So as much wood as i have to my disposal, and occaisional free time. figured i would start a fun little (ha little) project. going to be fun cutting cap rails for this sucker.
Folks, the pictures really do not do justice to the size of this ship. At 1/96 scale, it is 110" in length, 13.5" beam, and should come in somewhere around 150 pounds weight at standard weight. They are massive ships in 1/96 scale ... and we have seen one already on the water. Heh. At one time, I was thinking of building a bulged Jean Bart in 1/96. Even went as far as to print a set of plans in scale from the original ship plans available on the French Defense web site. After unrolling the plans and gazing upon its hugeness, then turning around and doing the calculations for weight (120 pounds standard weight), I realized that there was no way I could lift the ship from the bottom of a pond without a LOT of help or some sort of floating winch. Good luck with the build. It will be an awesome ship to see on the water.
Once the ribs are all assembled on the keel you should get your hands on a 1/144 Iowa to put next to it for comparison.
i could actually build her in 1/144th also, but i have plans already laid out for a Colorado in 1/144th, will that suffice? i dont really plan on her breaking in sections. not confident in sealing it back together to hit the pond. thinking more of constructing a crate to lay the hull in and be able to strap her to the roof rack on either the wagon or the suv. something i will design later down theroad and make it multi funtcion as a recovery/deployment tool. with wheels and all. also plan on designing an inflating recovery system. once found, pull a tab and have CO2 cartirdges slowly inflate some rubber bladders to float ship and expell some water fromthe hull, tow her back to land, run it onto the hull transport device, and back into the pits for repair.
getting a 150 pounder plus box weight onto the roof of a car is going to be challenging. definitely a multiple person job.
The ship does not need to weight 150lbs until it's in the water. The hull will be something one person can lift, I'd guess around 30lbs. It's all the stuff inside, mostly lead bars that's going to be heavy. That can be placed int he ship when the hull is in the water. Can also come out before the hull comes out of the water. Now getting it after it sinks is another story. Are you going to put bags of lead shot in it? Old car batteries? Use water in tanks for ballast? Rocks? Gold? Bob H
now, the boat only has to weigh 150 on the water.... you figure superstructure removed, batteries removed, balast seperate, all that stuff can ride in a seperate box in the car/suv.
I'll look like an alligator humping your car! #priceless More seriously (not hard at this point, is it), I can't wait to see it on the water!
The precision scale 1/96 ship guys (the ones that build scale ships and don't shoot at each other) lke to use diver bag weights which are placed into the hull after the hull has been put into the water.
Five ribs to go. Need more material for cap rail and double keel. Finally dawning on me how big it really is.
I remember when Vanguard got ribs on the keels, it was huge. So I understand what you mean. Looks big on plans, looks BIG in real life.
