.
Since I live in eastern Idaho I have decided that I will try the USS Idaho (BB-42) of the New Mexico class. She was not at Pearl Harbor but served extensively throughout the Pacific campaign. My current problem is finding good pics and scale plans for her circa 1943-45 (i.e. how the topsides were changed in her first overhaul in 1942) I am currently planning to paint her in dazzle camouflage (just for fun's sake). I am looking in model dockyard for a set of plans but Idaho is not a very common ship amongst her sisters (New Mexico, Colorado, Mississippi) and I have not had any success in finding plans for her specifically since I do not know what differences she might have had from the others in her class.

[fooman2008]

My current thought is 12 volt trolling motors since I can cut down the down tubes and while the underwater/drive section would not be true to scale it would give me a proven power train and thrust potential.
I have found some plans for Idaho (thanx for the advise guys) as soon as I can come up with the where with-all I plan to see what it will take to make an Idaho some 16 feet long powered by a pair of trolling motors.

[fooman2008]

having done some checking of the size of the Idaho I have discovered her to have been Length: 624 feet Beam: 97.4 feet which scales out at perfect 1/35th to be
Length: 17feet 9 inches
Beam: 2 foot 8 inches (sure doesn't seem seem very beamy does it?)
that is figured the old fashioned way (divide figure by 35) to make it fit onto a small boat trailer and possibly make use a canoe for flotation/structural member underneath.

I am hoping that this will make a practical ship model in terms of size and scale for effect. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanx Foo

[desron48]

check out www.navsource.org for photos ..........joe

[ingura]

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[ingura]

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[fooman2008]

thanx for the offer of the spread sheet I would appreciate it very much. I will check the links you suggested

[fooman2008]

the reason I figured for 1/35 was that if I use a 16 foot canoe for structure and and similar trailer it will make the model just under 18 feet in length but since Idaho has a clipper bow the canoe idea may be rendered impractical. Also I know that there are plenty of scale detail parts available (especially for armor vehicle type stuff). This is still very much in a visualization stage right now but it is proceeding apace.

[Dave Wooley]

Hi Foo This is a challenging and very novel approch in building a large scale warship model.
I look forward to seeing more.
Dave Wooley

[fooman2008]

I found a set of really good pics of Idaho showing her final anti-aircraft fit with 5-38's that will be my build I believe. As for my thoughts about her not being beamy enough I am thinking of a mod to use the torpedo blister for trim and ballast. I have not ordered a set of plans yet so I do not know if the blisters are detailed on them, or I am going to have guesstimate about their size and depth. One pic has a good view from overhead portside showing several crewmen working on the top of the bulge.
Also my current puzzle is to find a decent set of three view of a single 5-38 single mount since she will need ten of them. I am currently looking for 20mm mounts and 40mm mounts since there were multiples of those also.
None of these 'problems' is insolvable, just that i am not working very many hours rights now but that is construction in Idaho during the winter, got our first good snow storm this morning, hopefully it won't stay

[TommyL]

the reason I figured for 1/35 was that if I use a 16 foot canoe for structure and and similar trailer it will make the model just under 18 feet in length but since Idaho has a clipper bow the canoe idea may be rendered impractical. Also I know that there are plenty of scale detail parts available (especially for armor vehicle type stuff). This is still very much in a visualization stage right now but it is proceeding apace.

Don't can the idea just yet. Maybe you could add on the the hull to get the bow shape. Some cleaver "cut and paste" might get you were you want to go.

TommyL.

[fooman2008]

Hey all
Thanks for the page views and replies.
I am going to order a set of plans for this beast in the next week or so. I do have a question and this board may not be the best to ask this due to her projected size/displacement what should I use for frames and ribs? My current plan is to use 1/2" plywood for the frames, and 1 x 4 (ripped down to 1 x 1 [or 3/4 x 3/4 more accurately in dimensional lumber in the U.S.]). I am almost thinking of sheeting it with strips of Masonite (counter top material), sand to shape, bondo (or water proof epoxy putty), sand to shape then probably three layer of fiberglass (maybe with a lite gel coat if I can afford it).
Propulsion is still projected to be a pair of trolling motors on 12 volts each. Since the drive system is just that much easier this will, essentially, be a waterline model.
A friend has suggested that I use the gun director for vision, utilizing a digital camera for a viewer, not so sure about that. I saw neat article on model warships under way to use a gun director, when you switched the computer on the gun mounts would train to the bearing indicated by the director. I thought that would be very cool but I can't seem to contact the author of the article.
Tentative plans call for powered main turrets, (possibly with a fire monitor/water squirter in one main gun barrel), power main gun director (hopefully linked to the turrets), swiveling secondary (5/38 single mounts). I am also thinking about a smoke generator, and sound generator for the engineering plant, a thought in my mind would be the main guns firing (using compressed air) baby powder for parades, since anything 17+ feet long needs to have another purpose than just taking up the wife's parking spot in the garage.
The torpedo bulges will have ballast/flotation/ trim tanks inside them since from the scale views I have show the tanks at least 4 feet wide giving enough volume to use that space, I hope....

[Steppenrig]

Fooman,

I'm loving this idea, it would be heaps of fun, especially the Water cannon/baby powder from the guns.

There is shiphandling training facility near Newcastle (major shipping port near Sydney on the East Coast of Australia for all ye Non-Aussies ) that uses scale model Merchant vessels and a RAN LPA/ANZAC model. From memory these are primarily plywood ribbing and hull with a fairly substantial fibreglass coat. Couldn't tell you how thick and so on, it's been a while, and my memory isn't too flash today (still getting over the acetone I used to clean up after fibreglassing)

I for one am VERY keen to see this project as it progresses, please don't be stingy with the photos during the build.

Cheers

Dave

[fooman2008]

great thought about the ship handling course! The U.S. Navy has a facility like that in Newport, Rhode Island. Maybe I can see if I can find some details about how they were constructed. Thank you again. I also recall that the JMSDF (navy) has a similar course I'll try that too.