Aloha all! I was fortunate enough to have a friend who had a 3D model of Fubuki. He’s going to take the hull and deck, blow it up to 1/72, and send me the files. From there I’m going to prepare it for printing. I’m probably going to print the subdeck first. I’ve never printed for this, so I’m wondering if any of you have recommendations for subdeck thickness? I’ll post construction updates here!
For combat applications, the subdeck needs to be thick enough to take a beating. The usual build is about 1/4" thick on the subdeck, with about a 1/8" deck on top of that. We usually have a lip on the subdeck to align and hold the deck, so the thickness measured at the edge is actually 3/8". This hull feature is pretty apparent if you look at various warship build threads. Since this is not intended for combat, do you intend to make the hull penetrable with windows and balsa sheeting, or not?
I honestly might, because that kind of function might be cool. But if I were to build the hull out of wood, wouldn’t balsa in general be easier to plank the hull with? If you have other material recommendations, I’m open to them!
Update: I’ve printed out a few blueprints of Fubuki’s sister ship, Uranami. Unfortunately, Uranami is SLIGHTLY different internally, but it’s not noticeable from the outside. I had to do some arithmetic gymnastics to get the scale right, but eventually I printed the plans and taped them to an old cardboard box I was gonna toss out. The blueprint on the left will be the subdeck, since it’s closer to the actual deck, it’s slightly smaller than the blueprint on the left, which would be the footprint of the ship if it were squished by a Thwomp. The tiny little print out at the top left would be the cross section of the ship at midship (I think that’s what it’s called, the middle of the ship). I have the bisected view of Ole’ Bucky on separate sheets of paper that I will have to paste down later. I’m thinking of taking a 3D model of her and printing out individual ribs.
