R/C Naval Combat

Hi,

Just want to drop a line to relate the projects I am working on (just so everyone knows I am still here)

USS Detroit -- I started work on a USS Omaha class light cruiser.  The (wooden) hull is coming along well.  I started sanding it this evening. It is certainly no work of art, but I think it can be made into a functioning cruiser.  The trickiest part is the stern -- I have less than .5 inch to install the rudder, so it may prove to be an insurmountable problem.  In any event the internals will be tight.

Hawkins Class -- I cut the wood and started assembly, but stopped because things weren't going together very well.  I think I know what to do , but it is definitely on the back burner for now.

Nagato -- John gave me Tommy's old Nagato -- I planned to make a new hull for it and use the existing superstructure.  However, my set of plans was grossly inaccurate (to be fair, it was being used as an example on how to interpret hull lines and not as a plan).  I looked to see if it was possible to rebuild the hull, but there is simply no way. I have ordered a new set of plans.  In the meantime, it sits sad and forlorn in the garage.

IJN Takao -- I built this last winter, but stopped short of turning it into a combat model.   I have tentative plans to finish it as a combat model.  This is also a wooden hull.  It just needs turrets, masts,  and paint (and guns).  The biggest hurtle here wll be to convince my 5 year old to let me use it.

HMS Indefatigable -- cut out and the prop shafts in,  Started the water channeling.   Wating for good weather to install the deck.

HMS Renown -- in limbo.  The hull is cut out and the prop shafts are in.    I need to reinforce the stringers before I proceed and I can't start any FG work until the summer when the everyone else will be away.   (This is the ship that convinced me that my FG work sucked).  I have misplaced my plan booklet, so I can't do the superstructure until I find it.

Tirpitz -- still 99.9% done.  Awaiting AA guns and another test drive.

Konig -- Mostly ready, but I won't fight it under treaty anymore. It is simply too slow and is unmanagable in anything more than the tiniest of breezes.

My biggest problem has been that with the winter parking ban I have to keep the car in the garage, so I have no workspace.  What I can do is use the computer to scan and print plans, so I simply keep starting new projects. Now that the parking is back, the garage is empty and I can start work again and maybe actually finsh something.

I plan to make an order for a 3.5 oz tank and some guns and fittings a little later in the year.

Hi Rob,

You've been busy despite lack of access to the garage and inability to fiberglass. I can sympathize with the latter which has delayed 4 of my projects. I'll start glassing on the roofed front porch as soon as it's warm enough to leave stuff outside overnight to cure.

Rodney and Vanguard both need their fiberglass decks glassed to their hulls and I need to make the fiberglass quarterdeck for Ibuki (Treaty light carrier) and all decks for the Krasni Krim (IRCWCC light cruiser). KK has priority because I might be able to attend NATS this year and want to try her with bow quad spurt guns as a base defence ship in Campaign Lite. (The main reason I decided to build the ship.)

The only problem is my high school class's first reunion since graduation 40 years ago is being held in NB on July 10. There's potential  difficulty getting enough time off work to attend the reunion and then NATS the next week.

I'm surprised by Koenig's poor handling. Is she under weight and presenting more hull to the wind, or isn't there enough water flowing over the rudder to stear well?  I doubt it's the latter because HMS Minotaur has the same speed under Treaty rules and still turned as tightly as at IRCWCC speed, though much more slowly. Maybe the K's rudder is smaller than allowed.

I'm not surprised Tommy's original Nagato was unsalvagable. It was unrepairable when he bought it from"Crapworks" >10 years ago, due to hull rot. That's why he bought the fiberglass Nagato hull.

HMS Indefatigable should be a great performer.

I started the frames for a Hawkins Class plug about 10 years ago but no one was interested in the hulls so it was scrapped. For a British heavy cruiser you can't beat a Kent or Dorseshire Class. They're bigger targets but much more survivable due to higher hull sides and much greater reserve buoyancy (the same applies to the Spanish Canarias Class).

What's happening with the HMS Eagle project?

Bob

Are the bulges on Eagle the stepped type as on the QE Class and Renown? I'll need to figure out how to sheet bulges like that in the near future.  

Bob

Posted By Bob Pottle on 17 Mar 2010 11:15 AM

Are the bulges on Eagle the stepped type as on the QE Class and Renown? I'll need to figure out how to sheet bulges like that in the near future.  

Bob

I tried to put it into words, but as they say.......

Updates:

I am afraid I will have to abondon the Detroit, at least as a combat model.   I installed the prop shafts over the weekend.  It was much more difficult than I expected.   They are in, but intrude too far into the interior.  There won't be enough space for all the stuff that has to go in.  I think it would be possible, just not with the hull as I have done it.

The Hawkins is dead.  Bad planning. Bad cutting. Bad job.

I am serously considering junking my Renown too.  The FG hull is simply too shoddy. 

Nagato is still a go. Once I receive my plan.

Indefatigable is still a go.

I think the real difference is what we sail on.  We usually are on fairly large lakes which exposes the ships to wind and choppy water whenever the weather is anything but perfect. This really throws the ships around and makes it hard make way.

Rob,

I see you've started a second Detroit hull but is it possible to remove the too long prop shafts in the first hull and replace them with shorter ones?  A Detroit would be nice to see on the water with my Krasni Krim, which should be finished by July. One of the Detroit/Omaha Class was transferred to Soviet service so we could have a Russian CL squadron.

Bob

Rob,

You could try what I did for the bow rudder on British monitor HMS Erebus. The bow was so narrow I had to install a gear train to operate the rudder from further aft. Three posts made of brass tubing were installed, the furthest forward being the bow rudder's shaft tube and the other two holding brass shafts, all shafts having meshing aluminum gear wheels (from R/C car parts). The rudder arm was on the 3rd post aft where there was enough room for full rudder arm movement.

Alternatively I think Battlers Connection sells a toothed belt and gear system for rudder shaft operation.

Bob