The Ship Model Forum

Tom,

Looks good! I just sent you an email re. the sheet styrene - so, let me know. I think that a thin veneer will work well with your basic superstructure assembly - much easier to detail, etc.

Later,

Hank

I used to have some of the special plexiglass glue that the fabricators use, but if the plexiglass is sanded lightly CA makes a stout joining. The deck will be sanded with very fine paper (600 or so) to frost it for better paint adhesion. I know that for large models that wood and plexiglass have some expansion coefficient issues but for my pampered inside ships it's not been an issue. I also have used it is segments, not like a continuous deck for a Carrier or Panzerschiff. The APA fore and after deckhouse are plexiglass with a styrene deck and the boat deck and all the superstructure decks are Plexiglass. It's inexpensive and I have a lot of it left over from picture framing. Where I took my helicopter lessons in Bellingham Washington there was an excellent local hardware that had all sorts of sheets of Styrene, but I've run through a lot of that. I think that the stencil cutting machine might be able to cut some styrene, worth a try. Supposedly can cut some thickness of Balsa or Basswood (what they use for Bass boats?)

Tom

Since my inland shipyard is using unusual construction methods I laid the deck instead of the keel for the hull. Building upside down at this point. Ribs for frames 13-31 in place at the moment (that's the straight part). The hard part is reducing the radiuses to allow for the 5mm skin thickness. That the hull bottom is sloped adds some complication, requiring a different height for every frame. To get a straight deck and bottom requires great precision here.

Cheers: Tom

Fliger747 wrote:Since my inland shipyard is using unusual construction methods I laid the deck instead of the keel for the hull. Building upside down at this point. Ribs for frames 13-31 in place at the moment (that's the straight part). The hard part is reducing the radiuses to allow for the 5mm skin thickness. That the hull bottom is sloped adds some complication, requiring a different height for every frame. To get a straight deck and bottom requires great precision here.
Cheers: Tom

Tom,

Does this mean that you'll toss the Champagne bottle UP instead of down to launch the ship???

Actually, in building wooden hulled ships, you're sort of using the Hahn Method of hull/frame construction - but, I digress

Hank

Hank:

The Champagne will be "used" up. I never held much with race winners spraying the bubbly around, dishonoring the grapes that died for it's making.

Making more hull ribs and adding. The process is a little slow as the glue is slow to set. Changing the deck angle at the bow is another complication of fitting everything since neither the bow deck nor the keel line are parallel to the baseline.

Tom

John C Nidermair of USN BuShips, sketched out the basic design of what became the thousand or so LST's of WWII, in a couple of days. Of course refinement took a while longer, but the basic form is seen to this day, without the hull profile for beaching, in about every tanker built since the 70's.

Here she sits today with the hull waiting for skinning.

Tom,

Well, that's going to be a really good size ARL!!! The scale should provide ample space for all kinds of details and extras. You've made a great start on this!! How you do the rest of the hull will be interesting to see.

Hank

Hank:

I can appreciate that life is easier to start with a kit or commercial hull! I'll be interested to see how to do this as well! This is similar construction to the APA hull but the curves are a little tighter at the bow and stern. I've got some ideas. As much of a PITA a hull is, it's in my estimation only about 10% of the project time wise.

Tom

The hull is closed in and awaiting wood filler to dry fully before I can do some contour sanding. After the contours are successfully achieved I will skin coat it with auto body filler (Bondo) with adheres well to the wood and provides a smooth, durable surface for final finished painting.

Cheers: Tom

Perhaps my estimate of time in the whole project to make the hull at ten percent is high even, but it is a very different task than almost all the modeling tasks employed by people who work here, which is very fine, dextrous work, involving small motor skills and little sweat equity. To my experience making a hull is a lot of big motor work and even a degree of sweat raised. Certainly the large piles of sawed snippets and sawdust raised is a very different experience. I am in luck to have a very well equipped wood shop and space to make the chips fly. It's going to take several days of considerable huff and puff at the very least to get the hull shaped. A memorable exercise, but not time wise different than the time used in construction of a gun tub, some light AA and maybe pilot house interior tidbits. Its been a while since I have made a hull, so I would have done this a little different if I was starting over, maybe thinner and more flexible skinning, but the ends curve quite tightly so maybe that wouldn't have made any difference.

Tom

Great to see a good old scratchbuild. Good luck with the skinning, I'm following!

Today's progress on the hull. A little more sanding to get then bow and stern contours correct then I can skim with Auto body Filler (Bondo). In my experience such hulls have survived transport and temperature conditions for over 50 years without issue. Having a uniform color assists in gauging form and any defects. There are two knuckles aft which will need to be precisely gauged.

Overall hull length just under 33" with a 5" beam (1:120 scale).

Tom

It will become a real ship!

Good job Tom!

Thank you Pascal!

I have begun skim coating with the Auto Filler, which makes a very good model surface. It sands quite well and is strong enough to allow a very sharp hull surface. Along with the sanding, however a coarser paper will leave scratches and there will be the occasional bubble or other surface defect which are well filled with glazing putty which allows a very excellent surface after wet sanding with fine wet/dry papers. Very similar to 1:1 auto body work, for which these items are designed. I used this same putty for the bottom of the hulls of the LCVP's for the APA which had some irregularity, being on the bottom (platen side) of the print.

Cheers: Tom

It reminds me of some long hours of sanding fuselages and wings of radio-controlled model aircraft, not so long ago.

Balsa or samba.

I used to do it outside because of the dust.

Wing profiles require great precision and smoothness, even on very large 1:1 aircraft! For most model ships lesser weight criticality extends the range of permissible materials and techniques. An exception I saw was a 1:350 DE setup for RC, where top weight would be a serious issue and most of the superstructure was hollowed out from the inside. I had to get some more of the hardener for the Bondo and a new tube of the glazing putty. At least this time of year I can leave the workshop (large) doors open.

Cheers: Tom

As to wood: A town that has everything that you need and nothing you don't, which might include modeling supplies. Balsa almost non existent but some basswood and I have some thin cedar planks around. Some innovation and make do. Balsa would have been much easier to sand.

Hull almost skim coated. This is a somewhat laborious process, coat, sand, then go back and skim some more, check contours and sand some more then you get into primer coating and final surface putty and wet sand.

Takes a while!!

Tom

Current hull progress. I have shifted to a fillable sand able primer. The application of primer helps show surface defects and issues with hull form. More putty, sanding etc to tweak the hull contours. The most difficult is obtaining sharp and accurate double hull knuckles aft. Perhaps a sop to speedy shipyard construction.

Tom,

That's really starting to take shape!!! I can almost see personnel on board. It will be interesting to see how you further detail the hull & decks.

Hank

Besides the knuckles, bow doors, there are side reinforcements, not as prominent as the LSM's but still there. There is also a vertical bulwark at the extreme bow. Rudders, shafts, props, skegs (Spelchequr doesn't recognize SKEG), Prop guards and stern anchor assembly. I guess by building a model, you learn a lot about a ship you didn't really appreciate, in this case how shallow of a draft ship it is!

Cheers: Tom