R/C Naval Combat

Well, anyways, there are still people interested, and im sure most of the old battlers could be persuaded to rejoin. After all, the MBG had like, 50-60 ships at it's hight, right?
Anyways, I still am wondering about the armor belt. Since i'm planning to build the subdeck/ribs this weekend, and maybe plank the bottom of the hull with plywood ( I will glass it, the ribs, and the Bow and Stern later) .
I just drew up the subdeck. I've mesaured it so that the deck is in three sections. The fore deck, the middle with the superstructure that floats when the thing sinks, and the rear. The maryland is annoying in that
it has a little drop in the middle of the deck - I plan to use some foam at the front of the floaty section so it floats level.

Hmmmm................I just realized......My plans do not have a central keel. Instead, the entire flat bottom is one piece of wood that all the ribs attach to/fit on

Um, small disconnect between small guns and big on the rib placement... No Big Guns club I know of allows that style of rib placement, the spacing must be increments of an inch, predominately 3, 2, or 1 inch... most often 2. . And clubs differ in how and when this can be changed (and on center or between ribs). Exception and variation in how to handle the windows at the bow and stern are there also. Packing the ribs in the bow is gonna cause a Big Guns TO a bundle of grief when one of these hulls is bought and somebody wants to bring it pondside.

I don't know why, but the assumption seems to be that one spacing is picked and then constant throughout the hull.

The stringer is put in by notching the ribs and inserting cross pieces, preferably something really strong It is best to have the stringer terminate on a rib... and getting the spacing so that the armor belt matches the real location fore and aft can be tricky.

Best bet, check the Bearn thread, that fellow is a talented hull builder (but it might be a different format)... and the archived info on base plate and rib construction... Then get the WWCC builders to fill you in on the hull planking technique I have yet to try. They are saying it is superior, I dunno, but the WWCC turns out a lot of custom built hulls.

Planking the hull is decorative woodwork. It doesn't improve the performance of your ship, merely its appearance. There are some tricks to it, and I have some photos from planking the four Viribus Unitis-class dreadnoughts.

One the subject of ribs, the general assumption is that you work in increments of 1 inch, and use one consistent spacing for the entire hull. In reality, you don't have to do either. You could, for example, go with 3/16" ribs and 1.5" spacing, if necessary, but it's a lot easier to work with (and to inspect) ships that stick with 1", 2", or 3" spacing. You can even, if you want, go with greater than the allowed spacing. For example, you could go with 2.317" spacing and 1/4" ribs, or 4.25" spacing with 3/8" ribs. All the clubs I know of don't allow you to use ribs thicker than 3/8" though, so you couldn't do 1/2" ribs and 4" spacing.

As for consistent spacing along the entire hull, that is for appearances' sake, not because it's really necessary. You can mix and match 1" spacing, 2" spacing, 3" spacing, and anything in between. Just make sure you get the right rib thicknesses in your spacing. For example, if you have a 1/4" rib, you must have at least 2" of penetrable area on both sides of the rib. I once saw a ship that had 1.5" spacing between a 1/8" rib and a 1/4", which is not legal. I dremeled off the 1/8" rib out when I re-skinned the boat, as instructed by my Technical Officer.

Mike is correct when he suggests looking at the Bearn build located on this site. It is very comprehensive and takes you through a complete wooden hull build. I build fiberglass hulls and used some things I saw for my BB Italia.

And did you mention what ship you are building and what plans you have, I might have missed that.

You may also want to join the Big Gun group on Yahoo as well as this one. People like Mike and Kotori87 are there and advice and assistance is plentiful.

Steve ;-D

PS....A good fiberglass hull makes a great looking combat ship. is easier for the first build and you can be in the water in half the time as building a wood hull. Just my personal opinion as I could never cut the wooden ribs straight. (smiles)

Yes, my first rib set was so bad I named the freighter Lumpy. A good tool to make is a standing sanding drum, I bought a little kit at harbor freight that mounted in a drill press, and added a plywood base to raise the work to the sander drum, leaving no gap in the coverage... as the drum didn't fit through the hole in the drill press... two hands to guide the work... and you can trim the pieces to the lines pretty easy. Cost 50 bucks for drill press... 10 or so for the little drums? some clamps to fix the wood to the table, and ta-da!

I'd leave the ribs large... ie don't take the middles out to work with this. As always, results may vary, and be safe with tools.

This is a good work around if you have no scroll saw, and rough the ribs close to the lines.

And that fellow with the Bearn? I would pay for his work. I am that impressed. Course I have to work out the budget with the Admiral