new guy and some thoughts

[Guest]

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.

[Guest]

Howdy Fooman,

I wanted to welcome you to the forum even though I am probably not gonna be able to help ya with ship building. However, there are plenty of other guys in here who do build ships, ( I am an aircraft person myself), but like i said, I just wanted to welcome you to the forum and let ya know we are glad you joined.

Have a good day,

Greg aka GEEDUBBYA (GW)

[Guest]

update

hey all:

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.

[Guest]

Hi fooman 2008 and welcome to the forum. You are certainly taking on quite a project there so I'm sure we would all appreciate seeing it's progress and you develop and build it.

For something of that size I think you are going to be looking at quite a bank of 12v batteries which will provide good ballast as well but you are then going to need big, slow high torque motors. 12v would tend to make me think of vehicle motors but you are going to need bigger than the windscreen wiper motors that are used quite a bit in smaller model boats. Perhaps something like an Air conditioning motor from a large vehicle such as a bus or lorry might do the job so I would start by having a good look around a local vehicle scrap yard.

[Guest]

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.

[Guest]

I have found some plans for Idaho (thanx for the advise guys) as soon as I can come up with the where withall I plan to see what it will take to make an Idaho some 16 feet long powered by a pair of trolling motors.

[Guest]

having done some checking of the size of the Idaho I have discovered her to have beenLength: 624 feet Beam: 97.4 feetwhich 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.

[Guest]

Hi Fooman and welcome to the site,

As a little pointer for motors for you - at the suggested length you have mentioned above, you may get away with using car cooling fan motors as your main power source.

These will be small but powerful enough to provide the urge for your ship and should be reasonably light on the batteries too. I am basing my facts on a guy who around here who has 2 large ships both are 12ft long, One is a Container ship and the other is the old HMS Victorious Aircraft Carrier. Both are powered by Volvo fan cooling motors and sail superbly on these. Best bit is they can be sourced very cheaply from any breakers yard.

And yes, Roy, (the guy who built and owns them) has a special trailer which has a slide out slipway incorporated specially for launching them. It also has a winch for pulling them back up onto the trailer.

Here's the link to Roy's ships: http://www.scale-models.co.uk/ship-boat-pictures/701-hms-victorious.html

Since I posted that thread up - Roy has now returned to sailing at this pond as the swans are a bit more human friendly now.

Hope this helps.

Regards.........Mark.

[Guest]

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

[Guest]

Hi mate try here see if there's anything of use

Modern Royal Navy Warship & Merchant Ship Plans & Drawings for the Scale Model Maker ¦ www.JecobinPlans.com

good luck with the project there's a couple of very large model builds around one is a model liner that cruises on the French canals a few warships around as well

worth a search on the net and you tube

[Guest]

thanx much

Foo

[Guest]

now for another question I haven't been able to find exactly which 5 inch mounts they put on Idaho during her refit(s) I know the original battery and her first refit (early 42) but not the enclosed mounts. Rats! Do these type of questions every end?

[Guest]

Getting thoughts and materials organized

Hey all:thinking:

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....